Pfaff, Jr. seems to have spent most of his childhood and much of his adult life in New York except for approximately five years—in the early and mid-1870s—when he attended Nazareth Hall in Pennsylvania. He worked first in connection with his father’s last restaurant and hotel and, later, he appears to have been employed in a series of jobs, where he likely utilized his skills as a clerk. Unlike his father, Pfaff, Jr.’s name was not known in New York as a result of his business savvy. But Charles Pfaff, Jr., would have certainly been familiar to some sports fans because the son of the famous proprietor was an avid participant in various athletic events and contests in the world of amateur sports. For example, he participated in the Knickerbocker Athletic Club’s amateur championship walk of twenty-five miles.3 But Pfaff, Jr. was primarily a speed-skater affiliated with the Manhattan Athletic Club, and he skated in races on the ice in his native New York and as far away as Canada.4 In addition to one victory on the ice, as of March 21, 1885, Charles Pfaff, Jr. held several amateur skating records in the United States, including one for “Running long jump on skates,” with “73 yards, 1 foot straightaway, with flying start and with the wind.”5 

There is a death record for Charles Pfaff, however, who passed away on July 11, 1940, at the age of 83, which would mean he was born between April 5th and July 11, 1857, the approximate year that is consistent with most census records for the son of the famous restaurateur.10 If this is indeed Pfaff Sr.’s son, it means that Charles Pfaff, Jr. not only lived through the Civil War during his early years (only being around eight- years-old when the War officially ended), but that he also saw World War I (he would have turned fifty-seven in 1914), and he was still alive at the beginning of World War II, although by this time he may not have been aware of the news and events taking place outside of the State Hospital. At the same time, because the aforementioned Charles Pfaff seems to have passed away while he was a patient in the hospital, and since there does not seem to be any evidence that he married, it is tempting to speculate that he had no wife or children to provide information about his life on the occasion of his death. Furthermore, at the age of 83, he had likely outlived most if not all of his friends who might have had memories of him as a young man. Therefore, despite his early years as an amateur athlete and, perhaps, even because of his long life there may be few if any obituaries or records of memoriam following his death. His place of burial is also uncertain. His name does not appear in the online index of interments at Green-Wood Cemetery, where his father was buried, and the location of his mother’s grave is unknown.