Founder - J. A. Snyder Transportation Company
Banker - Rotary Club Pioneer - Scottish Rite Mason
Muncie, Indiana ~ Piqua, Ohio ~ Joplin, Missouri
1875 - 1931
Galena Harrow Factory - Snyder Bus Line
John Abbott Benham Snyder was born in Ashtabula, Ohio on July 14, 1875. He was the maternal grandson of Charles Merriman and Martha Gillette Merriman, natives of New Haven, Connecticut.. He was the son of Olive Exermina Merriman Benham Snyder and Orson Hamlin Benham of Ashtabula, Ohio. He was a stepson of Andrew Griffin Snyder and a nephew of William A. Snyder, chairman of Pioneer Pole & Shaft Co. of Piqua.
Mr. Snyder was superintendent of the Blaine Harrow Manufacutring Co. of Piqua. He was general manager of the Galena Harrow Factory at Galena, Kansas from 1909 until 1912. He founded the Snyder Bus & Transportation Company at Joplin in 1914, an inter-urban bus line and jitney service, serving Southwest Missouri and Northwest Arkansas, which was acquired by Crown Coach Company in 1931.
Mr. Snyder was one of the first members of the Joplin Rotary Club and the Joplin Chamber of Commerce, both of which were founded in 1916. He was a member of the board of directors of the First State Bank.
He was a 30th degree Mason, a member of the Scottish Rite Temple, the First Presbyterian Church, and a charter member of the Joplin Country Club and the Oak Hill (Twin Hills) Country Club..
Mr. Snyder married Mabel Darlington Mitchell, daughter of Thomas Darlington Mitchell and Clara Swift Mitchell, natives of Wellsville, New York, in 1905 at Piqua, Ohio, where the Swift family operated the Swift Mill.
He died on March 7, 1931, following a brief illness. Ballbearers included Karl Koelker, Herbert Schnur, W. H. Landreth J. Neff Wells, Congressman Joe Manlove and Ira Perkins of Galena.
The Rotary Club later held a special memorial service in Mr. Snyder's honor.
He was survived by his wife, Mabel, his mother; Olive Merriman Snyder, Muncie, Indiana; a brother W. C. Benham, also of Muncie; and a daughter, Clara Olive Snyder [Shepherd].
Mr. Snyder's grandson, Thomas M. Shepherd, is a founder of the Tom Blaise Shepherd Existential Society of America and is the publisher of the Joplin-Carthage Times and The Egalitarian Times. Mr. Snyder's grandson John Snyder Shepherd, a journalist, newscaster and scout leader, died in 2002.
John Abbott BenhamSnyder was a nephew of Florence Merriman Johnson and Abbott L. Johnson of Muncie.Their own sons, Ray Prescott Johnson, John Edgar Johnson, their son-in-law Charles Strout Davis, and their grandsons Abbott L. Johnson II, Ray Prescott Johnson Jr. and Charles Strout Davis Jr. were the founders, directors and engineers of the Borg-Warner Corporation. Mr. Snyder's brother W.C. Benham was also affiliated with Borg-Warner.
Mr. Snyder's first cousin, Ray Prescott Johnson, was the father of Mrs. Barry (Peggy Johnson) Goldwater, Phoenix.
The Snyder Home
412 N. Moffet Ave., Joplin
Built by William H. Landreth
Purchased by John A. Snyder in 1920
Sold by Clara Snyder Shepherd in 1969
Front View of Home Rear & Family View
Floor Plan Snyder Family
View of Keystone & Connor Hotels
Joplin Museum & Scottish Rite Cathedral
John Snyder Shepherd World Mission
Abbott Livingston Johnson
biography
Publisher Thomas M. Shepherd
Clara Olive Benham Snyder Shepherd
Memorial
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Olive Merriman Snyder - Muncie, Indiana - Suffers Stroke Following Son's Death
She was a sister-in-law of Abbott L. Johnson, leading Muncie industrialist
-- a sister of Florence Merriman Johnson & Celinda Merriman Oves ... view more
The Mabel Mitchell Snyder Memorial enter here
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The John Snyder Shepherd World Mission
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Joplin - Lead & Zinc Mining Capital - Webb City
Carthage - The Maple Leaf City