Mary-Jane (Elder) Snow (1842 - 1930)

Born 1842 in Tennessee, USA

Wife of George-Washington Snow — married about 1857 in Walnut Ridge, Lawrence Co., Arkansas, USA

Descendants

Died 1930 at about age 88 in Campbell Twp., Lawrence County, Arkansas, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Chet Snow [send private message]

Biography

Mary-Jane Elder was born in 1842 in Tennessee. Her parents were:^[1]

Father: David Elder b: 15 Dec 1813 in Virginia, USA

Mother: Matilda Whitfield b: 7 Jun 1816 in Southampton Co., VA

The Elder family had moved to the Chattanooga area of Tennessee by the early 1850s. In 1857, when she was not yet 16 years old, Mary-Jane Elder married George-Washington Snow, 21-year-old son of Captain William T. Snow, a prosperous plantation owner at Snow-Hill, Hamilton County, Tennessee. The couple had 6 children:^[2]

1. Amanda "Maddy" Jane Snow b: Nov. 1858 in Hamilton Co., TN
2. James Frost Snow b: 13 Oct. 1862 in Hamilton Co., Tenn., CSA
3. Georgiana Snow b: 1864 in Hamilton Co., Tennessee, CSA
4. Martis (Doc) Woodrow Snow b: 1866 in Tennessee, USA
5. William Caswell Snow b: 1869 in Obion Co., Tennessee, USA
6. John Alonzo Snow b: 1871 in Tiptonville, Lake Co., Tenn., USA

At the outbreak of the "War Between the States" (US Civil War) in 1861, William T. Snow became a zealous supporter of the Confederacy. He was already 52 years old but nonetheless formed neighboring farmers into Company B of the 1st Tennessee Cavalry at Cleveland, Hamilton, Tennessee, enlisting on August 7, 1861.

George- Washington Snow enlisted with his father in 1861 but as a private. After his father's discharge, he became a member of the 2nd Co. K, 1st CSA Tennessee Cavalry, which he joined in Hamilton County, Tennessee, on September 12, 1862. CSA Records indicate that he "deserted" in December 1862 at Shelbyville but in fact he was taken prisoner by Union forces. He later escaped, returned home briefly and then was recaptured in Piedmont, Virginia, in 1864. G.W. Snow was imprisoned at Camp Morton, Indiana, under deplorable conditions, shipped to Maryland for a prisoner exchange and finally was paroled to his family at Talladega, Alabama, after the war had ended, on June 20, 1865. By all accounts he health was "broken" and although he returned to farming, he was never strong and healthy again.^[3]

George-Washington Snow and his family were unable to leave the war behind even after the conflict ended. His father's zeal for the Confederacy had led to bitter relations with several of their Hamilton County neighbors and the entire Snow "clan" decided it was prudent to sell their Hamilton County land in 1866 and move across the state (340 miles) to Tiptonville, Lake County, Tennessee. They originally settled in Obion County but it divided in 1870 and their land was then located in Lake County near Tiptonville, Tennessee.

George-Washington Snow and his family remained in Obion County, about 25 miles east of Tiptonville for 2 or 3 years before joining the rest of the family in Tiptonville in 1871, where their youngest child, John Alonzo Snow, was born. George-Washington Snow became a road overseer in Lake County, late 1871. Earlier, in Obion County, he had joined a Masonic Lodge and was "raised" on July 14, 1870.^[4][5]

According to court documents, George-Washington and Mary-Jane (Elder) Snow did not stay in Tiptonville, Tennessee, very long. Between July 1872 and February 1873, they moved their family 100 miles west to Walnut Ridge, Lawrence County, Arkansas, where they set up a prosperous farm. From there, three years later, in the summer of 1876, George W. Snow made a return visit to his parents and kin in Tiptonville, Tennessee. Unfortunately, his fragile health gave way and he died on September 28, 1876, at his parents' farm in Tiptonville, Lake County, Tennessee. The decision was made to bury him there at the Cronanville Cemetery, Lake County, Tennessee, USA. He was only 40 years old.^[6]

Mary-Jane (Elder) Snow, 34 years old, survived her young husband's passing. After burying him with his kin in Lake County, Tennessee, she returned to Lawrence County, Arkansas, to run the family farm with the help of her 4 sons, the oldest of whom was 14 at the time. There, in 1881, she married a local farmer, William F. Bottom. He was 13 years younger than she was. They had one daughter, Parrie Bottom, b: 1883; m: Charles Cunningham; d: 1954. ^[7]

Mary Jane (Elder, Snow) Bottom lived to be over 87 years old. Her 2nd husband, William F. Bottom, died at 45 on July 16, 1889 but she continued farming their land in Lawrence County, Arkansas, long afterwards. She died in Lawrence County, Arkansas, in 1930. Mary Jane is buried in the Snow Cemetery, Walnut Ridge, Lawrence Co., Arkansas, USA. ^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ Klein Hentschel Inwood Lucas Wheeler DNA 2016K2 on RootsWeb - Mary-Jane Elder
2. ↑ My Husband's Arkansas Ancestors on RootsWeb - George Washington Snow
3. ↑ See Note 1.
4. ↑ "Lawrence County, Arkansas: George W. & Mary Elder Snow" pg. 200. Excerpt from a Google Book.
5. ↑ 1870 US Census, Obion Co., TN; Census Dist. 2 File 486a - George W. Snow. Cited on: See Note 1.
6. ↑ Find A Grave Memorial# 47624725 - George Washington Snow
7. ↑ "Lawrence County, Arkansas: George W. & Mary Elder Snow" pg. 200. Excerpt from a Google Book.
8. ↑ Find A Grave Memorial# 21706594 - Mary Jane Elder Bottom