Bio-Sawyers
SURNAMES: SNYDER,
FLEMMING/FLAMANDE, BOWEN, BUNKER, KIFER, MARTIN, ROGERS
Surrounded by a large circle of
friends, by whom she is greatly loved
for her rare qualities of mind and heart, Mrs. Sarah A. Foss maintains
the Foss home at 444 Lakehouse Avenue, San Jose, which has been her
home for more than a quarter of a century. A native daughter, whose
father and husband were both honored pioneers of the state, her
life
has been interwoven with the events and affairs of the county's
history. Her father, John Snyder, was one of the county's largest and
most successful ranchers and he occupied a prominent place in its
affairs for many years.
Beginning his life history in
Harrison, County, Ind., on February 11,
1828, John Snyder was a son of Joseph K. and Sarah (Fleming) Snyder,
the former born in Philadelphia and the latter in France. The name was
originally Flamande and was changed to Fleming in this country for
convenience. Grandmother Sarah Flamande and her orphan sister Louise,
who became Mrs. Henry Bowen, came, when young ladies, to Philadelphia
with Stephen Girard, and they made their home with his family until
they married. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Snyder settled in Indiana in 1821 and
in 1839 they removed to what is now Tipton, Cedar, County, Iowa. In
1849, when John Snyder was twenty-one, with his father and
brother-in-law, Moses Bunker, he joined a small party starting across
the plains, consisting of two wagons with ox teams. One more wagon
joined them at the Missouri River and the small party crossed the
plains alone, suffering many hardships and privations en route. They
tarried for a time at Redding Springs, now Shasta, on reaching
California, and then went on to the present location of Chico. Joseph
K. Snyder and Mr. Bunker soon returned to Iowa, and John Snyder
remained and engaged in mining. While thus employed in Trinity County,
the camp provisions ran low and Mr. Snyder was one of those chosen to
go to Humboldt Bay to replenish their supplies, and he was also a
member of a party to make a trail to the Salmon River from Trinity
County at the time of the discovery of the Scott river. At a later
period Mr. Snyder made another trip to the Scott River and took
considerable gold out of Scott Bar, going from there to Sacramento.
Between the years of 1850-55, he spent some time in the vicinity of San
Jose, and in the redwood country, and in 1855 he came here to settle
permanently.
It was in 1855 that Mr. Snyder
was married to Miss Martha Kifer, born
in Mr. Sterling, Ky., who came across the plains with her parents, John
and Lucy (Martin) Kifer, in 1853, the family settling near Mountain
View, where Mr. Kifer became a large landowner and a prominent farmer,
and Kifer Road was named in his honor. Mr. Snyder farmed near Santa
Clara until 1859, when he bought a farm at Mountain View and continued
there until 1865. Meanwhile, however, he had bought the great ranch on
Permenete Creek in 1861, which was the family home for so many years.
It originally consisted of 1,160 acres and his grain crop of 1862 was
the first raised in this section. His success encouraged others, and
this section became famous as a grain country. He also planted a prune
orchard and a vineyard and was the owner of a large tract of land in
Monterey County. Mr. Snyder passed away in 1901, aged seventy-three,
and Mrs. Snyder survived him until January 12, 1918, passing away at
the age of eighty-one, having lived in the one house for fifty-six
years.
The eldest of the family of five
children of this worthy couple, Sarah
Ann Snyder, now Mrs. Wm. F. Foss, of this review, was born on the Kifer
Road near Santa Clara and spent her girlhood days on the great ranch of
her father on Permanente Creek, attending the public school of that
vicinity. At her parent's home May 22, 1884, she was married to William
F. Foss, who was born at Biddeford, York County, Maine, February 11,
1849. In June, 1857, he came with his parents to California via the
Isthmus of Panama, and for a year they lived in Nevada County, going
from there to New York Flat near Brownsville, Yuba County, where they
remained until 1870. William F. Foss attended the Normal School at
San
Francisco, obtsaining a certificate to teach and for a time taught in
Yuba and Butte counties. Later he entered the San Jose State Normal
school when it was first opened in San Jose, from which he was
graduated in 1873, and for fifteen years was engaged in teaching in
different counties of California, for eight years of this time he was
pricipal of Mountain View school. He then engaged in the real estate
business, a partner in the firm of Foss & Hicks of San Jose, and in
this field he continued successfully for many years, passing away on
April 30, 1918, aged sixty-nine, and upright, exemplary citizen,
standing high in the esteem of the community. He was a prominent Mason,
and was also well known in the ranks of the Knight of Pythias.
Mr. and Mrs. Foss were blessed
by the birth of a daughter Wilma,
who is now the wife of Martin Rogers, the son of W. J. Rogers, the
wealthy lumberman of San Francisco. They make their home at the Foss
residence at 444 Lakehouse Avenue, which William F. Foss erected in
1893, and which has been the family home since January 1, 1894. Blessed
with an abundance of this world's goods, Mrs. Foss presides over
her home with grace and dignity, dispensing the old time Californian
hospitality. Cultured and refined, with her kind and generaouos spirit
she radiates an atmosphere of peace and harmony far beyond its bounds.
She was reared in the Episcopal faith, but for some years has been a
student and adherent of Chrisitan Science.
Transcribed by Marie Clayton, from Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California, published by Historic Record Co. , 1922. page 442
ED NOTE: sister to Sarah Ann Snyder-is KENDALL, Letita Pearl Snyder
SANTA CLARA COUNTY PIONEER BIOGRAPHIES
SANTA CLARA COUNTY HISTORY