[p. 591] representative citizen
of Wampum, a member of the Town
Council and a leading merchant, was born
August 10, 1859, on the old Bartholomew
farm, in Clarion County, Pennsylvania,
and is a son of Adam and Elizabeth Katherine
(Bartholomew) Snare.
The Snare family is of German extraction. Christopher Snare, grandfather of John W., came to Clarion County from the eastern part of Pennsylvania, and he settled in the section where he spent the remainder of his life, clearing up a farm from the wilderness. He died at the age of ninety-six years. His six children were: Michael, who died aged sixty-three years; Joseph, who lived to the age of sixty-seven years; John, who died, aged thirty-three years; Adam; Polly, who married John Plotzer, and Elizabeth.
Adam Snare, father of John W., was born in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, May 11, 1837. He grew to manhood on the home farm and assisted largely in its clearing. Later he worked in the Stuartson furnace in Armstrong County, and three other brothers also found work there. While they were so engaged they invested their wages in farm land and when one brother, John, died they were buying their third farm. After this Adam returned to the homestead and cared for his aged parents and remained at home until 1872, when he moved to Mahoning. He entered the employ of Locke Brothers as a teamster, and remained until 1876, going then to West Monterey, Clarion County. There he leased a coal mine and his sons worked for him delivering coal to the oil wells during the great oil boom of 1876. After the death of his wife, in 1880, he purchased property at Bruin, Butler County, and resided there until 1883; when he returned to his father's old place and took charge of the latter's affairs until the father's death. Adam Snare then bought a place at Rimersburg and lived there until his death in 1900. He married Elizabeth Katherine, Bartholomew, who died in 1880, aged forty-three years. They had the following children: Jerry, deceased; John Willis; Regina, who married W. H. Emrick; Isaiah, deceased; Anna, who married Lemuel Jackson; William H.; Mary, deceased, who married Stephen Wiltrout, and Edward. The Bartholomew family originated also in Germany. The maternal grandfather of the above children was William H. Bartholomew, and he lived to the unusual age of ninety-six years.
John Willis Snare grew to manhood in the oil regions and his first work was done around furnaces and oil wells. He began to haul metal when he was almost too small to handle the heavy loads and later engaged in mining. Before he was twenty-one years of age he had been engaged in some of the hardest work he has ever done in his life. For three months after he had reached his majority, he was engaged as a brakeman on the gravel train of the Pennsylvania & Lake Erie Railroad, in his neighborhood, and for three months longer assisted in building an extension of the road and later was put in charge of the work at Duck Run. He laid all the track from the junction at Wurtemburg to the Isabella quarries a contract which consumed six months of time. Later he worked for nineteen summers as a quarryman and engaged in the sand-stone business. In the spring of 1885 he moved to Wampum and continued in the stone business at this point until 1903, in partnership with the firm of Patton & Gibson, of Pittsburg, and a Mr. Ehrhart, of Hartgate. In 1897 Mr. Snare embarked in a mercantile business, buying out the firm of White Brothers at Wampum. This enterprise he has successfully conducted ever since.
On October 9, 1884, Mr. Snare was married to Rosanna Ehrhart and they have one child, Marie. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Wampum and the treasurer of this body. Politically, he is a Democrat, and on numerous occasions he has been elected to offices of responsibility in town and township. For the past twelve years he has been a member of the Town Council, where his excellent business judgment has been of great value to the community. He served three years as tax collector and in other offices and at all times takes the active interest of a good citizen in all that pertains to the general welfare of the public.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
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