Snyder Community
Hale County, Texas

The Snyder Community Project

About the Project

Mission

to commemorate the lives of the families who lived in the Snyder Community, Hale County, Texas, and the relationships they developed there

Goals

1.      to seek out, collect, preserve, and interpret material related to the people and activities of the Snyder Community

2.      to make available to researchers and other interested individuals primary documents and other original materials related to the people and activities of the Snyder Community

3.      to celebrate the spirit of community by encouraging interaction among people interested in the Snyder Community, especially through the telling of stories

Resources

1.      this web site (a work-in-progress)

2.      the Snyder Community Collection (in development) – Mennonite Church USA Archives-Goshen, Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana

Activities

1.      the Snyder Community Centennial 2007 – local events in Plainview, Texas, June 4-10, 2007

2.      public meetings

    On October 17, 2006, at College Mennonite Church in Goshen, Indiana, thirteen people came to a public meeting to learn about the Snyder Community Project. Attendees including descendants of Snyder Community members Peter B. Snyder, Joseph K. Hartzler, Jonas M. Kreider, and Andrew Brenneman. One local Mennonite researcher came out of curiosity and discovered connections with families who had moved from Texas to Ohio.

 

    Joann Yoder Smith (right) showed her family notebook to Faye Newcomer Litwiller while Joann's husband John J. Smith explained a fine point. Joann's mother, Mary Esther Brenneman, was born in the Snyder Community in 1908, daughter of Andrew and "Lizzie" Durr Brenneman. In 1985, John and Joann visited Hale County with Mary Esther. Faye's great-grandparents were Jonas M. and Katherine Stine Kreider. On the left in the photo is J. Robert Kreider, son of Snyder school teacher Lloyd S. Kreider (1910-11 term).

    Twenty people gathered at Oak Grove Mennonite Church, Smithville, Ohio, on October 2, 2006. We had a good time getting acquainted with folks we hadn't met before, sharing family photos from Texas, and reminiscing about "the old days." Some of us even learned new things about our families. 

 

   Alta Hartzler Conrad (left) and Dorothy Snyder Welday enjoyed their first face-to-face visit in quite a long time. Alta was born in the Mennonite colony in 1911, daughter of Joseph K. and Mary Gingerich Hartzler, and Dorothy was born there in 1914, daughter of John and Bertha Kreider Snyder. 

 

    Also at the Ohio meeting, Elban Newcomer, 94-year-old grandson of Jonas M. and Catherine Stine Kreider, studied what his son Jerry Newcomer pointed out on the Snyder Community web site (photo at right). Jerry's wife Barbara looked on while David Smith was available to assist with the computer, if necessary.

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 copyright © 2006, 2007, 2008 Bonnie Snyder Smith