A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for Josiah Snyder
There is a death record on FamilySearch.org (from Michigan Deaths and Burials, 1800-1995) and Ancestry.com (Michigan U.S. Death Records 1867-1952) that lists his parents as Adam Snyder and Elizabeth Smith. I don't know where that came from, but George Snyder has a copy of Josiah's birth certificate, which shows his name spelled Josia, his parents as Johann Adam Schneider and Elisabeth Hepler, and his birth on 3 Feb 1817 in Blum Taunschip, Columbia Caunty, in the Staat of Pennsylvanien, Nord-Amerika (it's written in German). Cause of death is listed as heart disease. The reporter for the death certificate is listed as J. W. Arnold. As noted below, Josiah was living with John W. and Sarah J. Arnold in the 1900 census. John must have mixed up the names of Josiah's mother and wife.
Children listed are from George Snyder. George showed wife Elizabeth dying in 1854, which doesn't make sense since two children were born after that (probably a typo).
Marriage in 1834 is from "A Connecticut Arnold Memorial" by John Wesley Arnold (obtained from his son John), which says that the information came from Leona Snyder in 1967. I don't know if it's right since I haven't seen it anywhere else. She had the same list of children as George Snyder. Some of George's information probably originated with Leona, but for the Josiah/Elizabeth marriage date he just said before 1837.
In the 1850 census, Josiah and family were living in Adams Township, Seneca County, Ohio. I don't know when Josiah moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio, but censuses indicate that oldest daughter Rachel was born in Ohio in 1838. An obituary for son Henry says that the family moved to Branch County, Michigan, when he was five, which would have been in 1859 or 1860. The family of half-sister Elizabeth Faus Kanouse had moved to Branch County a few years earlier, in 1855. A timeline for 1859 is that Josiah's father Adam died in Seneca County, Ohio, in May; son Henry turned five in August; then mother Elizabeth died in Branch County, Michigan, in September. I wouldn't necessarily assume that Henry's obituary proves that they didn't moved until August or later, but it seems likely that they moved sometime between Adam's death and Eliizabeth's.
In the 1880 census, I believe Josiah (listed as Joseph) and Elizabeth were living in the household of William and Elizabeth Nagle, who are elsewhere in this tree as Williamson Nagle and Elizabeth M. Ritter. Joseph and Elizabeth are listed as Father In Law and Mother In Law, but they weren't the parents of Elizabeth Ritter. It seems to imply that they were related in some way to Elizabeth Ritter, but how? I wonder if it's referring to an in-law relationship for Williamson rather than Elizabeth Nagle: Williamson's mother, Hannah Knouse, was a niece of Abraham Kanouse, and Josiah's half-sister, Elizabeth Faus, was married to Abraham Kanouse.
In the 1900 census, Josiah was living with the family of daughter Sarah J. Arnold (once again listed as F. in Law, but this time for real). Under occupation, it says invalid.
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
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