Simon Snyder
Selinsgrove, Snyder County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Three-term Governor of the Commonwealth, 1808-1817, and member of the General Assembly, 1797- 1807. Pennsylvania's first governor of German descent. Built this home in the early 1800's, and resided here until his death. Buried in First Lutheran Church cemetery nearby.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In the young republic's early decades, Selinsgrove sent one of its own to the highest office in Pennsylvania. Simon Snyder rose from the General Assembly to serve three terms as governor from 1808 to 1817, the first man of German descent to hold the post in a commonwealth shaped heavily by its German-speaking communities. The home he built here in the early 1800s remained his residence until his death, and he was laid to rest in the nearby Lutheran churchyard.
Why it matters
Snyder's rise marked the political coming-of-age of Pennsylvania's large German population, showing how immigrant communities moved from the farm to the statehouse in the early United States.
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