The third governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1808 to 1817 Simon Snyder was the only three-term Governor in the state’s history. A Jeffersonian Democrat, he served three terms as speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives before becoming governor. He led the state through the War of 1812 and, following the conclusion of his term, was elected to the United States Senate, but he died in 1819 before he took office.

Born of Moravian parents he was the first governor of Pennsylvania to be of German descent. His father was a respectable mechanic, who came to America from the Palatinate, in 1758. His mother was born near Oppenheim, Germany. Of five children, the offspring of this marriage, Simon was the fourth.

In 1776, two years after his father died, Snyder moved to York, Pennsylvania where he apprenticed as a leather worker [tanner] for four years, while he received an education by attending night classes at a Society of Friends (Quakers) school.

In July of 1784 Simon moved to Selinsgrove, PA where he opened a store and grist mill* and acted as a scrivener.† He lived there the remainder of his life. His residence still stands at 121 North Market Street.

In 1790 he married Elizabeth Michael, with whom he had two children. After Elizabeth died in 1794, Snyder married Catherine Antes and together they had five children. While governor, Catherine died in 1810 and in 1814, Snyder married Mary Slough Scott, a widow. In total, Snyder fathered seven children.

Snyder began his political career as a Justice of the Peace and was elected in 1789 to serve as a delegate to help revise Pennsylvania's state constitution in 1790. Later he served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1797 to 1807. During this time, he also served as the speaker of the House three times: in 1804, in 1805, and in 1807. While he was in the House, Snyder sought the governorship in 1805 but was defeated by another Jerfersonian Democrat governor Thomas McKean.

In 1808, the Jeffersonians united behind Snyder and he won election as Governor. Snyder ran again in subsequent elections (in 1811 and 1814) and easily won reelection. In 1812, He was the first Govenor to advocate free public schools and first to oppose slavery and horse racing. Memorial erected to him in Selinsgrove by State in 1885. Snyder suggested relocating the capital city of the commonwealth from Lancaster to its present location in Harrisburg. The General Assembly approved this request which occured after he left office.

During his Governorship Snyder supported the War of 1812 wholeheartedly despite Federalist cries of dissent. With the victory at the end of the war, the criticism subsided. After the war, [Journalist] John Binns supported Snyder for consideration for the vice-presidential slot on President James Madison's ticket, but was not selected.

In 1818 Snyder was elected to the United States Senate by the General Assembly but died of Typhoid Fever on 9 November 1819 in Selinsgrove before he was able to serve. His gravesite is marked by a monument topped by his bust at Sharon Lutheran Church in Selinsgrove.

Among Simon Snyder's legacies "Sy Snyder" is now used as a pseudonym for the publishers of PoliticsPA, a website dedicated to Pennsylvania politics.

A residence hall at Penn State University is named in his honor and his home at Selinsgrove, known as the Gov. Simon Snyder Mansion, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Snyder County Pennsylvania which became an independent political unit on March 2, 1855 was named to honor it’s most famous citizen and political figure Governor Simon Snyder. 2466,2464,2467,2463,2468,2469

[There are sources that indicate Simon and second wife Catherine Antes had three children. Phillipp Frederick not listed among them.]
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Pennsylvania Governor Simon Snyder
Born:   November 5, 1759
Died:  November 9, 1819
Birth State:  Pennsylvania
Party:  Democratic-Republican (New School Jeffersonian Democrat, or "Family Party")
Family:  Married three times--Elizabeth Michael, two children; Catherine Antes, five children; Mary Slough Scott

Periods in Office:
From:
December 20, 1808
 
To:
December 16, 1817

Higher Office(s) Served: Senator

SIMON SNYDER was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and became a tanning and currying apprentice during his teens. In his twenties he moved to Selinsgrove, where he opened a store and ran a grist mill* and was elected Justice of the Peace. He was a delegate to the state Constitutional Convention of 1789-1790 and was elected to the state Assembly every year from 1797 to 1807 except 1805, when he ran for governor.

Considered to be an advocate for the poor, Snyder was nominated by the legislature to run for governor against incumbent Thomas McKean, who had been lambasted in the press for referring to the common man as a “clodpole.” Although he was defeated by McKean in 1805, Snyder came back to win election against his Federalist opponent in 1808 with the full support of Jeffersonians, who had come back together after suffering a split earlier in the decade.

Reelected in 1811 and 1814, he helped prepare Pennsylvanians for the War of 1812. In 1809, however, he was forced to back down after calling up the state militia to protect Pennsylvania’s sovereignty against the federal government in the Olmsted case. [In that case, a Connecticut sea captain by the name of Gideon Olmstead overcame his British captors and sailed their ship into American waters. He and the State of Pennsylvania, which each laid claim on the ship, fought their claims through both the state and federal courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled in Olmsted’s favor. However, the dispute led to an armed confrontation between the state and the federal government. (Source: http://149.166.220.15/library/SNAL/august05.asp)

As his third term came to an end, Snyder was elected by the Pennsylvania legislature to the U.S. Senate. He had just begun his term as a Senator when he fell ill and died at the age of sixty.

SOURCES:

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 4. Westport, CT: Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. 2. New York: James T. White & Company.2470
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WAR OF 1812.

In the second war with England Pennsylvania was menaced with invasion on the extreme northwest, where Lake Erie afforded an easy route for the transportation of the enemy's forces from Canada, and on the southeast, where the Delaware bay and river presented a favorable approach for the enemy's shipping.

The State militia was, therefore, mobilized at three principal points, viz., Meadville, then the largest town in the northwestern part of the State, Marcus Hook, on the Delaware below Philadelphia, and York.

Although war was not formally declared by Congress until the 18th of June, 1812, preparations for the conflict had been in progress for some time previously, and on the 12th of May [1812] Governor Snyder issued a call for fourteen thousand militia, the quota of the State.2471
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Governor Simon Snyder died at Selinsgrove, November 9, at three, A. M., aged seventy years and four days. His remains rest in the old grave-yard, at Selinsgrove, under a marble slab, without any inscription. His father was a mechanic, who had emigrated from Germany to Lancaster, where the Governor was born.

In July, 1784, he removed to Northumberland county, and settled at Selinsgrove, where he opened a store, and became the owner of a mill. He soon became useful as a scrivener, and as a friend of the poor and distressed. He was soon elected justice of the peace, in which capacity he officiated for twelve years. (Justices then presided in the county court.) [See Bell’s History of Northumberland County PA, p. 214 where a Simon Snyder is among a list of Justices on January 27, 1785]

So universally were his decisions respected, that there never was any appeal from any judgment of his to the court, and but one writ of certiorari was served upon him during that time. His political record is spread forth on the foregoing pages of these Annals. Mention will, therefore, be made here of only a few incidents of his public life.

With him originated the arbitration principle, first incorporated, with other wholesome provisions, for the adjustment of controversies brought before justices of the peace, called the hundred-dollar act. After a few years' experience, this salutary principle was ingrafted upon our judiciary system. General Abner Lacock was his coadjutor in these measures.

His conduct during the war of 1812 was patriotic, and worthy of a Governor of Pennsylvania. His son John, afterwards the Honorable John Snyder, of the thirteenth district, then a boy of nineteen, raised a company, and marched with them as captain to Baltimore. They arrived at Harrisburg before daylight, and were halted before the Governor's door. He arose from his bed, and welcomed them, and with stirring words complimented their bravery. He always said, in speaking of the circumstance, he never before had felt so proud of his son John.

During the session of 1813-14, a very large majority of both Houses passed the bill to charter forty banks. The candidate for Governor was at that time nominated by the members of the Legislature. When they came into caucus, it was remarked that the bank bill was then before the Governor, and that it would be prudent to make no nomination till it was seen whether he would sanction it. Within three days, Governor Snyder returned the bill, with his objections, and it did not pass that session. His independence was the theme of universal praise, and he was that year reelected by an immense majority. Having served out the constitutional term, he returned to Selinsgrove, and at the next general election was made State Senator, and served one session.

The crowning glory of Governor Snyder's career was his christianity. In religious culture he was a Moravian, and in public station he never forgot his vows or neglected his religious duties. His heart went out at all times in deeds of kindness to the poor and unfortunate. He was long mourned with sincere grief by them, and the few old people still surviving, tell how tenderly it was manifested when he was buried out of their sight.

His letters to his children are very affectionate, and full of good advice. I quote from one to his daughter, Amelia, afterwards Mrs. Jenks, dated the 30th of January, 1813:

"I hope the practice I recommended, of reading by the boys in the evening, has been adopted, and the reading of a chapter in the New Testament or one of Blair's sermons on a Sunday, when there is no worship in our church. When there is, and the weather is tolerable, I trust you and all the boys attend. Your ensample may influence them. I would advise you to set apart, say two hours each day, for reading, and endeavor to store in your mind all that is worth recollecting. Write to me when you have an opportunity, or rather write when anything occurs to your mind worth communicating, and then you will be ready, and not hurried, when an opportunity offers. This is my method, or I never could get through half my business."

His parental tenderness and earnest desire for the conversion of his children is the burden of many of his letters. From one dated Harrisburg, 19th January, 1813 ...

“Dear Child: I have but a few moments time, before the mail starts, to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 17th. I feel much distressed by your relation of John’s state of health. I hope that no pains or expense will be sared to restore him. God grant that he may recover, and become sensible of the necessity to alter his mind, and prove thankful and grateful to God for his mercies. His God, from whose hand the thread of his life is suspended, will hear him, if, with a contrite heart he calls for mercy and forgiveness. I write under strong emotions of pain. God have him and you all in His holy keeping, is the prayer of your father,

S.S.”

The Governor's long residence at the seat of government, during which he had not the leisure necessary for managing his extensive estates, and his liberality to his relatives and friends, had greatly embarrassed his affairs. The death of his son Frederick taking place at this time, broke his spirit. The powers of the other world soon claimed him for its silent fellowship. He is now united with the apostles and martyrs, the great and good of all ages, with those he so tenderly loved in life, and more than all, with his Saviour.2472
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Hon. [?] Scofield, a Clearfield county boy, became Governor of Michigan.930
[Actually he was the Governor of Wisconsin. His name was Edward Scofield 1842-1925, born in Clearfield, PA]2473

*A gristmill or grist mill is a building in which grain is ground into flour. In many countries these are referred to as corn mills or flour mills.3

†Scrivener refers to a scribe.136

On the 11th of June, 1796, as ascertained from the paper [Kennedy's Gazette], Miss Catherine, daughter of Colonel Frederick Antes, married Simon Snyder, of Selinsgrove, who was Governor of Pennsylvania from 1808 to 1817.1659

[This marriage date is contrary to the one from Bean’s History (July 12, 1796) AND from 12 Jun as noted and sourced below]

Married.
Sunday evening, June 12, Simon Snyder, Esquire, of Selinsgrove,
to Catherine, daughter of Colonel Frederick Antes, of Northumberland.2474