Meet the Blog Authors- David Schneider

I am an American of German descent.

My ancestor, John Schneider was born on October 8, 1851 in a town called Guma. I have searched extensively for this location but have yet to find it. On account of the frequent shifting of national borders from the 1700s to 1945, the original location of Guma could lie anywhere between eastern France, Hungary, and Russia.

Further complicating the issue is that German place names are sometimes shortened in everyday speech. Dr. Hans Rudolph Nollert, German professor at the University of Central Oklahoma, suggested that "Guma" may be colloquial for Gummersbach. Or just as easily might represent Gummlin, Gummanz, or Gumbsheim. John Schneider arrived in the U.S. around 1861 or ’62, before the receiving facilities at Ellis Island were constructed. He settled in Clark County, Ohio where he married Elizabeth German in April of 1877. John established a blacksmith shop in Springfield and was a founding member of St. John's Lutheran Church. The current church building was erected in the 1890s and is inscribed with Evangelische-Lutherische St. Johannes Kirche on the stone facing. St. John’s continues to have an active congregation and its own private grade school. St. John’s also has a collection of antique German Bibles donated by local families.

There are 85 Schneider graves located in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Springfield, Ohio. Among them are Ruth Huffman and Harry Edward (my grandparents), and my uncle Stephen E. Schneider. May their memory be eternal.

St. John's Lutheran Church in Springfield http://www.stjohns-springfield.com

I have very little connection to Germany. I lived for several years in Ohio where there were many opportunities for a child to hear the German language. That education was briefly practical when I visited Munich and Heidelberg in 1982. My elders had a more visceral experience with Germany. Harry Edward Schneider, my grandfather, served in the U.S. Army in World War II and repaired the bombers that limped back to England after air raids on Germany. His job was to get them air-worthy again for their next mission. My family still has his fleece-lined bomber suit. My great uncle on my mother's side was one of the first to enter the gates of Nazi prison camps as American forces liberated Germany. He refused to talk about what he saw in those camps.