- Jacob Frederick Stiver 1784 - 1850
- Gottlieb Stiver August 15, 1820 - July 16, 1897
- Scott L. Stiver July 4, 1876 - August 9, 1919
- Stanley L. Stiver Sr. September 19, 1903 - October 23, 1980
- Stanley L. Stiver Jr. June 29, 1921 - May 16, 2011
Jacob Frederick Stiver Jacob Frederick Stiver entered America around 1815. He left no mention of the family that he left in Prussia. His name first appears in the public record in the 1830 federal census of North Swickley township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. In the 1840 census, he is listed in Montgomery township, which later became Canoe Township, in Indiana County. His wife Jullianne Potter is listed along with seven sons, and three daughters. Five of his sons, including Gottlieb, served in the Civil War.
Stories of their lives before coming to America are speculative. According to some sources, Julianne was born in Prussia in 1798 and died in 1850. Jacob was born in 1784. He was a butcher in Napoleon's army and fought in Moscow. They migrated to America in 1815. Around 1837, they sold their land in Swickley Township. The family headed for Indiana County with a team of oxen. At the end of their journey, they camped at the island formed by the creeks near Juneau. There they settled and remained for the rest of their days.
From Maude Stiver Rosenberger, a granddaughter:
Her father, Herr Lord Potter was a nobleman ruler over the Province of Swabia World in the Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, along the Danube River. They lived in a mansion, had acres of ground and were rich. Julianne fell in love with Jacob Stiver, the baker of the town and her father told her if she married that poor baker he would disinherit her but she told him that they loved each other and would marry and go to free America...Grandmother Stiver wanted a mansion in this country like she had in Germany and the children were determined that she should have one. When the boys were grown, they had the logs hauled and the preparations were made to build her mansion but before it was built Julianne died."
Gotlieb Stiver Gotlieb (the name means, "beloved of God") is described as five feet 8 inches tall, fair with gray eyes and dark hair. He was a farmer and lumberer all his life. In his obituary, he is remembered as follows: "He possessed some rare business qualities and was admired by all who knew him." On August 15, 1864, at the age of 43, Gotlieb enlisted as a private in Co. B, 206th Reg. Pennsylvania Volunteers. He served in Virginia until his discharge June 26, 1865 in Richmond.
Gottlieb was married twice. His first wife was Caroline Wineburg. In the fall of 1868, tragedy struck when a kerosene lamp exploded in their home. Caroline and their baby daughter died in the fire. Six years later he married Mary Dunsmuir Shields. Her husband had been killed with a bowie knife in a fight. They had one son, Scott L. Stiver. The Rev. Stiver remembers that her children by the previous marriage operated the only grocery store and gas pump in the township when he was growing up.]
From Gotlieb Stiver's obituary:
"A Corn Causes A Death: Use of a corn salve results fatally to an old man."
Mr. Gotleib Stiver, an aged citizen of Canoe Township, died on Friday evening. The cause of his death was blood poisoning resulting from gangrene. The old gentleman had been treating a corn on his foot and had used some sort of salve. The corn didn't heal and gangrene followed. His condition was serious for several weeks.
Scott, Stanley Sr, and Jenny Stiver
Scott L. Stiver Scott was born on the day of the centennial celebration of the country. He served as justice of the peace at Juneau and taught 14 terms of school. He edited a small weekly paper in Rossiter. For a brief period, he was a correspondent for the Punxsutawney Spirit. He moved to Youngstown in 1913 and worked as a craneman in a steel mill.
He married Jane (Jennie) Alberta Henry, July 9, 1896. Born September 10, 1885, she is the great, great granddaughter of Jacob Tyger, a Revolutionary War soldier. The Rev. Stiver remembers that she was quite a lady. Before moving to Youngstown, they lived in Juneau, Pennsylvania. She once ordered a wood stove from Sears that never arrived. They had sent it to Juneau, Alaska, instead. She had five children. They were named after people she and Scott admired: twins Alice and Lillian, named after poetess Alice Cary and actress Lillian Russell; Frances, after Frances Willard, suffragette; Florence, after Florence Nightingale; and Stanley, after Henry Stanley of Dr. Livingston fame. She raised Lillian's four children and raised Florence's daughter.
Scott died in an untimely accident in 1919.
From the Punxsutawney Spirit
"Scott L. Stiver Killed in Motor Accident Friday: Victim was on Way from Juneau to Punxsutawney in Side Car, Machine Overturned"
According to the story of Mr. Toy, who was driving the motorcycle, they were coming along the road just at the top of the hill near Wingert farm, and Mr. Stiver, who was in the side car, told him they were off the road. Mr. Toy tried to pull the machine back on the macadam and the next thing he knew he and the occupant of the side car were under the machine.
Two girls driving toward town in an automobile happened along at this time and pulled the machine from the prostrate forms of the men and hurried to Punxsutawney for assistance Dr. R.L. Young and Fred Beyer hastened to the scene of the accident, and Dr. Young pronounced the man dead. An examination disclosed the fact that his skull was fractured just at the base of the brain.
Mr. Stiver was on a business trip here and was on his way from Juneau to Punxsutawney to arrange the transfer of a deed for some property to be sold, when the accident occurred.
Wedding, Stanley and Alta Stiver, September 20, 1920
Stanley L. Stiver Sr. Stanley worked as a crane operator at Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company for 23 years. He was forced to leave the mill in the 1930's due to emphysema. To make a living, he built a greenhouse behind his house and operated a florist shop, Stiver Greenhouse, until 1970. He was a Free and Accepted Mason of Western Star Lodge 21 and also a member of Scottish Rite, Valley of Youngstown.
He married Alta Mary Baun, the only daughter of David and Alverda Uber Baun. She was born on March 2, 1901 in Canoe Township. Alverda died when she was eight years old. Two of Alverda's brothers became pastors in the United Lutheran Church of America: James Merrill Uber (1878-1946) and Thomas Barclay Uber (1880-1941). Thomas Barclay Uber II (1919-1984) also became a minister, as well as a professor in psychology. They trace their ancestry back to Peter Uber in 1730 in Germany.
Her father, David Baun, was born in Locust, Pennsylvania, on March 8, 1868. He remarried in 1910 to Mae Smith. They had five children, two were killed in World War II. David was a charter member of St. Mark's Church near Juneau. He helped erect the building and served in many capacities, including as Sunday School superintendent.He died in 1944
Alta and Stanley both attended a one room school in Canoe Township and completed eight grades. They enjoyed visiting where they grew up. The distance from Youngstown to Indiana County was about 100 miles. With the hills and roads and older cars, this could still take a long time. Mostly they went to attend reunions held on the fourth of July, to a place called Marion Center.
Growing up, the Rev. Stiver attended many of the Uber and Baun reunions. He remembers staying at David's house, which had a large kitchen, a dining room, a parlor used on the rarest occasions, and a large area where they once had a store. Nearby, a bridge crossed over 100 feet above railroad tracks below, a frightening walk. They also visited the brother of Jennie Stiver, George Henry and family. When meals were eaten here, it took forever to bake a chicken in the wood stove.
David and Alverda Uber Baun
From A Brief History of the Stivers
In the 1930's when we were children, with the depression and lack of work in the steel mills, there was little money. Every year at Christmas time, our mother impatiently waited each day before Christmas,waiting for her father to send to her through the mail from Rochester Mills, Pennsylvania, a cleaned and dressed chicken, which would be our Christmas dinner. This was always a wonderful Christmas gift that everyone appreciated.