Eclectic Ann: April 2025

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.