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.
Michaux started to build bicycles in 1861. He was not the original inventor, however. He reinvented it by adding cranks and pedals to the original invention. His son Ernest helped him constantly along the way.