The Shriever Family of Kane, Pennsylvania

That women have a legitimate place in the business world has been so often proven by their success in many fields that there should be none to controvert the statement. The business career of Miss Marie Shriever is another perfect illustration of feminine capacity, as she has risen solely by her own ability and intelligence.

She is the daughter of Jacobus Shriever, born July, 1813, in Aachen (the German name for Aix La Chapelle), a frontier city of Rhenish Prussia, a capital of Aix La Chapelle province. He was a University graduate and a man of a high order of intelligence. In 1835 he came to the United States, settling in Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, at Brookville, where he died in May, 1876. He was a manufacturer of woolens and a merchant of Brookville; was ill for several years prior to his death. He was a Democrat in politics, and became prominent in civic affairs. He was a Catholic in religious faith and one of the pioneers in the county, the first Catholic service in the county being held at his house.

He married (first) in Alsace, Loraine, his wife coming to Brookville with him, and there died without issue. He married (second) Veronica Schmandt, of St. Mary’s, Pennsylvania, born February 2, 18—, died in Kane, June 23, 1911. She was the daughter of Boniface Schmandt, a merchant of Hessen Cassell, Germany, came to the United States, settled at St. Mary’s, Pennsylvania, where he lived, retired later, moved to Emporium, Pennsylvania, where he died aged eighty-seven years. His wife, Frances (Koenig) Schmandt, born in Germany, died in St. Mary’s.

Children of Boniface and Frances (Koenig) Schmandt:

1. Catherine Schmandt, born in Germany, died in Erie, Pennsylvania; married John Singer, a marble cutter; children:
   1. Frank Singer,
   2. John Singer, deceased.
2. Veronica Schmandt, of previous mention.
3. Louisa Schmandt, born in Hessen Cassell, Germany, came with her parents to America when four years old; married Edmund Huff, a carpenter and lumberman, who died in Emporium, Pennsylvania, 1911; she still surviving; children:
   1. Augustus Huff, a conductor on the Pennsylvania railroad;
   2. Mary Huff, now Sister Christopher of St. Joseph’s Convent, Buffalo;
   3. Bertha Huff, deceased;
   4. Kate Huff, deceased;
   5. Elizabeth Huff, deceased;
   6. Dora Huff, resides in Coudersport;
   7. Edward Huff, deceased;
   8. William Huff, deceased;
   9. Charles Huff, a railroad employee;
   10. Edward Huff, a hotel proprietor;
   11. Carrie Huff, assistant postmaster at Emporium.
4. Mary Schmandt, born at St. Mary’s; married Joshua Bair, a contractor, and resides in Emporium; children:
   1. Edward Bair, deceased;
   2. Albert Bair, resides at Jersey Shore;
   3. Matie Bair, married B. Egan, a furniture dealer and undertaker of Emporium;
   4. Kate Bair, married P. Burke, of Emporium;
   5. Minnie Bair, deceased;
   6. Rose Bair, married a Mr. Green, superintendent of the Iron Works, at Emporium;
   7. William Bair, a photographer of Emporium, married Harriet Auchue;
   8. Bertha Bair, of Emporium;
   9. Leo Bair, deceased;
   10. Frank Bair, deceased.
5. Matilda Schmandt, died young.

Children of Jacobus and Veronica Shriever:

1. Marie Shriever, of whom further.
2. Elizabeth Shriever, born in Greenville, Pennsylvania, March 8, 1863; she was educated at the Brookville parochial school and St. Elizabeth’s School, Allegany, New York; she is partner with her sister in the firm of M. Shriever & Company, merchants, and of the firm of M. and E. Shriever, real estate; she is a lady of great force of character and business ability, very fond of travel, spending her hours “off duty” in European and American journeyings; she visited California and Yellowstone in 1901 and toured Europe in 1905.
3. Gertrude Shriever, born in Greenville, February 8, 1864; married, October 13, 1888, Joseph Kavanagh, employed in the traffic department of the Erie Railroad Company.
4. Dorothy Shriever, born 1866, died the same year and is buried in Brookville.
5. James Boniface Shriever, born in Brookville, April 30, 1868; he was educated in the parochial school, taking the commercial course, and at fifteen years of age was graduated with highest honors. He then came to Kane where he was a bookkeeper for the Pennsylvania railroad two years; at age of eighteen years he opened a photographic studio at Emporium, became quite noted for the quality of his work, then was in the same business in Elmira, New York, a few years, then located in Scranton, Pennsylvania; he there organized and financed the American School of Photography, and was its president for many years; he is acknowledged an artist of the very highest class, his studio in Scranton being one of the finest equipped in the United States and the quality of his work of the very highest artistic merit; his photograph of the Madonna has received favorable comment from the artists of the United States and from the famous Berlin (Germany) photographers; he married Katie Zarps, of Emporium, Pennsylvania; child,
   1. Irene Marie Shriever, born June 21, 1895.
6. Julia F. Shriever, born in Brookville, June 19, 1871; educated in the parochial school and Clarion State Normal; she is now manager of the millinery department of M. Shriever & Company and like her sisters possesses rare business ability; she accompanied her sister Elizabeth in her European trip in 1905 and has toured California, Florida, Cuba and the West Indies, being in Kingston, Jamaica, shortly after the earthquake.

The father of Jacobus Shriever never came to the United States, but died in Aix La Chapelle, Germany, when comparatively a young man. His widow came with her son Jacobus, dying in Brookville. They were both members of the Roman Catholic church.

Children of the parents of Jacobus Shriever, all born in Alsace, Loraine:

1. Gertrude Shriever,
2. Elizabeth Shriever,
3. Agnes Shriever,
4. Jacobus Shriever;
5. Other unnamed Shriever children.

(II) Marie Shriever

Marie, eldest daughter of Jacobus and Veronica (Schmandt) Shriever, was born in Frenchville, Clearfield county, Pennsylvania, August 3, 1861. She was educated in the public schools at Brookville and the parochial school of the Church of the Immaculate Conception. She absorbed all learning so quickly that at thirteen years of age she was granted a teacher’s certificate, with the proviso that she should not use it until she was sixteen. Being barred by her youth from teaching, she worked for a time in a store at Du Bois, Pennsylvania. Her health becoming impaired, she took an outside position, continuing for eighteen months, traveling as saleswoman for a book publishing house. She was a successful agent and during the eighteen months saved from her earnings a sufficient sum to enable her to start a small store in Kane. She began business in March, 1876, in a small room twelve by twenty-eight feet, stocked with ladies goods. Her little venture was a successful one and at the expiration of two years her business warranted her removal to a larger store. The death of her father in 1876 left her the head of the family and with her business success she was able to continue the education of the younger children and to provide positions for her sisters on their leaving school. After twelve years successful business in millinery and ladies wear at Kane, she extended her field of operation and opened a similar store at Union City, Pennsylvania. Having proved her own powers and established a reputation as a capable, successful business woman, she still further enlarged, opening a store in Emporium and later another in Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania. These four stores were successfully operated until 1894, when she sold the outlying stores, retaining only the parent store at Kane. She admitted her sister Elizabeth to a partnership and another sister Gertrude as a department manager. After centering all her energy in the Kane business, she enlarged and strengthened her lines until now hers is the leading and largest millinery and ladies furnishing store in the city.

Her acute business instincts quickly saw the opportunity for a real estate firm to profitably operate, and with her sister Elizabeth she formed the firm of M. and E. Shriever and since has added to her mercantile line a very successful real estate business. Like all children of foreign born parents, she had a great desire to visit the land from which her parents came and of which she had heard so much. In 1900 her opportunity came; she joined a Christian Endeavor party going to Oberammergau to witness the Passion Play there performed by the villagers every ten years. After witnessing their wonderful portrayal of the life of Christ, she toured the continent of Europe, visiting Italy, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Bavaria, Holland and France, also the British Isles. She has also spent her vacation periods in American travel visiting the Pacific States and British Columbia. She was in Seattle during the chase of Tracy, the outlaw, and saw something of the intense excitement caused by the plucky but unsuccessful fight for liberty of that desperado.

While thoroughly capable and entirely devoted to her business enterprises, Miss Shriever is not a mere dollar coining machine. She enjoys the fruits of success in many ways and is highly regarded in her community. She is devoted to the church of her fathers and takes active part in parish work. She was a member of the Ladies’ Catholic Benevolent Association of Union City, being the first unmarried member of that branch, No. 1, now transferred to No. 13 of Kane, Pennsylvania. She is a member of Court No. 2, Daughters of Isabella, organized in Meadville, the first established in Pennsylvania. In 1907 she organized a court of the same order in Kane. Perhaps when the school board refused the girl of thirteen authority to teach, they rendered her a greater service than they knew, as it drove her into the world of business, where she is a shining example of feminine business ability, while as a teacher the confinement in a school room would assuredly have resulted in a broken constitution, although she would no doubt have won fame as an instructor. She has nobly won fame, fought the battle of life and fairly won success from all adverse circumstances.

See: Genealogy of the Allegheny Valley Pennsylvania

Source

Jordan, J. W. 1840-1921. (1913). Genealogical and personal history of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania. New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co.

This genealogy is based upon the source cited above. Only the structure and formatting have been changed for clearer presentation; the genealogical and biographical content has been preserved.