Transcribed from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and compiled by William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. [Revised ed.] Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1919, c1918. 5 v. (xlviii, 2530 p., [155] leaves of plates): ill., maps (some fold.), ports.; 27 cm.

Pliny T. Snyder

PLINY T. SNYDER since leaving Washburn College, where he completed his education, has given his time to ranching and banking principally, and is now cashier of the State Bank of Zenith. He was born at Plevna in Reno County, Kansas, May 17, 1883. His paternal ancestors came from England to Pennsylvania in colonial times. The family among other heirlooms have one that is especially prized, being a fife which was used by the great-great-grandfather of Pliny T. Snyder as a fifer for the marching patriots during the time of the Revolutionary war. Mr. Snyder's grandfather, Thomas Snyder, spent all his life in Pennsylvania as a farmer and died at Limestone in Clarion County in 1899.

John L. Snyder, father of Pliny T., was born in Pennsylvania in 1852, grew up there and in 1876 came to Kansas and located at Sterling. He was a farmer in that vicinity and in 1882 removed to Plevna, where he continued farming for many years. He died at Sterling April 5, 1906. He was a republican, was honored with local offices, and was active in establishing the Congregational Church at Plevna and was a vital factor in promoting all community interests. At Sterling, Kansas, he married Olive A. Axtell, who was born in Illinois in 1857 and is still living at Sterling, Kansas. Their children were: Ursula E., wife of E. W. Dailey, a farmer at Penalosa, Kansas; Pliny T.; Eva J., a senior in the State Agricultural College at Manhattan; and Lena Pearl, wife of John E. Edwards, who is a lieutenant in the National Army, and when the war closed was at Camp Sevier, South Carolina.

Pliny T. Snyder was educated in the public schools of Sterling, graduating from high school in 1902. He then entered Washburn College at Topeka, where he took his A. B. degree in 1906 and is a member of the Phi Delta Theta College fraternity. At the close of his college career he returned to his father's ranch, and in the spring of 1918 entered the State Bank of Zenith as its cashier. This bank, established in 1916, has a capital of $10,000 and has an earned surplus of $3,500. S. W. McComb is president, and Fred Volker, vice president. Mr. Snyder is also a stockholder in the Citizens State Bank of Sylvia, Kansas, owns a farm in Reno County, and he organized and is secretary of the Plevna Grain and Supply Company. In politics he is a repbulican, is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with Sylvia Lodge of Masons.

In 1907 at Valley Falls, Kansas, Mr. Snyder married Miss Nettie Elizabeth Zimmerman, born and reared in Kansas, daughter of I. and Arabella Zimmerman, the latter now deceased. Her father is a retired business man at Valley Falls. Mrs. Snyder was a classmate of Mr. Snyder in Washburn College and received her B. O. degree in 1900. She is a member of Kappa Alpha Theta fraternity. Both were prominent in college activities. They are the parents of two children, Pliny Thomas, Jr., born October 31, 1909, and Roberta Elizabeth, born June 2, 1911.


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