Don B Snyder. Part 10: Cooper Tire

Don B Snyder

This is Part 10 of a 13-part blog series sharing my Grand-uncle Don’s life story, in his own words, via an autobiography sent to me by Don’s grandson, Ron Oldfield, after Ron stumbled across one of my prior posts about his grandfather. It is shared with the permission of both of Don’s children and Ron Oldfield. [Note – Anything in brackets with green type is my added explanation of something in Don’s text.]

Don’s story: 

Part 10: Cooper Tire

Cooper Tire Ad

After the war, I went back to the Cooper Tire Company where I already had eight years of service. I served as a tube splicer and later as a tire builder. My friend Harold Wise was president of the Union. He talked me into running as a secretary and I was elected. After Harold’s and my term were up we didn’t run again. His old rival had wanted to be president real bad and he got elected. Shortly after that, at a board meeting, he didn’t get his way on something so he wrote his resignation on paper and went home. He figured they would call him back and he would have his way. Not so, they didn’t. I got a phone call at 2:30 in the morning and they wanted me to take over the Union Presidency. I didn’t want to but they persisted and I finally gave in and said ok. There would be a special election in two months and figured I couldn’t do too much damage in that short time. When the election came they wanted me to run again. I said alright and ended up with no opposition. Surprisingly, I got an idea. The man I replaced had always been a thorn in the side of the union. I picked him out to be on the executive board and he accepted. Sometimes I asked his opinion and this pleased him. Now he couldn’t complain and I ran the show.

When I was secretary, the vice-president and I served on the job evaluation committee. The company had always wanted this and I did too. The two of us would meet with the treasurer and cost accountant. I had known the treasurer before and felt he was an honest man, which he was. I was not so sure about the other one, but he had little to say. Each job was rated on a point scale which determined how much the rate paid. Skilled jobs got more pay, also lesser jobs got points for dust, dirt, heat, and noise. Most of the 250 different jobs got a raise in pay. Tire building was the highest skilled of jobs. The bead wrappers (women) were making as much money as the tire builders, so they got a cut in wages. Boy, did I make enemies! The women were furious. I had appointed the machine shop steward to the executive board. He was a real nice guy and we got along just fine, but his wife was a bead wrapper and she never forgave me.

Aerial View of Cooper Tire - 1950s

We had never had a change in our contract with the company, so the first thing I did was to ask for a new contract. The company agreed and we both gained by it. Funny thing. I led the negotiations and wrapped it up. Before we signed it, my time was up and my chief steward, whom I supported to take my place, signed it first. It was my baby, but I had become his chief steward so I signed it second. He never had anything to do with it. The union had been established for six years. I was the only president to change the contract and it was a good one. As chief steward, I often got calls in the middle of the night and sometimes I had to go to the plant to settle things. My wife got fed up with this and wanted me to quit. I had thirteen years of seniority and as a union officer had top seniority in the plant. I finally gave in and quit. A year later during a lay-off I went back to the Cooper Tire Company once at 2:00 A.M. The president of the company walked by and I told him it was my last night as I was called back to Toledo. He tried to talk me out of it. I said “but I lost my seniority.” He said “yes, but you have longevity.” I was going to say ok, but I thought my wife would be mad, so I said no.

Other Related Posts (links):

52 Ancestors: #7 Don B. Snyder (1918-2012) 

Don Snyder's Fall 

A Treasure to Share

Don B Snyder. Part 1 – Riding The Rails 1, Growing Up

Don B Snyder. Part 2 – Athletic Shows

Don B Snyder. Part 3 – Civilian Conservation Corps

Don B Snyder. Part 4: Riding the Rails 2; Coming home

Don B Snyder, Part 5: Joining the Army

Don B Snyder, Part 6: The Pygmies of New Guinea

Don B Snyder, Part 7: The Japs

Don B Snyder. Part 8: Shot in the Leg 

Don B Snyder. Part 9: Army Boxing

Don B Snyder. Part 11: Barber  

Don B Snyder. Part 12:  Caving  

Don B Snyder. Part 13: Women

Don B Snyder: Part 1 - Riding the Rails I, Growing Up

Donald B Snyder
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This is Part 1 of a 13-part blog series sharing my Grand-uncle Don’s life story, in his own words, via an autobiography sent to me by Don’s grandson, Ron Oldfield, after Ron stumbled across one of my prior posts about his grandfather. It is shared with the permission of both of Don’s children and Ron Oldfield. [Note – Anything in brackets with green type is my added explanation of something in Don’s text.]

Don’s story:

Some of my family members wanted me to write down some of my experiences. Two years went by and I thought, “Why not?” Everybody has had experiences but I doubt if they have experienced what I have. I was born in Findlay, Ohio in 1918. As a baby, I had a close call with double pneumonia, but I made it.

RIDING THE RAILS 1

Milk Delivery to City Homes (In the public domain; LOC)
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          Nothing of note growing up. I did get in trouble from skipping school and was put on probation. It was in the Big Depression and people would put change in the milk bottles [left out on the front porch], they had deliveries at home in those days. Kids all over town were swiping it. I hadn’t done any of that. A neighbor kid wanted me to do it with him and I said “O.K.”. The first and only bottle I picked up had six cents in it. There was snow on the ground and we got caught. I think they wanted to make an example of us as they took us to the city jail. There they read us off, handcuffed us, and walked us to the county jail. There they locked us up in a room that had a toilet. I heard they kept woman prisoners there. We were in solitaire. At each meal, they would shove a tray through a trap door. It was usually so hot you couldn’t eat it in a few minutes and they would take it back whether we had eaten it or not. Three days later my brother went to the sheriff to report me missing. He told him he had us upstairs. I was 15 years old and they hadn’t even notified our parents. After five days we went to court. The judge told off my parents and let me go. I never got in trouble again. I think this hard time is good for kids as it scares the daylights out of them. I’ve heard that juvenile places have TV and ping pong, etc. That doesn’t necessarily teach them a lesson.

Times were real bad in the Big Depression. If a man could work for a dollar a day, you got by ok. My dad had owned a number of houses. All were mortgaged. Times were so bad he lost them all except one large twelve room house with three lots, also an acre of ground where he raised black raspberries to sell, plus fruit trees. Also my uncle Howard, my mother’s brother. He lived alone in a small one-room house. He helped my dad some and dad looked after him. One day dad went to see how his chickens were. The whole dozen were dead. He asked Howard what happened. Howard said, “they looked like they had the croup.” He thought he should doctor them. Dad asked, “what with?” Howard replied “coal oil and cayenne pepper.” Those poor chicks.

Back to the depression. Dad couldn’t find work after being laid off. They would shut off our electric and we would use coal oil lamps. Finally, he would pay it and they would turn it on. Then the natural gas would be shut off and we had a big kitchen range. You could burn gas and on one side you could burn coal to cook on, plus it had a hot water tank. Often we would have froze but we did as a lot of our neighbors did, got coal from the railroad beside our house. We were blessed by having another railroad up ahead that crossed ours.

Nickel Plate Railroad Schedule Cover (in public domain)
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We lived beside the Nickel Plate Railroad. Up ahead it crossed the New York Central Railroad. The trains would stop by our house until they got the ‘all clear’signal from the guy in the little shanty at the crossover. A few times he fell asleep and the fireman had to walk and wake him up. At times you could see at least a couple dozen or more people riding in empty boxcars or gondolas, empty coal cars that had a flat bottom and sides about six to seven feet high. All cars had rungs at each end that went to the top. There was a board walkway in the middle of the top about 16 inches wide and four inches high from one end to the other. It was possible to go car to car by jumping across the ends of the cars. It was enticing to me and I started to hop onto the trains. People were not working then and had no money to buy coal. These trains stopping there was a blessing to them. They would get on top of coal cars at night and throw the coal off. Lots of people did it. It kept many a family from freezing. The police seemed to look the other way. I remember a kid I went to school with. He told me he and his brother were throwing off coal from a coal car. He saw his brother standing there doing nothing. He spoke up and said, “come on, let’s get this coal in before a bull (detective) shows up”. Turned out he was talking to a bull. He took them downtown and then let them go. I suppose so they could pick up the coal and take it home as it wouldn’t look good laying around in the daylight.

          There wasn’t any work and nothing to do, so I started riding the freight trains. Mostly everyone rode in empty boxcars with the doors open. I got the wanderlust and started riding them. The boxcars were fine. The coal gondolas were about six feet high inside. Not so good, but you couldn’t be seen except from someone climbing up or looking down from an adjoining boxcar. Then the big tank cars had a big walk around them. It was O.K. to stand and hold onto a handrail around the car. If you sat on the walkway you didn’t have much to hold on to, especially when the train would jerk. Then there was the ‘hopper’ dump cars. They were higher than the gondolas. And the insides slanted down so the coal could discharge from the bottom. At the lake ports they would turn the car upside down, empty it onto the lake boats, turn it upright and down to the yards. There were not comfortable to ride in. As for the boxcars, you could sleep in them if you didn’t mind the clickety-click of the rails, the ding-ding-ding of the streetcars, etc. After a while, you got used to it. Also, the bulls couldn’t see you very well. On the ‘reefers’ (refrigerator cars) at each end, there was an ice compartment. It was about six feet wide and the width of the car with rails you could climb down in the car. On top of the compartment was a trap door about three by two feet on each side of the car. They were kind of heavy and you could throw one back and not have to worry about it slamming shut. It made a nice place to ride although you missed the scenery. Sometimes you would climb up to see if everything was ok. And get back down. Out west, most of the cars were meat runs to Chicago and were full. Then you would ride the top, between the cars hanging on, or whatever. These meat runs ran at 60 to 70 miles per hour.

Boy Hopping Train, Great Depression (in public domain; LOC)
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          I have rode passenger cars also. Where the cars connected there was a folding part, about three feet wide and covered. They joined together so people could walk from car to car. The front car next to the engine was open and you could ride covered and standing up. Called the ‘blind baggage’. You had to know the railroads as some (Pennsylvania) had a track in the middle filled with water. The train would slow down, let down a chute and scoop up the water into the tender. It would throw a lot of water onto the front car. I read where a Toledo man was froze fast in the winter. They chiseled him out and he was O.K. Another time a man froze to death in the same way. One time I was hiking from Canton, Ohio to home. It was dark and snowing. I came to a railroad, the ‘Pennsy’ (Pennsylvania Railroad) passenger was at the station across the road from where I was standing. I got an idea. I knew it went to Lima, Ohio so I went to the blind baggage next to the engine. I knew after the next stop that it took water on the ‘fly’ so I went back a couple of cars, hanging on between cars. It was risky as I only seen a couple of guys hanging on between cars on passengers. Anyway, I did it and was o.k. When I went to the front again everything was wet as was the second car. Next stop I went backward and repeated it. After that, I rode the front and got to Lima o.k. Then to Findlay on the Nickel Plate. It was a good thing I knew the railroads. I might add that I was 15 to 16 years old then. I would often go to Lima and back later to Muncie, Indiana. There I’d sleep in the jail basement on the cement along with about 50 or more others. I knew how to go through the garage without checking in at the desk. One night I noticed a guard there. I asked him why and he said, “you know about that murderer that’s in the paper headlines?” I said “yes,” and he said, “we think he sleeps down here.” In the morning I went to a mission for doughnuts and coffee. Then I caught a freight to Lima. It was around 0º F and I had to ride the top and hanging on between the cars. I almost froze, but I made it. I got off the train in Lima, Ohio as it slowly rode into the yards. Then I walked around the yards onto a bridge. A man saw me and in a shocked way said, “do you know some idiot came in on that train?” I said, “yes, I’m the crazy idiot.” I left him mumbling something I didn’t hear. As I said it was 0º F plus the speed of the train made it worse.

Montreal Mission Soup Kitchen, 1931 (out of copyright in CA & USA)
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Lima, Ohio had a bull ‘detective’ named Lima Slim, and the word was he was mean and had killed a couple of riders. I went through Lima a lot of times but never had the pleasure of meeting him. This was because, as we entered the yards, I’d get off and walk around the yards and at the other end, I’d hide and catch it as it was leaving. One time I and a friend, Chuck Brown, wanted to go to South America. We thought we might hire on a freight ship in New Orleans, hence getting to South America. I didn’t even tell my folks I was leaving. I often did this, going to Lima, Muncie, Indiana, and Indianapolis. On this trip, we left Findlay, Ohio on a Nickel Plate Railroad freight train. We got to Indianapolis ok. Up ahead we saw a freight leaving the yards. I wondered as it was a short one. Anyways, we caught it and got in a boxcar. It went a ways and stopped, switched cars and went on. Then I realized it was what was called a ‘beltline’ that does switching from yard to yard. We got off and walked miles from where we started at 5º F. Well we gave up on that one and did the only sensible thing: went home.

I might add that I knew the railroads very well: where they went and which ones had the reputations that you should avoid them. About two years ago I saw in the newspaper a man [Errol Lincoln Uys] was writing a book about teenagers riding the rail and requesting them to write him. I did and he wrote the book Riding the Rails [you can find the book HERE ], which I understand was a best seller. He then sent me a copy of a paragraph that was about me.

“It was terrible way to live. It was rough and dangerous but there was also a mystical quality,” said Don Snyder, who rode the rails for three years from 1933, when he was 15. “The sound and moan of a whistle in the silent darkness echoing through the hills. The smell of the cars and the clicking of the rails. The ding, ding, ding at the crossings. The excitement of avoiding the bulls and the brakies. The open prairies, the mountains, the clear skies above you. For all the hardships, you feel a faint longing to hit the road again. I wouldn’t do it for anything.”

[The author has a longer quote from Don on his author website, in the Archive section for the book, Riding the Rails, it is the fifth entry in the OHIO section, below the New York section, THIS PAGE ]

Once we were fighting at an athletic show at a homecoming in Hicksville. Coming home, we hitched to Defiance, Ohio and I saw a passenger train at the station. I said, “let’s catch it.” Chuck said, “o.k.,” so we watched as the bull searched the train so we caught it on the run. At Deshler, Ohio it stopped for water and the fireman who came back on the tender to put the water in. He saw us, looked back and pointed his finger back. I said, “it’s the bull [detective], let’s get off.” Chuck said, “let’s go for the weeds.” I said, “no, let’s go on the station side, he won’t expect us to do that.” We did and got away. I said, “Chuck, I think we can still catch it.” On the opposite side of the station, we went to the front. The bull came running around the corner and bumped right into us. He swelled up like a toad, face red, and puffing. He looked at Chuck and said, “I see you have a black eye, I’d like to blacken the other one.” Then he looked at me and said, “you too.” I wanted to say “try it and you’ll wish you hadn’t.” There were a lot of people watching so he said “now you kids get out of here,” and we did, hitchhiking the rest of the way home. Another time I was younger and a pervert tried to grab me. I ran up a grade and he caught me. We wrestled down the grade turning over and his face ran into a bramble bush. He let go and I took off. Chuck stayed home, but I hitched and went to Wapakoneta, Ohio and joined the athletic show again.

Other Related Posts (links):

52 Ancestors: #7 Don B. Snyder (1918-2012) 

Don Snyder's Fall 

A Treasure to Share

Don B Snyder. Part 2 – Athletic Shows

Don B Snyder. Part 3 – Civilian Conservation Corps

Don B Snyder. Part 4: Riding the Rails 2; Coming home

Don B Snyder, Part 5: Joining the Army

Don B Snyder, Part 6: The Pygmies of New Guinea

Don B Snyder, Part 7: The Japs

Don B Snyder. Part 8: Shot in the Leg 

Don B Snyder. Part 9: Army Boxing

Don B Snyder. Part 10: Cooper Tire

Don B Snyder. Part 11: Barber  

Don B Snyder. Part 12:  Caving  

Don B Snyder. Part 13: Women

Johann Jakob Schneider (1792 – 1871) and Eva Maria Haumann (abt 1802 - ?), my 4th great-grandparents

Modern Map of German States
Hesse is in blue & we are from the far south portion of Hesse
Map is n the public domain
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As I explained earlier my second great grandparents were both Snyders.  I was told that both John and Katharine were from unrelated Schneider lines which originated in different areas of Germany. I now know each family immigrated to the United States (to Ohio) in different decades, but my research so far has shown both sides originated from the southern portion of Hessen, Germany.  I did a post on my second great-grandfather, John Snyder’s father, Johannes Schneider, earlier this year (See HERE), and I did Katharine’s parents last month (see HERE).

My 4^th great grandfather  Johann Jakob Schneider, was born 1 October 1792, in Hohenstadten, in an area of Hesse-Darmstadt (pre-Germany) which stores its records in Reichenbach, Starkenburg, Hesse, Germany to Johann Georg Schneider (abt 1760 - ?) and Elisabetha Catharina Bauer (1765-1810). He was the second oldest of six children (that I know of): Johann Georg (1783-1867, m. Anna Maria Moesinger), my 4^th great-grandfather Johann Jakob, Anna Margaretha (1798-1852, m. Johann Peter Keil), Johannes (1800-1858, m. Elisabetha Katharina Hoffmaenn), Anna Barbara (1802-1865, m. Johannes Gersich), Anna Katharina (1805-1827) and Johann Michael (1808-?).  Their mother died in 1810 when Jakob was 18, and his youngest brother was two years old.

When Jakob was 26, he married Eva Maria Haumann on December 6, 1818, in a Protestant church in Reichenbach, Starkenburg, Hesse-Darmstadt. The marriage record indicated that Jacob was 23 years old and his parents were Johann Georg Schneider and Elisabetha Katharina Bauer. His bride, Eva Maria, was 16 years old and her parents were Johannes Hausmann and Anna Elisabetha Heldman.

Map of Hessen, Germany
Jakob and his family lived in the purple part.
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They had five children that I’ve found all born in the same area of Hessen-Darmstadt. There are long enough gaps in their birthdates that I wouldn’t be surprised if they had other children that I haven’t found yet. Their first daughter, Anna Maria, was born about a year after their marriage on 26 November 1819 and she was baptized in the church her parents married in, but she lived only a little over three years and died on 31 January 1823. Their next child, Eva Maria, was born a little over nine months later on 8 November 1823 in Gadernhein, Hessen (m. Johannes Allmann 20 Jan 1853 and dd. 17 Nov 1866.) Their third daughter, Elizabetha Katharina, was born three years later on 1 February 1826. My 3^rd- great-grandfather, Johann Philip, was next, born on 10 January 1831 (his story is HERE). The youngest child, Johann Georg, was born 11 October 1837.

I haven’t found a marriage for their third daughter, Elizabetha Katharina, but I did find a daughter born to her in Hesse, on 24 January 1854, named after her mother, Eva Maria Schneider.

The Hessen Archives has an online database listing those who emigrated from Hesse; it indicates that Johann Jakob Schneider emigrated from Darmstadt in 1854 to America. Notes indicated that he was traveling with his children. It does not mention Jakob’s wife so I think she had died prior to the time the family left for America. I’ve looked through the Germans to America Indices, and through several passenger list websites, but haven’t yet find found any of the family (for certain) so I don’t know when they actually traveled to the U.S.A. or on which ship(s), or at which port(s) they arrived.

Many of the farmers and craftsmen and shopkeepers who came to America from the German States in the mid-1800’s were disturbed by the collapse of the Industrial Revolution in Germany, agricultural reform, overpopulation, crop failure (potatoes), a lack of land in their homeland to expand, and the collapse of the 1848 March revolution in the southwestern Germanic states.  Those farmers, fearing a loss of their land to government confiscation, opted to sell their land, ironically at higher rates than usual since the land was so scarce, and move to America where land was known to be cheaper and more abundant.  

Many Germanic immigrants had only limited financial resources and/or followed friends and family as they first moved into established rural settlements, and certain cities. The mid-west was the most popular American region for Germanic immigrants to settle in. Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio had similar climate and geographical conditions to that of Central Europe, making farming there more familiar to the Germanic settlers. This may explain why Jakob and his family ended up in northwest Ohio.

German Immigrants to North America (1853)
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Settlement Patterns of German Americans, based on the 2000 Census
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While Jacob immigrated to America with most of his family, his daughter Eva Maria stayed in Hesse with her husband Johannes Allmann, who she had married on 20 Jan 1853. They had his first grandchild, Anna Elisabethe, on 29 Aug 1853. Sadly, she died on 24 July 1854. I don’t know whether Jakob was still there when his granddaughter died.  I don’t think he ever saw his daughter again after he emigrated.  She and her husband had two more children, sons Georg Phillip (I think she missed her brothers), born 16 Nov 1856 and Johann Peter, born 19 June 1861.  They would never have known their grandfather or maternal aunt and uncles.

I know that Jakob and his family were in Hancock County, Ohio, USA, by 1860, when he was 66, because they are listed in the 1860 Census, in Union Township. He had anglicized his name to Jacob Snider. Living with him are his daughter, Elisabeth (age 33), and her daughter Mary (age 6); his son, Philip (age 29) and his wife, Hannah (age 26), [my 3^rd great-grandparents] and their first two children, Catherine (age 2) and Frederick Nicholas (listed as Nicholos, age 5/12) ; and his youngest son, George (age 22). The Census indicates that Jacob, Elisabeth, Philip, George, and Mary were born in Hesse, Germany; Hannah was born in Pennsylvania; and Catherine and Nicholos were born in Ohio. Jacob was working as a day laborer and Philip was a carpenter.  All the adults (over 20) could read and write.

The next year the Civil War erupted in their new country. German Americans who arrived in the 19^th Century overwhelmingly fought for the Union, over 200,000 of them, while thousands of Germanic Americans who arrived in Pennsylvania earlier in the 18^th Century and whose families migrated to North Carolina chose to fight for the Confederacy.

Ohio Civil War Recruitment Poster
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Jacob’s youngest son, George, joined the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company A, as a private, under an act passed on April 27, 1861, for the defense of the state because Ohio was a border state and thus in danger of invasion. The 21^st was ordered by General McClellan on July 3, 1861, to Ravenswood VA to reinforce other troops, and drove Confederates back at Ripley VA. On July 11, 1861, it became part of General Cox’s brigade and participated in the Battle of Scary Creek in West VA. George mustered out at the end of the first enlistment period, of the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, on 12 August 1861.

In the latter half of the 1860s, mail from home would have brought Jacob sad news. His sister Anna Barbara Gersich died on 4 June 1865.  Next, the daughter he had left behind, Eva Maria Allmann, died on 17 Nov 1866, leaving her two young sons motherless. Finally, his oldest brother, Johann Georg, died on 19 April 1867.

By 1870 Jacob, now 77, his sons, and Philip’s family had moved to Madison Township in Hancock County, Ohio, near the village of Arlington, about ten miles from the county seat, Findlay. (I lost his daughter Anna Katharina and her daughter Eva Maria after the 1860 census.) The family now spelled their last name “Snyder”. The property the family lived on belonged to Philip, now 39. He and his wife, Hannah, 35, had six children at home: Catherine (12), Nicholas (9), George (8), Elizabeth (5), Philip (2), and John (6/12, born in February).  Jacob’s youngest son, George (32) also lived in the household. Philip’s children Catherine, Nicholas, George, and Elizabeth attended school.  Philip was now a millwright and a farmer.  Jacob is listed as a retired farmer and George as a farmer.

Jacob died the next year, on 21 October 1871, at age 79.  He is buried in St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery, in Arlington, Hancock County, Ohio, USA. His gravestone bears a lengthy inscription, in German.

Grave of Jacob Schneider, in St. Paul's Cemetery, Van Buren Township, Hancock County OH
posted with permission of C.H. (I do not  own copyright & cannot give permission for its reuse.)
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My cousin Steve, who, thankfully, is fluent in modern and old German, translated the inscription on Jacob’s gravestone, for me,  from the above photograph, although part of it was obscured by a plant:  “Jacob Schneider born in Hohenstadten, Hessen Darmstadt Germany on the 1st of December 1792. In the year 1808 he became a soldier in the German Army and participated in the campaign against Napoleon the 1st. With his [illegible] he was awarded a medal by his [illegible] and in the year 18[illegible] on the 21st of December his life ended.”

It looks like there are quite a few clues on that gravestone (and would be more if that plant wasn’t there!), but it confused me more than it enlightened me. The inscription indicates that when Jacob was approximately 16 he was fighting with the German Army against Napoleon and got a medal for it.  I’ve been reading many synopses of the history of the Duchies/Landgraviates of Hessen in the process of writing my last several posts and I think I’m going to have to study a bit more in-depth to figure out how he fought against Napoleon in the German Army in 1808, since at that point in time most of the Hessen-Darmstadt troops were fighting with the French Army - on Napoleon’s side (1806-1813). It wasn’t until 1813 that Hesse-Darmstadt joined the allies (Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and several other German states) and fought on the side of the 6^th Coalition against France & Napoleon, which succeeded in pushing France out of Germany in 1814.

Either Jacob’s surviving family misremembered the date he fought in the army, or he was in the army in 1808 but was fighting FOR Napoleon and the story morphed over time since Napoleon not only wasn’t the good guy, but he lost. Or it’s also possible Jacob joined the Prussian Army which had a part in the Peninsular War (initially Napoleon/the French Army and Spain vs. the Sixth Coalition for control of the Iberian Peninsula, 1807-1814, until in 1808 when France turned on its former ally, Spain, as well). I’ve been trying to figure out what medal Jacob was awarded as that might pin down where he fought and against whom but have had no success because I really need to know where he fought and against whom first to have a chance at finding more information on the medal.  

If anyone reading this has any suggestions that might help me solve the puzzle of who Jacob fought for in the Napoleonic Wars and what medal he received, or on what ship/when he immigrated to America, please

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Hessen Baptismal records and Marriage records, Ancestry(.)com indexes;  1860  & 1870 U.S. Censuses; Hancock County, Ohio, Cemetery Inscription, Orange and Van Buren Townships, Hancock County Genealogical Society (1995); History of Hancock County [Ohio] from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Together with Reminiscences of Pioneer Life, Incidents, Statistical Tables, and Biographical Sketches, by Daniel Barna Beardsley (Springfield, OH, Republic Printing Company. 1881.); History of Hancock County, Ohio, Containing a History of the County, Its Townships, Towns ... Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, Biographies, History of the Northwest Territory, History of Ohio, Statistical and Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., by  (Chicago. Warner, Beers & Co. 1886.);  https://arcinsys.hessen.de/arcinsys/detailAction.action?detailid=v3826624 (Source: M.d.I. Abl. 11, Konv. 58 II (Part.V) Film 12 No. 476); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Fourth_Coalition; https://www.britannica.com/place/Hesse-Darmstadt; http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesEurope/GermanyHesse_History01.htm; http://www.many-roads.com/2013/12/26/hesse-prussia-genealogy-research/ ; http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs/cur/kane98/kane_p3_immig/German/germany.html; https://www.geografox.net/GermanCommunities/immigration.html; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Americans_in_the_American_Civil_War

Johann Phillip Schneider (1831-1909) and Hannah Essinger (1834-1898), my 3rd great-grandparents

Johann Philip Schneider (aka Philip Snyder)
(1831-1909)
(given to me by R.M., my 1st cousin 1x removed - Thank you!)
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Johann Philip Schneider was born 10 Jan 1831 in Hessen-Darmstadt Germany to Johann Jakob Schneider and Eva Maria Hauman.  I’ll list his siblings in his parents’ entry, (which you can see HERE).

I’m not certain whether he moved to the United States at the same time his father did or at a different point as part of his family's immigration to the United States.  I do know that he had immigrated to the USA by 1856, because that’s the year he married Hannah Essinger, daughter of  Adam Essinger and Anna Catharina Simmermacher (their story HERE), on 11 September, in Hancock County Ohio. I also don’t know whether he was a naturalized citizen by the time he married. If he wasn’t, even though she was born in Pennsylvania in 1834, she would have lost her citizenship by marrying him because in the mid-1800s a woman’s citizenship was tied to that of her husband. She would retain her citizenship if he was a naturalized citizen when they married or regain it when he became a naturalized citizen.

Over the course of their marriage, Phillip and Hannah had nine children. Their eldest daughter Katherine M. was my 2nd great-grandmother (1857-1931); she married my second great-grandfather, John Snyder [his story HERE]).  Philip and Hannah’s other children were: Frederick Nicholas (1860-1936, m. Mary Ellen DuMond); George Snyder, (1862-1952, m. Elizabeth Hosafros); Elizabeth Snyder (1865-1955, m. William Patterson); Philip Snyder (10 February 1869-1898); John Harvey (1870-1952, m. Alice Bartchlett); Alexander W. (1873-1957, m. Sadie L. Hartman); Charles (1875-1957, m. Florence Fetters); and William H. (1878-1961, m. Rosetta F Brown). The family lived in a small village in Hancock County, Ohio, called Arlington, or in the surrounding Madison Township during the years in which the children were born.

After their marriage, at some point, the family anglicized their last name. Many immigrants did this to help them fit into their new country better. One of the most common ways to make a name sound more American was to simplify the pronunciation and spelling, and that seems to be what my family chose to do.  Sometimes immigrants used an anglicized version of their name publically but used their original name within the family. (The idea that names were changed at the port of entry – the Schneiders got here over 30 years before Ellis Island opened – is a myth.)

In their 1860 Census, the last name is listed as Snider.  Philip (age 29) and Hannah (age 26) and their first two children, Catherine (age 2) and Frederick Nicholas (listed as Nicholos, age 5/12), were living with Philip’s father Jacob (age 66), Philip’s older sister Elisabeth (age 33) and her daughter Mary (age 6), and Philip’s younger brother George (age 22) in Union Township, Hancock County, Ohio. The closest Post Office was Hassan, which no longer exists but the pin in the map in the next image will show you where it was, and thus give a general idea of where they were. The Census indicates that Jacob, Elisabeth, Philip, George, and Mary were born in Hesse, Germany; Hannah was born in Pennsylvania; and Catherine and Nicholos were born in Ohio. Jacob was working as a day laborer and Philip was a carpenter.  All the adults (over 20) could read and write. Philip had real estate valued at $750 (as a comparison, in today’s money that would be $21, 127.98). He is not shown as having any personal property of any value. 

Site of the historical (no longer existing) Hassan Post Office in Hancock County Ohio
(credit to https://ohio.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,1990254,n,hassan%20post%20office.cfm)
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In 1869, Philip Snyder (note the change from Snider to Snyder) served on a Hancock County Court of Common Pleas Grand Jury, commencing April 6, 1869. 

In the 1870 Census the family name was Snyder as well.* They had moved to Madison Township in Hancock County, Ohio; the closest Post Office was in Arlington, a village in the south of Hancock County (see below), about ten miles from the county seat, Findlay. Philip (age 39) and Hannah (age 35) Snyder are living with six of their children: Catherine (12), Nicholas (9), George (8), Elizabeth (5), Philip (2), and John (6/12, born in February). Catherine, Nicholas, George, and Elizabeth attend school.  Also living with them is Philip’s father Jacob (77) and Philip’s younger brother, George (32). Philip is now a millwright and a farmer; he has real property worth $2000 and personal property worth $681 (value today: $35,995. 82 in real property and $12,256.58 in personal property). The census shows that Jacob, and Philip and his brother George were born in Germany, and states that all the children and their mother were born in Ohio (erroneously as to Hannah). Jacob is listed as a retired farmer, and George as a farmer; but neither of them shows any real property or personal property owned so perhaps they work on the family farm on land owned by Philip.

According to the 1870 non-population census schedule for farms, Philip had 40 acres of improved land and 40 acres of woodland. He valued the farm at $3000 (today $50,993) and the farm implements and machinery at $150 ($2,549). As of June 1, 1870, the farm had 5 horses (this was before tractors), 4 milk cows, 4 other cattle (not mules, asses, and oxen), 17 sheep, and 8 pigs – total value $431 (today $7,326). During the year ending June 1, 1870, the farm produced 125 bushels of winter wheat, 100 bushels of Indian corn, 130 bushels of oats, 60 pounds of wool, 300 pounds of butter,8 tons of hay, 10 gallons of molasses, and $172 worth of meat (today $2,923). The estimated total value of all the farm produce in that year was $630 (today $10,708).

Map of Hancock County, Ohio, with Arlington, highlighted
(CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=305660 )

Philip’s father Jacob died in 1871, and his brother George died in 1872, only 35 years old. Both are buried in St. Paul’s Cemetery in Van Buren Township, Hancock County.

The 1880 Census is the first one where we find Philip’s family alone, without any other relatives living with them. Philip (age 49) and Hannah (age 46) were living in Madison Township, Hancock County with seven of their children: George (18), Elisabeth (14), Philip (12), John (11), Alexander (8), Charles (5) and William (2), Philip Sr is listed as a farmer and his wife Hannah as keeping house. Sons George, Philip, and John are shown as ‘working on the farm’.  The census also indicates that Elisabeth, Philip Jr, John, and Alexander attended school during the year. It also indicates that the whole family can read and write. It lists both Philip sr and (erroneously) Hannah as having been born in Hesse-Darmstadt, and their children as being born in Ohio.

According to the 1880 non-population census schedule for farms, Philip owned his farm. It had 51 acres tilled, 4 acres of permanent meadows, and 25 acres of woodland. He estimated the value of his farm (including land and buildings) at $4900 (today $106,497); the value of his farm implements and machinery at $100 (today $2,173); and the value of his livestock at $349 (today $7,585). He showed no labor costs for the farm so it is likely that it was entirely a family endeavor. The estimated value of all farm productions (sold, consumed, or on hand) for 1879 was $734 (today $15,952). In 1879 he harvested 9 tons of hay. As of Jun1, 1880, the farm had 4 horses (which would have pulled the plows), 3 milch (milk) cows, no mules, asses or working oxen, but 6 “other” (your guess is as good as mine – maybe meat cattle?).  Under the section “Neat Cattle and their Products” he indicated in 1879 there were 3 calves born on the farm; he bought 4 cattle, he sold 4 living cattle and one slaughtered, and one had “died, strayed, or was stolen and not recovered”, and he made 300 pounds of butter. On hand on June 1, 1980, he had 12 sheep; one lamb had been born in 1879. He didn’t buy or sell any in 1879. In the Spring of 1880, he had shorn fleeces from eight sheep. On June 1, 1880, he had 27 pigs, 20 barnyard poultry and 14 “other” poultry (exclusive of spring hatching). Ninety-six eggs were produced in 1879. Also in 1879, the farm produced 1200 bushels of Indian corn on 24 acres; 125 bushels of oats on 4 acres; and 212 bushels of wheat on 18 acres. The farm also produced 4 gallons of molasses; 40 bushels of potatoes on ¾ of an acre of land; 125 bushels of apples from 4 acres of apple trees (he valued the 125 bushels at $25 [today $543]); and 40 cords of wood cut (valued at $40 [today $869]).

The Plower, by Anton Mauve (1838 -1888)

In 1880, Arlington had a population of 126 people.  There was a post office, one wagon-and-carriage shop, one blacksmith shop, and a steam-powered saw and planing mill, a shoe shop, a pump factory, a tile factory, a dry goods store, and a grocery store. The local doctor also operated a drug store in addition to his medical practice. There were also two saloons.

In the early 1800’s stories of finding of natural gas in Pennsylvania and its adaptation to manufacturing purposes, as well as its adaptability to lighting and heating – prior to that, it was just considered a nuisance – brought to mind in Hancock County Ohio, an old gas well discovered in the 1830’s in which gas was found when drilling for water. A local German doctor had always maintained that there was gas underlying this area. He convinced backers to fund an experimental drill at a location of his choosing, and on December 5, 1884, natural gas was discovered in Hancock county, at a depth of 1,092 feet in sufficient quantity to make a flame 30 feet high when ignited. The Great Karg Well was the 13th well (of 17) drilled in the county and at that time the largest gas well in the world. It produced over 10,000,000 cubic feet of gas per day. The gas pressure escaped with such ferocity that it roared like Niagara Falls and was initially so powerful it was impossible to contain it to pipe it off for fuel so that for safety’s sake the company capped it briefly while running a pipe across to the middle of the Blanchard River where it was then allowed to gush flame, boiling the river below. It burned with a 100ft high flame which was visible more than 30 miles away at night! It burned for four months! It was an exciting time to live in the county. Findlay became known as the "City of Light" and free fuel and light attracted many tourists as well as many industries.  By 1888, Findlay was one of the largest glass production centers in the country including eight window, two bottle, two chimney lamp, one light bulb, one novelty, and five tableware glass factories. (Later generations of my family include several glass artists, this might be why!)

The Great Karg Well, 1886 Cabinet Card
View from across the Blanchard River

By 1886, after the discovery of natural gas in Hancock county and the subsequent drilling boom,  the population of Arlington tripled to 400, and several businesses had been added to the village: two more grocers, a hardware store, a grist mill and elevator, two more steam sawmills, a boot and shoe store, a harness shop, another wagon shop, another blacksmith shop, an undertaker, a brickyard, two tile-yards, a good hotel, and livery stable, two more doctors, two more saloons. Additionally, two churches had been built and a two-room schoolhouse. This is a huge amount of growth for only six years! (Likewise, the population of the county seat, Findlay, Ohio, nearly quadrupled from 4,600 to 18,000 in less than two years!)

In 1886, oil was discovered in Hancock County, and by 1887, there were 30 oil wells in the area too. In 1895 Ohio became America's leading oil-producing state. Ohio oil production peaked in 1896 at 24 million barrels, but Ohio continued as the leading oil state until 1902 when that title was taken by Oklahoma. By 1890, the gas production began to diminish.  But because the oil production continued, the industrial base that had grown up remained in the city, including the home base of the Marathon Oil Company.  

The crops and livestock produced by the County’s farmers also helped maintain a solid economic base for the county during the boom and after. In 1900, Hancock County had over 3200 farms and livestock production was at its peak. It was an extremely prosperous county. As environmental protection regulations largely did not yet exist, the county also had a lot of industrial pollution.

Hannah Essinger Snyder (1834-1898)
(given to me by R.M., my 1st cousin 1x removed - Thank you!)

Hannah Essinger Snyder died on 2 February, 1898; she was only 63. She is buried in St. Paul’s Cemetery in Van Buren Township. I don’t yet know why she died. I wonder whether it was related to the sudden industrialization of the County or to illness? That must have been a very tough year for Philip. Approximately a month after Hannah died, their son Philip also died, at age 29.

Two years after his wife’s death,  the 1900 census showed that Philip was 69 years old and living with his oldest daughter(Katherine, age 42) and her family in Findlay, Ohio, in a rented house. It listed his occupation as jeweler, but indicated that he had been unemployed for 12 months. His son-in-law, John, age 45, worked on Saw Mill Road, and his grandson Philip, age 17, listed his occupation as a motorman. The census showed that all members of the household can read, write, and speak English.

Two years later Philip again experienced tragedy when his 40-year-old son George died on 8 October 1902, and a year later when George’s three-year-old son died.

On 29 October, 1909, at age 78, Philip died of dropsy and acute nephritis (an inflammatory kidney infection with painful swelling of tissues caused by fluid retention); he was buried in St. Paul’s Cemetery in Arlington Ohio on October 31, 1909 (described on his death certificate as the “german cemetery”). His death certificate is in the name of Philip Snider, but on his gravestone, his name is Philip Schneider.

Death Certificate for Philip Snider

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*Note: If you’re looking on Ancestry for these Snyders in the 1870 Census, the name under which the family is indexed is (very) wrong: Philip Snyder is indexed as “Mine Luyster”. I submitted a correction, so it should be searchable under the correct name soon. (I read every page of the 1870 Census in Hancock County Ohio until I found them - I just knew they had to be there!)

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"Deutschland Geburten und Taufen, 1558-1898,", FamilySearch, Johann Philipp Schneider, 12 Jan 1831; FHL microfilm 1,195,077; U.S. Censuses for 1860, 1870, 1880, and 1900, and the nonpopulation schedules for 1870 and 1880; Ohio birth records; Ohio death records; https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1998/summer/women-and-naturalization-1.html; History of Hancock County [Ohio] from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Together with Reminiscences of Pioneer Life, Incidents, Statistical Tables, and Biographical Sketches, by Daniel Barna Beardsley (Springfield, OH, Republic Printing Company. 1881.); History of Hancock County, Ohio, Containing a History of the County, Its Townships, Towns ... Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, Biographies, History of the Northwest Territory, History of Ohio, Statistical and Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., by  (Chicago. Warner, Beers & Co. 1886.); List of Jurors, Hancock Jeffersonian March 12, 1869 (Found at Genealogybank.com); https://ohio.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,3,fid,1990254,n,hassan%20post%20office.cfm ; http://www.in2013dollars.com/1860-dollars-in-2017?amount=750; http://www.genealogy.com/articles/research/88_donna.html ; http://mentalfloss.com/article/60955/why-your-family-name-did-not-come-mistake-ellis-island  ; http://schmidtgen.com/wordpress/2014/10/07/german-genealogy-tip-7-anglicized-german-names/ ; http://www.in2013dollars.com/1870-dollars-in-2017?amount=681 ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_industry_in_Ohio; http://www.ohiomemory.org/cdm/ref/collection/p267401coll36/id/11858 ; “Natural Gas in Findlay”, The American Magazine, Volume 7 (The American Magazine Company 1888}.