William Joseph Shreve (1855)

Born 5 May 1855 in Fairfax County, Virginia

Ancestors

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Biography

William was born in 1855. He is the son of William Shreve and Mary Southern.

• WILLIAM JOSEPH SHREVE, Son of William Henry and Mary (Southern) Shreve; born at the family home, "Mount Pleasant", in Fairfax County, Va., May 5, 1855. During his early life the Civil War began and ended. The four years of that conflict so ravaged his native State that the economic situation appeared hopeless to a young man eager for adventure and an opportunity to make good on his own initiative. Some of the western states seemed particularly attractive. That part of the country was new and vast and invited exploration. The discovery of gold in California was still in the news, cities were growing, businesses of all kinds were opening and expanding, and government land was being made available for homesteading in some states. It was a challenge.
• In 1878, William Joseph Shreve left Virginia and went to San Francisco to visit his brother George who was operating a sporting goods store there. Originally, he had intended to continue on to Washington State and perhaps take up government land near another brother, John, who had already settled in the latter State. Instead he remained in San Francisco and went into partnership with George.
• On July 5, 1881, he married Mary Anna Berry in Fairfax County, Virginia. She was born in that County at "Woodside", near Ash Grove in 1862. Her father was Captain James Owens Berry, a native of New York State, who was in the Virginia Militia prior to the Civil War, and during that War was a Captain in the Confederate Army. For many years he was the County Surveyor for Fairfax County. Her mother was Mary Josephene Gunnell. The latter died in 1917.
• The Shreve sporting goods business was quite successful until the San Francisco earthquake and fire in 1906. This was such a disaster they had to practically start over again, and they were able to recover only a small percentage of the loss from their insurance companies.
• Prior to 1906, William Joseph Shreve and his family lived in Alamedia, California, across the bay from San Francisco. After the fire they moved to San Anselmo, a few miles north of San Francisco, where they lived until 1912 when he sold his interest in the store and purchased a prune, peach and apricot orchard further north at Novato, where they lived until 1920. He then sold this orchard and bought a prune and wine-grape vineyard at Calistoga, where he lived until he passed away, March 15, 1928.

Hary Anna (Berry) Shreve, "Aunt Minnie" as she was fainiliarly called, lived with her daughters, Elodie and Edith, after the death of her husband until she passed away at Elodie's home in Novato, on April 20, 1946. ^[1] .

Sources

1. ↑ 0 U R B R A N C H 0 F T HE S H R E V E .F AM I L Y· T R E E; 1 6 4 1 T 0 1 9 7 0; THE ANCESTORS OF WILLIAM HENRY SHREVE, HIS DESCENDANTS AND THEIR SPOUSES; Compiled by Eugene G. Shreve, 6445 El Nido Drive, McLean, Virginia 22101; 1971, p. 30