Snook, Robert S.

SNOOK, EARNSHAW, WHITEHEAD, PIERSON, LISTER

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/15/2009 at 09:28:16

Robert S. Snook, deceased, was for many years a well-known citizen of Palo Alto Township, Jasper County. A native of the Empire State, he was born November 27, 1832, and was a son of Isaiah and Phoebe Snook, who were natives of England. When be was a child, his parents returned to that country, and he was reared in Wiltshire until thirteen years of age, when he left home and went to Wales, where he engaged in coal mining until twenty years of age. At that time he left his home in England and with his parents crossed the Atlantic to Canada, where they remained for a short time. Mr. Snook then went to the Copper mines of Lake Superior, where he was employed until his removal to Vernon County, Wis. For several years he there carried on farming, but at length again changed his place of residence, and in the fall of 1863 we find him in Jasper County, Iowa. He here located upon the farm, which is now the home of his widow. He was connected with the mining of coal in various capacities until his death, and in connection with that work also carried on farming.

Mr. Snook was married in Wisconsin on Christmas Day of 1859, the lady of his choice being Miss Emma Earnshaw, a native of England, born in Yorkshire, December 16, 1840. Her parents were Jonathan and Esther (Whitehead) Earnshaw, and they too were born in England. The daughter there remained until a maiden of sixteen years, when she crossed the Atlantic with her parents, taking passage from Liverpool on a sailing-vessel, which after a voyage of eight weeks dropped anchor in the harbor of New York City. Landing at that place, they at once made their way to Chicago, where they spent one year, and then removed to Wisconsin, where her father died.

To Mr. and Mrs. Snook was born a family of eleven children, nine of whom are living, as follows: Hannah, wife of William Pierson; Eliza, wife Samuel Lister; James E., Charles H., Frank J., Robert S., Frederick, Esther and William T.

The father of this family was called to the home beyond August 26, 1881, and died respected by all who knew him. He was a kind and loving husband and father and an obliging neighbor, and his loss has been mourned throughout the community. In politics, he was a supporter of the Republican Party. He left an estate of one hundred and twenty acres of land under high cultivation and thus his family is comfortably provided for. He was a self-made man, just and honorable in all things, and his exemplary career commanded the esteem and confidence of all who knew him. Portrait and Biographical Record, Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, IA Page 327.