The Sniders of Portland Township, Ontario

This blog post will give my current best guesses for the ancestors of Agnes Rebecca Snider who left her home in Ontario to move to Manitoba as written about here.  She married William George Cassel in 1893 and they had a family of 6 as detailed here. The first picture below was taken of her about 1895 and the second would be in 1927 with her granddaughter Merle on her knee.

 Agnes was the daughter of John B. Snider (1828-1921) and Rebecca Agnes Martin (1836-1917).  Both were born in Ontario and their families seem to have been there for a few generations although on the 1891 census, John claims his father (John Boyce Snider) was born in the U.S.  His ethnic origin is listed as German on the 1871 and 1881 census. 
Rebecca was the daughter of Elisha Martin(1799-1876) and Thankful (great name!) Babcock (1799-1864).  John and Rebecca and their two eldest sons were farming with Elisha and Thankful on the 1861 Census in a one story log house in Portland Township near Bellrock.  They continued to farm in the area and increase their family for the next 30 years and then lived with children who were farmers for their remaining years.  Agnes seems to be the only child I've found who moved far from home. The family of John B. and Rebecca Snider: 

• Victoria (1853-?) - married Thomas Babcock 
• Chester (1861-1948) - married Maggie
• Gladwin (1862-1943) - married Carrie Grant
• Emma Arthusa (1865-1951) - married James Meeks ** 
• James Edgar aka Edward (1871-1948) - married Mary Thompson.  Their son J. E. Snider died in WW1.
• Agnes Rebecca (1875-1930) married W.G. Cassel and moved to homestead in Manitoba in 1902 
• Jacob B. Allen (1879-?) married Annette McCabe

**A granddaughter of Emma - Gwen Meeks Smith - had contacted the Cassells in 1984 as she was creating a family tree.  She was very involved in researching United Empire Loyalists and one connection seems to be through Rebecca Martin Snider's grandfather Amos Martin aka Amos Tanner.  I am still searching for the "small booklet" Gwen said in her letter that she wrote about the Snider family history. 

Thanks to her granddaughter Carol for this picture of Agnes 

There has to be a story to the "B" initial that John always used and it certainly made my job easier in finding him in the records.  There were many families in the area with the name but also some spelled "Snyder" and "Schneider".  This website shows a family crest and coat of arms and lists several Sniders who were Loyalists who may have been ancestors to our John B. Any further information about this family is most welcome in the comments below or by email ssimms"at"escape.ca