HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



199 



delphia and was employed there as a 

 clerk until 1878, when .he embarked in 

 business for himself as a wholesale 

 dealer in rubber goods, in which he has 

 since been successfully engaged. In 

 politics he is a Republican, with a decid- 

 ed leaning toward clean politics as ex- 

 emplified b}^ the Committe of One Hun- 

 dred and the Municipal League. In 1901 

 he was the candidate of the Municipal 

 League, endorsed by the Republican 

 party, for common councilman from the 

 thirty-seventh ward of Philadelphia, but 

 failed of election. He is an active mem- 

 ber of the Protestant Episcopal Church 

 of the Incarnation, Broad and Jefferson 

 streets, and for the past seven years has 

 been a vestryman of that church, and 

 is the present secretary of the vestry. 

 He is a Master Mason of Shekinah 

 Lodge, No. 246. F. and A. M.; past re- 

 gent of Apollo Senate. No. 6, Order of 

 Sparta, and Great Ephor of the Great 

 Senate of Sparta for the last twelve 

 years, also secretary of the Great Eph- 

 ori of the Great Senate of Sparta; past 

 master workman of Quaker City Lodge, 

 No. 116, Ancient Order of United Work- 

 men of Pennsylvania, and an ex-super- 

 A-ising deputy grand master workman 

 of the order in Pennsylvania; and a 

 member of Pennsylvania council. No. 

 342, Royal Arcanum. Mr. Snyder was 

 married in Philadelphia, January 28, 

 1880. by the Rev. Francis L. Robbins, 

 D. D., to Eliza Hunter Cassin, daughter 

 of Isaac Sharpless and Emily CHunter) 

 Cassin, of Philadelphia, and they have 

 been the parents of two sons, the elder 

 of whom died in infancy. TKeir son, 

 Cassin Snyder, born February 27, 1885, 

 received his education in the public 

 schools of Philadelphia, graduated from 

 the North East Manual Training School, 

 and until recently was connected with 

 the engineering department of the Phila- 

 delphia Rapid Transit Company in the 

 construction of the subway and bridge 

 work for the depression and elevation 

 of the car tracks on Market street; but 

 is now associated with his father in 

 business. 



Isaac S. Cassin, father of Mrs. Sny- 

 der, was born in Delaware county, Penn- 

 sylvania, July 29, 1826, and is of Eng- 

 lish and Irish lineage, Joseph Cassin. 

 his great-grandfather having emigrated 

 from Queen's county, Ireland, in 1725, 

 and settled in Philadelphia. He had 

 among other children sons John and 

 Luke, the former of whom became fa- 

 mous as Commodore John Cassin dur- 

 ing the Revolution, was a warm personal 

 friend of Washington, who presented 

 him with an oil portrait of himself, 

 which was destroyed by fire in the home 

 of his no less distinguished son. Com- 

 modore Stephen Cassin, at Washington. 

 Commodore Stephen Cassin commanded 

 the Ticonderoga in McDonough's fa- 

 mous victory on Lake Champlain in the 



war of 1812-14, and was awarded a med- 

 al by Congress for bravery in that ac- 

 tion, a replica of which is now in pos- 

 session of Cassin Sn3'der, above men- 

 tioned. Luke Cassin, brother of the first 

 Commodore, was the great-grandfather 

 of Mrs. Snyder. He was born in Phila- 

 delphia in 1763, and followed the trade 

 of a silversmith. He married Ann Wor- 

 rall, of an old Delaware county family, 

 and had one son, Thomas W. Cassin, 

 who married Rachel Sharpless, daughter 

 of Isaac and Hannah (Wright) Sharp- 

 less, and had children: John, the dis- 

 tinguished naturalist and ornithologist; 

 Lydia, Luke, Thomas W., Rebecca S., 

 William V., Isaac S., Ann Eliza, and 

 Susanna S. 



Isaac S. Cassin was educated at the 

 famous Friends' school at Westown and 

 under private tutors, and early manifest- 

 ed a talent for mechanics. He served 

 an apprenticeship with Messrs. I. P. 

 Morris & Co., of Philadelphia, and sub- 

 sequently became, successively, engineer 

 of the Spring Garden Water Works, of 

 Philadelphia Gas Works, chief engineer 

 of the Philadelphia Water Works, and 

 chief engineer of the United States 

 Mint in Philadelphia. Relinquishing 

 for a time public office, Mr. Cassin re- 

 organized the Union Hydraulic Works, 

 and was one of the most eminent water 

 and gas engineers in the country, hav- 

 ing built not less than fiftv water works 

 in prominent cities throughout the coun- 

 try. His services as an expert in the 

 construction of water works, were in 

 great demand, and he had a distinct and 

 unique reputation in the valuation of 

 water and gas properties. He was a' 

 life member of the Franklin Institute, 

 and of the Engineers' Club, and for 

 more than twenty years prior to his 

 death was a member of the Public 

 Buildings Commission, which had charge 

 of the erection of the city hall of Phila- 

 delphia. He was a member of the So- 

 ciet}^ of Friends, at the Race Street 

 Meeting. In politics he was an uncom- 

 promising Democrat, and besides filling 

 numerous public offices was frequently 

 a delegate to state and national conven- 

 tions. He married, October 10, 1850, 

 Emily Hunter, daughter of John Mor- 

 gan Hunter, of Delaware county, and 

 they were the parents of six children: 

 Thomas; Eliza H. fnow Mrs. M. L. 

 Snyder): Edward, John, Emily, and Is- 

 aac S. Cassin. 



The maternal ancestors of Mrs. Sny- 

 der were no less distinguished than her 

 paternal ancestors. John Hunter, the 

 progenitor of the family in America, 

 was a strong churchman, and was in 

 the Protestant army, under William of 

 Orange in the battle of the Boyne, where 

 he commanded a troop of horse and 

 was wounded in the hip. He was a 

 native of Durham, England, and a de- 

 scendant of the Hunter family of Mad- 



