Los
Angeles County
Biographies
MATHEW (JIM) SCHNELLER, JR.
The
world is a great book in which some people read many pages. Mr. Mathew (Jim) Schneller, Jr., is one of
them, and he found the pages full of adventure.
He roamed the United States and travelled far and wide exploring the
globe. He can tell fascinating tales of
adventures here and in foreign lands, of strange peoples and customs, of being
in tight spots and of good luck too.
Mr.
Mathew Schneller, Jr., “Jim” to his friends, was born on January 18, 1900, in
Calumet, Michigan, son of Mathew and Martha Schneller. His father was a mining engineer, and worked
in the copper mines. He was mayor of
Calumet, Michigan. Young Jim went to
grammar school in Calumet until 1914, and attended high school for two
years. In 1917, when he was a young
fellow, he ran away from home, hopped freight trains, and landed in Montana,
when it was the wild and woolly West.
On
June 8, 1917, he joined the Navy in Salt Lake City, Utah, was sent to
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and stationed on the transport ship
“Tippecanoe”. In the early part of 1918
the “Tippecanoe” was torpedoed by a submarine, and only 10 of the 60 seaman of
the transport ship were rescued by the “Martha Washington”. Mr. Schneller was one of the fortunate
ones. Later in 1918 he was transferred
to a submarine. Mr. Schneller likes to
draw comparisons, to depict how much the United States has progressed in
submarine construction since 1918, when a submarine had a depth limit of 350
feet and a narrow time limit, in contrast to the present time. On August 8, 1958, the United States atomic
submarine “Nautilus” crossed the top of the world under the North Pole – 1,839
nautical miles – in 19 days, with an average speed of more than 20 knots. The submarine “Skate” traveled 3,090 nautical
miles under the polar ice pack, and the submarine “Seawolf”
stayed under water for 60 days at a stretch.
In 1918 a submarine had a crew of 30 men, and underwater time limit was
18 days, during which time the men could neither bathe nor shave. The submarine on which Mr. Schneller served,
was the USS-012, 13th Division, 13th Squadron. Six submarines were in a flotilla of the
division, and Commander John Rogers was in charge of this, the first and only
submarine division in World War I. While
in the Navy, Mr. Schneller learned the electrical trade, and submarine warfare.
After
Mr. Schneller was honorably discharged from the Navy in 1918, he turned over a
few more pages in the great book of adventure and experience, enterprise and
fortune. He roamed the globe for seven
years, encountering strange races of people, observed their quaint customs and
rituals, experienced unusual climates and modes of transportation, sought far
horizons and found many friends. In 1925
he was ready to settle down, and chose Los Angeles, where he followed his
trade, the field of electricity. He is a
member of the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers I.B.E.W. B-11, District 1, in
Los Angeles.
Mr.
Mathew (Jim) Schneller, Jr., is a member of the American Legion Post No. 139 in
Alhambra. Mr. Schneller attends All
Souls Catholic Church in Alhambra. He
has been a resident of Alhambra for 20 years.
Mr. Schneller is now retired, and finds great pleasure in roaming the
mountains of the High Sierras and the desert as well as trout fishing.
Once
in 1924, while wandering through the desert, he found a boot in Death Valley,
which must have belonged to a little boy.
Hoot Gibson, famous cowboy movie star, offered him a hundred dollars for
it; but Mr. Schneller still has the boot, just the way he found it 27 years
ago.
With
Alice in Wonderland, Mr. Schneller can probably talk of many things, not only
of shoes and ships and sealing wax, but also of cabbages and kings, when he is
in the mood to reminisce.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 727-729, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES