Rufus Schneider was the teacher in Wittenberg, Missouri from 1906-1912.  During his tenure here, Rufus found himself a bride.  He married Concordia Lueders, another Wittenberg resident.  A mention was made in Birner Hotel – Wittenberg that Rufus was a boarder at the Birner Hotel in the 1910 census.  I will attempt to give you a little of Teacher Schneider’s life story.

Rufus was born in Lutherville, Arkansas on November 19, 1884.  Before Rufus was born, his parents had been living in Claremont, Minnesota.  His father was a farmer.  The Schneiders were not in Arkansas very long.  By 1892, they were living in Sylvan Grove, Kansas.  I have been wanting to do a story on Sylvan Grove because I know that several people from Perry County ended up there, including one pastor.  After I found this photo of the inside of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Sylvan Grove, I know that I’m going to have to do such a story.

This church in Kansas (which is no longer standing) and the churches here at Trinity, Altenburg and Concordia, Frohna are incredibly similar to each other.

After spending a good portion of his childhood in Sylvan Grove, Rufus attended Concordia College in Addison, Illinois to prepare to be a teacher.  While at Concordia, he played on their baseball team in 1906.

Rufus is second from the right in the back row.  This photo was taken two years before the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 1908.  Later that year, Rufus would graduate and become the teacher in Wittenberg, Missouri.

Here we see Teacher Schneider with one of his classes in Wittenberg.  The two children who are numbered 1 and 2 in the photo are C.R. Nennert(1) and Arnold Mueller(2) who were the Lutheran teachers highlighted in Indy Educators.

Rufus married Concordia Lueders in 1911, and the couple would have their first baby in Wittenberg in 1912, right before they left town.  Interestingly, one of that child’s sponsors was Joseph Mueller, another person you may be familiar with if you read this blog regularly.

The two pictured with the bride and groom in the second photo are Ed and Emma (Lueders) Fischer.

Here is another photo of Rufus and Concordia standing in front of the bluff in Wittenberg.

Rufus took a call to Independence, Kansas in 1912.  He would serve that congregation until 1920.  Here is Teacher Schneider with one of his classes in Independence.

While in Independence, Rufus registered for the World War I draft.

Late in 1920, Rufus took a call to Holy Cross Lutheran School in St. Louis, Missouri.  He was installed there on January 9, 1921.  His first class was a group of 66 third and fourth graders.  Teacher Schneider served at Holy Cross for twenty years.

Here are some photos of the Schneider family.

Rufus died on November 6, 1941, not long before his 57th birthday.  He had been suffering from a heart ailment for six years.  He was buried on November 7th at the Concordia Cemetery in St. Louis.