Isaac Shwayder Business Records, 1896-1898

Isaac Shwayder was the son of Eastern European immigrants Aaron and Raschelle Shwayder, who had moved to Paris, France, before finally settling in Manchester, England. There Isaac Shwayder married Rachel Kobey. Isaac Shwayder first came to Central City, Colorado, in 1879 to find work, and after two years the rest of his family joined him. Rachel and Isaac Shwayder had 11 children: Solomon, Dora, Jesse, Raschelle, Mark, Gertrude, Florence, Maurice, Hannah, Benjamin, and Liebe. The Shwayders moved from Central City to Nevadaville (Black Hawk), Colorado, and in 1888 they settled in Denver, where Isaac Shwayder owned a grocery store and later started a second-hand furniture business. In 1910 Jesse Shwayder opened a small luggage factory in Denver with his father, Isaac, and brothers, Mark, Maurice, Benjamin, and Solomon. The business became incorporated as the Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Company in 1912, and it eventually changed its name to Samsonite Corporation. Isaac Shwayder died of a stroke in 1916.