Simon Snyder was the third Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, serving three terms from 1808 to 1817. A Jeffersonian Democrat, he also served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and was elected three times as Speaker in 1804, 1805, and 1807. Born in Lancaster on November 5, 1759, the politician started his business career as an apprentice to a tanner in York, Pennsylvania, in 1774. In 1784, Snyder moved to Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, where he opened a gristmill. His first electoral office was as justice of the peace, which he held for twelve years. As governor, Snyder led the state through the War of 1812. Following the conclusion of his third term, he was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1818, but he died of typhoid fever on November 9, 1819, before he could assume office. He was the first governor elected in Pennsylvania who was of German Lutheran descent.
-John Deeben