John Schwab grew up as a neighbor to the Farabaughs in Loretto. When he once trespassed to pick apples, Pauline chased him away by unleashing her dog. Pauline also regularly embarrassed John in spelling bees in school, even though she was four years his junior. Because of limited economic opportunity, and the harsh winter of 1856, the Schwabs decided to move to Williamsburg, Pa. However John and Pauline met again in 1859 at a party in Munster Township. Older and wiser, they courted and were married two years later. Their new home in Williamsburg was a simple one-story wood frame. Pauline's two brothers made wooden furnishings and her mother donated a cow. Almost immediately, John wanted to volunteer for the Union Army, but Pauline dissuaded him. John often joked, "I was married in 1861, the year the war began, and it's been going on ever since."
John became foreman at his father's wool factory. He was drafted by the Union, but then was released so that he could produce blankets and overcoats for the cause. Profits from the sales enabled John to support his family. After the war, he experienced mysterious spells of dizziness and fainting. He was advised to move to a rural environment with a high elevation. John relocated the family to Loretto, purchased a small livery stable and hack line, and acquired a contract to carry the mail. The stable was sold in 1890, and John became a traveling salesman of buggies and farm implements for the D. M. Osborne Company. John also became a school director and a banker -- he helped organize and was president of the Grange National Bank of Patton, which opened in 1906. He was director of the Williamsburg National Bank, and an associate for the Martinsburg National Bank. He was remembered as a jack-of-all-trades, easygoing, and self-effacing, with a penchant for practical jokes. Because of an annuity purchased by his son Charlie, John was able to retire at the age of fifty-one.
John's Last Will and Testament gave $100 to his chaffeur Frank Dyson and the residue to his wife Pauline. He appointed as executor his son-in-law David Barry, who petitioned the Cambria County Court of Common Pleas on May 16, 1924.

Pauline was born in a log cabin on a farm in Munster Township, Cambria Co., Pa. She was an extremely devout Catholic. Because of her faith, Charlie built St. Michael's Church in Loretto, Pa. Charlie once said that she was the family disciplinarian, "despite her sense of humor." Pauline also made clothes for the family and greatly enjoyed solving jigsaw puzzles.
The Schwabs had eight children, three of which died young from spinal meningitis.
In 1903, Pauline, John, their children Charlie and Gertrude, among others, embarked on an overseas vacation. Their visits to Sicily and Tunis were chronicled in a letter by Gertrude to sister Cecelia, and anticipated a visit to Rome. It is reported that Charlie arranged a family visit to the Pope at the Vatican.
In later life, Pauline was nicknamed “The Grand Old Lady” and she spent much of her time quilting and sewing. She provided Charlie with a new quilt on his birthdays. Pauline's Will devised $100 to Rev. John B. Barry of Pittsburgh, $200 to the pastor of St. Michael's Church, Loretto, and the residue to son Charles M. Schwab. The estate consisted of $25,000 in personal property, and a $2,000 value placed on a house and garage in Loretto. At the time of death she was living in Loretto, at what later became the American Legion building. The current back lot was the location of the Schwab's car barn or garage with apartment. Both buildings were painted yellow. She died of pneumonia in 1936.