September 22, 2023
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry finds an old photo of pioneer settlers and digs deeper to uncover their stories. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
I came across this magnificent photo while researching the California 49ers. I knew I needed to share this gem. These pioneer settlers were bred from the potent stock of the Pilgrim and Puritan men and women who settled New England.
The first subject for today’s article is the pioneer in the front row, third from the left: Daniel Snow, a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers John Alden, Priscilla Mullins, Peter Brown, Edward Winslow, and James Chilton.
He was born Daniel Clapp Snow (1822-1911) to Joseph Snow and Persis Knight of Brookfield, Massachusetts. He married Louisa Dorothy Rice (1818-1892) and had three children: Maria R. Snow died at age 16; Charlotte Louisa Snow married Matthew G. Haughey; and Willis Daniel Snow married Ella M. Howard.
After the death of Louisa, Daniel married 2nd Sarah Jane Brown (1838-1919).
Daniel’s brother Dwight Merrill Snow (1826-1893) and his wife Maria Augusta Woods came to Illinois with him.
They had one daughter, Nellie Maria Snow (1858-1950), who married Millis Knickerbocker, son of James Gardiner Knickerbocker and Sarah Melius, and left descendants.
The Snow brothers, Daniel and Dwight, started a dairy farm in Mclean, Illinois. The farm manufactured butter and cheese.
Dwight was severely wounded in the tragic Rock Island train wreck at Eggleston, Illinois, in 1893. He was sent home to recover, but later died. Here is more from the Chicago Record announcing his death.
Along with Dwight, this article reported another victim: Lottie Adella Brigham, daughter of Nelson Brigham and Charlotte Elizabeth Stoddard. Lottie’s family also came from New England, and are descended from Christopher Avery who came over on the Arabella, one of the flagships of the Winthrop Fleet.
Daniel Snow’s son Willis Daniel took over the dairy business and called it W. D. Snow. Before Daniel retired, he introduced Jersey cattle to Mclean.
According to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s 1887 book Portrait and Biographical Album of McLean County, Ill. (p. 778):
He [Daniel] crossed Jerseys with Durhams, producing a fine breed of dairy stock, and continued this branch of business with his son Willis D. until 1882, when he sold out the stock and tools and rented the farm to this son, and removing to town practically retired from active labor.
Here is a photo of Willis Daniel Snow (1856-1927) and his wife Ella M. Howard (1858-1927).
Here is a photo of Willis and Ella’s children.
Willis formed a partnership with Harry Merideth Palmer (1870-1960), son of James Palmer and Susan Jane Ewing. Their dairy business was known as Snow & Palmer.
In 1896 the 35 Jersey cows on the Snow & Palmer Dairy Farm near McLean provided Bloomington with 20 to 25 gallons of cream a day, which was made into ice cream. During winter months Snow & Palmer sent the milk to the Illinois Soldiers’ Orphans Home in Normal. In 1929 the firm became Beatrice Foods.
Here is Willis’ obituary published in the Illinois State Journal on 30 January 1941.
To be continued…
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Note on the header image: “Snow & Palmer,” from the 1907 coffee table book Picturesque Bloomington, shows several Snow & Palmer milk wagons in front of 602 W. Jefferson Street, Bloomington, Illinois. Courtesy of the McLean County Museum of History.