The Shelby Bakery Company


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The Shelby Bakery Co.


The bakery that would become the Shelby Bakery Company was probably started in late 1866, however it would be several years before the name became official.

George Frederick Ludwig Schwab was born in Hollenbach, Germany February, 1841. He and older brother George Michael Schwab (born 1834) came to the United States in 1860 and settled in Pottstown, Pennsylvania where they were listed in the 1860 census as "Baker" and "Master Baker" respectively. Sometime between 1860 and 1864, Frederick moved from Pottstown to Shelby where he in 1866 purchased Shelby city lot # 251. This lot was located at what is now 41 East Main Street. The 1870 census shows Frederick Schwab living in Shelby with his wife Mary and three children and he lists his occupation as "Baker". Brother George Michael remained in Pottstown and lists his trade as "confectioner".

Also living in Pottstown is another Schwab brother, John S. Schwab born 1852 in Hollenbach, Wurtemberg, Germany. John arrived from Germany with his sister Hannah in 1866 and in 1870 he is employed as a "Baker" with a John Henry also from Germany. John was the youngest son of Johan Georg and Barbara Steigauf Schwab who lived out their days in Hollenbach, Germany.

By 1871 Frederick Schwab had purchased two additional lots in Shelby located behind lot #251 (41 East Main Street). Sometime in the next year or so, John S. Schwab moved from Pottstown to Shelby, Ohio. The date is unclear at this time, but it is likely that it was shortly after Frederick purchased the two lots in 1871, because Frederick's fifth child Henry L. Schwab was born in Pottstown on November, 1872, and it is unlikely that he would leave his bakery unattended. It can be reasonably assumed that John S. Schwab took over the bakery sometime during the period 1871 - 1872.

On the 26th of October, John married Caroline Sophia Franzki, the oldest daughter of John Christian and Sophia Stahl Frankzi. The Frankzi family were originally from Wurtemberg, Germany, but had lived in the Philadelphia area prior to their move to Shelby in 1865. Over the years 1878 to 1891, John and Caroline were to have five chidren, all girls and all reaching adulthood and all but one moving out of the Shelby area. Their second daughter Amelia Anna married John Roger Kingboro who was to be a well known Shelby druggist.




Photo courtesy of the Shelby Museum

John Schwab's Family in front of the Shelby Bakery at 41 East Main Street (c.1892)

The sign on the awning in the photo above reads:
BAKERY CONFECTIONERY
ICE CREAM PARLOR
J. SCHWAB


Those family members identified in the photo starting with the two small girls (from left) Caroline, Amy (Mrs. John Kingsboro) seated on chair. Small child on stool is youngest daughter Rachel and the two remaining children (in front of their mother) are Leila (on chair) and Dora (standing). John Schwab is standing in the middle with a white apron, his wife Caroline is standing behind Leila and Dora. Caroline's youngest sister Anna (Hunger/Champion) is standing beside the hitching post next to Amy. The older gentleman standing in the back (right) near the steps with the loaf of bread in his hand is probably John's older brother Frederick who started the Schwab bakery business in Shelby. One of the two men at the left may be Emil Hunger who married Anna Frankzi on April 26, 1892.


Descendants of John S. Schwab

1 John S. Schwab b: 23 Jan 1852 d: 17 Oct 1916 .. +Caroline Sophia Franzki b: 21 Jun 1855 m: 26 Oct 1876 d: 09 Feb 1905 ..... 2 Dora Alberta Schwab b: 03 Mar 1878 d: 15 May 1969 ......... +Robert B. Wise b: Abt. 1879 m: Nov 1911 d: Bet. 1933 - 1969 ............ 3 John Kenneth Wise b: Abt. 1913 d: Aft. 1930 ............ 3 Robert Schwab Wise b: Abt. 1914 d: Aft. 1930 ............ 3 Caroline R. Wise b: Abt. 1919 d: Aft. 1930 ..... 2 Amelia Amy Anna Schwab b: 18 Jul 1880 d: 06 Mar 1969 ......... +John Roger Kingsboro b: 29 Jul 1870 m: Abt. 1910 d: 27 Feb 1946 ............ 3 Mary Caroline Kingsboro b: 02 Dec 1912 d: Aft. 1930 ................ +Everett E. Tiffany b: 02 May 1914 d: 18 Nov 2000 ............ 3 Wilson S. Kingsboro b: Abt. 1915 d: Aft. 1930 ..... 2 Leila Luella Schwab b: 04 Nov 1882 d: Mar 1963 ......... +N. M. ..... 2 Caroline Leonora Schwab b: 16 Sep 1885 d: Bet. 1916 - Mar 1979 ......... +N. M. ..... 2 Rachel Catherine Schwab b: 29 Jul 1891 d: 19 Dec 1965 ......... +N. M. ?



In 1900 the census indicates that all the family was living at 41 East Main Street as well as Anna Frankzi Hunger and her daughter Lucia Anna (6). Anna's husband Emil died Jan 1898 and they had lost their second daughter Helen in 1897. John's wife, Caroline Frankzi Schwab, passed away on February 5, 1905 at the age of 50.



John Schwab c. 1900



By 1906 the business at 41 East Main Street was named The Lorentz Baking Company and was run by Walter C. Lorentz. In 1908
the bakery was run by Virgil E. Cissne.

In 1910 John and daughters Dora, Leila, and Caroline were living at 188 West Main Street and he was still listing his occupation as "Baker". By 1913 the old bakery business at 41 East Main Street was owned by Ilah Stahl & Wilbur Dewitt (Stahl & Dewitt Bakery).


Stahl & Dewitt Bakery Delivery Wagon
photo c. 1912 - Note: Phone 168


In 1915 Wilbur Dewitt was joined in the business by Walter Bowsher who came to Shelby from Lima, Ohio. It was shortly after this that Walter Bowsher became the sole owner of the business and decided to have the building that had always housed the business removed to make way for a more modern building. It was during this time that the bakery address became 35 East Main Street, but it still occupied the same lot as the original business.
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Old Schwab home/bakery

The old Schwab household/bakery was moved to 70 Jenner Avenue and is now gone.


John Schwab died October 17, 1916 and is buried along with his wife in Oakland Cemetery. He and his brother Frederick Schwab who died in Pottstown in 1923 founded one of the longest running bakery businesses in Shelby.


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