Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Some people may leave town to go to the cabin during the Fourth of July holiday, but not the descendents of Rudolph John and Emilie Schneider. They simply go over to the cabin.

For as long as family members can remember, the six generations of the Schneider clan have made a Fourth of July tradition of going to the family cabin at 841 North Shore Drive for the holiday.

That tradition remained in place this year with a slight change. The party was moved to Sunday, July 8 in an attempt to allow more family members to attend.

This year’s celebration marked the 100th anniversary of the family’s ties to the small white cabin.

It was 1908 when the St. Paul residents forked out $100 to buy the property.

The cabin followed and today it remains a summer place, albeit with city sewer and water in these days. A small expansion was made around 1928, family members said.

“They would come out by train,” said Deborah (Schneider) Ashby, a great-granddaughter of the cabin founders.

According to family members, the Fourth of July gathering got its start in the 1930s. Those events included the six children of Rudolph J. and Emilie Schneider: Cora, Emily, Rudolph Charles, Louise, William and Martha.

Richard Schneider, 84, of St. Paul, a son of Rudolph C. Schneider and the father of Deborah Ashby, was part of the gathering. He heads the Schneider Family Trust that owns the cabin today.

In the early days of the family gathering at the cottage, family members would stay overnight.

The trip back to St. Paul was just too long to make in that place in time.

At this year’s gathering, as many as five generations of the family of Rudolph John and Emilie Schneider converged on the Forest Lake Senior Center for a noon meal and family reunion.

By late afternoon it was off to the cabin.

But the heat of the day and several rounds of summer storms on Sunday limited the cabin attendance.

For next year, Deborah Ashby says, the family plans to resume its tradition of gathering on the actual holiday.

“People enjoyed that special celebration this year (on Sunday), but are looking forward to the return of the traditional gathering next year on the Fourth of July,” she said.

“Nobody knew what to do with themselves on the Fourth — they’ve been coming to Forest Lake for so long.”

Many of the family members who gathered on Sunday are from the metro area.

Deborah Ashby started coming to Forest Lake as a kid with her family but always liked the idea of living here.

She met her husband Randy Ashby who was from Forest Lake in St. Paul. After getting married, the couple moved to a home they built on land on the Ashby family farm in Wyoming Township west of Forest Lake along Kettle River Blvd.

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