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Below is a family biography included in The History of Posey County, Indiana by John C. Leffel and published by Standard Publishing Company in 1913.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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August Schieber. History is the preserved record of events, as biography is the personal record of those who have been actively concerned in the moulding and action of the events from which history is made. A publication of this nature exercises its most important function when it takes cognizance of the life and labors of those citizens who have been of material value in furthering the advancement and development of a community. The late August Schieber, a resident of Mt. Vernon for nearly fifty years, its most extensive owner of business and residence property, and one of Posey county’s most successful men of affairs, is entitled to distinctive recognition in this volume. August Schieber was born in Wittenberg, Germany, February 7, 1841, a son of Frederick and Magdalena Schieber, residents of the town of Stuggart, where the father died when August was seven years of age. His mother married a second time, her husband being Frederick Richert, and in 1848 he brought his family to the United States and located in Evansville, Ind., where he established a brewery. August Schieber was reared in Evansville, was educated in its schools, was variously employed in the brewery of his step-father and also learned the cooper’s trade. He completed a course in Buchanan’s Commercial College at Evansville, attending this school at night. On the breaking out of the war in 1861 he enlisted in defense of the Union and served throughout the conflict, being a member of the Twenty-fourth Indiana volunteer infantry, of which General Alvin P. Hovey, then colonel, was in command. Frederick Rickert erected, shortly after the war, a hotel on Water street in Mt. Vernon, named the Flower House, in which young Schieber managed the cafe. In 1871 the hotel was sold and August Schieber initiated his first commercial enterprise. He established a retail grocery and liquor store on Water street. In the conduct of this business he demonstrated the possession of those qualities necessary to success as a merchant and built up an exceedingly profitable enterprise. About 1890 he disposed of the store and removed to a more central location at Mulberry and Water streets, where he continued as a merchant until his realty interests became so important that he retired from commercial life, giving his entire attention to the management of his business, residence and farm properties. From the time he entered commercial life he was a consistent buyer, with the profits derived from his business, of farm and city property, until his holdings were the largest of any individual in Mt. Vernon, and required not only his entire time in their supervision, but necessitated the employment of assistants. He was the owner of a number of improved business properties, including the Masonic Hall building, forty-one residences, farm lands totaling over 2,000 acres, the Posey county fair grounds of about forty acres, and had been interested directly or indirectly with many other business enterprises of his home city. He was one of the organizers, the largest stockholder and president of the Consumers Ice and Cold Storage Company, of Mt. Vernon, which is reviewed at length in the chapter on “Manufacturing and Commercial Enterprises,” and president of the Lee Lumber Company of Memphis, Tenn., of which his son was general manager, one of the most important concerns in the lumber industry in the South. Essentially a business man; Mr. Schieber had neither time nor inclination for political office, although he served for several terms as a member of the council of Mt. Vernon, believing that a citizen of large property interests should devote a portion of his time and business experience in the management of civic affairs. He was a Republican. Mr. Schieber married on June 18, 1870, Miss Mary Anna Schutte, a daughter of Frank and Clara (Knair) Schutte, both of whom were born in Pricen, Germany. Frank Schutte was a farmer and came to the United States in 1856, locating on land in Marrs township, Posey county, Indiana, which he operated until his death. Mrs. Schieber was born in Pricen, Germany, on June 22, 1851, and was reared in Marrs township. She acquired her education in the St. Philip parochial school and attended the church there. She is a woman who has developed a talent for business affairs, has a comprehensive knowledge of the responsibilities of property ownership, and since the death of Mr. Schieber, which occurred on February 8, 1910, has supervised the management of the large and varied interests left her by her husband. She has been, to some extent, a student, is well read on a variety of subjects, and is the reader of the Christian Science church of Mt. Vernon, of which she is a member. August Frank Schieber, the only child of August and Mary Anna Schieber, was born in Mt. Vernon on March 17, 1871. He received his early educational discipline in the public schools of his native city and through a course of study in St. Francis College at Teotopolis, Ill., and the Catholic College at Dayton, Ohio. He was subsequently employed in his father’s store and mill in various capacities and received a thorough business training under the supervision of the elder Schieber. In Gates, Tenn., he initiated his first independent venture when he formed, with Charles Finley, the firm of Schieber & Finley and engaged in the manufacture of lumber, their plant being removed some time afterward to Benoid, Miss. This venture was a success and he demonstrated his possession of executive ability of a high order. He was able to secure recognition among men in the trade as an able manager and one who knew lumber values. An opportunity offering in which he was assured of further advancing his importance among men in his line, he retired from the firm of Schieber & Finley and, with his father and M. E. Montgomery, purchased the business of the Lee Lumber Company, of Memphis, of which he became general manager and his father president. In the management of this enterprise he continued his former success and the company became one of the most important factors in the lumber trade of the South. On the death of his father he succeeded him as president and remained in this capacity until his death on March 11, 1913. His death, which occurred while he was in the prime of life, at a time when he had attained a commanding position in his chosen field of enterprise, was a severe blow to his mother, who had but three years before lost her husband. August F. Schieber possessed many likeable qualities, his friends were many and worthwhile, he promised to become a business man of unusual worth, and his loss to the business circles of Memphis was deplored by the press of that city. August F. Schieber was twice married. His first wife was Miss Annie Naas, of Mt. Vernon. No children were born of this union. After her death he married Mrs. Margaret Drury, nee Freeman. Of this union one child was born: Mary Augusta Schieber, February 18, 1904.

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This family biography is one of 232 biographies included in The History of Posey County, Indiana by John C. Leffel and published in 1913 by Standard Publishing Company.  For the complete description, click here: Posey County, Indiana History and Genealogy

View additional Posey County, Indiana family biographies here: Posey County, Indiana Biographies

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