Rev Snowden

The Reverand John Baptist Snowden is buried at Ellsworth Cemetery in Westminster, Maryland. The following research is a part of the restoration of the cemetery.

Born enslaved in 1801, Rev. Snowden knew his grandmother who was stolen from western Africa (possibly a member of the Fula tribe) in the 1760s. Later known as Sarah, she was pregnant during the middle passage and sold at auction for tobacco to Mr. Nicholas Harden in colonial Maryland.

Rev. Snowden had five enslavers before purchasing his own freedom in 1829. He had already been confirmed as a minister in the Methodist church. Not wanting to contribute to the sin of slavery by having enslaved children, he determined to marry a free woman. Ms. Margaret Coone (known as Peggy) had been manumitted in 1817 when her enslaver died. [Manumission is the private legal action of freeing someone from slavery for life; emancipation is governmental legal action.] They met in Westminster, Maryland while Rev. Snowden was on his preaching circuit.

The couple had 14 children, only eight of whom lived to adulthood. Mrs. Snowden made all their clothing, starting with plowing the field to plant the flax or raising the sheep to garner the wool.

Rev. Snowden worked as a farmer and minister for decades, often walking as far as Gettysburg (nearly 40 miles) on Saturday night to preach on Sunday and back again to work on Monday.

His children all learned to read and write, which was difficult in ante-bellum Maryland. They were often threatened with violence. They grew up to become ministers and businessmen and educators.

• A son, Mr. John M. Snowden, was the first Black man to serve as a juror in Carroll County.
• Mrs. Mary E. E. Walker, their daughter, helped to found a college in Texas following the Civil War. (As a side note, as a teenager, Mary had worked for Rev. Dabney Ball who served as JEB Stuart's chaplain during the war.)
• Their grandson, Dr. Adam Walker, attended Howard Medical School, served as a hospital steward during the Spanish-American War, and ran his own practice in Kentucky in the early 1900s.
• Another grandson, Matthew Clair, served as a Bishop in the United Methodist Church.