Nora
Alverta
(Conn)
Nichols-Snyder
(1892-1954?)
Nora
Alverta (Conn) Snyder was born on Sept. 9, 1892 in Jersey Hollow near
Confluence, Somerset County, PA, the daughter of Alexander
Wilson and Susannah (Harbaugh) Conn.
Nora was married twice. Her first husband was Grover Nichols. They had two sons, Arthur Nichols and one who died young.
Tragically, Grover was killed in an accident at a bandsaw mill in nearby Humbert, Somerset County. He was laid to rest at Jersey Church Cemetery near Confluence.
Nora then married J. Allen Snyder (seen
with her above, circa 1917). Allen adopted Arthur as his own son. They also had
two sons
of their own -- Wilson Snyder and Allen Snyder Jr.
Son Arthur is seen at right, also circa 1917.
In a summertime letter to a relative in the late '40s or early '50s, Nora's mother wrote:
Nora's oldest boy Arthur and his wife was here last Sunday. The children Nora had all got Homes not to far a part. The 2 boys ar on farms that join and the boy that was in the army has his home with Arthur in Huntingdon and the oldest girl is working in a resterant in Saxton ware she went to school.
In the four-generation photo seen below, Nora and her family visited at the farm of her widowed mother near Confluence. From left to right: son Allen Snyder Jr. with his wife and baby Joyce; Allen Sr. and Nora; mother Susie; son Wilson Snyder and his wife; son Arthur Snyder and his wife; and Nora's sister in law, Cornelia (Huntsman) Conn. The children in front are Arthur Snyder's daughters Ilene and Ruth, flanking Cornelia's son Teddy Conn. This photograph was sent to Nora's aunt, Letitia (Harbaugh) Stoner, who resided for many years in Oblong, IL.
Nora is thought to have passed away sometime in early 1954. In a letter in August of that year, her mother wrote: "We was at the Harbaugh Reunion last Sunday... My family was their all except Lester. He did not get their. Have not saw him since Nora funeral." In another August 1954 letter to a relative, Nora's mother wrote: "We was at the reunion last Sunday. My 2 girls was their and Jess and Clint, Nora youngest boy Wilson and his wife and children..."
At
left are Nora's adult children, apparently taken during wartime: Allen Jr.,
Wilson, Edna Ruane and Arthur.
Son Wilson is known to have attended the Harbaugh Reunions in 1953-54-55, when he won awards for "Largest Family Present" (six members in '53 and four in '55).
In an October 1955 letter from Nora's mother to a relative, she wrote: "One of Nora's boys and his little girls was here the other Sunday to see us. Well we was glad to see them come."
Nothing further is known about their lives.
Copyright © 2001-2002, 2005 Mark A. Miner