Jacob Schneider

1727 - Yes, date unknown

• Name	Jacob Schneider
  Born	1727	Pfalz, Bayern, Germany   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Eby ID Number	00106-5813
  Died	Yes, date unknown
  Person ID	I9818	Generations
  Last Modified	3 Mar 2025

  
  

  Father	Hannes Schneider,   b. Abt 1697, Pfalz, Bayern, Germany ,   d. , Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania
  Family ID	F16228	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Maria Herschi,   b. Abt 1732, Of, Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Married	1 Apr 1755	, Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania   [1]
  Children	1. Christian Schneider,   b. 28 Aug 1758, , Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania ,   d. 6 Aug 1850, , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 91 years)   2. Jacob Yost Schneider,   b. 24 Jan 1764, , Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania ,   d. 6 Feb 1853, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 89 years)   3. Peter Schneider,   b. 28 Dec 1765, , Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania ,   d. 1 Sep 1823  (Age 57 years)   4. Joseph Schneider,   b. 24 May 1772, , Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania ,   d. 27 Oct 1843, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 71 years)
  Last Modified	4 Mar 2025
  Family ID	F2837	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Jacob Schneider "was born in the Palatinate, in 1727 or 1730, came to this (USA) country when a mere lad and was raised in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. When some twenty years of age he was married to a Maria Herschi (now Hershey), a descendent of Andrew Hershey who settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1719. This marriage took place on April 1st, 1755. They had a family of fifteen children," Eby, Ezra E. (1895). A biographical history of Waterloo township and other townships of the county: being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character. Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]: [s.n.]. _________________________________ AFTER 200 YEARS, FAMILY LEGACY IS STILL GROWING Schneiders celebrate bicentennial by Valerie Hill WATERLOO REGION (Jun 25, 2007)Two hundred years ago this month, Joseph Schneider and his brothers Jacob and Christian arrived at a wild tract in Upper Canada where they faced dense, old growth forests, swamps, ever-flooding creeks and the wildly beautiful Grand River.Could Joseph Schneider have imagined that through his influence and hard work, these traditional hunting grounds of the Huron Indians would eventually become Kitchener, a hub of industry and industrious people? This place became Schneider's legacy and there are still remnants of his influence, including a few thousand Schneiders, Sniders and Snyders, all variations of the same name.On Saturday, June 30, the clan will celebrate its illustrious ancestor with a reunion. The last gathering was in 1909, when news reports of the day claimed a couple of thousand people showed up, many from hundreds of kilometres away. That reunion was for the kin of all three brothers.This weekend's event will be just the family of Joseph Schneider.Vern Sherk is a seventh generation Schneider who was aware of his family history as a youngster, but a couple of decades ago his interest really piqued."There was more information available," he explained, citing documents and books by local historians.Suddenly, having all this accessible information gave Sherk a new appreciation for his family, for Joseph Schneider.He learned that his ancestor arrived in Waterloo County with his brothers, his wife Barbara and four of what would grow to be a family of seven children.They travelled with several other Mennonite families -- Erbs, Ebys and Webers, among others, whose ancestors had come to the U.S. decades earlier to escape religious persecution. This particular group came from Lancaster County, Penn., with four heavily laden wagons and a dream of finding inexpensive, fertile land.Waterloo County was divided into parcels of 448 acres for the settlers, but first they had to cut the trees, pull the stumps, plow the land and build homes and barns. Early settlers faced endless days of intense labour yet viewed it as an opportunity, not a hardship.The results of that labour are to be seen across the city today: the 1820 Joseph Schneider Haus Museum on Queen Street was the family homestead and Victoria Park was part of the farm that Schneider refused to sell, even as industry sprang up on adjacent properties. One of the symbols of his family's success was a clock.Susan Burke, curator at Joseph Schneider Haus, explained that with their Swiss and German background, time keeping was important to the settlers. The Schneider family clock was carefully transported from Lancaster to their new home. Over the generations, the clock eventually was lost to the family until a Schneider descendant spotted it while visiting a Kitchener home. The owner sold the clock back to the Schneider family and it's now on loan to Schneider Haus. This clock is on the family reunion's logo and used in its catchphrase "Time To Come Home."Miriam Sokvitne, now in her 90s, is the family matriarch, a woman of considerable presence. The Schneider heritage is precious to the retired nurse who is also keeper of family heirlooms and history.Her father, Joseph Meyer Snyder, returned the clock to the family, wrote a book about their history and bought the homestead after it had been used as rental housing for several years. Sokvitne begged then-premier John Robarts to have the site declared a heritage site. "I not only cried, I bawled," she said, remembering her passionate outpouring.Once the homestead was back in the family, Sokvitne and her husband travelled the countryside searching for heirlooms. From spinning wheels to toys, these artifacts will be on display at the reunion with, of course, the clock as centrepiece, a symbol of the man known as Kitchener's founding father, Joseph Schneider. Monday, June 25, 2007 ,The Record Newspaper , Kitchener, Ontario

  
  

• Sources

  [S3] Book - Vol I A Biographical History of Waterloo Township and other townships of the county : being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin..., 266.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 1727 - Pfalz, Bayern, Germany Married - 1 Apr 1755 - , Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania  = Link to Google Earth