Schaeffer/Schefshuga

The first member of the family in this tree is Vladistok Schefshuga, who apparently "Americanized" his name to Schaeffer. However, the spelling probably spelled incorrectly, because the name Schefshuga has not be found on the internet. Possibly, there were variations in the original alphabet and naming conventions, as well. Families with either the Schefchuga or Schaeffer name matching the known children have not been located in census data, either. Some stories in the family state that he was possibly Polish, but the only references that can be found to the name Vladistok in an internet search seem related to either a Romanian Prince or a city in Russia.