The Snyder Families of Summit County, Ohio

ABRAHAM SNYDER, a leading citizen of Springfield Township, who is engaged in threshing and operating both a grain and sawmill, was born May 7, 1833, on a farm but one and a quarter miles distant from the one on which he lives, in Springfield Townsliip, Summit County, Ohio. His parents were Jost A. and Salome (Baughman). Snyder.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JACOB A. SNYDER, residing at his beautiful home at No. 197 High Street, Barberton, is a worthy representative of one of the old and honorable pioneer families of Summit County, which has been established here since 1818. Jacob Augustus Snyder was born in Coventry Township, Summit County, Ohio, May 16, 1845, in the old log house in which the family lived until he was fourteen years old. His parents were George M. and Mary Ann (Rex) Snyder.

George M. Snyder was born in Pennsylvania, in 1814, and-was four years old w'hen the family came to Ohio. His parents were Joseph and Maiy (Bachman) Snyder, who left Pennsylvania with their loaded wagons and ox-teams and made their slow way across the mountains and through the uncleared forests until they reached Summit County. They settled in Green Township, erecting a primitive log cabin, in which they lived during the remainder of their lives which reached into old age. They had numerous children, some of whom succumbed to the hardships and privations of pioneer life, but twelve reached maturity, as follows: Peter Joshua; George M.; Elizabeth, who married (first) a Mr. Hoobler and (second) Samuel Messer; Sophia, who married (first) George Tritt and (second) a Mr. Babb; Jacob; Daniel; Paul, residing in Starke County, Indiana;.Joel; Abraham, residing in Green Township, Summit County; Jonathan; and Nathaniel, residing in Green Township. The survivors of the above family are Paul, Abraham and Nathaniel. The children took after their parents, being large of frame and of robust constitution.

George M. Snyder was reared on the pioneer farm and assisted in its clearing. His educational chances were few, school houses were far apart and in so large a family there was always work ready for every hand. He learned the mason's trade and worked at it during the season, helped to farm and in the winter, assisted to work the old loom, weaving cloth. His marriage did not make much difference in his employments, merely transferring them to another place, for those were days when everything was hand-made and there was little leisure for any one. Occasionally he would take his gun and go out for game, which was then very plentiful, and would shoot deer, turkeys and bear, and on one occasion a wild hog. His son still preserves a dangerous-looking tooth, which was one of its defensive weapons. After his children had grown up he settled down to farming, purchasing 125 acres of the land on which the village of Snydertown now stands, and he owned property also at Barberton. He was a man who was well known all through this section. He died at the age of seventy-eight years.

George M. Snyder was married (first) to Catherine Harter, who was a daughter of Jacob Harter, one of the pioneers in the neighborhood of Barberton. Mrs. Snyder died and left three children: Henry, and George and Catherine, both of whom are deceased. Mr. Snyder was married (second) to Mary Ann Rex, who was a daughter of Jacob Rex. She died in 1871, aged forty-three years, the mother of fourteen children. They were as follows: Eliza Jane, who died in infancy; Jacob; Sadie, who married Harry Deisem; Daniel W.; Mary, who married Dr. Andereon; Lewis; Thomas J.; Lucy, who died in infancy; William; Inez, who married L. Horner; Evelyna, who married H. Pontius; Emma, who married William Stott; and two younger children who died in infancy.

Jacob Augustus Snyder was fourteen years old when his parents moved to the farm on which they spent many years, and he attended the district schools, making his home with his parents until he was twenty-five years of age. In the meantime, from the age of twenty-one, he taught school for about four years, at New Portage and Mount Hope, and for one year in Lee County, Illinois. He also operated a grocery store at Akron, in partnership with Henry Deisem, on the corner of High and Church Streets, for about one year. Mr. Snyder was able to see many business possibilities and took advantage of a number of them. In association with K. How, he operated an old horse-power threshing machine for some four years, doing a good business. Then he worked for one summer in the Baughman stone quarry, after which he learned to be a telegraphed, although he never put this knowledge to any practical end.

Mr. Snyder then concluded to vLsit his uncle who lived in Illinois, and worked on his farm for a time. H(! later accepted a school and taught in Lee County, where he made many friends. In the following spring he took a course in Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College and then became bookkeeper for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, which was extending its line between Defiance, Ohio, and Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Snyder worked for two years in Indiana for this corporation, and after the great Chicago fire, which, for a time, interrupted business with that city, he went out as foreman of the Railroad Construction Company to Kentucky. After a time he returned to Summit County and for a short time was associated with Morris Young in a butchering business.

After his marriage, Mr. Snyder settled on his present farm, which he purchased from Henry Swiggert, and has devoted considerable attention to growing berries and trucking. He has been largely interested for many years in contracting. The stone for the building of the strawboard works came from his farm. He has probably built more cellars than any man in Summit County, furnishing the stone from his own quarries. He built the Barberton & AVestern Railroad road bed and also one mile of track from the sewer pipe company's plant to the clay pit. He has done a large amount of grading and has filled many contracts for William A..Johnston. He also carried on a successful florist business. In 1878, Mr. Snyder was married (first)

AND RErRESENTATIVE CITIZENS to Catheriue Blinn, who died in 1891. She was a daughter of Christopher Blinn. In 1892, Mr. Snyder was married (second) to Mrs. Minerva (Fi-eeman) Young, who was the widow of A. J. Young, and a daughter of Asa and Catherine (Wolfi'ed) Freeman. She had three children, namely: Lubert, who died aged seventeen years; Grace, who married (first) Dell Acres, and (second) Benjamin Eby, and has two children, Hazel and Farrell; and Clarence, who married Nona Fink. He purchased Mr. Snyder's greenhouses and continues in the florist business.

When Mr. Snyder retired from active life, he purchased a place at Barberton, on which there stood a residence. This he has completely remodeled and made into a modern home. The suiToundings are tasteful, particularly the arrangement and choice of shrubs, which Mr. Snyder set out himself.

Politically, Mr. Snyder is a Democrat and has frequently held township offices. He is secretary and a stockholder in the Lalcewood Cemetery Association, of which he was one of the organizers. Prior to its disbanding, he was a member and master workman in the order of American Mechanics. Both he and his wife, as well as their son Clarence, are members of the beneficiary order of Pathfinders. They belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which Mr. Snyder has sei'ved as a trustee for a long period:.Few men of this section are better or more favorably known.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

THOMAS JEFFERSON SNYDER, owner of the East Side Dairy Farm, which comprises 150 acres of valuable land situated in Coventry Township, belongs to an old pioneer family which settled in this section of Summit County eighty-eight years ago. Mr. Snyder was born in his father’s log cabin, not far distant from his present farm, in Coventry Township. Summit County, Ohio, August 16, 1857, and is a son of George M. and Mary (Rex) Snyder.

George M Snyder was born in 1814, in Pennsylvania, and was five years old when his father, Yost Snyder, brought his family and possessions to Coventry Township, making the long journey through the wilderness with an ox-team. When ho built his log cabin in the woods, Akron was a hamlet of a half dozen rude shanties, and it would have required a vivid imagination to depict in itplace the present busy, beautiful city. The digging of the canal was a great event and George M. Snyder told his children how the whole family walked to Akron to sec the first canal boat on its waters. Yost Snvder and wife lived to old age on this farm and reared a large family of children, George M. being among the older ones. The latter assisted in the clearing of the farm and later learned the mason trade, at which he worked for twenty-two years, during the summers, and during the long, cold and stormy winters be would use the old loom and leave cloth. He acquired land of his own, and possessed the farm in the Snyder allotment, through which Snyder Avenue, Barberton, now extends. He lived to the age of eighty years, and in many ways was a remarkable man. He had enjoyed but few advantages of any kind in his youth and had never learned to either read or write the English language until the Civil War, when, on account of the deep interest he felt in public affairs, he set himself the task of learning to read, his children being his teachers, and became thoroughly informed in this way, although, at his age, it doubtless required great perseverance. He was a stanch Democrat, of the old type.

George M. Snyder-was married (first) to Catherine Harter, who bore him two children: Henry, now residing at Barberton, and George, who is deceased. He married (second) Mary Rex, whom he also survived, and they had fourteen children, namely: Jacob, Daniel, Lewis. Thomas J.. William F., Mary (Mrs. Anderson), Sarah, who married II. Deisen. residing in North Dakota: Inez, who married J. II. Horner; Elvina, who married H. Pontius; Emma, who married William Stott; and four children now deceased. George M. Snyder was married (third) to Lucinda Bachman, but they bad no family.

Thomas J. Snyder remained with his father on the farm on which he was born until 1859. when the family moved to what is now the Snyder allotment. Land then could be bought for $2.50 an acre which later has been valued at $300. During his boyhood the family endured many hardships, their home having few of the comforts or conveniences of the present day. Mr. Snyder remembers lion his mother used to come with, her room and sweep away the heavy snow that had sifted through the wide cracks onto the floor, so that her many children could get out of bed without having a chill, lie attended the old district school whenever farm work permitted. In 1887 lie bought his present farm in Coventry Township, purchasing it from George Fouser, and settled on it in 1891. It was cleared land at the time, but he has spent a large amount of money in making the excellent. improvements, which are to he seen on every side. He practically rebuilt the house, making it both attractive and comfortable, and erected commodious barns and other buildings made necessary on account of his farming operations and dairying. He is assisted in the work of the farm by his sons, and superintend the dairy himself, keeping twenty-four head of cattle, and running a milk wagon to Barberton. He has spent almost his whole life in Coventry Township, and is interested in everything concerning its welfare. With peace and plenty on every side, congenial work, many friends, and the respect. and esteem of his fellow citizens, Mr. Snyder perhaps enjoys life to a greater degree than many of those who spend their time and substance moving in a larger circle.

On October 5, 1877, Mr. Snyder was married to Mary E. Deiter, who was a daughter of Samuel and Lorinda Deiter. They have had ten children, namely: George, who married Cora Croser, and has three children — Love, Celia and Blanche; Lucy, who married 0. Nicodemus. and has three children: Hazel, Park A. and Ethel; Carrie, who is the wife of M. II assem, and the mother of four children: Guy, Helen, Pauline and Clifford; Lillian, who married W. Nicodemus. and has three children: Chester, Roy and Elnora; Thomas R., who married Mary First; William, Nora Belle, Halley Maude, Howard, who died aged fifteen months; and Edna Fern. Mr. Snyder and family belong to the Reformed Church. Politically he is a Democrat.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

HIRAM F. SNYDER, who owns an excellent farm of 104 acres in Franklin Township, was born on the old Snyder homestead, in Franklin Township, Summit County, Ohio, August 10, 1859, and is a son of Michael and Nancy (Marsh) Snyder.

Michael Snyder, father of Hiram F., was born in Alsace, France, and accompanied his parents, Michael and Barbara (Weimer) Snyder to America. They came to Springfield Township, Summit County, by way of the canal, and when they passed through Akron, in 1838, there was but one.store in the village. Mr. Snyder was looking for land on which to establish a home and he was offered 100 acres on the site of Akron for the sum of $600. He con.?idered the soil there too light for deep cultivation and purchased a farm in Springfield Township, from which he moved, eight years later, to another near that on which his grandson, Pliram F., resid&s. He died in 1897, aged ninety-two years, his wife having pa.ssed away in 1876, aged seventy years. In France he engaged in milling, but confined himself to farming after coming to Ohio. Michael and Barbara Snyder, or Schneider as the name was spelled in their day, had the following children: George; Michael; Frederick, residing at Barberton; Eve, who married John Dailey; and

Julia, who married David Steel. Frederick Snyder is the only survivor of this family.

Michael Snyder, father of Hiram F., was six years old when his parents emigrated, and as he grew to youth and manhood, found much hard work in assisting in the clearing up of his father's property. He accumulated land of his own and at the time of his death in 1893, he owned 246 acres. He married Nancy Marsh, who was born in Franklin Township, and they had a family of ten children, two of whom died in infancy. Those who reached mature age were: Milton, residing at Barberton; Hiram F.; Samuel; Louisa, who married James Henry; Amanda, who married C. Blough; William E., residing at Akron, where he is a well-known attorney; Elliott; and Ida, who died at the age of nineteen years.

Hiram F. Snyder was fourteen years old when the family moved to a place near the one he owns, and he remained at home until his twenty-third year, when he secured his present farm from the family estate. In ISliG coal was found on this farm and rich veins have been opened, many tons having been excavated by the Franklin Coal Company and the C. F. Wagoner Company. Mr. Snyder was employed by the coal company for eighteen months, but with this exception, has devoted himself entirely to farming. He ha.'? served as a member of the School Board for several terms.

On December 12, 1882, Mr. Snyder was married (first) to Elizabeth Keller, who died in the spring of 1894, leaving three children: Eva, Frank and Howard. In 189(5 he was married (second) to Mary Limbaugh, and they have four children: Henry, Martha, and Paul and Ruth, the latter twins. Mr. Snyder and family belong to the Reformed Church.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

WILLIAM E. SNYDER, attorney, formerly a member of the law firm of Esgate, Spencer & Snyder, of Akron, but now practicing alone, with offices in the Hamilton Building, was born in Franklin Town.ship, Summit County, Ohio, in 1871, and is a son of Michael and Nancy (Marsh) Snyder.

The father of Mr. Snyder was born in Alsace-Lorraine, France, and after emigrating to America, he.settled first in Springfield Town.hip. Summit County, Ohio, for several years, and then removed to Franklin Township, where he lived until his death in 1893.

having become one of the leading men of his community. He married Nancy Marsh, who was a daughter of George A. Marsh, a pioneer settler in the region of Turkey Foot Lake, and a son of Adam George Marsh, who settled there in 1810.

William E. Snyder was reared in Franklin Township, attending the local schools. He then took a special course at Walparaiso, Indiana, and subsequently spent one year at Mt. Union College. He began to teach school when but seventeen years of age and continued that occupation, with some intervals, for the next eight years. In 1895 he took up the study of law in the office of Otis & Otis, having mastered the elementary principles of the science while teaching. He was admitted to the bar in October, 1898, and in the following year he located in Akron, and entered into associated practice with Mr. Kerstetter, under the firm name of Snyder & Kerstetter. The firm lasted for two years, after which Mr. Snyder practiced alone until 1904, when the pr&sent firm of Esgate, Spencer & Snyder was formed. Mr. Snyder is somewhat interested in politics, but to a larger degree in his profession. In 1894 Mr. Snyder was married to Olive C. Kerstetter, and they have three children, namely: Margaret, Marion and Harold. Mr. Snyder is a member of Grace Reformed Church.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

HARVEY A. SNYDER, M. D., physician and surgeon, at Barberton, was born in Coventry Township, Summit County, Ohio, and is a son of John G. and Susanna (Kepler) Snyder.

Dr. Snyder had the advantage of country rearing, remaining through boyhood and youth on his father's farm in Coventry Township. After completing the common school course, he taught three terms in his native township and then entered Heidelberg College, at Tiffin, and was graduated in the classical department in 1896, when he resumed educational work. For two years he served as school superintendent at Bonner's Ferry, Idaho, and for the same length of time filled the same office at Kirkland, Washington. Prior to going to Washington, Dr. Snyder had commenced his medical studies in the Pacific Coast Medical School, now known as the Hahnemann Medical College, during this period teaching medical Latin in the institutution. In 1908, he entered the senior class of the Cleveland Medical College, and was graduated in the spring of 1904. Prior to locating at Barberton, lie sen'ed'as an interne at the Huron Street Hospital, Cleveland, where he gained valuable experience. He is an active member of the Northern Ohio Medical Society.

Dr. Snyder's fraternal connections are with the Masons, the Knights of Pythian and the Modern Woodmen, and is examining physician for the latter organization.

On September 5, 1907, Dr. Snyder was married to Bessie Banning of Stow Corners, a daughter of J. H. Banning, a resident of that place.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

MAURICE G. SNYDER, manager of the Oliio Mining & Railway Company, at Akron, who has been a resident of this. city since 1871, was born at New Baltimore, Stark County, Ohio, in 1860. His father, John C. Snyder, was in the mercantile business at New Baltimore, for a number of years, and was a veteran of the Civil War.

Maurice G. Snyder was nine years old when his parents moved to Akron, and he secured his education in this city, later going to Wadsworth, Ohio, where he worked in a printing office for one year. He then came back to Akron, where he entered the offices of the Aultman-Miller Company, and he remained with that house for twenty-one years subsequently. He was then elected a member of the Board of Public Service, at Akron, and after serving one term embarked in a coal business. In April, 1907, Mr. Snyder accepted the management of the Ohio Mining and Railway Company, a position which carries with it a large amount of responsibility. He is one of the stockholders and is chairman of the board of directors of the Ohio & Pennsylvania League of professional baseball players and has all the ordinary American's enthusiasm for the sport.

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.