William Snowden

M, #1194, b. circa 1600
ChartsPedigree - Harold Norwood Hubbard
Reference8G Grf, 1152
Source Source(s): "William Snowden..., was a resident of Edwinston, county of Nottingham England, when on 7 Jul 1677, he purchased a tract of land in New Jersey." 
Source Source(s): Text info provided by Rex Ennis 25550 Gilfford St Rd Watertown NY 13601. 
Story* The following is from SNOWDEN 1677-1968 by Charles Randolph Snowden, supplied by The Historical Society of
Pennsylvania on 30 Sep 1997 to Rex Ennis.

On 7 Jul 1677, a deed executed by Richard New of Ratcliffe, County Middlesex (since absorbed into London),
transferred one-sixth of a share of interest in the infant American Province of West New Jersey to William
Snowden of Edwinsboro, County Nottingham, and a neighbor, John Hooten of Skegy.

William Snowden's decision to come to the New World was made amid turbulent time in England. He took the final
step in the 17th year of the reign of Charles II, a profligate and reckless monarch whose ascension to the throne
was marked by a return to Episcopacy after the era of Oliver Cromwell. Presbyterians, Quakers, and other
religious nonconformists were persecuted, and those responsible for the beheading of Charles father in 1649 were
hounded to their deaths and their bodies hung in chains.

It is probable that William Snowden was a Quaker, and it may have been that his decision to leave England was
motivated by religious persecution. William Penn, who had much to do with the founding of the Province of West
New Jersey - years before the founding of Pennsylvania - had recently been brought to trial on a trumped-up
charge of unlawful assembly. The outlook for the Friends in the England of Charles II was not promising.

William Snowden died before making the voyage to America, and it fell to his son, John Snowden, to found the
family in colonial America. 
Source* Source(s): Colonial & Rev Families of PA by Jordan, v.3 pgs 1249+, Gen Pub Co 1978 reprint of 1911 book. 
Birth*circa 1600 William Snowden was born circa 1600 at Granville Co., North Carolina. 
Marriage* He married (__________) (__________). 

Family

(__________) (__________)
Child
Last Edited9 Nov 2005