William & Emma Shriver

August 9th marks 105 years since the death of Emma (Thomas) Shriver.

Emma was born on May 6, 1846, the daughter of Philip D. Thomas and Elizabeth A. W. Dwyer.  Philip had served as a Captain during the Mexican-American War.  Emma was one of at least five children, but all of her siblings died young.  In the 1860 census, fourteen-year-old Emma was living in Reisterstown with her parents and youngest sister Agnes.  Her father was working as a carpenter, and Emma is listed as having attended school within the past year.

A year later in 1861, Emma's father Philip passed away at the age of about 40.  Her sister Agnes also died in the 1860s, though I haven't been able to find an exact date.

Sometime around 1869, Emma married William L. Shriver, the son of Philip and Rebecca Shriver of Pennsylvania.  In the 1870 census, the couple were living in Reisterstown with their two-month-old daughter Charlotte.  William, working as a store clerk, owned real estate valued at $800, and Emma was keeping house.

A map of Reisterstown from 1877 shows the location of William Shriver's store at the north end of Main Street, at the present-day location of the Shell gas station.

By the 1880 census, the Shriver family had grown to include three more children:  Frank, Annie, and Elizabeth.  William's occupation is now given as general storekeeper.  Emma's mother Elizabeth had moved in with the family, and living next door was Elizabeth's step-mother, Charlotte Dwyer, a great-granddaughter of town founder John Reister.

Twenty years later, the 1900 census shows William and Emma and their two grown daughters Charlotte and Elizabeth.  William was now a "landlord farmer", and Charlotte was working as a music teacher.

In 1901, William Shriver, along with George Albaugh, Reister Russell, Frank Zouck, and Dr. James Gore, established the Reisterstown Savings Bank at 50 Main Street, "for the purpose of conducting the business of a savings institution and of receiving from any person or persons or bodies corporate, or politic any deposit of money or other securities for loan or investment."  Through mergers and additions in the 1950s, the bank later became a branch of the Union Trust Company.

Emma Shriver passed away on August 9, 1908 at the age of 62 from pulmonary tuberculosis.  The 1910 census finds William, now a widower, living with his three surviving children.  William was working as a notary public, with daughter Charlotte continuing as a music teacher, and son Frank employed as an office clerk.

Both of William and Emma's daughters passed away from tuberculosis (the same illness as their mother), youngest daughter Elizabeth at the age of 33 in 1911, and eldest daughter Charlotte at the age of 42 in 1912.

On April 18, 1917, William married a second time, to Mrs. Mary A. Robinson, in Alexandria, Virginia.  In the 1920 census, William and his new wife were living with his only surviving son, Frank.  William was still a notary public, and Frank was a bank clerk.

William Shriver passed away on January 19, 1929 in Baltimore City at the age of 87 from pneumonia.

William and Emma's children were:

• Charlotte D. Shriver, 1870-1912, unmarried
• Frank Shriver, 1871-1925, husband of Maud (divorced)
• Lewis Shriver, c1874-1875
• Annie R. Shriver, c1876-1881
• Elizabeth Shriver, 1878-1911, unmarried

Sources:
Ancestry.com (census records & map)

• Year: 1860; Census Place: District 4, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: M653_468; Page: 45.
• Year: 1870; Census Place: Reisterstown, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: M593_569; Page: 279B.
• Year: 1880; Census Place: District 4, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: 495; Page: 567A.
• Year: 1900; Census Place: Election District 4, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: 606; Page: 5A.
• Year: 1910; Census Place: Election District 4, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: T624_550; Page: 17B.
• Year: 1920; Census Place: Reisterstown, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: T625_654; Page: 5B.

Baltimore Sun

• "Died." Date: 10 August 1908; Page: 4.
• "Shriver-Robinson." Date: 12 May 1917; Page: 4.
• "William L. Shriver." Date: 26 January 1929; Page: 3.

Maryland Archives (death records & Historic Sites Inventory Survey)

Reisterstown Library

• Reister's Desire by Lillian Bayly Marks, 1975.

Cemetery Photos © AgateGS