The Snidows of New River Valley.

This family is of German origin and the first of the family to 
come to America was Christian Snyder, who landed at Philadelphia 
in 1727. The record kept at the Port of Philadelphia of the 
arrival of emigrants does not disclose that Christian brought a 
family with him; if he had done so the same would have been 
recorded. He no doubt was a young man at the time, and had 
crossed the ocean to seek his fortune in the New World. The
spelling of this name is no index as to who he was, as the 
original German spelling, is Schneider. It is spelled as 
originally also Snyder, Snider, Snido, and Snidow. 

There is, however, something in the use among these
German people of the given name; as the same given names 
in families are handed down from one generation to another. In 
this family the name Christian seems to have been handed down 
for more than a hundred years.

When, or who Christian Snidow married is not now known, but 
there came in 1765 to New River, from Pennsylvania, John Snidow, 
who had married Elizabeth Helm; he came to see the country, and 
visited Philip Lybrook at the mouth of Sinking Creek. It is 
likely, in fact more than probable, that Lybrook had been his 
neighbor in Pennsylvania. The circumstances show that
he had made up his mind to settle in the New River Valley, 
as he went back to Pennsylvania and the next year, 1766, started 
for the New River with his family, and on the way was taken 
suddenly and violently ill and died.

His widow, Mrs. Elizabeth, with her children, some of them very 
small, made her way to Philip Lybrook's, or to his neighborhood. 
The exact place of her settlement is difficult to locate, but 
from circumstances it is believed that she made her home near 
the mouth of Sinking Creek, in what is now Giles County. Mrs. 
Snidow's family consisted of five sons and three daughters; the 
sons, Philip, Christian, John, Theophilus, and Jacob;
daughters, Barbara, and two small girls, killed by the Indians 
in 1774.

Philip married Barbara Prillman, Christian married Mary Burke, 
Jacob married, first, Clara Burke, second, Miss Pickelsimon, 
and third, Mary Hankey; John was killed, being thrown from a 
horse; Theophilus, when quite a lad, was captured by the Indians 
in 1774, and after being detained in captivity a number of years 
returned in bad health, and soon died; Barbara, the daughter, 
married Jacob Prillman, of Franklin County. 

Among the children of Barbara Prillman Snidow, was Christian, 
called the Blacksmith, to distinguish him from his uncle, Colonel 
Christian. The children of Colonel Christian Snidow and his wife, 
Mary Burke Snidow, were: Sons, John, Lewis, and William H.; the 
daughters were, Elizabeth,Mary, Rebecca, Clara, Nancy and Sallie. 
John married Rachael Chapman,daughter of Isaac and Elian Johnston 
Chapman; their children were,Christian, James H., David J. L., 
Elizabeth, Mary, Elian C., and Ellen J.Lewis Snidow married 
Barbara, the daughter of the blacksmith, Christian,
and his wife, Sarah Turner Snidow; their children are, William 
Henry Harrison and George Lewis; the latter married Josephine 
Snidow; the former unmarried. After the death of Lewis Snidow his 
widow, Barbara, married Jacob Douthat, by whom she had several 
children.

William H. Snidow married Adeline Chapman, daughter of John 
Chapman; the names of their children are: John Chapman Snidow, 
now dead; James Piper Snidow and Annie, the latter now dead, 
and who married Dr. Harvey G.Johnston.

Elizabeth, the daughter of Colonel Christian Snidow, married 
John Peck, of Giles County; Mary married Major Henry Walker, of 
Botetourt, later of Mercer County; Rebecca married Benjamine 
Peck, of Monroe County; Clara married Conrad Peters, of Monroe 
County; Nancy married James Harvey, of Monroe County; Sallie 
married Haven Bane, of Giles County. Among the descendants of 
John Peck and his wife, Elizabeth, are, in part the Pecks
of Giles, the Vawters of Monroe, the Kelleys of Smyth, the McNutts of
Mercer, and the Pecks of Logan County, West Virginia.

Some of the descendants of Major Henry Walker and wife reside 
in Mercer County; the descendants of Benjamine Peck reside in 
Monroe, Mercer, Giles,and in the State of Kansas. The descendants 
of James Harvey and wife reside in Monroe County, among them, 
the Adairs of Red Sulphur, and the family of the late Allen Harvey.

Colonel Christian Snidow, when quite a young man, was a lieutenant 
in Captain John Floyd's Company, and did service in Barger's, 
Snidow's and Hatfield's Forts, and in scouts and skirmishes 
with the Indians. His father-in-law, Captain Thomas Burke, born 
1741 and died 1808, and whose wife's given name was Clara, was 
also a Captain in the Indian wars, and at one time in command at 
Hatfield's Fort. Colonel Christian Snidow was for long years a 
Justice of the Peace, in both Montgomery and Giles Counties;
was Sheriff of Giles County, and frequently represented the same 
in the House of Delegates of Virginia. Among his descendants 
were some of the best and bravest soldiers in the Confederate Army.