Sullivan County Court House records note that in 1877 land was transferred from Alexander Doll to a John Schriber (record 75-113). Alexander Doll was the husband of Samantha Jane Sprague who was a cousin of John’s wife Mary Esther Purvis.

John owned a farm in an area called Motts Flats, which was a mile north of the old Livingston Manor NY railway station. This farm joined the farm of his cousin, William Wallace Mott, whose residence faced a covered bridge which crossed the Willowemoc River at that point. William's and John's mothers were sisters of the Wright family, originally of the town of Nevesink.

Another cousin, William's brother, John Stitt Mott, was the father of John Raleigh Mott b. 1865, Livingston Manor NY who went on to become a noted religious leader and social worker. He went to Cornell University and for his life-long service in the cause of international understanding was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946. John Raleigh Mott,  was born just a year later (1865) than John Scriber’s son, Adelbert M. John Scriber and his cousin John Stitt Mott lost ties though, since at some point John Mott moved with his family to Postville IA where he became the mayor. It was here that he raised his family and the prominent cousin, John Raleigh Mott, so therefore the cousins in NY never really met.

The following notice ran for several months in 1884 in a local paper:  Six building lots for sale. They are finely located within 200 yards of Livingston Manor Depot on Main Road. J. E. Scriber.

John Scriber was a farmer and a lumberman. He and his cousin, William Mott, owned a saw mill,  which was located a half of a mile north of Livingston Manor NY. This later became known as the Mott Saw Mill. The lumber in those days was rafted in the eddy in Livingston Manor and then floated down the Willowemoc River in small rafts called colts. Once these reached Hancock NY, four colts would be put together, constituting a raft. These were then floated south on the Delaware River to Philadelphia PA where buyers awaited them. Lumber was big business in those days in Sullivan County NY.

While in his thirties he contracted the measles from his two young sons whom he had helped care for. He was seriously ill for days and the remedy of wrapping him in a cold wet sheet soaked in ice water may not have helped. He was left with an asthmatic condition afterward and found that being exposed regularly to the dust and hay of farming only worsened this condition. One year later he sold his farm, including his horses and stock, and with $9000.00 went into the mercantile business. This proved to be unsuccessful and after seven years, with little money and great disappointment, was forced to return to farming. Life was quite difficult those days since milk at that time was worth only forty-four cents a can and butter barely ten or twelve cents a pound. He had one hundred sheep but no market for wool, and lambs sold for only seventy-five cents a head.

Living in what was still much of a wilderness, young men of these parts were raised to be hunters and fishermen. John was no exception. Much of one's survival was dependent on the local game and fish. Deer were very plentiful in the dense woods and the nearby streams abounded with trout. John and his family surely also had many a meal of wild turkey and rabbit and in August,  delicious pies were certainly made of the intensely flavorful wild huckleberries.

John also was a bee culturist and had from ninety to one hundred fifty skeps of bees. The wonderful clover honey he took from the colony was sold for ten cents a pound. His son Adelbert claims that the locals always credited John as being the first to discover putting boxes on top of the old-fashioned hives and getting the bees to do their work in there instead. John would put one or two pieces of honeycomb on top of the boxes and the bees, then assuming that this was their new home, readily took to it. According to Adelbert, credit was eventually given to someone out west, but many years later. Apparently skeps were actually made thousands of years ago from rushes and straw. In the mid-1600s they began making them of wooden boxes in Gloustershire England, but it is also possible that John independently thought of doing this himself, given man's natural ability to think creatively and divergently.

A photo of John (see right) shows him with a very long beard and in front of him, hanging from racks,  at least a dozen meaty birds that he had apparently killed. On the back of the photo someone has identified these as the now extinct Passenger Pigeon but upon closer inspection these look more like Ruffed Grouse or Partridge. The now extinct wild pigeon was in great abundance in this region because of the forests of beech trees. They came north each March to feast on beechnuts and nested in vast numbers, covering thousands of acres. John Audubon described his encounter with them in 1813 as follows: "The air was literally filled with pigeons; the light of noon day became dim, as during an eclipse; the pigeon's dung fell in spots not unlike melting flakes of snow, and the continued buzz of their wings over me had a tendency to incline my sense of repose." Evidently their squeaking and screaming could be heard for miles. The local men would come from all around. The birds were shot, netted, poked out of nests, clubbed and even choked by fumes from smoldering pots of sulpher. John's family no doubt dined often on this bird.

The birds were quite large; fifteen to seventeen inches in length with wing spans of twenty-three to twenty-five inches, and were meaty and succulent. They were stewed, broiled, put in pot-pies, as well as salted down in barrels for winter use. They first were hung by their feet for a period of time (a day or two), which made them more tender. Then they were plucked and the pin feathers singed over a candle or open fire. The head, feet and innards were removed and some parts saved for stock such as the gizzard, liver and heart. For the delectable dish of Potted Pigeon, they were dredged in flour and seared slowly in butter, then put into a cast iron pot with chopped celery, onion, carrot and some poultry broth after which they were oven roasted for an hour or so. Cream was then added to the drippings and broth for a tasty gravy. Undoubtedly John and his family enjoyed this dish often. 

A great number of these pigeons were sold in New York City markets and became a means of livelihood for the locals. Unfortunately John will have to be remembered as  participating in their extinction.  Because these birds had seemed so very plentiful, they were destroyed by the thousands with little thought that someday the woods in March might eventually be still. By 1902 very few were being seen. Pigeon sightings became an event that reached the local newspapers. John did not live to know that in 1914 the last passenger pigeon (a twenty-nine year old female) died in the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens.  His wife though, who died in 1932, surely remembered the many passenger pigeon feasts of earlier days and knew there would be no more for her descendants.

With John's generation the  family name became known as Scriber, having evolved from the original German Palatine name of Schreiber and then to Dutch spelling, Schryver. His brothers and sisters though used the spelling, Schriber.

At some point he went to live with his son Blake, while his wife and daughter, Carolyn, moved to Clinton Avenue in Monticello NY, which was in the same county but in the Town of Thompson. Two of their sons, Adelbert and Bertrand, were already in this village and sharing a room in a boarding house there. Once their mother arrived there they moved in with her and their sister. It is uncertain as to why this arrangement was made. John was in his late fifties then, and possibly he was not well, or there were some other sorts of problems or difficulties between him and his wife Mary Esther. One can only speculate.

John’s obituary appeared in the Liberty Register - May 9, 1902:

John Eli died in Livingston Manor NY on 4 May 1902 at the age of.  He is buried in Orchard Street Cemetery,  Livingston Manor NY.  

Mary Esther was eighteen when she married John who was nearly thirty. Stories were told of how John would have to call her in to cook dinner because she was out climbing trees with her children. These stories always led one to believe that she may have actually been much younger, so possibly this birth date is incorrect.

Photos show her as a young girl as very attractive, almost exotic and possibly a bit wild and flirtatious.

Mary wrote a letter to her son Adelbert: (This letter is significant in that  pigeon hunting was extremely popular in this area of New York State. The Carrier pigeon was in abundance and provided a wonderful source of food as well as a living for some of the rural folks. It apparently was quite meaty and delicious.  But this pigeon was hunted to oblivion and went extinct. This letter infers that Mary’s husband had thought about going to another location west of there to hunt the pigeons but decided not to. There apparently were none left in Sullivan County at this time.)

 When her son, Adelbert, married in 1899 his bride moved into this house with his mother and sister as well. Later he purchased his own home at 371 Broadway, Monticello NY (this house is no longer standing) and Mary Esther and Carolyn came along as part of the package to this house. Her son, Bert did not marry until 1917, so it is not certain where he went at this point.

In her old age she is seen as quite heavy but looking strong and fit.

Mary Esther was said to have been a very opinionated person. Her presence must not have gone unnoticed in her son and daughter-in-law's household. She and her adult unmarried daughter, Carolyn were a constant part of this family and Mary Esther died only one year prior to her daughter-in-law at the age of eighty-seven.

When Carolyn finally married (a widower) at the age of forty-six, she apparently left her older brother’s household and moved to Liverpool NY with her new husband but eventually they settled in Maybrook NY and at that time Mary Esther moved in with them it appears.

The name of Mary Esther’s parents are documented in her obituary and are noted as Thomas D. and Ann Marie Grant Purvis. (other sources give her mother’s name as Maria Ann Grant). This same obituary states that her grandfather, for whom the town of Purvis was named, was born on the Atlantic in 1791 while his parents were enroute to this country from England. A hand written obituary for a  James Purvis found among family papers supports this information and therefore it is believed that James was her grandfather. (calculating the age of James and the year that he died places his year of birth as 1791). Also the fact that this paper was kept in the family supports the belief that he was a close family member. 

A newspaper clipping (date unknown) states:  “Mrs Mary E. Scriber is visiting her daughter, Mrs. John P. Williams at Liverpool, NY. She expects to be away about two weeks. Mr. and  Mrs. Williams were at Monticello in Sunday and Mrs. Scriber returned home with them.” This refers to her daughter, Carolyn Scriber Williams who married John Peter Williams (known as Pete).

Mary Esther died in Monticello, NY, on June 10, 1932.  She was 87.  She is buried in Orchard Street Cemetery, Livingston Manor, NY.

John Eli Scriber (1835-1902)

John Eli Scriber with what have been identified as Ruffed Grouse ... although it says "wild passenger pigeons" (now extinct) on the back of the photo.

Our thanks to Susan Schock for these biographies and pictures.