Plymouth Warren Snyder (1851-1943)

Portrait from the Altoona Mirror, 1943.

  Another standout figure in the history of Blair County, Pennsylvania, Plymouth Warren Snyder was an oddly named contemporary of Tarring Spurgeon Davis, who was profiled a few days ago. A pharmacist in Hollidaysburg for over fifty years,  Snyder served as a member of the Blair County Board of Health and began his political career with his election to the first of two terms in his state's house of representatives in 1910. These terms were followed by three consecutive terms in the Pennsylvania Senate, where he was viewed as a "commanding presence." Like Tarring S. Davis, Snyder lived a long life and was devoted to the history of his native county, being a founding member and past president of the Blair County Historical Society. 

   Born on March 1, 1851, in Hollidaysburg, Plymouth Warren Snyder was the son of druggist Jacob and Sarah Cecilia (Bowers) Snyder. A student at the Hollidaysburg Seminary, Snyder followed in his father's stead and decided on a career as a pharmacist, studying at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy from 1871-72. After the completion of his studies, Snyder returned to Hollidaysburg and joined with his father in the latter's pharmacy, which had been established in 1842. Snyder would take the reigns of this store following his father's death and conducted business for fifty-two years, operating out of a "large and handsome store" on Allegheny Street. Snyder and his pharmacy received extensive mention in the 1887 Industrial and Commercial Resources of Pennsylvania, which relates:

"The prescription department is presided over by Mr. Snyder in person, who learned the science of the apothecary and pharmacist from his able and accomplished father. He exerts the utmost care and most scrupulous accuracy in preparing and compounding even the simplest remedy, and many of the leading physicians prefer to have all their prescriptions filled by this painstaking pharmacist." 

   In  August 1888 Plymouth Snyder married to Cora Eleanor McClellan (1859-1933), and the couple's forty-five-year marriage saw the birth of one daughter, Mabel (birthday unknown). Snyder's 1943 obituary also gives notice to the couple having a foster daughter, Florence. A longtime member of the Pennsylvania Pharmaceutical Association, Snyder attained prominent rank in the Masonic fraternity, of which he was a member for over sixty years. In 1879 he served as a worshipful master of the Juniata Lodge, No 282 and also held memberships in the Mount Moriah Royal Arch Masons, the Mountain Commandry No. 10, the Jaffa Shrine Temple, and the Mountain Council, No. 9., of the Royal and Select Masons. Snyder's status as a leading Presbyterian in Hollidaysburg is also attested to in his 1943 Altoona Mirror obituary, which details his thirty-six-year tenure as a church elder and his past service as treasurer of the Presbytery of Huntingdon in Hollidaysburg.

Snyder during his legislative service.

  A member of the Blair County Board of Public Health for a number of years, Plymouth Snyder's first foray into elective office came in 1910 when he announced his candidacy for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from Blair County's 2nd district. That November he won out at the polls, garnering 3,101 votes, and during his first term (1911-13) held seats on the following committees: Centennial Affairs, Constitutional Reform, Counties and Townships, Pensions and Gratuities, Public Buildings, Public Health and Sanitation, and Public Roads. Snyder won a second term in the house in 1912 and during the 1913-15 session served as chairman of the committee on Pensions and Gratuities.

  In the 1914 election year, Plymouth W. Snyder advanced to a seat in the state senate, where he would have considerable impact. He would serve three consecutive four-year terms (1915-27) and this period of service saw him acknowledged as a stalwart backer of prohibition and an advocate for improved roadways, with the Altoona Mirror remarking:

"He was a sturdy champion of good roads, the public schools, forests, dry law enforcement, pure food, old age pensions, health and sanitation, and he always opposed with great vigor any tampering with the Sunday laws." 

  Snyder's productivity in the senate was marked by his backing of improved highway legislation, and he "ever was a champion of measures designed to promote the cause of education and the upbuilding of the public school system." Both prior to and after his senate terms Snyder was a leader in historic preservation in Blair County, being a charter member and former president of the Blair County Historical Society. Snyder would contribute to Tarring S. Davis' 1931 History of Blair County, authoring a chapter in Volume I of that work devoted to the "History of Presbyterians in the County". Snyder's 1943 obituary further notes his figuring prominently in the historical society's acquisition of the Baker Mansion in Altoona, the former home of local iron magnate Elias Baker, and in 1922 was a featured speaker at the dedication of a memorial marker near the site of Fort Fetter, a Revolutionary War-era fortification in Duncansville, Pennsylvania.
  Widowed in 1933, Plymouth Snyder continued residency in Hollidaysburg following his wife's death and in March 1941 celebrated his 9oth birthday. Remarked as being in fair health even in his ninth decade, Snyder was largely housebound during the final years of his life and died aged 92 on December 19, 1943, at his home. He was survived by his daughters Mabel and Florence and was interred alongside his wife at the Hollidaysburg Presbyterian Cemetery.

Snyder's obituary from the Altoona Mirror, December 20, 1943.