Deacon John Snow

Mayflower Descendant - Descendant of Mayflower passengers Constance Snow (Hopkins) and Stephen Hopkins, According to notes from Mayflower Families...vol six, Stephen Hopkins, page 72...

John Snow, Jr.

• AKA Deacon John B. Snow
• Born 3 May 1678 in Eastham, Barnstable, Plymouth Colony, New England
• Died 14 Oct 1738 in Duck Creek, Smyrna, Kent County, Delaware Colony
• Son of John B. Snow Sr. and Mary (Smalley) Doane
• Brother of Hannah (Snow) Doane, Mary Snow, Abigail (Snow) Small, Rebecca (Snow) Porter, Isaac B. Snow, Lydia Snow, Elisha Snow and Phebe (Snow) Dyer
• Husband of Elizabeth (Ridley) Snow — married 25 Feb 1701 (to about 1728) in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts
• Husband of Hannah Snow (maiden name unknown) - married between 1734 & 1738
• Father of Joshua Snow Sr., Ann (Snow) Pike, Elizabeth (Snow) Doane, Anthony Snow, Isaac Snow, Mary (Snow) Dillingham, Ambrose Snow and Amasa Snow

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Biography

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Snow-86. Profile last modified 25 Oct 2019 | Created 10 Sep 2010

John B. Snow, Jr., was the first-born son of John Snow and Mary Smalley Snow. He was born May 3, 1678, on Cape Cod, in Eastham, Barnstable County, part of the English Colony of New Plymouth, now in the state of Massachusetts. His paternal grandmother, Constance (Hopkins) Snow, was a Mayflower passenger from England in 1620.

John Snow, Jr., had two younger brothers: Isaac and Elisha and six sisters: Hannah, Mary, Abigail, Rebecca, Lydia and Phoebe. His father died on April 4, 1692, when John Jr. was just 13 years old. Within three weeks, his mother remarried to their close neighbor, Ephraim Doane, himself recently a widower with minor children. Whether or not this family tragedy had an impact on the later events of John Jr.'s life, while very likely, will never be known. It is noteworthy that all three of John Sr. and Mary Smalley Snow's sons left the family home on Cape Cod, New England, when they were adults, settling in Duck Creek, Smyrna, Kent County, Delaware.

On February 25, 1701, John B. Snow Jr., married neighbor Elizabeth Ridley. Their first child, Joshua Snow, was born just seven months later on Sept. 22, 1701, but the young couple was not "sanctioned" for what has to be considered an early first-born arrival. During the next 21 years, they had 12 children in Eastham and neighborning Truro, Massachusetts Bay, as follows:[1]

The 12 children of John Snow and Elizabeth Ridley were:

1. Joshua, b. 22 Sep 1701, Eastham, Massachusetts Bay
2. Anne, b. 17 Jul 1703, Eastham, Massachusetts Bay
3. Elizabeth, b. 27 Mar 1705, Eastham, Massachusetts Bay [2]
4. John, b. 27 Dec 1706, Truro, Massachusetts Bay
5. Phineas, b. 27 Dec 1706, Truro; d. 16 Jan 1707, Eastham
6. Anthony, b. 28 Jul 1709, Truro; d. 14 Jul 1796 (86 yrs.)
7. Elisha, b. 20 Oct 1711, Truro, Massachusetts Bay
8. Isaac, b. Abt 11 Feb 1713, Truro,Massachusetts Bay
9. Mary, b. 16 Aug 1716, Truro, Massachusetts Bay
10. Ambrose, b. 06 Jan 1718, Truro, Massachusetts Bay
11. Amasa, b. 09 Jan 1720, Truro, Massachusetts Bay
12. David, b. ca. 15 Mar 1722, Truro; d. 18 Sep 1727, Truro, Massachusetts Bay (5 yrs.)

Child by 2nd wife Hannah:

1. David b after 1734, named in Will

A few years after their marriage in Eastham, John Jr. and Elizabeth (Ridley) Snow took up residence in nearby Truro, Cape Cod, Massachusetts Bay Province, on land that had been deeded to his father, by his father, Puritan immigrant Nicholas Snow but never settled by John B. Snow, Sr.

John B. Snow, Jr. was one of 8 founders, along with step-brother Hezekiah Doane and cousin, Benjamin Smalley, of the Truro [Presbyterian] Church on November 1, 1711. His wife, Elizabeth (Ridley) Snow, was admitted to the church on August 30, 1713. John served as church Deacon in 1711-12 and from 1718 to 1727. All of their 12 children were baptized in the Truro Church. When the town of Truro was organized in July 1709, John B. Snow Jr. was elected Truro's town clerk. On January 11, 1727, John was chosen as one of 3 ruling elders of the Truro Presbyterian Church.[3]

However, John never really filled this latter office because, as noted in the Truro church records, on March 31, 1728, he was discarded for suspected adultery and other misdemeanors. No further mention of John B. Snow Jr., was made in official Truro or Massachusetts records and no official divorce decree from Elizabeth Snow has ever been found.

Shortly afterwards, still in 1728, John B. Snow, Jr., was recorded as living at Duck Creek (became Smyrna), in Kent County, Delaware. This is the town where his two brothers, Isaac and Elisha, had emigrated to back in 1711. John apparently joined them but without Elizabeth or his children, all left behind in Truro, Massachusetts Bay. He was in Delaware before May 7, 1729, when his brother Isaac sold him 246 acres on the north side of the southwest branch of Duck Creek. John conveyed this tract to their other brother Elisha on Nov. 11, 1734, with brother Isaac serving as witness, with no wife being named in the documents (which would normally be mentioned). [4]

Nonetheless, after 1734, when he was already 55 years old, John B. Snow Jr., apparently founded a second family as his October 1738 Will lists a wife, "Hannah Snow," and a minor-age son, "David Snow". This Will was signed on October 9, 1738 and proved just five days later, after his death. It mentions his wife, Hannah and son David; his brother, Isaac was named executor, and the witnesses were Elisha Snow, Abraham Cockrill and Thomas Harrod.[5]

Due to the sensibilities of those (Puritan) life and times, it is unlikely that we shall ever know exactly what led a religious man like Deacon John B. Snow Jr. to foresake his home and family, after being accused of adultery. It's unlikely his second wife, Hannah Snow (maiden name unknown), was the partner in his accused adultery on Cape Cod as she is not mentioned in his 1734 Delaware land purchases. Most likely, they met and married in Duck Creek, Delaware, between 1734 and 1738. That he named his last-born son David, after his son who died at 5 years old in September 1727 in Truro, Massachusetts Bay, shows that John Snow was deeply marked by that event. He must also have been marked by his father's premature death when he was still a teenager and his mother's very-sudden re-marriage. It remains quite remarkable that all three of these Snow brothers ended up leaving Puritan Massachusetts behind for the more-gentle climate and frontier society of Kent County, Delaware.[6]

'Deacon John Snow

According to notes from Mayflower Families...vol six, Stephen Hopkins, page 72...

John Snow was the founder of the Truro Truro Church 1 Nov 1711. Elizabeth Snow, wife of John, was admitted to the church on 30 Aug 1713. On 20 Nov 1721 Deacon John Snow, wife of Elizabeth and son, Joshua witnessed the will of Joseph Young of Truro.

On about March of 1728 John was discarded for suspected adultery and other misdemeanors. More than likely this resulted in this moving away from Cape Cod and Plymouth and moving to Duck Creek, Delaware. Elizabeth Ridley Snow stayed behind in Truro. Her cattle mark is recorded in Truro on 29 April 1736. No record of divorce or probate has been found as of yet.

John Snow was born in Eastham, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA on 1670 to John Snow and Mary Smalley. John married Elizabeth Ridley and had 12 children. He passed away on 1738 in Kent, Delaware, USA.

Family Members

• Parents: John Snow 1651-1690 & Mary Smalley 1655-1703
• Spouse(s): Elizabeth Ridley 1679-38

Children

1. Joshua Snow 1700-1771
2. Ann Snow 1703-1771
3. Elizabeth Snow 1705-1734
4. John Snow 1706-1728
5. Phineas Snow 1700-1706
6. Anthony Snow 1708-1796
7. Elisha Snow 1711-1711
8. Isaac Snow 1713-1799
9. Mary Snow 1715-1718
10. Ambrose Snow 1700-1788
11. Amasa Snow 1720-1763
12. David Snow 1723-1726

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References

1. https://drumhop.com/family/getperson.php?personID=I53489&tree=1 John bought land at Lebanon, CT in 1710-11 and was founder of the Truro Church (Truro, Barnstable County, MA) 1 November 1711. Elizabeth Snow, wife of ... Long Ago Tales - Page 157 - Google Books Result
2. David Carver Caldwell, ‎Peggy Anderson Caldwell - 2016 - ‎History On 1 Nov 1711, John Snow and Hezekiah Doane were installed as Deacons with Hezekiah as ruling elder of the newly formed church at Truro. Ephriam Doane ... Johnny Sain - Public Member Stories - Ancestry.com
3. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/mediastorypublic/?...Jo...... John Snow (born 1678). John Wager Swaynes Military Career (Text) ... Excerpt: Snow was the founder of the Truro, Mass., Church 1 Nov 1711. Elizabeth Snow ... John Smalley of Eastham
4. https://mathcs.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/eastham/smalley.html On November 1, 1711, “Mr John Snow and Mr Hezekiah Doane” were made Deacons of the newly formed church at Truro. John Snow b. 3 May 1678 Eastham, Brnstble, Ma d. Oct 1738 Duck ... https://www.longislandsurnames.com/getperson.php?personID=I06339&tree... grandfather Nicholas Snow. John bought land at Lebanon CT in 1710/11 and was a founder of the Truro Church 1 Nov. 1711. Elizabeth Snow, wife of John was ...
5. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Snow-86 cites
   1. Plymouth Colony Vital Records, Mayflower Descendant, by George Ernest Bowman, various pages in volumes 12-2. Cited on: http://family.drumhop.com/getperson.php?personID=I53489&tree=1
   2. Elizabeth Snow was baptized in the Rochester Church, bp. 18 July,1747. See: http://family.drumhop.com/getperson.php?personID=I53232&tree=1 Her ancestry can be traced back to Stephen Hopkins who arrived in Plymouth Plantation in 1620 on the "Mayflower". This is the beginning of the Mayflower connection to the Annable line.
   3. Truro Town Records and Truro Church Records, cited on: http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/report/rr04/rr04_261.html#P10603
   4. http://family.drumhop.com/getperson.php?personID=I53489&tree=1
   5. See note above
   6. This biographical sketch was researched and written by Chet B. Snow, a direct descendant of John's brother, Isaac Snow, January 9, 2015.
   7. Source: #S57 The Great Migration Begins: Page: 9:8.
   8. Source: #S445 TMPLT FIELD Name: Page
   9. Source: #S535 TMPLT FIELD Name: Page
   10. Source: #S447 TMPLT FIELD Name: Page
   11. Source: #S53
   12. Source: #S53
   13. Source: #S53 See also:
   14. John D. Austin, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Vol 6, Stephen Hopkins, Plymouth, Mass.: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2001 [3rd edition], Pages 17-19, 64-65.
   15. http://family.drumhop.com/getperson.php?personID=I53489&tree=1 - cites several primary sources
   16. Source: S62 Database, David Pane-Joyce, Pane-Joyce Genealogy; by David Pane-Joyce. Online at: http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/report/ . cites several primary sources.
   17. Source: S445 Stephen Hopkins MFIP' by John D Austin (1989)
6. Source: S447 Library of Cape Cod History & Genealogy
   1. Source: S535 John D Austin (1992), Mayflower Families-Stephen Hopkins
   2. Source: S53 Eastham, Massachusetts, Vital Records.
   3. Source: S57 The Great Migration Begins: immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 volumes, by Robert Charles Anderson; Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society [NEHGS], 1995.