Yolo County CA Archives Biographies.....Snider, Eli 1853 - 
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Author: Tom Gregory (1913)

ELI SNIDER

    Genealogical records show that the Snider family came from Germany to
America during an early period of our colonial history and settled in Virginia,
from which state Felty Snider went forth to do service in the war of 1812. At
the close of the war he returned to his Virginian home, but in 1814 he removed
to the then wilderness of Ohio and settled in a region so sparsely inhabited
that his nearest neighbor lived twelve miles from Ms own cabin. In the clearing
of a farm he had the energetic assistance of his children, one of whom, Jacob,
the father of Eli, was born in Clark county, Ohio, some years after the family
had become established in that portion of the country. His existence, like that
of his father, was filled with hardships and discouragements, but blessed by
affection and industry, and ultimately crowned with a success which placed him
among the well-to-do men of his community. Helpful to him in his struggles and
enjoying with him his achievements was his wife, who bore the maiden name of
Catharine Shoemaker and was a native of Highland county, Ohio.

    There were six children reared on the old homestead in Clark county, seven
miles from Springfield, Ohio, among them being Eli, whose birth occurred March
1, 1853. One of his brothers, Willis, has officiated ably as superintendent of
the Agricultural park in his native county. Another brother, Solomon, is a
veterinary surgeon of that county, where the youngest brother, D. C., engages in
farm pursuits. A sister, Sarah, is the wife of John Fenton, a contractor of
Springfield, Ohio. The mother of these sons and daughters survives her husband,
who died in 1891, at the age of sixty-seven years, having passed his
declining-days quietly and contentedly on the farm associated with his first
struggles toward independence.

    After having completed the studies of the country schools and aided in the
cultivation of the home farm for several years, Eli Snider started out for
himself at the age of eighteen and began to learn the machinist's trade in
Lawrenceville, Ohio. On his journey toward the west he spent the summer of 1875
in Macoupin county, Ill., and during the autumn he arrived in California, where
he found employment as an engineer in Yolo county. November 17, 1880, he married
Minnie J. D. Montgomery, a native of Yolo county, Cal. The only child of their
union, Alexander, married Clara Flaa and they have a daughter, Eunice A. Mrs.
Snider is a daughter of the late Alexander and Susan (Martin) Montgomery, who
came to California in 1850 and settled in Yolo county during January of the next
year. Like many other early settlers, Mr. Montgomery tried his luck in the
mines, but later turned to farming pursuits and to such enterprises he devoted
his later years. His death took place April 4, 1884, at the age of sixty-four.

    The management of the farm of Alexander Montgomery occupied the careful
attention of Eli Snider from 1881 until 1886 and he then removed to his present
ranch near Davis. Formerly he conducted a nursery business on the land and
shipped nursery stock over the entire state as well as into adjacent
territories. From the first, however, he had seventy of the ninety-six acres in
fruit, the balance being in nursery trees, but eventually he gave up the latter
industry, reduced the almond orchard to thirty acres and planted six acres in
Bartlett pears of the very choicest grades. The Earl Fruit Company has
contracted for the pears for a term of years for $100 per acre. During the
season of 1910 he sold his crop of almonds for $4,750, while in 1911 he sold two
hundred tons of oat hay for $14 per ton, f. o. b., the crop running more than
five tons to the acre. For some years he served as a member of the executive
committee of the Davis Fruit Association and from the first he has been an
exponent of all that is most progressive in horticulture.

   The fraternities which include the name of Eli Snider on their rolls of
members are Davis Lodge No. 228, F. & A. M.; Dixon Chapter No. 48, E. A. M., of
Dixon; Woodland Commandery No. 21, K. T.; Yolo Lodge No. 169, I. 0. 0. F., of
Davis, and Golden Seal Lodge No. 110, K. P., of Davis, in which latter he has
served as chancellor. Politically he has been stanch in his support of the
Democratic party. From 1906 until 1910 he served as supervisor from the second
district and the last year as chairman of the board and during his term many
improvements were made in Yolo county, among these being the building of the
large stone arch bridge at Winters, the Southern Pacific Railroad bridge across
the Sacramento river, the bridge of the Northern Electric Company across the
same river and the completion of two large reclamation systems in the Sacramento
valley.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth
and Development From the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]


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