FANNIE
BONNEY SNITJER
Bio-Sawyers
SURNAMES: WORTHINGTON, BONNEY, WAYLAND, LORD, ARMSTRONG, BURKE, BROWN,
QUENTINE
In the annals of events in Santa Clara County the life history
of Fan-me Bonney Snitjer should be recorded, as it is of great
interest. A native of Missouri, she was born in Clark County, the
daughter of Joel and Eveline H. (Worthington) Bonney, born in Maine and
Missouri, respectively. Her grandfather, Edward Worthington, was
married in Kentucky to Miss Elizabeth Wayland, a native of that state.
They drove across the country to Clark County, Mo., and were the
seventh white family to locate in northeast Missouri, where they did
much to improve the country. Mrs. Snitjer's great-grandfather, Elijah
Wayland, was a native of Germany, a son of a nobleman, and coming to
Virginia in the early days, served through the Revolutionary War. The
Worthington family were also of Revolutionary stock and members of the
family also served in the Indian wars. Edward Worthington had a land
grant in Kentucky, but moving out to Missouri, his property in
Kentucky, was sold for taxes and it is now the site of Louisville. Joel
Bonney came from Farmington, Maine, to Clark County, Mo., when he was a
young man and there he married Miss Worthington. He was a graduate M.
D. and practiced medicine in Clark County until the Civil War, when he
located in Quincy, Ill., where he practiced for fifty years. He was a
thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and spent his last days with
Mrs. Snitjer, where he died, being survived by his widow who, at the
age of ninety-four, lives with and is tenderly cared for by Mrs.
Snitjer. Mr. and Mrs. Bonney had five children: William, a prominent
attorney was judge at Ellensburg, Wash., when he passed away; Oscar was
an attorney and a judge of Adams County, Ill., spending his last days
in Quincy; Fannie is Mrs. Snitjer; Joe Laura was the wife of John W.
Lord of Chicago and died in 1921; Dr. Samuel B. Bonney resides in Los
Angeles.
Fannie Bonney
received her education in the public schools and Franklin high school
of Quincy, Ill., then entered La Grange College, La Grange, Mo., ,here
she finished her college course. She was married at her parents' home
in Quincy, Ill., to Drikus Snitjer, who was born in Holland, where he
obtained a good education, being welt advanced in his studies when he
came with his parents to St. Louis, Mo., when fourteen
years of age. He secured employment in the Singer Sewing Machine
Company's plant in St. Louis, where he worked for a few years, leaving
the company to engage in business for himself in Quincy; later,
however, he accepted the position of manager for the same company in
St. Louis. When he first started to work for this company he received
fifty cents a week and when he' left the company to come to California
he was general manager of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, receiving
$26,000 a year. The family removed to California in 1894 on account of
the poor health of Mrs. Snitjer; for a time they lived in San Jose, but
later bought seventy acres on the Homestead Road set to young orchard
and here Mrs. Snitjer regained her health. Mr. and Mrs. Snitjer were
the parents of five children, two of whom grew to maturity, Alice and
Edwin. Mr. Snitjer was a Republican in his politics. and fraternally
was a Mason and Knight Templar. He passed away in 1918 at the family
home in San Jose. Mrs. Snitjer has recently purchased a fifty-acre
orange grove at Lindsay, Cal., well irrigated and in full bearing.
When Mr. and
Mrs. Snitjer removed to San Jose they had one child, Alice, who married
Albert Armstrong, a native of New York, who lost his life in the
service of his country in the Spanish American War, while a member of
Roosevelt's Rough Riders in Cuba. Mr. and. Mrs. Armstrong were the
parents of one daughter, Bonney. Mrs. Armstrong later married Dr.
Richardson Burke of San Jose, who has since passed away. Mrs. Burke is
a very capable woman and is prominent as a platform lecturer, and
during 1910 she covered the eastern, northern, western and southern
boundaries of the United States in an automobile on a campaign for
woman's suffrage.
Bonney
Armstrong was born in San Jose and attended the grammar and high
schools there, continuing her education at Hollins, Va., and Columbia
University, New York. Her marriage united her with Elbert J. Brown, who
was reared in San Jose and attended the public schools there. He was
first employed by the W. R. Grace Company and then became purser on the
Pacific mail steamer, Peru, from which he was later transferred to the
Newport, and was then appointed agent for the Pacific Mail at San Jose
de Guatemala. While living at San Jose de Guatemala, Mr. Brown and his
fiancee decided not to wait for his return to the United States. He
then sailed for San Francisco on the Newport and was met by his future
bride, and together they went to San Jose de Guatemala, having been
married on board the Newport by Captain Yardley. After living in San
Jose de Guatemala for three months Mr. Brown received a promotion,
being transferred to Yokohama, Japan. While residing there, a son,
George Elbert, was born to them. Mr. Brown was later transferred to
Kobe as agent there for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and is now
general manager for the whole Philippine territory, with headquarters
at Manila.
Edwin
Snitjer married Miss Bertha Quentine of New Haven, Conn., and they have
three children—Frances, Billie, and Louise. He has just perfected a
compound nailing machine for use in packing houses which has a capacity
of 30,000 boxes a day, and is already being installed in the packing
houses at Fresno for the raisin crop. Mr. Snitjer makes his
headquarters in San Francisco.
Mrs. Snitjer superintends her ranches and sees that they are properly
taken care of . In religious faith she is a Baptist, in which
church er mother has been a member for eithty-three years.
Transcribed cferoben, from Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California, published by Historic Record Co. , 1922. page 868
SNITJER - In Cupertino, Cal., November 29, 1928, Mrs. Fanny Bonney
Snitjer, widow of the late D. Snitjer, loving mother of E.N. Snitjer
and Mrs. A.S. Burke, a native of Illinois.
Friends are invited
to attend the funeral today (Saturday), December 1, 1928, at 9 o'clock
from the chapel of Hocking & Williams, East Santa Clara street at
Eighth. Interment Oak Hill Cemetery.
San Jose Mercury Herald, December 1, 1928, Saturday, page 28
transcribed by jch