Snyder, Melancthon B. (1856-1937)

SNYDER

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 1/3/2024 at 16:04:47

Melancthon Braham Snyder
(May 11, 1856 – March 31, 1937)

Melancthon Braham Snyder, of Council Bluffs, is one of the leading physicians and surgeons of that city, where, by the aid of his wife, he has built up a large and remunerative practice, which is rapidly increasing. His father is Hiram Snyder, a farmer in moderate circumstances, who resides in Nebraska. His mother was formerly Eliza Braham. His father’s paternal ancestors came from Amsterdam, Holland, and settled in Pennsylvania about 1750. The ancestors of his father’s mother came from England and settled in the eastern states. The Doctor’s mother was of Scotch-Irish descent, her parents having come to this county from the north of Ireland when they were quite young, settling in Pennsylvania, where they spent the rest of their lives.
Dr. Snyder was born on a farm in Butler County, Pennsylvania, in 1856, and was one of fifteen children, eleven of whom are now living. Although living on a farm, the family was one of culture and education. Seven of the children have taken the college degree of Bachelor of Arts, and are all in the west, enjoying lucrative employment as teachers, lawyers, ministers, physicians, farmers, and so on. One brother, Prof. J. L. Snyder, is president of the Michigan Agricultural College. The Doctor’s parents removed in 1888 from Pennsylvania to Nebraska, where they now make their home. Dr. Snyder was trained to hard work very early in life, earning his first dollar by husking corn a whole season. This hard earned money was all given to buy Bibles for the heathen in India, for as he remarks, he was raised in a good old Psalm-singing church. When he had outgrown the country school, he attended Grove City College for a time, and then entered Westminister College, at New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1884. During the three years which followed, he earned the degree of Master of Arts, and in 1887 received his medical degree from the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, locating at Council Bluffs during the same year. He earned his own way through college in various ways, mostly by teaching school.
Dr. Snyder is in no sense a politician, but has always been a republican. In 1896, the members of his family voted in five different states, casting eight votes for William McKinley. The Doctor has served on the board of education and is a member of several secret societies, among which are: I.O.O.F., M.W.A., K.O.T.M. He also belongs to numerous medical societies, as follows: American Institute of Homeopathy, State Homeopathic Society, etc. He is a Congregationalist. On June 24, 1885, he was married to Miss Susan McGlaughlin of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, who attended the Michigan University at the same time that he did, graduating in the same class. She has been a great help to him in his practice, their work being done under the firm name of Snyder & Snyder.
[Source – Biographies and Portraits of Progressive Men of Iowa…, by Gue & Shambaugh, 1899, vol.2, p.487-488]