Biography:
Mr. Snowden was born free on April 27, 1847 in Westminster, Maryland. His parents (previously highlighted) were the Rev. John Snowden and Margaret Coone Snowden. He grew up in Westminster, living at times with his sister, Elizabeth, and her husband, William Lowery.
Schooling was hard to come by for young Black men in the slave state of Maryland. Rev. Snowden tried to obtain education for his children, at times by sending them away and other times by hiring local teachers. They were stymied by violence (e.g., people locking the doors to the school house and then stoning the house). Public schools were still decades away, and integrated schools would take another century.
The young Mr. Snowden was attending school in Baltimore City in the winter of 1867 when he fell ill. He returned home to his mother’s care, and died on March 29, 1867.
Mr. Ignatius Snowden is buried near his family in Ellsworth Cemetery near Westminster, Maryland.
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