James William & Freelove Howe Snyder

SNYDER HOWE METCALF

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 10/18/2010 at 19:18:22

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

James William and Freelove Melissa Howe Snyder
By Leona Glover Davis

James William Snyder was born February 10, 1813, in Potter County, Pennsylvania. He was married September 3, 1834 in Potter County to Freelove Melissa Howe, daughter of Samuel and Freelove Metcalf Howe, was a descendant of Elder William Brewster, who came over on the Mayflower.

James William and Freelove Melissa Snyder came to Woodbury County, Iowa, 1865 and settled on a homestead, where now is the sight of Holly Springs. They came by oxen and a covered wagon, as the railroad had not extended that far west then. They lived in the county from 1865 to 1901, when they with their son, Hiram and family, moved to Lebanon, Oregon. Their wedded life covered a period of more than seventy-one and one-half years. To this union were born eleven children. The first child, Charlston, died at birth in 1836. The other ten were: Evaline, Hiram Taylor, Freelove Betsy, Catherine, Henriette Alzana, Samuel, Mary, Noah, Susan and Ella. These folks have all passed away now, but have many descendants living in Woodbury County. Some of them are: Irma Shupe of Hornick and most of her children; Rena Lundgren of Sioux City and many of her children and their families. Mildred Liston of Sioux City; Everett Lamb, of Salix and his children and families; Nellie Rickter of Hawarden, Iowa; and Alvin Snyder of Des Moines, Iowa. Many others are in Iowa, too numerous to mention.

1( Evaline Snyder, born February 6, 1837, in Potter County, Pennsylvania, came to Woodbury County, Iowa, with her two small children, Cassie and Elmer, in the 1960’s after her husband, William Moore passed away on September 28, 1864, in Rebel, Libby Prision, during the Civil War. On April 9, 1968, she married John McElhany. They had a girl named Janey McElhany. Evaline taught school at Whiting some time around the 1870s. After John’s death, she married Silas D Irish on April 29, 1873. Evaline passed away July 13, 1900.

2( Hiram Taylor Snyder, born February 24, 1839, in Potter County, married Catherine McCoy. They had one son, Andrew, born June 22, 1866, when they moved to Woodbury County and home-steaded in 1867. Their daughter, Ellen Apphia, born August 26, 1868, was the first white child born in Willow Township. Hiram became a Methodist minister. Catherine died in September, 1868. On April 3, 1870, Hiram married Martha A Keister. IN 1901, they moved to Oregon to live.

3( Freelove Betsy Snyder was born August 6, 1841, in Potter County. She married Morris W Metcalf on July 5, 1865. They moved to Woodbury County in the 1860s and lived near Salix. They have five children: Willard, Jim, Dewey, Sarah, and George. In the 1900s they moved to Timmer, North Dakota. Two of the boys became Methodist missionaries and served inAfrica.

4( Henriette Alzana Snyder was born May 9, 1844, in Potter County. She married Alpheus B Cady on March 19, 1864 in Brookfield, Pennsylvania. Alpheus was born October 30, 1838, in Brookfield. They came to Woodbury County in March 1866, when their oldest daughter, Zellah Melissa, was four months old. She had been born November 5, 1865, in Brookfield. Their son, Harvey Daniel, was born March 24, 1969. In 1874, they moved back to Pennsylvania and stayed there six years, where James Samuel was born July 21, 1875, and Sarah Jane was born August 3, 1877. In 1880, they homesteaded in Grange Township, Woodbury County, where their son, William ‘Milo’ was born September 9, 1881. They lived their later years at Sloan, where Alpheus died February 26, 1912, and Henriette, April 28, 1915.

During the Civil War, Alpheus was a member of the renowned ‘Bucktail’ regiment of sharp shooters. He belong to GAR post of Sioux City, Iowa. He was always distinguished at the many reunions by the wearing of his bucktail.

When the Cadys came to Woodbury County, the Sioux City and Pacific Railway had not been built and he cut many ties to be used in its construction.

Alpheus served seven years as Marshall and street commissioner of the town of Sloan.

Harvey Daniel Cady, grew up in Woodbury County, married Nellie Wellington, December 5, 1891, in Woodbury County. Their two girls were born at Climbing Hill, they were: Freida Margaret, born May 3, 1893, and Margie Grace, born January 22, 1896. They moved to Missoula, Montana, in 1898. There he owned and operated a taxi service. He died in Montana. They belonged to the Methodist Church.

William Milo ‘Milo’ grew up in Woodbury County. He married Marian Weir on December 9, 1903. Marian was born October 26, 1880. Their one son, Horace William Cady, was born May 2, 1905. They also moved to Montana and later to Idaho. He was in the real-estate business.

5( Catherine, born December 29, 1846, in Potter County, came with her parents to Woodbury County in 1865 aged eighteen. She taught school in the first one-room schoolhouse that was built. It was built between Sergeant Bluff and Smithland by her father, James Snyder. The county settled up so fast that several schoolhouses were required.

She married Silas Decalb Bayne, September 5, 1872. Their children were: Nora, born August 21, 1873; Hattie Eliza, born February 22, 1875; Mary Elizabeth, born July 28, 1877; and John Wesley, born January 21, 1880; all born at Climbing Hill, Iowa. They lived on their farm until late in the fall of 1855, when under Cleveland’s Administration, she was appointed postmistress of Climbing Hill. She retained this job for over five years. Later they moved to Sioux City, where she and her husband were engaged in the Mercantile business. After living in Sioux City until 1901, they went to Harper County, Oklahoma and homesteaded six miles southeast of Buffalo. At the age of 101 years, she could still read her Bible without the use of glasses. On her 101st birthday, the town of Buffalo closed all the stores, etc, and furnished a brass band to celebrate the occasion. On November 29, 1948, she died at Buffalo, Oklahoma, aged 101 years and 11 months.

6( Samuel was born January 24, 1849, in Potter County and arrived in Woodbury County, with his parents in 1865. He, as well as his parents and brothers and sisters, belonged to the Methodist Church. He homesteaded kn1870 at the age of twenty-one, hauling wood a distance of fourteen miles from the Missouri River. On August 18, 1872, he married Martha A Bayne and licensed on the homestead until he was licensed to preach, and was sent to Bonhomme, South Dakota. There, he preached first in the Court House and later in a school building. While there he organized a church at Tyndall, about thirty miles away, and one at Scotland. Then he was sent to Lincoln and Turner circuits to organize churches and moved about the circuits for the next twenty-two years, before going to Oregon. He was a church in Sioux City in 1895 and at Kingsley, Iowa, two years, about 1896 and 1897. Some of the other towns he served in were: Sloan, Whiting, Maple Landing, and Onawa. In some areas he and his family had to live in clapboard houses that they could hardly keep warm in.

In 1898, he moved to Oregon. He fathered seven children: Sylvia and Lewis were born to his first wife, Martha. Martha died and he later married Rose Sparks. To this union were born: Frank, in Denver, Colorado, where Samuel’s family had moved, for a short time, for his health. After moving back to Iowa, Charles was born. Rose died of cancer after the move to Oregon. He then married Winnefred Cutler. Their children were: Mabel, Earl and James.

Samuel passed away April 16, 1923, at Brownsville, Oregon.

For the other four children are: (see Mary, Noah, Susan and Ella May Snyder.)