1889 History - Biography - Edwin Snow

The Snow family has been in the past and is one of the representative families in Eaton, and has been closely identified with the industrial and political affairs of the town.

Joseph Snow, the first settler, was born at Gorham, Maine, in 1791. He was early left an orphan, and was reared by his grandfather, Thomas Snow, with whom the known history of the family begins. In or about 1777 Captain Thomas Snow had retired upon Cape Cod, after a lifelong service upon the seas. Having a large family of boys and desiring to establish them in business at Falmouth, now Portland, Maine, he reduced his entire fortune, very considerable for those days, to continental currency. This medium of exchange suffering a sudden depreciation, he found himself reduced nearly to poverty. He was driven to seek a home for his family in the wilderness, and was one of the first settlers of Gorham, Maine, where still stands the "Old Snow Barn," preserved for its antiquity.

Joseph served for a period in the 1812 war, and in 1815 set out to reclaim a home from the forests. He chose and partially cleared what was afterwards known as the Bryant Farm, in Eaton, which, about 1822, to secure the advantages of a natural water-power, he exchanged for the present site of Snowville. In 1825 he built a gristmill and two years later a sawmill. The latter was burned three years afterwards and rebuilt in the short period of fourteen days. Since 1825 these mills and their successors have, without interruption, been open to public trade, and have been the main factors in the growth and development of the town. Joseph Snow died aged eighty-six years. He had been reared to the hardihood of pioneer life and possessed a phenomenal physique. He had had no advantages of public schooling, and at the age of thirty-five years, realizing this defect, he hired a master to come to his home and teach him the simple rules of business. His whole life was characterized by an indomitable will and sterling integrity, being one of the foremost to maintain religious devotions and to advance public enterprise.

Joseph Snow married Sally, daughter of John Atkinson, and had eleven children: Silas; Hannah (married, first, Noah Thompson; second, Jonathan Nickerson); Alvan; Apphia (married Henry Mason); Joseph; Susan (married, first, Mayhew Patch; second. Rev. Edmund Dudley); Sally (died at the age of eight); John; Mary A. (married William F. Brooks); Edwin; Jane (married Charles Robertson). All save two are still living. The girls were well and happily married.

Joseph Snow, Jr, was for some years a successful farmer in Eaton, went west in 1855, and now resides in Union county, Iowa, having accumulated a respectable fortune. Four of the boys still reside about the old homestead, constituting the nucleus of Snowville, and have taken a prominent part in the industrial, social, and political affairs of the town and county. Silas Snow was born in 1816. He served the town as selectman in 1856-57 and the county as commissioner in 1871-74. He has been prominent in religious matters and for many years has held the position of clerk in the Christian Church. He has three sons engaged in screen manufacture in Boston. Alvan Snow was born in 1820. He was a member of the state legislature in 1873-74. Silas and Alvan Snow for over twenty-five years were engaged as house carpenters and manufacturers of furniture. Alvan has two sons: Frank, a carpenter and machinist, and Will, a carriage and sleigh manufacturer. Frank was representative in 1885-86. He is now in Oregon. John Snow, born in 1831, for many years followed the occupations of house carpenter and shipbuilder. From 1879 to 1888 he was in the mercantile business at Eaton Centre in the firm of Snow & Robertson. He has one son, Mark.

Edwin Snow born in 1836, has taken by far the most active part in public affairs and business. He received his education in the town schools and at North Parsonsfield Academy. In 1857 he married Maria H., daughter of John W. and Caroline Nason Perkins, and granddaughter of Stephen Perkins, Esq., who, during the earlier times, figured so prominently in the political affairs of the town. Their children are: Nellie H. (who married A. J. White, a contractor and builder in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They have three boys: Walter J., Wallace E., and Leonard.); Isabel S. (Mrs. Dr. L. W. Atkinson, of Cherry Valley, Mass.); Leslie P. (who married Susie Elsie Currier, of Haverhill. They have one son, Conrad Edwin, born at Haverhill, August 6, 1889.); and Bertha.

Mr. Snow opened a general store in 1856 in company with his brothers, whom he bought out in 1859, since which time he has without interruption conducted a successful business on the same old site. He began with a modest capital and developed his business as his circumstances improved. He has kept an open market for the timber, bark, and farm produce of the people. Since 1859 he has engaged extensively in the manufacture of lumber, annually putting upon the market shook, barrels, shingles, boards, and dimension-timber of all kinds. From 1873 to 1878 he was quite extensively engaged in the live-stock business.

As justice of the peace and legal adviser of his fellow-citizens, Mr. Snow has held the first position in town and for some years has done a successful business as pension attorney. In politics he has always been a Democrat. He is a leader in the councils of his party, and has been for many years a member of the Democratic state committee. In public affairs he has been almost constantly before the people. He has held the office of town clerk and presided as moderator at many annual meetings. He was selectman during the turbulent years of 1864 and 1865, and has been chairman of the board of selectmen for ten years since. He has represented Eaton in the legislature four sessions and was a member of the railroad committee during the exciting contest over the general railroad law of 1883-84. He was auditor of the county accounts from 1881 to 1886, and is serving his second term as county commissioner. Mr. Snow is a Mason, and was one of the charter members of Trinity Lodge, I. O. O. F. He has been a moving spirit in public improvements, and is highly respected for his business integrity. He is a broad, liberal man, of great kindness of heart. He possesses great executive ability, persistency in accomplishing results, and has success because he wins it.

His son, Leslie P., born in 1862, was educated at the town schools and at Fryeburg and Bridgton academies. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College, class of 1886, and is studying law. He was a member of the state legislature in 1887-88, and appointed United States pension examiner in November, 1887. He has the family traits of courteousness and affability, and the same desire to do thoroughly whatever he has to do, and is one of the rapidly advancing sons of Carroll county.

Contributed 2022 Jul 12 by Norma Hass, extracted from History of Carroll County, New Hampshire by Georgia Drew Merrill, published in 1889, pages 799-801.