Charles H. Schneider

CHARLES H. SCHNEIDER is one of the veterans of the Rock Island Railway System, in whose employment he has remained continuously for over thirty-five years. His post of responsibility for a long time has been as storekeeper for the Rock Island lines west of the Missouri River. His headquarters and offices are at Horton. When it is stated that Mr. Schneider has the supervision of furnishing supplies to 2,500 miles of this railroad, the importance of his department and its volume of administrative detail can be better appreciated. Detailed administrative work has been Mr. Schneider's strong forte and though he began as a humble clerk he has been steadily in line for promotion to larger responsibilities and is now one of the leading railway men of the State of Kansas. The Rock Island road maintains several immense warehouses and yards just south of the City of Horton, and in Mr Schneider's department at Horton eighty men are employed under his direct supervision, while 120 employes along the different lines west of the Missouri River report regularly to his office.

Mr. Schneider was born in Chicago, Illinois, September 1, 1864, and is of German parentage and ancestry. His grandfather, Frederick Schneider, spent all his life in Hanover, Germany, and was a soldier in the Napoleonic wars. Fred Schneider, father of Charles H., was born in Hanover in 1829, grew up there and learned the trade of cabinet maker and in 1848 came to the United States, locating in Chicago. He followed his trade there until his death in 1888. After taking out his citizenship papers he voted regularly as a republican. He belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and worshiped in the German Lutheran faith. Fred Schneider married Kunigunde Stumpf, who was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1831 and died in Chicago in 1893.

The only surviving child of his parents, Charles H. Schneider spent his early youth in Chicago, attended the public schools there and one year in the high school. He finished the course of the junior year in the old Douglas University on the South Side. The Douglas University was subsequently the old Chicago University, and that in turn was revived as the present University of Chicago. Mr. Schneider left his college course in 1881 to become a clerk in the offices of the Rock Island Railway at Chicago. He began his duties there in November and has been continuously connected with that road ever since for a period of thirty-six years. From clerk he went through the different grades in the offices, was made chief clerk in 1888 and in 1891 was assigned to Horton as storekeeper for the Rock Island lines west of the Missouri River.

Mr. Schneider is a republican in politics. He is now serving as finance commissioner of Horton and has also been a member of the school board of the city. At different times he has been interested in local business affairs and is now serving as president of the Citizens State Bank of Horton. Outside of business Mr. Schneider finds his chief pleasure and recreation in his Masonic connections and activities. He belongs to Mystic Star Lodge No. 758, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Chicago, to Horton Chapter No. 76, Royal Arch Masons, to Horton Commandery No. 36, Knights Templar, of which he is past eminent commander, and to Moila Temple of the Mystic Shrine at St. Joseph, Missouri. He is also a member of Lodge No. 40, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at St. Joseph. Mr. Schneider is unmarried.

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