Snyder, Russell, Kizer, Way Surnames

KIZER, RUSSELL, SNYDER, WAY

Posted By: Susan Barlow Holmes (email)
Date: 11/3/2002 at 16:22:07

While searching for my Russell roots, I have found that I also have Synder roots..but I'm not sure how...
The information I have found thus far: My great grandmother Emma Jane Way was born October 30, 1869 or 1870 in Iowa, parents names unknown, she was born in Iowa, father born in Indiana, and mother born in Illinois.
She married Leander Russell, the only Leander Russell in Iowa I have located is in the 1880 census of Grundy Co, where he is 28, and married to a Mary E. Leander is the name my grandmother put down on her marriage license as her father. If this is the same Leander, he would have been 18 years the senior of Emma, and apparently divorced from Mary, or perhaps she had died.
Grandma was born February 1888 in Redfield, Dallas Co Iowa, her name was Mable Catherine Russell. A son was born to Leander and Emma in January 1890, John W. "Jack" Russell.
I don't know what happened to Leander, but Emma J. (Way) Russell married Frank Kizer 15 Jan 1898 in Dallas Co Iowa and they had a son named Merle/Mearl C. Kizer in Nov 1898. All are listed in the 1900 census of Redfield, Dallas Co Iowa census.
1910, I cannot locate Frank Kizer, though I did find my him buried in the cemetery along with Emma...but without dates. Emma had died April 12, 1906, aged 36 or 37) and is buried in East Linn Cemetery, Dallas Co Iowa. So in 1910...I find that John W. Russell is living with his grandmother, M.C. Snyder, in Redfield, Dallas Co Iowa, She is 62 years of age, a widow, and along with them lives her daughter, Mattie Davis, aged 31, also a widow, and her daughter, Janice Davis, age 6. Don't have a clue where Mable and Merle are. Mable, I was told attended Drake University, but they cannot locate a record. Merle was in Arizona at the time of my grandmothers death in 1954. John I am told owned a jewelry store in Des Moines, Polk Co Iowa in the 30's, and that he designed jewelry for the Texas Centennial. (1932 or 1936??)
M.C.Snyder is Mary, and though I don't know for sure how she fits, I do have several photographs of her. She was born in Illinois, c1848. An uncle tells me that she and Mattie moved to Seattle Washington for several years, but he thinks she had come back to Iowa before her death, he recalls her having a cataract removed at age 94...so she would have been living in 1932!
So the question is...who is Mary Snyder. She had to have been married to either a Russell or a Way, or a Kizer prior to marrying a Snyder. Is she Leander's mother, is she Emma's mother, or is she Frank Kizer's mother. Where in the world is 12 year old Merle Kizer in 1910. Mable may have been in college, she was aged 22.
The only thing I know for certain is that Mable Catherine Russell went to the Phillipine Islands around 1920, where I believe she was a Methodist Missionary...and she met my grandfather, Oliver Clifton Barlow while there, and they were married on January 1, 1922 in the Phillipine Islands. They both were teachers, and were housed at Camp John Hay.
About 1925 they returned to the states and made their home in Texas, and retired to Arkansas c1950. Grandma died in 1954, and Grandpa died in 1957. My father also died at the age of 37.. and I never had a clue about who my relatives are. I have traced the Barlow's back to 1790, (NC to Mississippi) and have found many, many living relatives on that side, now I would love to locate some of my "Yankee" roots. Can anyone help me locate my Snyder, Way, Russell, or Kizer families?
Date: September 11, 2001