14 July 2013

Henrietta (Hellweg) Schneider

1854 — 1923

Obituary

MRS. ADAM SCHNEIDER

Mrs. Henrietta Hellwig Schneider was born Feb. 28, 1854, in Pettis County Mo. 1 

She was a daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. Peter Hellwig, one of the pioneer members of the Northwest German Conference. 2   Being a daughter of the parsonage, she early in life learned of the joys as well as of the struggles of the itinerant preacher.  She thus also had the good fortune to be reared in a Christian home, surrounded by every Christian influence.  This meant much in her after life.  It was very natural of her to think and to speak along the lines of church work and activities.

More especially was this the case as the years went by.  About April 26, 1889 the deceased was married to Mr. Adam Schneider, then one of the businessmen of Garner. 3   Two children were born to this union, her daughter Ethel who for the last several years has been one of the teachers of the public schools of Davenport, Ia., and a little son who died in infancy.

Heh [sic] husband died Dec. 11, 1911.  Since then she has redided [sic] in her home in Garner awaiting the call of her Master to join those who had gone before.  This call came on Tuesday evening June 5, after lingering illness and invaldism [sic] covering many years.

She is survived beside by rer [sic] daughter, by two brothers E. W. Hellwig of Hayward, Wis. and two sisters Mrs. Dr. Schneider of Conway, Mo., 4  and Mrs. Rev. H. R. Fienenbaum of Wendell, Idaho, 5  and by the following stepsons and daughters John Schneider of Garner, Lon of Lisbon N. D., Mrs. Phil Webster, Minneapolis, Mrs. E. T. Andrews, of Eugene Oregon, Mrs. Richard Baldwin and Herman Schneider of Garner.  We mention especially also Miss Alice Harding who made her home with the family for about twenty five years and who gave the deceased the most devoted care during her long illness. 6 

Finally, quietly and peacefully her end drew near in the words of the poem "The Sweet Surprise:

"No trembling, sad farewell

From her quivering lips was heard;

So softly she crossed that the quiet stream

Was not by a ripple stirred.

She was spared the parting of tears,

She was spared the mortal strife,

It was scarcely dying - she only passed

In a moment to endless life.

 

So low was her Master's call

That it did not reach our ears;

But she heard the sound and her quick response

Was full of joy - no fears,

Weep not for her soft release

From earthly pain and care;

Nor grieve that she reached her home and rest

Ere she knew that she was there.

 

But think of the sweet surprise,

The sudden and strange delight,

she felt as she met her Savior's smile

And walked with him in white.

Weep not for her toils are o'er,

And thy race may soon be won;

So with sandaled feet and staff in hand

Let thy work for the Lord be done."

Source: Garner Signal (Garner, Iowa); Wednesday, 13 June 1923; page 3, column 3. A digital copy was kindly provided by John H. Hellweg.

CARD OF THANKS

We wish to thank the many kind friends and neighbors for their expression of sympathy and thoughtfulness shown us during the illness and death of our mother, aunt and sister.

Ethelyn Schneider.

Alice Harding.

E. W. Hillweg.

Source: Garner Signal (Garner, Iowa); Wednesday, 13 June 1923; page 1. A digital copy was kindly provided by John H. Hellweg.

Notes

  1. In documents related to the Hellweg family, researchers will encounter a variety of spellings of the family name, sometimes even within the same document. Hillweg is one of those variants. I believe Rev. Peter Hellweg, "patriarch" of the family branch I am documenting on this web site, spelled his surname Hellweg and this is the form of the name I use by default.

    Selected pages from the Hellweg-Danker family bible containing records of marriages, births and deaths are posted elsewhere in the Documents section of this web site.

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  2. Rev. Peter Hellweg was a minister in the German Methodist Episcopal Church. It was the habit of the church to assign pastors to a new charge every few years. In many instances, a charge might include a number of congregations scattered over some distance and at various stages of development. Many a pastor was therefore an itinerant preacher (Reiseprädiger in German; literally, traveling preacher). Both he and his family would have been required to accommodate the demands of such a lifestyle, which is hinted at in the autobiographical letter of Rev. Friedrich Wilhelm Fiegenbaum, also a minister in the same church.

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  3. According to Adam Schneider's obituary, this was his second marriage.

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  4. "Mrs. Dr. Schneider of Conway, Mo." is a reference to Louisa Hellweg, one of Henrietta's older sisters, who married a Dr. Herman Theodore Schneider. Herman studied homeopathic medicine at Hahnemann Medical College, at Chicago, Illinois at various times and on one of those occasions was attending lectures at the same time as Louisa's brother, Charles A. Hillweg. According to Adam Schneider's obituary, shortly after moving to Garner, Iowa in 1888, Adam was joined by "his brothers, William and Dr. H. T. Schneider," and they "engaged in general merchandise which they soon broadened to take in hardware and groceries." Louisa and Herman later relocated to Missouri and both died in Conway, Laclede County, Missouri; Louisa in 1929 and Herman in 1932.

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  5. "Mrs. Rev. H. R. Fienenbaum of Wendell, Idaho" is another older sister of Henrietta, Maria Elisabeth (Hellweg) Fiegenbaum. On 27 January 1878, she became the second wife of Rev. Heinrich Rudolph Fiegenbaum, another minister in the German Methodist Episcopal Church.

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  6. I currently have no information about Adam Schneider's first marriage beyond what is mentioned in his obituary. I am therefore not able to identify most of the rest of the names mentioned in this paragraph.

    In the obituary, Alice Harding receives special notice, but her relationship to the family is not revealed. However the Card of Thanks which appeared on the front page of the same issue of the newspaper seems to identify her as Henrietta's niece. In addition, one of Peter Hellweg's obituaries identifies "Chas and Bery Harding" as grandsons. It is possible, but far from confirmed, that Peter and Martha Hellweg's eldest child, Anna Caroline, married a Mr. Harding and that Alice, Chas and Bery are her children.

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Brief Genealogy

Henrietta Hellweg's family

Adam Schneider's family

I currently have no information about Adam Schneider's birth family.

Schneider - Sutter family

Adam Schneider's 1st marriage

Schneider - Hellweg family

Adam Schneider's 2nd marriage

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