John H. C. Sneclode Biography - Grant County Wisconsin

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Submitted by David W. Taft, dtaft@cowtown.net

Commemorative Biographical Record of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa, and Lafayette 
Counties, Wisconsin
J. H. Beers, 1901
Pg. 457

JOHN H. C. SNECLODE is serving as justice of the peace in Cassville, Grant county, a 
position he has filled continuously since 1855 in a most creditable and acceptable 
manner. He was appointed notary public the same year, and is still serving as such. He 
was one of the prominent pioneers and highly respected citizens of that place, and it is, 
therefore, consistent that he be represented in a work whose province is the portrayal of 
the lives of the leading men of this section of the State.

Mr. Sneclode was born in 1820, in Holstein, Germany, of which place his parents, Nicholas 
and Esther (Plagman) Sneclode, were lifelong residents. The father was a soldier in the 
German army, and followed farming as an occupation. There were four children in the 
family John; Joachim, who died in Holstein in 1868; Mrs. Catharine Klindt, who died in 
Schoenburg, Holstein, in 1886; and Anna, who died in Kiel, Germany, in 1894.

The early life of John H. C. Sneclode was spent on a farm in his native land, and there 
he was educated. At the age of fifteen he became a sailor and followed that life for some 
time, making several trips on an emigrant ship to American ports. He was in New Orleans 
in 1838, and in 1843 came to New York with the intention of making a permanent home on 
this side of the Atlantic. He first located in Ann Arbor, Mich., and in 1844, settled in 
Galena, Ill., where he worked at the carpenter's trade for about six years. In 1850 Mr. 
Sneclode came to Cassville, Wis., which place at that time contained only twenty-five 
houses, and he is now the oldest living resident of the town. Here lie continued to work 
at the carpenters trade and also conducted a cabinet shop for some time, but is now 
engaged in the raising of small fruit. He is propagating a raspberry that is of fine 
quality and a great producer. In early days he also followed surveying, and served as 
county surveyor of Grant county and as deputy surveyor for a time. He assisted in laying 
out many lines and boundaries in territorial days.

On March 13, 1856, in Cassville, Mr. Sneclode was united in marriage with Miss Jane Van 
Ausdale, a native of Virginia. Her ancestors, who were from Holland, came to this country 
as early as 1756, and settled in New Jersey.  Mr. Sneclode lost his wife at Cassville 
July 2, 1871, and three of their children died of typhoid fever the same year. He has two 
daughters still living, namely: (1) Nancy Ann first married William McCamish, by whom she 
had three children, Anna, Nellie, and Florence. She is now the wife of Charles S. 
Inglieb, and they have two children, Gladdys and Henry, (2) Margaret S. is the wife of 
Benjamin Stevens, of Cassville, and they have two children, Sylva and Belva. Mr. Sneclode 
was again married, in 1872, his second union being with Miss Amelia Phitteyplace, a 
native of Iowa, and a daughter of Solomon Phitteyplace, who, as a soldier of the Mexican 
war, received a land warrant, which he located in Clayton county, Iowa, where he spent 
his last days. Mr. Sneclode was also in the United States service during the Mexican war, 
enlisting at Galena, Ill., in 1847, and he took part in the battle of Chapultepec. In 
early life he was a Democrat in politics, but at the time of the Mexican war he joined 
the Whig party, with which he affiliated until 1854, when he was one of the band of 
forty-three that met at Lancaster and formed the Republican party in this section. He has 
since been actively identified with that great political organization, and was the only 
delegate to the first Republican County Convention from Cassville from his section of the 
county. Socially he is a prominent member of Cassville Lodge, No. 235, F. & A. M., was 
elected senior warden on its organization, and filled the office of worthy master for 
many years. He is also a member of the Chapter, R. A. M., and was connected with the Odd 
Fellows Lodge at Galena for many years. For half a century Mr. Sneclode has been 
prominently identified with the interests of Grant county, and having prospered in his 
business undertakings here, he is now the owner of about twenty building lots in that 
place. His life has been one of industry and usefulness, and he well merits the high 
regard in which he is uniformly held by his fellow citizens.