DANIEL SNYDER.

View Portrait of Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Snyder

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         Agricultural pursuits have always engaged the attention of Daniel Snyder, who for the past eight years has been engaged in general farming in Grand View township. He was born in Louisa county on the 13th of November, 1849, his parents being Philip and Rebecca (Thomas) Snyder. The father was a native of Germany and the mother of Pennsylvania, and they were married in the Keystone state in 1844. In 1848 they came to Louisa county, Iowa, settling on a farm of eighty acres which Mr. Snyder purchased in Grand View township. He continued the operation of this place until his death, which occurred on the 22d of February, 1889. During the forty-one years of his residence in Iowa Mr. Snyder had acquired four hundred and twenty acres of land, all of which was well improved and under a high state of cultivation at the time of his demise. Mrs. Snyder survived until 1891, her death occurring in the month of July. By their union there were born nine children, five of whom are surviving: George, the eldest, who is living with his brother Daniel; John, a resident of Letts; Daniel, our subject; Julia, the wife of John Wagoner, a resident of Richmond, Kansas; and Reuben, who is living in Des Moines. Those deceased are as follows: Philip, Catherine, Caroline and Rebecca.

         The first thirty-one years of the life of Daniel Snyder were spent on the homestead where he was born, his education being acquired in the district schools of the locality. After laying aside his text-books he gave his entire attention to the work of the farm, under the supervision of his father, until he was twenty-four. At the expiration of that period he began operating the homestead on the shares, this arrangement existing for seven years. In 1880 he went to Nebraska, where he filed claim of one hundred and sixty acres of land, which he farmed for twelve years. Disposing of same at the end of that time he returned to Iowa, and in 1894 he bought ninety acres in the vicinity of Fairfield, Jefferson county, . . .

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. . . which he cultivated until 1903. He then sold his interests there and returned to Louisa county, purchasing his present homestead in Grand View township. Besides this place he owns some town property, including a residence in Muscatine.

         At Red Cloud, Nebraska, June 6, 1882, Mr. Snyder married Miss Mary Wittwer, a native of Switzerland, which country was also the birthplace of her parents, Christian and Anna (Street) Wittwer. She died January 14, 1903. On the 27th of January, 1904, Mr. Snyder was united in marriage to Mrs. Elizabeth Reet Burris, the widow of Leonard Burris and a daughter of Nelson and Caroline (Van Wagoner) Reet, natives of Ohio. Her father passed away in 1887 and the mother on the 14th of December, 1910. Four of the nine children born to Mr. and Mrs. Reet are living: J. S., who is a resident of Louisa county; Elizabeth, now Mrs. Snyder; A. F., who is living in Wapello; and Elmeda, the widow of Lee Buel. The five deceased are as follows: Solomon, William, Rachel, Hannah and Melissa. Mrs. Snyder had six children by her first husband, two of whom are living: James M., who is forty years of age, now residing in Davenport, Iowa; and Caroline, the widow of Mike Pfeifer. Those deceased are Margaret, Gertrude, Leonard and an infant who is unnamed.

         Mr. and Mrs. Snyder manifest their religious faith by their affiliation with the Congregational church, with which they have long been identified and among whose membership they find many congenial acquaintances and friends.