Oliver Snow (1749-1841) – One of My Patriot Ancestors

In Massachusetts we are celebrating Patriots’ Day today.  It is a holiday celebrating the battles of Lexington and Concord which took place on April 19 in 1775.  So I have been thinking about my patriot ancestors and decided to write about the first one I knew about:  Oliver Snow.

Oliver was born in March 1748 by the Julian calendar or 1749 by  the Gregorian.  Since England and her colonies were still using the Julian calendar for many events, up to 1752, his birth is often given as 1748/49.  He was the first-born of Oliver and Elizabeth Phillips Snow, who lived in Ashford, Connecticut.  His father (Oliver), grandfather (Samuel), and great-grandfather (known as Lieutenant Samuel) had been in Ashford from about 1725, although the family had deep roots in Woburn, Massachusetts Bay Colony..   Lieutenant Samuel and his son Samuel first bought land in Ashford in 1724 and moved their families there.

I have written some before about Oliver (here) after a road trip with my sister to Becket, Massachusetts.  Oliver migrated north and west as a young man to Becket, Massachusetts Bay.  He married Rebecca Wadsworth on July 4, 1771 there, at age 22.  In April 1777 he and his brother Asa enlisted as privates in Capt. Peter Porter’s Company, Col. Benjamin Simonds (Berkshire Co.) regiment serving for 25 days and being discharged in May 1777.  In July he again enlisted, this time in Capt. Porter’s Co., Col. John Brown’s (Berkshire Co.) regiment and served for 7 days. ¹  Oliver was 28 years old and the father of 2 when he enlisted.

Over their marriage, Oliver and Rebecca had 6 children together in 13 years.  Rebecca died ten days after the birth of her namesake daughter, in May 1784.  Although I have looked, I have not found a grave site for her, or a headstone, and there may not be a stone.  Soon after her death Oliver married Roxylane Taylor; he had 6 children under the age of 9 and needed a mother for them.  I have not yet found a marriage record for them.  He and Roxylane moved from Becket to Tyringham about 1797 based on the birth of their last two children in Tyringham in 1798 (twins Alvirus and Lucina).  They lived in Tyringham for a number of years.

In the early 1800s Oliver’s oldest children started moving West.  Oliver’s oldest son, also Oliver, moved to Mantua, Ohio which was part of the Connecticut Western Reserve.  In the fall of 1806, Franklin and his wife Lydia (my ancestors) followed.  Several of the others followed a bit later and reportedly in 1822 Oliver and Roxylane too followed.  Oliver bought land in Auburn Corners, Geauga, Ohio and at about age 73 built a house and settled in.  There he and Roxylane lived out the rest of their lives.  She died in 1836 and he died in 1841.  Both are buried in the Shadyside Cemetery and can be found on findagrave.com here.    Since they were born and died before photography was available, these are the only pictures I know of that represent them.

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