Simeon Schwemberger was born George Charles Schwemberger in Cincinnati, Ohio on August 16, 1867. He attended a seminary for high school age youth and became a candidate for the Order of the Friars Minor (Franciscans) in the summer of 1887. Schwemberger was accepted as a brother and took his solemn vows in 1896. The Franciscan brothers were responsible for the everyday operation of the mission homes. Schwemberger showed talent for gardening and mechanical tasks, but proved reluctant to complete domestic chores. He requested assignment to the Indian mission field and was dispatched to the St. Michaels mission church near Window Rock, Arizona in 1901. Beginning in 1902, Schwemberger began experimenting with photography and the mission purchased a camera and film for him on the condition that he would not seek payment for his work while he was a Franciscan. Schwemberger proved a talented amateur photographer and captured numerous images documenting the daily lives of the Navajo, Hopi and Zuni peoples, their sacred ceremonies, secular culture, homes, and the stunning geographic region.
In 1908, Schwemberger fell in love with the senior friar's niece. She did not return his affections, and he left the mission (taking the photographic equipment and negatives with him) to follow her to Gallup, New Mexico. The Order made an effort to obtain a dispensation from Rome that would allow Schwemberger to return to secular life and Schwemberger established the Indian Arts Studio in Gallup, where he took photographs, made postcards, and sold Navajo crafts. He left the studio in about 1911 to travel to Florida to assist his brother William Schwemberger in establishing a winter resort but soon returned to Arizona, where he worked at the Cedar Springs Trading Post. He became postmaster on October 20 but was fired in 1912 after frequent clashes with Roman Hubbell, his superior's youngest son. Schwemberger married Jeaneatte Murphy on September 16, 1912 and the couple settled in Indian Wells, Arizona where Schwemberger attempted to obtain a license to trade on the reservation. He was unsuccessful and the couple moved to Gallup, New Mexico in 1913. Here, Schwemberger worked temporarily for merchant Joel Higgins McAdams and later returned to his old post in Cedar Springs. In 1915, the Schwembergers founded a company manufacturing yucca root soap called the Navajo Ta-La-Wush Company with Arthur Bailey. Schwemberger also purchased Eugene Schuster's Gallup store, which he managed until acquiring a new facility in September of 1919.
In 1918, Jeaneatte Schwemberger left New Mexico for Los Angeles, and Simeon Schwemberger filed for divorce on the grounds of abandonment and desertion the following year. The divorce was granted on May 20, 1919. Schwemberger married Margaret Sandy on January 23, 1923 and the couple had one daughter, Eunice Adeline. Schwemberger's blood pressure became dangerously high during an family auto trip to Florida taken in March of 1930 and he died of heart disease in Gallup on January 17, 1931.
From the guide to the Simeon Schwemberger Franciscan Southwest Mission Photographs, 1902-1909, (Arizona State University Libraries Arizona Collection)
