The farm has been in the Schneider (Schaefer) family since 1871. Tom Schneider's great great grandfather, Jacob Schaefer, was born on February 11, 1846 in Trier, Prussia to Karl and Angeline (Mehr) Schaefer.   Jacob came to America with his parents in 1854 and they first settled in Lee County, Illinois.   Jacob and his brother, Peter, came to Black Hawk County, Iowa in 1867.  Peter first bought 160 acres of our present farm, then valued at $35 an acre. He then in 1871 gave Jacob 80 acres and sold him the remaining 80 acres.    On September 19, 1871 Jacob married Mary Ellen Amfahr, also the child of German immigrants. Jacob and Mary were founding members of the Saint Mary’s of Mount Carmel Church in Eagle Center, Iowa.  They had 11 children, of which Gertrude Susan (1891-1981) was the third youngest overall and the youngest daughter.

Gertrude Schaefer married William Schneider on September 19, 1911. Gertrude and William bought the farm in 1927 when Gertie’s mother died. They had seven children, of which Alfred John (1913-2002) was the oldest.

After William died in 1942, Alfred returned home to help his mother and younger siblings on the farm.  He married Luella Austin on May 28, 1946. Alfred and Luella had two children, Jane (1948) and Thomas William (1951).  They bought the farm from Alfred’s mother in 1959 for $305.00/ acre.

Tom began farming in 1971 after graduation from Don Bosco High School.   Since, by that time, the farm could not support more than one family, Tom began with rented ground while he worked at John Deere and steadily gained more leased land until his father retired in 1982 and Tom farmed his rented land and the home farm also.  He married Luanne Spates in 1976.  They have two children, Brooke born in 1981 and Peter born in 1985. In 1977, Tom and Luanne expanded and incorporated the swine operation into Schneider and Schneider Pork Farms, Inc.