Schneider

Henry Schneider, James G. Schneider, Elizabeth (Schneider) Angell, 6 North 53 West

HENRY SCHNEIDER. From the time of the organization of Logan County Mr. Schneider has been one of its most successful and prominent cattle-raisers. As early as 1871, while on a buffalo hunt in northeastern Colorado, he selected his present ranch as a desirable location. Two years later he settled here, making his home in a sod house that he had built the previous year. As yet the country had not been surveyed, and there were no settlers nearer than forty-five miles. Undismayed, however, by the remoteness of his position, he set himself resolutely to work. When the section was surveyed he entered his land, securing, by preemption and tree claim, three hundred and twenty acres, to which, as the years passed by, he added by purchase from time to time. His ranch now numbers three thousand acres, most of which is under ditch. For a long time he was largely interested in sheep raising, but of late years has given his attention wholly to haying and the cattle business. Upon the incorporation of the town of Evans he was selected as one of the first trustees; and when Logan County was organized he was appointed by Governor Adams one of the first county commissioners. In politics he allies himself with the Democratic party.
Mr. Schneider was born in County Wiltshire, England, December 27, 1844, son of Thomas H. and Mary (Gough) Schneider. (Thomas Howell Schneider, christened January 26, 18?4, married Mary Gough in Oct-Dec 1840 in Chippenham, Wiltshire He died in 1867 in Chippenham..)
He was one of seven children and next to the youngest of the five now living. Of these, Elizabeth is the wife of H. Hulbert, of London, England; Catherine married James Gough, of Wiltshire; John R. is engaged in the transfer business in Denver, Colo. ; and James G. is in Arizona. The father was born in County Wiltshire about 1814... and descended from an old English family that originated in Holland. During the time of William and Mary some of the name went to England, and, being nursery- men, brought with them large supplies of nursery stock. While our subject's father was a graduate pharmacist and chemist, he preferred to engage in farming, and settled down to that occupation. He filled many of the minor offices of his parish and was well known there. He died in 1867. His father, Thomas H. Schneider, Sr., was a general merchant, but his ancestors were all nursery- men.
When eight years old our subject lost his mother. After finishing the studies of the common schools he was for two years a student in a private boarding school. When he was fifteen he took up his home with James Gough, a brother of his mother and a wealthy farmer and cattle dealer. On account of having to buy and sell stock Mr. Gough was often away from home, and the management of the farm of six hundred acres and the oversight of the dairy of one hundred and twenty milch cows were almost entirely in the hands of our subject. As about thirty men were employed, all of whom he superintended, his task was no slight one for a youth. In addition he had charge of much of his uncle's correspondence and kept his books. In this way was laid the foundation for his successful business career. He was forced to be self-reliant and judicious, and these qualities have ever since been factors in his character. Desiring to engage in the cattle business in America, in 1869 he crossed the ocean, landing in New York December 18, after a very tempestuous voyage of fourteen days. The vessel on which he crossed was wrecked on the return voyage and of all the crew and passengers but one man was saved, he being picked up from some wreckage by another boat.
From New York Mr. Schneider went to Ontario, thence to Michigan and then to Chicago. In February, 1870, he went to Mississippi and rented land in Pontotoc County, where he put in a crop of cotton and general farm products. After this had been harvested he left and returned to Chicago, where he heard William N. Byers lecture on Colorado. He was so attracted by the description of the west that he determined to come here. Going to St. Louis he joined the St. Louis & Western Colony Company, with which he came to Colorado. He settled in Evans in the spring of 1871, and during the summer worked under the chief surveyor in laying out the town site and opening ditches. In the fall he opened a coal, lime and feed business. A year later he sold out and returned to England on a visit. Coming back in the spring of 1873 he settled on the ranch where he has since resided. In 1892 he married Mrs. Hattie H. (Jewett) Peyton, widow of William N. Peyton, and mother of three children, of whom the only survivor is Joseph C. Peyton, deputy sheriff of Logan County and a resident of Sterling.
January 1904 Denver "There is one name in the awful death list being made up as the victims of the Chicago disaster are identified, that attracts particularly the attention of the Schneider family in Colorado. That name is James Schneider. Is he one of the brothers of Henry Schneider, deceased, who was formerly a ranchman in the vicinity of Sterling, or is he not? The heirs of Henry Schneider are asking this question over and over again of everybody and anybody whom they think might possibly know."