Barbour County, West Virginia    Biography of Berlin E. SNYDER

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Submitted by Valerie Crook, <vfcrook@trellis.net>, March 2000
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 356

BERLIN E. SNYDER. After school days were over, sup-
plemented by one term of teaching, Berlin E. Snyder threw
himself with all his characteristic energy into the tasks
and responsibilities of a commercial career. A steadily
growing capacity derived from experience with a modest
capital, likewise the reward of his own saving and self-
denial, finally put him into the ranks of independent busi-
ness men. He is president, treasurer and general man-
ager of the Philippi Hardware & Furniture Company, and
since 1914 has been one of the active commercial men of
that city.

He was born near the Village of Lahmansville, Grant
County, West Virginia.  His grandfather, Noah Snyder,
moved into Grant County from old Virginia, and was one
of the successful farmers and good citizens of that locality,
where he lived until his death at the age of seventy-eight.
Ho married Susan Lahman, and of their eleven children
only one, Seymour A., mentioned in the following paragraph,
is deceased. The complete list of the children is as fol-
lows: Rebecca, wife of Scott Bergdoll and living in Grant
County; John and Jacob, farmers in Mineral County;
Buchanan, of Petersburg, Grant County; Seymour Allen;
Martin B., of Wellsboro, Indiana; Joseph, a farmer in
Grant County; Daniel W., a farmer in the State of Kan-
sas; Elizabeth, wife of Robert Spangler, of Ridgely; Noah
W., a farmer in Grant County; and Laura, wife of Wil-
liam Kesner, of Grant County.

Seymour A. Snyder was born in Grant County in 1860,
followed the vocation to which he had been trained, that
of farming, and died there in December, 1920, at the age
of sixty. He was a member of the United Brethren Church
and a republican. His wife, Mary Alexander Frye, born
in 1860, the same year as her husband, died in 1919. Her
father was William Baker Frye, a successful West Vir-
ginia farmer and a member of the Southern Methodist
Church. The children of Seymour A. Snyder and wife
were: Berlin E.; Beulah, wife of Albert A. Lahman, of
Grant County; Herman, who was in training as a soldier
during the World war and is now operating the old home-
stead; and Milam, of Philippi.

Berlin E. Snyder spent the first seventeen years of his
life on the home farm, gained a country school education
and passed the first teacher's uniform examination in the
state. His work as a school teacher was done at Gor-
mania, and when he left the school room he went to Keyser
and for two months kept books for a grocery house and
then became clerk in the Siever Hardware Company, whole-
sale and retail. After three years of training this house
sent him on the road to cover the territory comprised in
Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Mineral, Pendleton, Tucker, Ran-
dolph and Greenbrier counties. He built up a large busi-
ness for the firm in this territory for five years. For an-
other six years he continued his work in practically the
same territory, but for the wholesale hardware house of
Greer and Laing of Wheeling.

After more than ten years on the road Mr. Snyder put
his experience and capital to use at Philippi, where in
1914 he reorganized the old Philippi Hardware and Fur-
niture Company as a stock company. His first capital was
$5,000, and in 1910-1916 the capital was increased to
$10,000, and in 1921 to $50,000. Mr. Snyder is the presi-
dent, treasurer and general manager; A. F. Martin, of
Elkins, is secretary; and H. B. Martin, of Elkins, vice
president.

Mr. Snyder has accumulated other business interests in
Philippi, including some real estate, and is a director in
the Talbott-Crawford Coal Company and the Peoples Bank
of Philippi.

In Randolph County, July 12, 1910, he married Miss
Pearl Martin, daughter of E. Ross and Martha (Jones)
Martin. Her parents were reared near Mannington, were
farmers there for a number of years, and after retiring
from the farm her father established himself at Elkins,
where he has since been in the building and contracting
business. The Martin children are: Gay, wife of Percey
Paugh and a resident of Brownsville, Pennsylvania; Harry
B., of Elkins; A. F., of Sharpless, West Virginia; Mrs.
Snyder; and Miss Hallie Martin, of Elkins.

Mr. and Mrs. Snyder have one son, Berlin E., Jr., born
July 19, 1915.