Emma Jane Mumper Shaver, wife of the Rev Joseph Benson Shaver, was born in Dillsburg, York County, daughter of John B and Elizabeth McCallister Mumper. Her ancestry goes back into the early centuries in Europe where the name ‘de Mumpere’ was prominent in Belgium and along the border of Alsace Lorraine.

Three brothers, Andrew, Abraham, and John de Mumpere migrated to America about 1772, just prior to the Revolutionary War. For simplicity they changed their name to Mumper when they arrived in this country.

Emma Jane Mumper’s father, John B Mumper, son of John Mumper, the original settler, was born in York County February 20, 1817. At an early age he married Miss Elizabeth McCallister of Dillsburg. Four children were born to the union: Alfred, a farmer; Emma Jane, the subject of this sketch; William M, PhD, once a Professor of Natural Science at State Normal School at Trenton, and Kate E Mumper.

As an expert agriculturalist, John B Mumper developed his farm lands into one of the richest in the county. In 1847, then only 30 years old, he discovered a rich vein of iron ore (brown hematic) on his land, which yielded rich returns, giving him considerable prestige throughout the county.

Deeply religious and an advocate of higher education, he provided Emma Jane with the facilities for her graduation from college in York County, a privilege granted to few of the young ladies of that era. Her father was a devoted worshipper and diligent worker in the Methodist Church in York, his religious fervor permeating his daily and home life.
Her mother died in 1878 or 1879 and her father followed on December 2, 1866. A year following her graduation from college on June 20, 1872, she married the Rev Joseph B Shaver, the ceremony being performed in the Dillsburg Methodist Church.

To the union two children were born: Elizabeth Linn Shaver – who married Attorney Frederick L Smith, who upon his death in 1945, left a widow, three children and two grandchildren – and Mary Mumper Shaver – who married Kermit Browne, a New York businessman. Her grandchildren, born to her daughter Elizabeth and Frederick L Smith were Frederick L Smith II, a research chemist in Philadelphia, now deceased, Elizabeth L Smith, wife of Thomas F Harris of White Plains, New York, and Nancy Linn Smith, wife of Thomas F Harris of White Plains, New York, and Nancy Linn Smith, the wife of Robert P Breckenridge and mother of two children, all residing in Greenwich Connecticut. Mary Mumper Shaver was instructor of Library Science at Columbia University of New York.

Emma Jane Mumper Shaver was a scholarly and a fluent and interesting conversationalist. Her enunciation was distinct and concise. She interrupted her home duties to help her husband with the various duties of a minister, accompanying him, for example, on his pastoral calls. This was church custom in the early days. She was also active in the various societies at the church. Of medium stature, wiry and quick in her movements, she was quite a comely looking elderly lady with her charming white hair piled high atop her head, the prevailing style.

Following the death of her husband in 1903, she made her home with the older daughter, Mrs Elizabeth Smith, and accompanied them when the family moved to White Plains, New York where, in January 1937, she passed away at the age of 87 years. At the time of her death she was survived by her two daughters and three grandchildren.

Return to Rev Joseph Benson Shaver