Husband Col. James M. Schoonmaker 1
Born: 30 Jun 1842 1
Christened:
Died: Aft 1882
Buried:
Father: James Schoonmaker (Abt 1813-Aft 1882) 2
Mother: Mary Stockton ( -Aft 1882) 1
Marriage: 22 Feb 1872 3
Wife Alice W. Brown 3
Born:
Christened:
Died: 7 Oct 1881 3
Buried:
Father: William H. Brown ( - ) 3
Mother: Mary Smith ( - ) 3
Children
1 M [Unk] Schoonmaker
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
General Notes: Husband - Col. James M. Schoonmaker
He was educated in private schools and in the public schools of Pittsburgh, and attended the Western University of that city, which institution he left at the age of nineteen years, and entered the volunteer army in the war of the Rebellion, being attached as a private at first to the Union Cavalry of Pittsburgh, which joined the Army of the Potomac. With this force he served a
year, being meanwhile made a lieutenant of Company A of the First Maryland Cavalry Regiment, to which the Union Cavalry was attached. In August, 1862, he was ordered from the front to return home and take command of the Fourteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, which was then recruiting in Pittsburgh. In November, 1862, Col. Schoonmaker received his commission as colonel, and took his regiment into the field. At that time Col. Schoonmaker, being a little less than twenty years and five months of age, was, it is believed, the youngest officer of his rank in the Federal army. He commanded the regiment till Jan. 1, 1864, when he was assigned to the command of the First Brigade, First Cavalry Division of the Army of the Shenandoah, and remained in that command till the end of the war, after which, with his brigade, still in service, he was sent by the War Department to guard the overland stage-route from the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains, serving in that campaign till August, 1865, when the brigade was mustered out of service at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
During his military career Col. Schoonmaker was constantly in the field, and participated in all the battles of the Army of the Shenandoah, under Gen. Sheridan, the campaigns of which were especially severe. At one time his brigade was for forty-two consecutive days and nights in the saddle, engaging the enemy daily, and took part in the three decisive battles of the Shenandoah Valley, which practically ended the war by destroying the enemy's forces.
After the mustering out of his brigade at Fort Leavenworth, Col. Schoonmaker returned home and entered into business with his father, remaining with him until some time in 1872, when he went into business with his father-in-law, William H. Brown, in the mining of coal and manufacture of coke.
In 1879, Mr. Brown having meanwhile died, and his business being divided or assigned among the members of his family, Col. Schoonmaker came into possession of the Connellsville coke branch as his interest in the partnership business. A good portion of his works were located in Fayette County, 463 coke-ovens being situated at Dawson's Station, he being also chairman of the Redstone Coke Company (Limited), which had 300 ovens near Uniontown, Col. Schoonmaker owning one-third of this property. He also owned the Alice Mines, in Westmoreland County, comprising 200 ovens, and was chairman of the Morewood Coke Company (Limited), of the same county, and running 470 ovens, of which property he is one-fourth owner. Col. Schoonmaker's principal office was at 120 Water Street, Pittsburgh.