William's Bibliography

Bibliography for William Schneider 

On-line Sources

William and John Listed in Chasseur Regiment Roster

The Hesse-Hanau Chasseur Regiment commanded by Colonel Creutzbourg came from Germany to British North America to fight for Britain against the American revolutionaries. The regiment prepared a roster of all of its members in 1779. It can be found on the Brunswickjagger.org website. See the document entitled Corps1779 Roster.

The Corps or Regiment was divided into five Companies of about 100 men each. William was in the company that was commanded by Creutzbourg himself and for that reason called the Colonel's Company. A John Schneider was in another company that was commanded by, and named after, Major Francken. Though it has not yet been documented, it is assumed that this John is the brother of William.

Because the German commanders communicated mostly in French with the English authorities, the first names of everyone on the roster were translated into French. So, William Schneider is listed as Guillaume Schneider, a Chasseur in the Colonel's Company. He is number 9 on the 5th page.

John Schneider is listed as Jean Schneider on the roster of the Francken company. He is number 19 on page 11.

More Information on the Chasseurs

On the following posting John Merz gives a brief sketch of the Chasseur Corps, the soldiers, and their life: http://newsfeed.rootsweb.com/th/read/HESSE/1997-09/0875687956

Also note that the spelling of Creutzbourg varies from source to source. Often it is spelled Kreutzbourg.

The document Kreutletters are letters written by Creutzbourg to the prince of Hesse-Hanau. They are translated into English. I went through them quickly and did not find any mention of William. Of course, an ordinary soldier probably would not have been mentioned unless he had been subjected to some severe discipline, or did something outstanding.

The letters do give us a clue about where William traveled around the province. Since he was in the Colonel's company, presumably he was at the same location as Creutzbourg, most of the time.

List of Discharged Chasseurs

At Archives Canada there are lists of those Chasseurs who were discharged from the Hesse-Hanau regiment and remained in Canada. An extract appearing on the Rootsweb bulletin-board lists Jean Schneider as one of the Chasseurs discharged from the Francken Company.

The extract for the Colonel's company on the same bulletin-board does not list William. The original documents at Archives Canada need to be consulted to confirm whether William is listed or not.

The location of the the lists of discharged Hesse-Hanau Chasseurs, 1777-1783 is on microfilm. The Archives Canada reference is: (MG 21, additional manuscript 21812, microfilm reel A-743, originals; also vol. B.152, transcript, microfilm reel H-1650). See the following website for the reference: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogie/022-909.004-e.html

The Johannes Schwalm Society

All of the German soldiers who came to British North America are often called Hessians, no matter their exact origin in Germany. The Johannes Schwalm Society is dedicated to collecting information about the Hessians.

The Society does have a listing for William (Wilhelm) Schneider, but there is no information we don't already know. Here is the listing:

If a descendant's connection to a Hessian soldier can be documented, the Society will issue a certificate recognizing the connection.

Marriage of Caroline Contine and William Schneider.

See the Transcripts of Birth, Marriage, and Burial.

Land Petition

An online index from Archives Canada shows William and John petitioned for a land grant in 1799. The petition itself is not yet on the website, but probably will in the future. Other petitions do appear on the site (see the link for Christian Schneider on the same page as William and John.)

The documents showing the actual grants of land are in the Quebec Archives Center in Montreal, and are not online. It would be interesting to know if William received land, and the location of any granted land. Perhaps the grant would explain how he ended up in Hudson.

The War of 1812

Militias were raised for the war of 1812 against the Americans. William and his son Charles served in the Lower Canada Militia, District of Montreal, Vaudreuil Division. The dates that they signed on are listed in the book "Officers of the British forces in Canada during the war of 1812-15" which is available online.

William Schneider signed on as a Lieutenant on 3 December 1812.

He would have been about 57 in 1812.

Charles Schneider signed on as a Lieutenant on 6 December 1812.

Charles would have been about 28.

Adventures on the Columbia River.

In his book, the author Ross Cox writes about the five years he spent on the western side of the Rocky Mountains between 1811 and 1817. He returned home by way of the Ottawa River and Montreal, staying a night at the Schneider Hotel. Here wrote about it on pages 303-304. See Adventures on the Columbia River.

William's Bridge and his Will

Roderick Clarke’s prepared a family tree of his ancestors, among whom is William Schneider. In the notes that he wrote about William are these facts:

      “William built the bridge at Rigaud.”

      “William’s will was made at St Michael's Parish, 10-27-1828.”

The notes are attached to Roderick’s family genealogy database. See: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=DESC&db=:754360&id=I35706812

Offline Sources

Robert-Lionel Séguin

Not available on-line, but this historian wrote an article on that mentions the Schneiders of Vaudreuil. See the 2 references below.

http://listsearc hes.rootswe b.com/th/read/Q UEBEC-HESSIA NS/2003-03/1047 052681

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/quebec/2001-12/1008643 247

La Patrie

Not on-line, but another article on the families having German ancestors in Vaudreuil. “Des familles de Vaudreuil-Soulanges sont d’ascendance germanique,” La Patrie (Montréal), 31&nb sp; mai; 1959: 44.

For a biography which makes reference to the article see:

http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_%20nbr=2695&&PHPSESSID=ychzfqkvzape

HETRINA

Vol VI gives details of the Hesse-Hanau soldiers. It will likely list Williams birth place, when he joined,etc.

HETRINA is not available on-line, but these links contain some info:

http://archiver. rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/r ead/amrev-hessians/2003 -11/1069531052

http://glo balgenealogy.com/globalgazette/gazrr/gazrr28.htm

John Mertz's "Hessians of Upper Canada" pg. 201

William Schneider is listed in this book, but I can't say if there is much info. It would be of interest to know why William is not listed in "Hessians of Lower Canada". See:

http://archi ver. rootsweb.an cestry.com/th/read/UPPER-CA NADA/1999 -10/0939793502

http://freepages.military.r ootsweb.ancestr y.com/~bonsteinandgil pin/a/amhessians19.htm

Virginia DeMarce's book, "German Military Settlers in Canada"

Don't expect to find anything specific about the Schneiders in this book. See:

http://archiver. rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/r ead/quebec-hessians/20 07-06/1183070492>

http://www .rainyday.ca/~howland/ht ml-fr/zellman.txt (contains several paragraphs of the book).

P. Hyde and M. Clarke's book, "Pioneer Families I" (of Hudson.)

The book contains an article on the Schneiders. It is out of print.

http://www.hudsonhistor icalsociety.ca/node/74

Pioneer Inns and Taverns,by Edward C. Guillet

A sketch of the Schneider Inn can be found in this book (note from Roderick Clarke.)

An Historical Study of the Anglican Parish of Vaudreuil

There are some references to the Schneiders in this book. It is not in print. See the separate document, Extracts from "An Historical Study of the Parish of Vaudreuil" for references to William and his family.

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