V. A. SNEERINGER.

V. A. SNEERINGER, of Humboldt, early settler and respected citizen, was born in Adams county, Pennsylvania, September 2nd, 1837. Joseph Sneeringer, his father, was born in the same county. His mother, Margaret O'Bold, was born in that State. Joseph Sneeringer was well known in the milling business of the Keystone State for he owned and operated several grist mills, and that most successfully. He was also a farmer. His family was a large one, there being fourteen children in all, his son, V. A., being the thirteenth child and one of four surviving.

The Sneeringers are of Swiss stock. Joseph Sneeringer Sr., our subject's grandfather, emigrated to America in 1777 and the stone house he erected in Adams county, Pennsylvania, that year still stands, in perfect order, and is occupied by some of his descendants. The old Swiss patriarch died in 1854 at ninety years of age. His son, our subject's father, was born in 1787 and died in 1871. The latter's father-in-law was Mr. O'Bold, an Irishman. Mr. O'Bold left Ireland about 1795 and took up his residence in Adams county, Pennsylvania, where he died full of years.

V. A. Sneeringer remained on the family homestead till he was thirty years of age when he engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was located in

the track of the Rebel army when it invaded Pennsylvania and was called out in the defense of Gettysburg. He belonged to the State militia and took an active part in the battle that occurred about that city. His property, in goods and wares, was largely stolen and carried away by the enemy and its value has never yet been recovered by the government.

After the war Mr. Sneeringer secured a stock of dry goods and came to Kansas, but before his goods arrived he sold them to the well-remembered T. K. Foster and hired to the latter as a clerk at a large salary. Succeeding his employment with Foster he went into the store of Hysinger & Rosenthal in the same capacity and remained several years. His pleasant address and obliging disposition made it an easy matter for Mr. Sneeringer to procure a position with the leading houses of the city.

For some years after his retirement from the counter Mr. Sneeringer was engaged in dealing in and handling real estate and, more recently, in looking after his own interests in this line.

Mr. Sneeringer was married in Kansas in 1871 to Miss Harriet Robinson. An only child, a daughter, Minnie, resulted from this marriage. The latter passed through the Humboldt schools and graduated in the Concordia College. She is an orator of much ability and possessing rare gifts as an elocutionist. She made a few speeches in Kansas for Grover Cleveland in 1892 and did so well that she was sent to Ohio by the national committee where she toured the State and did telling work for Democracy. In the campaign of 1896 she repeated her tour of Kansas and Ohio in the interest of Mr. Bryan and in 1900 many letters came to her entreating her to return to Ohio and even to enter Pennsylvania in a speech-making tour for Bryan and Stevenson.

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