John M. Snyder(1842-1914)
- Writer
Rev. John M. Snyder was a Unitarian minister, author and playwright.
After graduating with honors from the Meadville Theological School in
Meadville, Pennsylvania, Rev. Snyder was ordained a pastor in 1870 at
the Hingham Unitarian Church in Hingham, Massachusetts. Three years
later he became pastor at the Messiah Church in St. Louis, Missouri, a
post he would hold for the next 26 years. In 1899 he returned to
Massachusetts to become pastor at the Wellesley Hills Unitarian Church.
It was at this posting that in 1904 he wrote the play "As Ye Sow", in
an attempt to reach a larger audience than he could preaching from his
pulpit. The following year "As Ye Sow" was produced on stage at Boston
and in 1914 released as a motion picture. Rev. John M. Snyder died on
12 August, 1914, at Nantucket, Massachusetts, after a year long battle
with throat cancer. At the time of his death Rev. Snyder had been
pastor of the Nantucket Unitarian Church for five years