WILLIAM S. SNELL
William S. Snell was born October 28, 1825, in Plymouth county, Massachusetts, and is a lineal descendant of one of the "Pilgrim Fathers." His father, Ansel Snell, owned a farm, but was by trade a carpenter and joiner. William S. was brought up on the farm, and at the age of sixteen years, learned the trade of shoemaking, at which he worked until he came west. He was married in Massachusetts, to Miss Parthenia C. Sherman, a native of Grafton, Worcester county, Massachusetts. In 1859 they went to Lee county, Illinois, where he opened a shoe shop at Franklin Grove, and remained till 1870. In that year they came to Cass county. Mr. Snell purchased one hundred and five acres of land on section 35, Washington township. This he improved and lived upon two or three years. He then sold his farm. Since then he has lived a portion of the time in Lewis, and for four or five years kept hotel and boarding-house in the old town. In the spring of 1882 he moved to the place where he resides. It contains forty-six acres, adjoining the town plat on the north, and also town lots. Mr. and Mrs. Snell, have three children: Francis F., a resident of Michigan; Frederick W., also in that State, and Addie May, living with her parents.
Transcribed by Gloria Goltiani from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pg. 514.
