Although a comparatively newcomer to the state of Indiana, this gentleman, who is the manager of the Indiana Chemical Works at Fortville, Hancock county, Indiana, has won many warm and sincere friends. He was born in Bangor, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, August 28, 1859, and is a son of William and Juliann (Miller) Snyder, also natives of Northampton county and of German-Scotch descent.

William was a son of Charles K. Snyder, a native of Germany, who was a farmer and also a cooper, and one of the earliest settlers at Bangor, where he attained a leading position in his community and where he died in November, 1871, at the age of seventy-three years, from heart failure, falling when stricken from a wagon-load of lumber. William, his son, lived on the home farm until 1865, when he engaged in the manufacture of school slates in Bangor and followed the occupation until 1886, when, with his son, Charles E., he opened a general store in the same town, which business was profitably conducted until 1888, when the father retired and in 1899 William erected a three-story business block on the same site. William is a merchant of unusual ability and in many ways is identified with the affairs of his town. His religious views are represented by the Evangelical church.

Charles E. Snyder attended the common schools of his native town until fourteen years of age and then entered the state Norman School at Kutztown, Pennsylvania, where he took a full course. His first business employment was bookkeeper for his father, but in 1878-81 he taught school in his home town, and was also engaged, a portion of the time, in the hardware business. In 1883, he went to Allentown, Pennsylvania, rented a store, and started general merchandising, which trade occupied his attention until 1885, when he united with his father in business, and this arrangement lasted until 1887 when he again accepted a position as bookkeeper with the North Bangor Slate Company, which he retained until 1890,. and was then superintendent of the quarry until the fall of 1894. In 1895 he traveled as salesman for the Imperial Slate Company, of Windgap, Pennsylvania, and in February, 1896, came to Hancock county, Indiana, and took charge of the acid department of the Indiana Chemical Works, at Fortville, which responsible situation he filled until February, 1897.

Mr. Snyder next went to Shirley, Indiana, where he superintended the erection of the chemical works and became secretary and treasurer of the company, and in June, 1899, assumed the management of the Indiana Chemical Works at Fortville, still being the able incumbent of this responsible office. He is also sales agent for J. H. Baldwin & Company, of Indianapolis, musical dealers, and E. J. Johnson, of New York, dealer in roofing slate.

Mr. Snyder has been twice married; first, to Mary A. Gorr, who died in 1891, the mother of two children, Annetta and Eva. The second marriage was with Mary A. Martin, of Pen Argyl, Northampton county, Pennsylvania. This union has been blessed with three children, Miriam O., Raymond Co. and Theressa.

Mr. and Mrs. Snyder are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Fortville, also members of the Rebekahs of Wilkinson, Indiana. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Fortville; the Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen of America, being clerk of the camp in the latter order. He is also vice-president of the County Sunday School Association and a leader in its work in Vernon and Brown townships. He is in all respects a useful citizen, and the residents of Fortville are to be congratulated upon the accession of so important a factor toward the prosperity of their town.

Transcribed from Biographical Memoirs of Hancock County B. F. Bowen, Publisher, Logansport, Indiana, 1902 Pages 434-435.

Submitted by Sylvia (Rose) Duda, Laingsburg, MI Aug 15, 2006.

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