The ancestral home of the Schneider family is in the German state of Bavaria. The name Schneider is an occupational hereditary surname, a type of surname that was taken from a word describing or common to the profession of the original bearer. It is a name for a person who worked as a tailor.
The first mechanically-propelled, two-wheeled vehicle may have been built by Kirkpatrick MacMillan, a Scottish blacksmith, in 1839, although the claim is often disputed.
Who the rider was, and what they were riding, will probably never be known. My research was intended to discover the truth behind the legend. The truth remains unknown and the premise that Kirkpatrick MacMillan invented the bicycle is a very unsafe one. One final twist in the tale comes in the form of a photograph discovered by Alex Brown of the Scottish Cycle Museum.