Wilhelm Schneider was born in Riedern, Baden, Germany, on 21 Jan 1849. In September of 1878, he married Walburga Ballweg (1 May 1854--22 Jun 1929), the daughter of Thomas Ballweg (19 Dec 1815--8 Apr 1867) and Viktoria Bierling/Pierling (26 Jan 1824--5 Mar 1908) of Steinfurt.
Wilhelm worked as the forester on an estate called Breitenau, which was about nine miles from Riedern. He retained this position until his death on 6 February, 1931. Walburga Schneider died on 22 January, 1929.
The children of Wilhelm Schneider and Walburga Ballweg were:
Minnie Schneider was the first child born to Wilhelm Schneider and Walburga Ballweg at Breitenau, Germany on the 6th of June, 1879. The eldest of six daughters, she was one of five who emigrated to the United States where, in 1903, she married Lawrence Eisenhauer. They had three children.
Lawrence Eisenhauer died on 10 June, 1947 and Minnie on 5 July, 1969. Both are buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in Flushing, Queens.
CLICK HERE to see a picture of Minnie Schneider.
Born on 29 June, 1881, Olive Schneider was the second child born to Wilhelm Schneider and Walburga Ballweg at Breitenau, Germany. Like her elder sister, Minnie, Olive emigrated to the United States. There is a record of an Olive Schneider arriving in New York on the Pretoria in 1906 [7 September].
When Olive married, it was to someone from her home-town of Hardheim, Ed Gruelich. They had four children, two of whom pre-deceased Olive, who died in March of 1969 just shy of her 88th birthday
CLICK HERE to see a picture of Olive Schneider.
The second son (and fourth child) of Wilhelm and Walburga Schneider was born retarded. When his family could no longer care for him he was placed in an institution, never suspecting that in 1940, his affliction led to his being put to death by the Nazis, for no other reason than he did not fit the "image" of the superior Aryan race. Of his death, his sister-in-law, Elise Herold, commented non-chalantly. "Many more are with him. I think it is the best solution." The world would soon learn more about the Nazi "solution" to internal problems. For the Schneiders, it was a double tragedy, for only a month earlier, Fr. Wilhelm Schneider, Anselm's younger brother, had lost his battle with cancer.
Julia Schneider, born on the 27th of December, 1886, at Breitenau, Germany. She was the fifth child (third daughter) of Wilhelm Schneider and Walburga Ballweg. She was married to Eugen Woelfel (1881-1942), a native of Tahl, Alsace Lorraine. Julia Schenider Woelfel died on 26 August, 1970.
Wilhelm Schneider, born 7 Jan 1889, beamce a priest 13 July, 1913. He made one trip to the United States in the 1920s to visit his brother, Otto, and his family in Northport, L.I. Some dozen or so of Wilhelm's letters survive. He was very pleased when Otto's oldest son, Herman, decided to devote his life to God and entered the Dominican Order. Judging from one of his last letters, Fr. Wilhelm had developed a cancer in his leg, which was subsequently amputated. He died 17 February of 1940 and is buried in Munich, Germany.
Anna was married to Georg Schiesser (18 Dec 1887 in Bronnbach-9 Apr 1958 at Breitenau). They had 6 children, 5 of whom reached adulthood.
Rose Schneider was born on 29 June, 1892, exactly two years after the birth of Anna Schneider. Twice during her lifetime she went blind, but recovered at least some of her sight. The third time, however, was permament. Rose did not let her handicap stop her in the kitchen and she was fortunate enough to meet and marry Anton "Axel" Mueller, a jewelery maker from Riedern, Germany, who was devoted to her. Their marriage produced no children. After living for some time in America, Rose and Axel moved back to Hardheim, where some of her nieces and nephews still lived. Axel died on July 9th, 1965. Rose survived him 25 years, passing away on 21 October, 1980. They are buried in Riedern, a short distance from Brietenau.
Marie Schneider (pictured at left with brother, Otto, in 1927 on their way back to Germany to visit their parents) was the youngest of Wilhelm and Walburga Schneider's children. She was 47 when she met Karl Fuss, (13 Ag 1905) who was the half-brother of a close friend of Otto and Anna Schneider named Eugene Strube. In fact, the two are said to have met at Eugene's funeral (he hanged himself in 1942). During WWII, the Berlin-born Fuss served as a S/Sgt in the United States Navy (by a coincidence, he served on the same ship as Walter Magnussen, the husband of Marie's niece, Barbara Woelfel) and afterwards made his living as an auto mechanic. Karl died in on 24 Mar 1968 and Marie on 24 Ja 1977. Both are buried at Long Island National Cemetery (2Q-5036) in Farmingdale, NY. They had no children.
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