The Hafen home was a religious Evangelist home, where a blessing was asked at each meal, and regular reading was done from the prayerbook. John did not drink wine or other intoxicants nor use tabacco or profane language. He attended school until he was about 16 years old, arithmetic was his favorite subject.
The first 23 years of John's life were spent in Scherzingen, a village of about fifty families, where most of the villagers were farmers raising hay, grain, potatoes, and fruits. The Hafen farm comprised 12 to 15 acres cultivated intensively where they raised the family's food needs and a little surplus for sale besides the chief product, wine, which was marketed locally.
The Hafen family were able to sell their farm for a fair price and the Hafen's paid their own passage and were able to help others less fortunate move to America.
As a child John swam in the Bodensee but, not being accustomed to the swift currents, nearly drowned when he first went swimming in the Missouri River in America.
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