• Charles Cooper Snider By Pam Snider Walter (as told by Maston Smith) Taking a trip back in history 132 years ago to the day, Maston and Ruth Smith of the Hamilton Community and Stuttgart, Norma Snider Hill of Cascoe, and daughter, Diann Howard of Little Rock, traveled to Trading Post, Kansas on May 1, 1990. They were met there by John and Jean Clark of Wichita, Kansas. The group was in Trading Post to attend memorial services and the reenactment at the Marais des Cygnes Massacre Park in honor of those who gave their lives in the cuse of Kansas entering the Union as a free state. Charles Cooper Snider, greatgrandfather of Maston and Norma, and great-great-grandfather of Diann, was among the victims of the massacre. Snider and his wife, Matilda Osteen Snider, left their home in Effingham, Illinois sometime between 1856 and early 1858 to travel west just across the Missouri border in hopes of staking out a land grant. Snider was a shoe cobbler by trade, but had dreams of farming. The cost of farm land was very expensive in Illinois and he couldnt afford to purchase property there. Snider had a friend, Michael Robertson, who had gone west to Kansas, so h decided to visit Robertson to learn more about the Kansas farm land. At this time, the state of Kansas was the scene of a bitter struggle to determine whether the territory. should enter the Union as a free or a slave state. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 stated the decision should be make by a vote of the people. Consequently, free-state and pro-slavery followers became rivals for majority control. Because of this, numerous instances of lawlessness occurred. Men were attacked, beaten and sometimes killed for no reason other than their view on slavery. One such incident occurred on May 19, 1858- The Marais des Cygnes Massacre. Charles Hamilton, a pro-slavery sympathizer from Georgia, led a group of approximately 30 border ruffians into Tradin Post, taking by force 11 un armed free-state men, Charles Snider among them. These men were forced at gun-point to walk across the prairie to the present Marais des Cygnes Massacre Park. There, they were lined up facing their captors and shot. The executioners held their positions in silence for a few moments before Hamilton ordered two men to finish off any victims who showed signs of life. Snider and four others were injured, but feigned death.Only one man escaped injuries. The other five men were killed. With the exception of one man, the massacre victims were buried in a common grave on Timberland mount. Only one man paid the official penalty for the massacre. Hamilton, the instigator of the crime, escaped and went back to Georgia after the Civil Was was over. He was later elected to the Georgia Legislature. Sniders Leave Kansas In early 1861, because of a terrible drought in Kansas, Snider and his family returned to Effingham, Illinois. In 1875 he brought his wife and children and settled north of Carlisle in what was then Prairie County. Very little was ever known about Snider being injured in the Massacre. Evidently, he did not talk about the episode since he had been on the free-state side and had moved to a state which had been a slave state. The Snider descendants knew he had been injured in the side and shoulder in a massacre, but there were no details of when, where or why. Ralph Screeton, who used to live in the Snake Island Community south of Carlisle, recalled that his father, a doctor, had told him Snider had said his scars were caused from voting the wrong way. Screeton also said Snider vowed never to vote again. In 1987 Norma Hill and daughter, Diann, went to Effingham, Illinois to do genealogy work and by pure coincidence found a short article entitled Kansas or Bust, which contained Charles Sniders name. This eventually led to Linn County, Kansas, the finding of a magnificent statue, the Marais des Cygnes Memorial Park and the detailed story of May 19, 1858- The Marais des Cygnes Massacre. Snider Family Charles Cooper Snider married Matilda Osteen on March 6, 1856 in Effingham, Illinois. They had 10 children: a baby born Jan. 18, 1857, who died Jan. 22; William Henry born in 1858, died May 31, 1861; John C.F., born Feb., 1860, was killed by a tornado on Oct. 29, 1875; Mary Ellen, born April 24, 1862, (married John Robert Cummings), died in 1957; Alice (Allie), born April 13, 1864, (married Jim Caviness), Benjamin Franklin, born August 25, 1867, (married Sarah C. Pitts), died April 25, 1939; Ida, born August 29, 1870, (married Robert Scott), died October 31, 1958; Cora Mae, born Sept. 29, 1872, (married John Alexander), Arthur J., born Dec. 12, 1875; and Emmett, born July 10, 1878 (married Cora Stephanie Roach), died Dec. 20, 1957. Matilda died Nov. 24, 1887 and Charles died Nov. 11, 1896. Their graves are at Centerpoint Cemetery near Hazen. (Addition to story) Growing up My grandfather W.B. Snider grandson of Charles C Snider told the kids that he was told by his father Emmett that as these men where checking to see if everyone was dead his father told him that one man kicked him and said well this big SOBs dead Tara Marcotte Walker : Great-Great-granddaughter of Charles Cooper Snider
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 03:42:32 +0000
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