| As a young man, twenty five years old in 1784, Simon Snyder, for whom Snyder County was named, and his brother-in-law Anthony Selin, founder of Selinsgrove, became partners in a general store at Selinsgrove. In his article, "The County Store of Half a Century Ago," William A. Russ Jr. writes that success in running a general store depended on many qualities but three were fundamental: willingness to work hard, absolute honesty, and a shrewd business sense. He also says that the business of a country store was sometimes the stepping stone to political office for its proprietor. This was true for Simon Snyder. In 1785 he was elected/appointed Justice of the Peace and by 1789 was appointed one of two representatives the County (Northumberland) sent to the State Constitutional Convention.
"The Country Store of Half a Century Ago," Pennsylvania History, Vol. 17, No. 3 (July, 1950), pp. 208-214, Penn State University Press. |
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| An indenture (contract) for land Simon Snyder and his wife Catherine sold to Nicholas Martz, Yeoman, of Penn Township, Northumberland County PA in 1798 describes the location of the property in great detail with landmarks such as a post, a White Oak, a Chestnut Oak, a Pine tree, a path etc. The indenture finally states that the property is "the greater part of a certain tract of land called Germany." Property near Spotsylvania VA was called "Germanna" and there is a township in Adams County PA called "Germany" but we are still looking for another reference to property in Penn Township called "Germany". Other property owners mentioned are John Thomas, Jacob Giltney and Daniel Stimley. Geo. Kramer and Fred. Evans witnessed the signing. The property sold for fifty pounds of lawful money of the State of Pennsylvania. | ||
| A visitor asked where the Thomas Sully portrait of Simon Snyder is today. The Snyder exhibition team was not able to locate the Sully portrait. The Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS) Art Inventories database lists it as owned by Albert Rosenthal, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but none of our contacts was able to tell us where the painting is currently located. Another visitor asked which Peale painted the portrait hung on the title wall of the exhibition. It was painted by Charles Willson Peale. | ||
Snyder Descendants Attend Exhibition in June 2011-Press ReleaseAn exhibition which opens this week in Selinsgrove, Simon Snyder of Pennsylvania, Citizen and Governor 1759-1819, has attracted the attention of several of Snyder's distant relatives who plan to attend. Steve Snyder, the fifth great grandson of Simon, who lives in Seal Beach,CA, wrote the Snyder County Historical Society...Read the rest of the story here |
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| A Pennsylvania rifle made by John Parks Sr. in Selinsgrove around 1810 is one of the items displayed at the Snyder exhibition. John Parks Sr. and Jr. made rifles. They were more commonly called Kentucky rifles. | ||
| All along the woodland edges and roadsides.of Snyder County, the pink Dame's rocket is to be admired and local asparagus bought at Selinsgrove's outdoor market on Saturdays is fresh and delicious. Both plants were introduced to North America in colonial times. If you can't visit Selinsgrove in June for the Snyder exhibition, now is a fine time to enjoy Spring in the Susquehanna Valley. | ||
| Simon Snyder and Education. In his last Annual Message to the Assembly on Dec. 5, 1817, Snyder wrote, "In the annual communications of the executive to the General Assembly, a standing theme has been ...the all-important subject of education. Much has been said, nothing effectual has been done, and the situation...is still such as to be much regretted....The fact however is that science and intellectual improvement are far behind the progress of wealth and population." | ||
| Simon Snyder and Slavery. In 1785, Anthony Selin and Simon Snyder were taxed with a negro slave. After that year, there is no mention of a slave. According to Senator S.P. Wolverton of Northumberland County, Simon Snyder was the first Governor of any State who officially spoke against the institution of slavery. In his message to the Legislature of December 5, 1811, Snyder said, "The galling yoke of slavery is still felt by some of our fellow creatures in different parts of our Commonwealth, and its pressure is made the more severe by witnessing the happiness and freedom of surrounding multitudes." Snyder went on to say that slavery is "inconsistent with the terms and spirit of that fundamental and immutable law of reason, That all men are born free and equal." | ||
| Jonathan Roberts Jr., State Senator from Montgomery County wrote his father in late 1807, before Snyder's was elected Governor in the fall of 1808, "I have not been inattentive to his (Snyder's) character as specially relating to his fitness for governor. From aught that I have seen he will not be a German governor nor the governor of a faction but the governor of the people of Pennsylvania. He does not appear to want confidence in himself but that confidence sits easy on him, it is the confidence of virtue of an uncorrupt heart." | ||
| John Blair Lynn wrote in his "Annals of Buffalo Valley" that Simon Snyder, Esquire of Selinsgrove was married to Catherine, daughter of Colonel Frederick Antes, of Northumberland on Sunday evening, June 12, 1796. They are said to have lived in Snyder's home on Water Street in Selinsgrove. He was a 37 year old widower with two children, Amelia and John. Catherine was 19 years old. Both Simon and Catherine had been baptized in the Moravian church as infants. | ||
| Soon after being elected governor in 1808, Snyder took his lodgings on the second floor at Bausman's tavern in Lancaster on King Street. If you know where Governor Snyder lived after the Capital moved to Harrisburg in 1812, let us know! snyder.exhibition@gmail.com | ||
While Snyder was governor the legislature sold Independence Hall to the City of Philadelphia for $70,000 to raise money to build a new capitol in Harrisburg. They had earlier sold the furniture used in Lancaster to help meet the expenses of repairing the Dauphin County Courthouse, the interim Capitol building in Harrisburg. |
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Before the Pennsylvania Legislature approved $3,000 to erect a "moderately fair-sized monument" honoring Governor Simon Snyder in 1881, they had authorized $5,000 for a monument for Governor John Geary in 1878. In 1887 $1,000 was designated by the Legislature to erect a suitable monument over the grave of Governor Thomas Mifflin. A bid was made by a competent artist, who was much interested in the subject, for the erection of a monument with a bust of Mifflin surmounting it. The authorities of the church in whose cemetery he was buried , however, declined to allow it to be erected on their grounds. Pennsylvania Archives 1902. | |
In Selins Grove Simon Snyder was the owner of a general store which carried luxuries as well as necessities. In letters to his friend Aaron Levy Snyder ordered lamp oyle, Copperas, India Nankeens, low priced Clouting diaper (1797) and three barrels of liquor, two barrels of coffee, one barrel of Lisbon wine, one hogshead of molasses, quantities of rice, lead, powder and shot, raisens, indigo and linen (1801). |
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Dirty tricks in politics are nothing new. Snyder was elected Governor in 1808. "On the morning of the day of the general election, a letter, widely circulated the news that some desperadoes had murdered Mr. Snyder, and that his dead body was found in a field, covered with limbs of trees and fence rails. This scheme had no effect upon the election." John Binns. Recollections of the Life of John Binns. 1854. Printed and for sale by the author, pg. 210 |
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There were two men named Simon Snyder in Northumberland and later Union County: Gov. Simon Snyder (1759-1819) and Simon Snyder Jr. (1783-1838), a Justice of the Peace, Prothonotary of Union County, member of the Legislature and Postmaster of Selinsgrove. They were neither brothers nor father and son. Each had a distinctive signature on public documents. |
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| Alexander Wilson, noted ornithologist, visited Governor Snyder in Lancaster in 1810, on a tour, to raise subscriptions for his book, American Ornithology. On February 22 he wrote, "From this first stage of my Ornithological pilgrimage, I sit down with pleasure, to give you some account of my adventures since we parted. On arriving at Lancaster, I waited on the Governor, Secretary of State, and such other great folks as were likely to be useful to me. The Governor received me with civility, passed some good natured compliments on the volumes, and readily added his name to my list. He seems an active Man, of plain good sense, and little ceremony." Clark Hunter's The Life and Letters of Alexander Wilson, pg. 320-321. | ||
| In 1797 Simon Snyder was first elected to the Legislature representing Northumberland County. He was 37 years old. The Legislative term was for one year. Elections were held in October and opening day for the new session followed in December. By March or April, Spring planting time, the term ended. | ||
 Aaron Levy (1742 to 1815 ) |
At one time Aaron Levy was said to be the largest land holder in Northumberland County. Simon Snyder and Levy were business associates but Levy and his wife Rachel and Snyder and his wife Catherine were also friends. Simon addresses Levy as "Dear Friend" in letters that combine personal and business matters. It is through these letters that we learn Simon called his young wife "Kitty." |
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 Credit: Courtesy of Linden Hall, Lititz, Pa. Founded in 1746 by the Moravian Church, Linden Hall is reputed to be the oldest girls' boarding school in the United States. |
Simon Snyder had Moravian roots. He was baptized, 2 days after his birth on Nov. 5th, 1759, in the evening, at the regular evening services of a congregation of the Moravian church, probably in Litiz, PA. When he married the second time in 1796 (we don't know the religious background of his first wife), his wife, Catherine Antes was also from a Moravian family. There was no Moravian community near Selins Grove. Snyder wrote his friend Aaron Levy (1796) and asked Levy to obtain Lutheran and Reformed German hymnbooks for his church. Snyder's cousin Sister Verona Snyder was for a while the spiritual adviser of the Sisters and the girls for Linden Hall, a Moravian boarding school for girls in Litiz. When the family decided that Snyder's daughter Amelia and her cousin Agnes Selin, (by now an orphan) should further their education, they attended Linden Hall. (A Century and Three quarters of Life and Service, Linden Hall Seminary, Lititz, PA 1740-1921 shows an Amelia Schneider of Selins Grove enrolled in 1802 and Agnes Selin of Selins Grove enrolled in 1803.) In 1804 Snyder wrote his old friend Levy that the girls had left for boarding school. That year Amelia would have been 12 and Agnes 15 years old. | |
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It isn't too late to share with the June 2011 exhibition your treasures that once belonged to Simon Snyder and his family or other artifacts that add to the understanding of Snyder's lifetime. The Simon Snyder exhibition will acknowledge loans next to each item with the owner's name or family name or by stating "Private Collector". To discuss, contact snyder.exhibition@gmail.com or Emily Johnson at 570-374-4147. |
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 Anthony Selin's grave |
 Trinity Cemetery |
Three of Simon Snyder's four siblings lived in Selin's Grove. His older brother John, called by some Black John Snyder, moved from Lancaster before 1781. Later, in 1784, Simon moved from York. Their younger sister Catherine followed soon after and married Anthony Selin, founder of Selin's Grove and Simon's business partner. Last to come was Rosina who married Jacob Lechner. Lechner was appointed Selin's Grove's first Post Master when the Post Office was established in July 1808, several months before Simon was elected Governor. |
 Monument Wreath |
Wreaths were placed at the monument before the holidays by the Wreaths for Warriors program and American Legion Post 25, South Market Street, Selinsgrove. |
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