Snyder was born on November 5, 1759 in Lancaster in the Province of Pennsylvania. His parents were ethnic Germans. Anton Schneider and Agnesa Krämer Schneider reared him in the Lutheran church. His father was a mechanic, and had immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1744 from Germany, part of a large wave of immigrants from there in the 18th century. The family was for many years associated with the Moravian Church in Lancaster, consistently listed in membership catalogs of the congregation during the 1760s and 1770s. After his father's death in 1774 when Snyder was 15, the youth became apprenticed to a tanner in York, Pennsylvania, in order to learn a trade. He used his limited leisure time for study. In 1784, Snyder moved to Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, where he opened a gristmill. He was elected as justice of the peace, serving for twelve years. His residence still stands at 121 North Market Street and is now known as the Gov. Simon Snyder Mansion; it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Marriage and family
In 1790, Snyder married Elizabeth Michael. They had two children. Elizabeth died in 1794 and her widowed husband was left to raise their young children. Snyder quickly remarried, as was common in those days, to Catherine Antes on July 12, 1796. He and his second wife had another five children together. Catherine Antes Snyder died on March 15, 1810, in Selinsgrove and is buried at the First Reformed Church Memorial Garden in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1814, Snyder married Mary Slough Scott, a widow. They remained together until his death in 1819.
Early political career
Snyder began his political career as a Justice of the Peace. In 1789 he was elected as a delegate to revise Pennsylvania's state constitution in 1790. Following this, he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, serving from 1797 to 1807. During this time, he was elected three times as the speaker of the House: in 1804, in 1805, and in 1807. While in the House, Snyder sought the governorship as a Jeffersonian Democrat in 1805, but he was defeated by the incumbent governor Thomas McKean, also a Jeffersonian Democrat. A lack of public recognition in comparison to the incumbent contributed to Snyder's losing the election. Snyder sponsored the "Hundred-dollar Act," which embodied the arbitration principle. It provided for the trial of civil cases only when the amount in question was more than one hundred dollars.
Governorship
In 1808, the Jeffersonians united behind Snyder, and he won the election for governor. Snyder ran again in the succeeding elections of 1811 and 1814, easily winning reelection against the Federalist candidates William Tilghman, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and Isaac Wayne, respectively. In 1812, Snyder suggested relocating the capital city of the commonwealth from Lancaster to its present, more central location in Harrisburg. The General Assembly approved this proposal.
War of 1812
Snyder supported the War of 1812 wholeheartedly despite Federalist cries of dissent. With the United States emerging undefeated at the end of the war, this criticism subsided. After the war, John Binns supported elevating Snyder to consideration for the vice-presidential slot on President James Madison's ticket, but later the governor was disregarded as a possible candidate.
Post governorship
Snyder was elected by the people of Union County, Pennsylvania to the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1818. He died from typhoid fever in Selinsgrove on November 9, 1819, before taking office. He is buried at the Old Lutheran Cemetery in Selinsgrove.
Legacy and honors
His gravesite at Old Lutheran Cemetery of Sharon Lutheran Church in Selinsgrove is marked by a monument topped by his bust.
His house at Selinsgrove, known as the Gov. Simon Snyder Mansion, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Sy Snyder is a pseudonym for the publishers of PoliticsPA, a website dedicated to Pennsylvania politics.
Snyder County, Pennsylvania, is named in his honor.
Snyder Avenue in South Philadelphia, is named in his honor.
