SUMMIT COUNTY OHIO - BIO: SNYDER, Jacob Augustus (published ) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Denise Snyder Dz552@aol.com November 29, 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ JACOB AUGUSTUS SNYDER 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 when the family came to Ohio. His parents were Joseph and Mary (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) Mr. Hoobler and (second) a 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. 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, schoolhouses 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 employment, 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. Anderson; 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 horsepower 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 telegrapher, although he never put this knowledge to any practical end. Mr. Snyder then concluded to visit his uncle who lived in Illinois, and worked on his farm for a time. He 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 provably built more cellars than any man in Summit County, furnishing the stone form his own quarries. He built the Barberton & Western 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) to Catherine Blinn, who died in 1891. She was a daughter of Christopher Blinn. In 1892, Mr. Snyder was married (second) to Mrs. Minerva (Freeman) Young, who was the widow of A. J. Young, and a daughter of Asa and Catherine (Wolfred) 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 surroundings 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 Lakewood 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 served as a trustee for a long period. Few men of this section are better or more favorably known. copied from the "Centennial History of Summit County, Ohio & Representative Citizens" by William B. Doyle, LL. B. pages 1049-1053 Copied exactly as it appears in the book. Indexed by the Hudson Genealogical Study Group. a local chapter of the OHGS. Reprints can be pruchased thru them info at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohhudogs/hudson.htm