3 Newsworthy Tragic Deaths in Pittsburgh

 As I was looking at a family member's family tree, I began finding some newspaper articles mentioning a few members of her extended family.  

The first two individuals I will share are her 3rd Great Grandmother, Marie C (Wolrabe) Woche and Marie's son in law, William F Schade.  Marie was born in Bohemia/Germany on Feb 17, 1829 to George and Maria Wolrabe. She was married in Bohemia/Germany to Johann Gottlieb Woche who arrived in the US the year before Marie, 1865.   27 year old Marie arrived in New York City on Jun 25, 1866 from the port of Bremen, Germany as a passenger on the SS New York along with her three children Margaret age 9, Marie age 7 and John age 5.  Likely at the Castle Garden location there. 

Marie's family probably had the normal life of a recent immigrant with her husband working as a laborer in 1880. They lived at 243 Ridge St in Pittsburgh at that time.  In the City Directory for Pittsburgh in 1895, the family was living at Ridge and Chauncey Sts.  As near as I can find out, this may have been located in today's Hill District of Pittsburgh.  

Marie's death would have been a mystery, if not for her family's diligence.  Marie had been out christmas shopping and suffered an attack of apoplexy, or stroke, while at Pittsburgh's Diamond Market (now Market Square) in the afternoon.  She was rendered unconscious and was taken to the Homepathic hospital (later to become UPMC Shadyside Hospital).  She died there that evening without regaining consciousness and her identity unknown.  Earlier, during her shopping, she had stopped at McElvoy's store on Wood St. where her granddaughter, Annie Schade worked, to drop off some packages to be picked up later.  When she did not return, her granddaughter took the packages home only to find that her grandmother had not returned home either.  The police were contacted and found out that an unknown woman had died at the hospital. Upon arriving at the morgue, the son, John Woche, identified her as his mother Marie. Marie had died on Dec 18, 1897 and is buried at the Minersville Cemetery in Pittsburgh.  

                                                                    Marie Wolrabe Woche

Pittsburgh Homeopathic Hospital in 1883

The Diamond Market where Marie fell ill, has had several versions throughout Pittsburgh's history.  The first one was built about 1794 along with the first courthouse.  This one was torn down about 1852.  The next Market was built in the same location consisting of two brick buildings covering up the Market Square area.  These would be the Market where Marie fell ill. They were in use until 1914 when they were demolished to build the new Diamond Market.  This building is probably remembered  by old time Pittsburghers today and was designed to allow vehicles to pass under the building through archways covering the intersection of Diamond street and Market St. In 1958, Diamond Street's name was changed to Forbes Ave. But once again in 1961, the market was demolished to create and open area known today as Market Square which is surrounded by small shops and restaurants. Today in 2025, there are plans to again recreate Market Square.

Diamond Market in 1908 & 1915 as it would have looked when Marie shopped there

Articles about Marie's death

The second individual mentioned above is William Schade.  We need to go back to five years before Marie passed away for William's story.  William was also a German immigrant who was born on Aug 6, 1849.  He married Marie's daughter, Margaret Woche, in 1875, my family member's 3rd great aunt.  They had a daughter Annie Schade who was born in 1877 in Pittsburgh. He was a well known businessman.  William made his start with a newspaper route and eventually opened his own store on Butler St in Lawrenceville.  About 1890, William sold his store and began his real estate and insurance business in an office at 315 Wood St. only blocks from Market Square.  But apparently after two years, his business had a downturn and he had some health issues which William became despondent over.  His mental state worsened and finally he wrote letters to some family and friends informing them of his intention to die.  William went to his office on Friday, June 17th but did not go home that night.  The letters were received on Saturday morning causing great concern in the family.  They searched for him all day Saturday without success.  On Saturday evening, Margaret and 14 year old Annie went to Margaret's father's home staying all night in case William would show up there.  They heard noises outside on Sunday morning and in looking out a window they saw William approaching, but before they could reach him, they heard a shot fired and found William lying dead. A sad ending on June 19, 1892.  William is buried in Allegheny Cemetery.  

The third story, that I ran across several years ago, involves a 13 year old boy from a different branch of my family member's.  Allan Schiller was born on Jul 27, 1940 in Pittsburgh to Emil and Mildred (Schmella) Schiller.  In 1950, the family was living at 3147 Josephine St. in the Southside neighborhood of Pittsburgh. His father Emil was working as an insurance agent. By 1952, they had moved to 916 Excelsior St. in the Allentown section on the Southside. At this time an article states that Emil was jailed for beating Allan and his older brother, with Allan requiring stitches in his head.  Their mother, Mildred, filed the charges.  Emil Schiller had another run in with the law, coincidentally at a bar in the Diamond Market area in 1952.  On the day of  Oct 9, 1953, 13 year old Allan Schiller had gone to a football game with friends at South High Stadium.  At this time in Pittsburgh, there were still many incline railroads used to travel from the heights of Mt Washington and south Pittsburgh down to the mills and other industries along the Monongahela River. One of these, the Twelfth St Incline, was very near Allan's home on Excelsior St. high above the river.  On this night, it is thought that Allan hitched a ride on one of the incline cars to go home and likely lost his grip and fell beneath the incline car's wheels killing him.  His body was found by railroad inspectors the next day. His older brother identified him at the morgue from Allan's clothing items.  Allan was an eighth grader at Knoxville Junior High.  He is buried in 1st St Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery in  Mount Oliver. Allan's father Emil, died less than a year after Allan of kidney disease.  In 1964, Allan's mother, had a plea rejected by the State Supreme Court in an attempt to receive damages as a result of Allan's death.  Allan must have had a hard life and a far too short one.   Allen was my family member's 1st cousin twice removed.  

Marie's great granddaughter, an Oschman married a Schiller in 1942 connecting the two families in these stories.

 

                                        An Incline of the type found in Pittsburgh at the time

https://positivelypittsburgh.com/exploring-the-history-of-pittsburghs-market-square/

Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2025. All rights reserved

Another Amazing Happenstance or Two or Three

 

Recently, a page I follow on Facebook, Old photos & stories around Bedford County, (Pennsylvania) had a post from one David Amman about an airport project that he was researching.  The airport in question was the Bedford Airport, the town where I was born, as well as my dad and many generations before him.  David was looking for photos of the four airport locations in Bedford.  He had also attached two photos that he had found. One was a newspaper ad about the Bedford Airways Flying School and the other was B & W photo of four small aircraft parked on a a grassy piece of land. This post most definitely piqued my interest because my dad learned to fly at the Bedford airport.  I had always wanted some old photos of the airport but had never gotten around to a serious search.  One of the replies to his post made me remember that I had some of my dad's aviation related things. I dug them out and there were several airport locator maps from the late 1960's to 1970, a manual flight computer and most importantly, his pilot log books. I posted a photo of a random page from his first log book. This caught David's interest and he asked if  I would search for a specific tail number in the log book, NC96309.  This is getting more interesting by the minute. Of course I would look for it! Page after page and nothing, until... Aug 12, 1947.  There it was. A T-craft Ace which he flew for 50 minutes. He practiced stalls and landings on this flight out of Bedford Airport.  Finding the number, I immediately let David know.  David then told me that he is the current owner of that specific aircraft and that it is one of the planes in the photo he posted!  Sure enough there was the same number on the plane in the photo! Now my mind is blown!  What are the chances of this ever happening!  I kept looking thru the logbook and a few days later, dad flew 96309 again for 35 minutes.  There was also another entry in the logbook for a T-craft Ace with a different number, NC96563 that he also flew as a quick 15 minute orientation flight previous to flying in 96309. I believe that that plane is also in David's photo. And here's why.  The Flying School had 4 trainer aircraft and there are 4 planes in the photo.  It's blurry but I feel that the number matches.  Just like that I have a photo of an actual plane that dad flew in 1947.  

NC96309 at Bedford and in the distance at end NC96563

                                                     Bedford Gazette, March 18, 1948

I found this ad in the Bedford Gazette, Aug 14, 1947, pg 9  -- Dad flew mainly the Aeronca Champ while taking lessons

In examining dad's log book, I realized the he did not begin his flying lessons in Bedford, instead the first 10 months or so, he flew out of the Martinsburg, Pa airport about half an hour north of Bedford in Blair county.  The reason for this was that Bedford did not have an active airport at that time, but one was being built and would open in 1947. Dad's very first flight was on June 24, 1946.  He was just a week or so short of his 17th birthday.  He flew in an Aeronca Champion NC83657 for 30 minutes.

Martinsburg Pa airport in 1953

 Being summer, his lessons occurred about 4 days a week always in the same aircraft.  When school started in the fall the lessons slowed down.  April 1947 came along and Dad began flying again, but out of the Bedford Airport this time. According to David, there was also a temporary airfield at Everett, PA that was called Bedford by many that was used while Bedford airport #2 was being built. Dad could have been flying out of there just before the new field opened and called it Bedford in his log book. 

Dad's first cross country flight would happen on June 4, 1947 about the time of his graduation from Bedford High School.  He took off from Bedford in an Aeronca Champ NC2388E (this number becomes important) flew 46 minutes to Utahville in Clearfield Co, Pa then on to Tyrone, Pa 20 minutes away and then 41 minutes back to Bedford.  He continued his lessons through the summer of 1947 and on July 22, he began prepping for his flight tests.  On Aug 12, 1947, dad received his license, coincidentally, the same day he flew David's plane for the first time.  Dad flew several days a week thru the rest of August and was able to now have passengers along.  He gave rides to family and friends. You might wonder how a high school kid paid for his lessons and flight time.  Dad did have various jobs in town, but would also tell us that he would do odd jobs around the airport to help pay for the lessons.  I remember him saying that he did some digging around the runway once and painting an identifier on a roof at the airport.  

Dad in 1947

Dad went away to school at Parks Air College in St Louis for a year but managed to get in flight time at Bedford on visits and the summer of 1948. He then transferred to Lock Haven Teachers College, Pa in the fall of 1948.  He flew many hours the summer of 1949 at Bedford and that fall began getting in some flight time at Lock Haven's airport, also home to Piper Aircraft.  One log entry on Sept 24,1949, he said that he and a friend flew from Lock Haven to State College, Pa and flew over the Penn State vs Villanova game at half time in the new Beaver Field that had opened that year.  Penn State 6 - Villanova 24.  At Lock Haven, dad was flying a Piper Vagabond.  Dad flew as often as he could through college until 1952 when he entered the Army for a two year enlistment. His longest cross country trip was July 26 - 30, 1950, when he and a brother flew from Bedford to St Louis. One of those flights during college included my mom, whom he had met in Lock Haven.  She was visiting Bedford with him and on July 26, 1952 she took a 30 minute ride over the Bedford area. She wasn't a fan of flying but did it that day.  When dad returned from the Army, one of the first things he did was to take a check flight at Bedford on July 9, 1954. His log book says he did not do the medical because he was getting married the following month.  

Penn State trip and what he would have seen

                                                          Cross Country trip - Bedford to St Louis

Carole, John's future wife flies

Bedford #2 Cessna runway and offices and Hanger in 1959

Bedford County Press & Everett Press - Aug 6, 1959, pg 9

Bedford Airport #2 aerial view in1958

Dad did not pilot a plane again for 13 years. But in those years, we were able to fly with dad's brothers once in awhile at Bedford.  One of those rides was in summer 1965.  I did find a photo taken from a cockpit where dad's brother Gene was the pilot and the photo was marked as Weidman's Bedford.  Weidman's was a name of the 3rd Bedford airport location.  

Bedford Weidman in 1967

 Weidman's Bedford  - 1965

Dad had three brothers, all of which held their licenses for awhile.  One brother in particular, Gene, flew all his life. Along with his wife, they did air shows and competed in aerobatics.  In late 1967, dad decided to renew his physical and get his license current again.  By this time, he and our family were living in Pottsville, Pa and dad was a professor for Penn State's local campus in Schuylkill county.  His first flight was on Nov 9, 1967 at the local airport, Zerbey, near Pottsville Pa. He flew in a Piper PA-28 140 Cherokee.  

         Dad's return to flying and his manual flight computer for flight planning 

                                                      April 1968 - Zerbey Airport - Piper Cherokee

1967 Zerbey Airport

By March of 1968, he was checked out and began flying around the area.  On April 2, 1968, I had my first airplane ride with Dad. I had five rides in all with dad by Aug of 1970.  There could have been more that he didn't note me in his logbook.  I enjoyed the rides but not enough to want to learn to fly, I guess. Dad always wanted me to solo at 16. I was 15 at the time and had other interests, plus I could not even learn to drive a manual shift car! How in the world would I have been able to handle all that stuff in an airplane! Rudder, Throttle, Instruments and of course, the "Houses get bigger, Houses get smaller" yoke!  Mom was probably relieved, she would worry every time my sisters and I flew with Dad. I was on Dad's last flight which was on Aug 23, 1970.  He had to stop flying due to a medical issue.  A sad ending to something he loved to do. 

 

                                                       My first ride with Dad

                                                                       and his last flight


Side Stories

Now, in getting back to my conversations with David. He sent me many news clippings he had collected for his project. I searched old photos to see what I may have had to share as well. It's hard to believe that there was not one photo of dad with any airplanes during the time he was learning to fly!  In dad's log book, I noticed a signature of the same person on almost every page.  Woodrow Clapper.  Of course, me and my curiosity, searched him at newspapers.com and started finding some of the same clippings that David had sent me.  It turns out that, Woody as he was known by, was one of three former WW2 army  pilots who formed a company, Bedford Airways, and were building a new runway for Bedford just 2 miles north at Cessna, PA and opened a flying school marketed to veterans and their GI Bill benefits.  This airport would be the 2nd of 4  locations of an airport at Bedford.  It was open from 1947 until sometime between 1958 and 1962, when a 3rd location replaced it. However, there is information that says the 2nd location continued operating as a private airport until around 1965-68.    The school appealed to more than veterans tho, as many others, men mostly but there was at least one woman who completed her training there, enrolled. So that all made sense.  This was all around the time that dad was taking his lessons.  

David also shared a link to a page where you can search for aircraft tail numbers. He searched one of the other numbers that he had seen in the log book and came up with a match.  Remember NC2388E that I said was important?  Well, it is another plane that is likely still flying today.  So now we have a photo of a second plane that dad flew back in 1947.  It's last owner is listed as living in Woodbury, PA which is very near Bedford.  Both of these planes were manufactured in 1946.   David bought the T-Craft Ace N96309 in 2019.  

Aeronca -AC ---  NC2388E  today

David's Taylorcraft Ace NC96309 today - note the Bedford Airways Logo on the fuselage

T-Craft is actually a short name for Taylorcraft, the plane's manufacturer.  I have one more happenstance here.  Awhile back , I was  researching former residents of my grandfather's address in Lock Haven, PA.  I was amazed to find out that in 1940,William T Piper, owner of Piper Aircraft was living with his son at my grandfathers's address.  Grandad bought the home a few years after this.  I can only imagine some of the aviation conversations that took place in my grandad's living room. Why I bring this up, is because Piper Aircraft was born of  Taylor Brothers Aircraft Corporation. William Piper bought Clarence Taylor's share of the company, of which Piper was an investor, and renamed it Piper Aircraft in November 1937.   Clarence Taylor formed another company, Taylor-Young Airplane Company, which was renamed Taylorcraft in 1939, the maker of David's plane. 

Three of Bedford's Aviation Pioneers
Woody Clapper was a local pilot before WW2 and flew gliders in the war and later after the flying school in Bedford, was an officer in Bedford County's Civil Air Patrol, and also was Bedford's postmaster for 40 years. My curiosity was not yet satisfied tho and being related to ALOT of Bedford county families, I turned to Ancestry.com and searched for Woody's family.  I did find it and was able to connect to Woody in several ways.  1st, we are related to his first wife, Dorothy Calhoun, through our common Border family ancestors, as 7th cousins. 2nd, my daughter in law who has many Bedford connections, is an 8th cousin of Woody through the Brumbaugh and Hoover families. And 3rd, we are related to Woody himself through the Brill, Maurer and Amick families as our 5th cousin.  One of the trees on Ancestry that Woody Clapper is part of  had some additional news clippings attached to him that pertained to the airport and school. I finally had something new to share with David.  I think dad would have liked knowing of his relationship to Woody.  Woody passed away on April 19, 1991 in Bedford at age 78.  

Bedford Gazette reprint, May 1994

One of the other partners who built the 2nd Bedford  Airport was named Jack Henry Pepple.  He too was a glider  pilot in WW2.  His name appears in my Dad's log book on just one page, in August of 1947. Tragically, Pepple, age 26, was killed in an air crash less than a year later on July 16, 1948 over West Virginia in bad weather. At that time, Bedford Airways offered a charter service and it was one of these flights that crashed, piloted by Pepple. Prior to this crash, Bedford Airways  had a very good safety record. 

Everett Press, April 23, 1948 pg 10

The third partner in Bedford Airways, Frank Grazier another WW2 pilot, bought Woody Clapper's share of the business in 1951 and in 1956 combined the Blair county airport with Bedford Airways and operated as Blair-Bedford Airways. 

Bedford Gazette, Nov 13, 1951

That ends this story of my Dad and his flying chapter. I could go into more history of the airports but I will leave that for others to research. Aviation gets into your soul, I believe.  It has always been a part of my life in one way or another beginning with my Dad and his brothers.  Then I met my husband.  His dad was a WW2 nosegunner in a B24.  His brother had his pilot license and was building his own plane.  I had a ride with him in his Luscom once.  Quite the experience compared to flying in a brand new Piper Cherokee with my dad. My husband was an Air Force Veteran where he learned his craft as a mechanic.  Later he worked for McDonnell-Douglas as a factory rep on contract to the Navy.  And lastly retired from USAirways/American Airlines as a Maintenance Foreman  in the Ops Center in Pittsburgh. We also have other pilots and aviation professionals in both of our families.   So as I say, it's in our soul and blood.   As I sit here and write this story, I can hear aircraft approaching Pittsburgh International.  I do not mind the sounds at all.  Some protest the noise, but I look at it as just part of my life.  Our bread and butter I always say and sounds of freedom.   Look up.... 

Special thanks to David Amman for his post! Thanks for reading!

SOURCES:

David Amman

https://flybedfordpa.com

https://flyaltoona.com

https://www.taylorcraft.com/history.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylorcraft_Aircraft

https://www.piper.com/blog/piper-history/

https://www.airfields-freeman.com/PA/Airfields_PA_SC.htm#bedford1

aerialvisuals.ca

Newspapers.com

Ancestry.com

Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2025. All rights reserved

Paths

 I've been doing embroidery this last year and have found some really nice patterns to stitch.  My latest project was a labyrinth made solely of french knots.  As I was stitching, I was thinking of the many paths  we encounter in life, just as in a labyrinth. Sometimes you hit a dead end and have to turn around, sometimes it requires a lot of turns to complete the journey.  But with persistence, you arrive at the  destination.  So I guess my thought for the day is 

"keep going, be persistent and you'll attain your goal"

Pattern from :  NOMADembroideryCo

Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2025. All rights reserved