William H. Snyder

WILLIAM H. SNYDER learned the printing trade when a boy in Iowa, followed it as a journeyman in many states of the West, and for more than twenty years has been a newspaper editor and publisher in Kansas. Ten years ago he acquired the Review-Headlight of Ellis, and has made it one of the leading papers in Ellis County and also one of the official organs of public opinion.

The Review-Headlight has a history of nearly forty years. The Headlight was founded in 1880 by Charles E. Griffith, and the Review was founded in 1886 by Frank J. Brettle. The papers were consolidated as the Review-Headlight under Mr. Brettle as editor and publisher.

Mr. Snyder was born in St. Joseph County, Indiana, May 13, 1866. His father, Edward Snyder, born in Pennsylvania in 1828, grew up in that state and when a young man went to St. Joseph County, Indiana, the county seat of which is South Bend. He followed the trade of blacksmith and was also a farmer there. From Indiana he enlisted and served in the Union army. After the war he moved out to Iowa, locating in Guthrie County, and there continued work as a blacksmith and farmer. He died in 1900, while visiting in St. Joseph County, Indiana. He was a democrat and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Edward Snyder married Elizabeth Topper. She was born in Indiana in 1830 and died in Guthrie County, Iowa, in 1875. William H. Snyder was the youngest of eight children. Frank J., the oldest, is a farmer in St. Joseph County, Indiana; Elias T. is in the hardware, implement and furniture business at Oakley, Kansas; A. W. is associated with his brother Elias, and is also president of the First National Bank of Oakley; Cornelius is a confectionery man at Sedalia, Missouri; Calvin P. is in the hardware and saddlery business at Abilene, Kansas; Mahlon A. is a railway engineer at Sterling, Colorado; Mary J. married P. O. Jennings, a painter and decorator and they live at Omaha, Nebraska.

William H. Snyder acquired his early education in the public schools of Panora, Iowa. He lived on his father's farm to the age of fourteen. At the age of sixteen he began an apprenticeship to learn the printer's trade in an office at Panora. He was there four years and then as a journeyman worked in printing offices through a number of states in the West, including Washington, Oregon, California and Nebraska.

Coming to Kansas in 1896 Mr. Snyder located in Oakley, and for eleven years was connected with the Graphic of that town. For one year he was with the News at Hays, and on September 1, 1908, bought the Review-Headlight at Ellis. This is a republican paper and has a large circulation throughout Ellis and surrounding counties. Mr. Snyder's well equipped plant and offices are on Washington Street.

Mr. Snyder, who is unmarried, is a republican, and is affiliated with Ellis Lodge of Masons, Ellis Chapter of the Royal Arch, Aleppo Commandery, Knights Templar of Hays, and Isis Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Salina. He was formerly a member of the Knights of Pythias. For a number of years he has had membership in the State Editorial Association.

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