Snyder Community
Hale County, Texas
Mennonite Colony Families
Jonas M. (1857-1933) and Catherine "Kate" (Stine) (1857-1925) Kreider
The Rev. Jonas Kreider's family
is listed on the Snyder Community 
historical
marker as "among the first Mennonites to settle this farming
community." On May 31, 1907, Jonas purchased 80 acres in Hale County, the
east half of the southwest quarter of survey 1 in block D7, across the road from
Peter Snyder's property.1
Jonas was born and raised near Wadsworth, Medina County, Ohio. In 1883, he married Catherine "Kate" Stine, the daughter of Daniel and Catharine Stine. Jonas' parents were Mennonites, but he didn't join the church until he was 35, in 1892.2 Kate also joined the Mennonite Church in 1892.3 In 1894, Jonas was ordained in the Mennonite Church. By 1893, the couple had two sons and three daughters. (According to Jonas and Kate's obituaries, another child, whose name I don't know, had died in infancy.)
This portrait (left) of the Jonas Kreider family may have been taken in Ohio, before the move to Texas. Family members are: seated (l. to r.) Milo, Jonas M., Catherine (Kate), Lloyd; standing (l. to r.) Bertha, Laura, Ida. Photo from the Vita Hartzler Deneke Collection. Vita was the daughter was David and Ida Kreider Hartzler.
In a letter dated Feb. 23, 1909, an unnamed correspondent to the Gospel Herald reported from Plainview that "Bro. J. M. Kreider and son Milo arrived and have the barn constructed. They look for the rest of the family by the time this reaches the press."4 The "rest of the family" actually included only Kate and daughters Bertha and Ida. Daughter Laura and son Lloyd had both married in Wayne County, Ohio, in a double ceremony on November 26, 1908.5 Laura's husband was W. Ira Newcomer, son of Henry and Alevia Detweiler Newcomer, who donated land to build the Snyder Mennonite church/school house. Laura and Ira never lived in Texas. Lloyd married Adelia Stover, daughter of Levi and Maria Kindig Stover. Lloyd taught at Snyder school for the 1910-11 term, but I haven't yet determined whether Adelia and their son Leonard, who had been born in Ohio in 1910, came to Texas with him. One Kreider family story says that when Levi Stover gave permission for his daughter to marry Lloyd, it was on the condition that Lloyd "never take her to Texas."6
The family photo at right shows that Leonard at least visited his Kreider
grandparents in their Texas home. Jonas holds Leonard, while Catherine cradles
granddaughter Ruth Kreider, born in the Snyder Community on March 27, 1911.
Ruth's father Milo Kreider had died before her birth.
Her mother, Maude Snyder Kreider, raised Ruth in the home of Peter B. and Ida
Grabill Snyder, Maude's parents. (Photo from the Vita Hartzler Deneke Collection.)
If Adelia and Leonard did live in Texas while Lloyd taught at the Snyder school,
perhaps it was in his parents' home. The Kreider farm house was
large enough to accommodate long-term visitors. The photo below, of the Kreider farm in the
Snyder Community, is from the Ernest E.
(1893-1975) and Ruth (Blosser) Miller (1894-1977) Collection at the Mennonite
Church USA Archives - Goshen. A copy of this photo is also in the
Vita Hartzler Deneke Collection, identified on the back by Vita as Jonas Kreider's home in
Texas. .
Three of the Kreider children found spouses in the Snyder Community. Bertha Kreider went to Happy, Texas, on April 9, 1910, to marry John S. Snyder, son of Peter and Ida Snyder. On May 5, 1910, Milo Kreider married Maude Snyder, the oldest child of Peter and Ida Snyder. Ida Kreider was married to David Hartzler on January 1, 1912. Dave was the son of Joseph and Mary Hartzler.
By 1917, sixty-year-old Jonas was ready to retire from farming. He sold his Snyder Community farm to R. L. Wilson and moved to Wadsworth Village, down the street from his son Lloyd. Here he continued his ministerial duties, preaching until eight months before his death at age 76.7 Kate had preceded him in death, on October 3, 1925.8
1900
Federal census - Guilford Township, Medina County, Ohio
Jonas M. - aged 42, married 16 years, born June 1857 in Ohio,
both parents born in Pennsylvania, farmer [may be indexed as "Jones
M."]
Catherine - aged 42, mother of five children, five children
living, born Dec. 1857 in Ohio, both parents born in Pennsylvania
Lloyd S. - 15-year-old son, born Sep. 1884 in Ohio
Milo G. - 13-year-old son, born Aug 1886 in Ohio [married
Maude Snyder, daughter of Peter B. and Ida Snyder
Laura A. - 11-year-old daughter, born Jul 1888 in Ohio
Bertha A. 9-year-old daughter, born Nov 1890 in Ohio [married
John Snyder, son of Peter B. and Ida Snyder]
Ida B. - 6-year-old daughter, born Sep 1893 in Ohio [married
David Hartzler, son of Joseph K. and Mary
Hartzler]
1910
Federal census - Justice precinct No. 1, Hale County, Texas [same page as Perry
Smith, Milton Near, John Hartzler, and Joseph K.
Hartzler]
Jonas M. - aged 52, married 25 years, born in Ohio, both
parents born in Pennsylvania, farmer on own account
Catherin - aged 52, mother of 5 children, 5 children living,
born in Ohio, both parents born in Pennsylvania
Ida - 16-year-old daughter, born in Ohio
1920
Federal census - 242 West St., Precinct C, Wadsworth Village, Wadsworth
township, Medina County, Ohio
Jonas M. - aged 69, born in Ohio, father born un. US, mother
born in Pennsylvania, farmer on own account
Catharine - aged 62
1920 Federal census -
192 West St., Precinct C, Wadsworth Village, Wadsworth township, Medina County,
Ohio
Kreider, Lloyd S. - aged 35, born in Ohio, both parents born
in Ohio, bank clerk [Jonas and Catharine's son]
--, Adelia M. - aged 32, born in Ohio, father
born in Indiana, mother born in Ohio
--, Leonard C. - 9-year-old son, born in Ohio
--, Carl J. - 5-year-old son, born in Ohio
--, Don - 3-6/12-year-old son, born in Ohio
--, John R. - 5/12-year-old son, born in Ohio
Footnotes
1. Deed Record, Volume XV: 314, County Clerk’s Office, Hale County Courthouse, Plainview, Texas. Extraction by Bonnie Snyder Smith, 15 November 2006.
2. Jonas M. Kreider obituary, Gospel Herald Vo. XXVI (November 9,1933): 702 or 703. [from on-line transcription, http://www.mcusa-archives.org/MennObits/33/nov33.html]
3. Catherine Stine Kreider obituary, Gospel Herald Vol. XVIII (October 22, 1925): 623. [from on-line transcription, http://www.mcusa-archives.org/MennObits/25/oct1925.html]
4. Cor(respondent), "Plainview, Texas, Feb. 23, 1909." Gospel Herald Vol. 1 (March 6, 1909): 777.
5. Adelia Stover Kreider obituary, Gospel Herald, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, 22 September 1964, page 837, 838, or 839 [from on-line transcription, http://www.mcusa-archives.org/MennObits/64/sep1964.html]; location from interview with Elban Newcomer (Seville, Ohio) by Bonnie Snyder Smith, 2 October 2006. Notes held in 2007 by Smith. Mr. Newcomer is the son of Ira and Laura Kreider Newcomer.
6. Interview with Ralph Hartzler (Holmesville, Ohio) by Bonnie Snyder Smith, 20 December 2006. Notes held in 2008 by Smith. Mr. Hartzler was the son of David and Ida Kreider Hartzler.
7. Jonas M. Kreider obituary, 702 or 703.
8. Catherine Stine Kreider obituary, 623.
copyright © 2005,
2006, 2007, 2008 Bonnie Snyder Smith
