Jonathan T. Snyder. One of the old homesteads of Williamsport Township in Shawnee County is that of Jonathan T. Snyder. He had been a resident of Kansas nearly fifty years, and during almost all that time had been continuously devoted to farming and stock raising. At the same time he had borne an infinential part in the affairs of his home community and is one of the highly respected men of that section of Shawnee County.
He was born on a farm near Johnsville, in Morrow County, Ohio, August 14, 1845, a son of John and Mary (Held) Snyder, the former a native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and the latter of Germany. Of the nine children, six are still living.
Beared in his native state, with a practical education in the district schools, Jonathan T. Snyder early in life started out to make his own way. In the spring of 1869 he came west as far as Logan County, Illinois, and in the fall of the same year journeyed on to Kansas. The first three years of his residence in Kansas were spent in the employ of the Santa Fe Railway. Since then he had been altogether a farmer and stock raiser, and though now past seventy years of age is still carrying on the work on his wife’s father’s old homestead, which he pre-empted from the Government, and which comprises ninety acres. The old log cabin was built just in front of where their present house now stands.
On January 1, 1874, Mr. Snyder married Miss Mary A. Reynolds daughter of the old Kansas pioneer Thomas J. Reynolds, mentioned on other pages. Mr. and Mrs. Snyder have had four children: Jonas A, Charles E., Cora E. and Maude B. Politically Mr. Suyder is a republican and he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.