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Erskine William Snoddy was born March 4, 1871, at Sedalia, Missouri, a son of William W .S. and May M. (LONG) Snoddy. His father was born January 25, 1837, in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, of Irish parentage. When twenty years of age he began reading law, and was in practice at Lockhaven, Pennsylvania, until the outbreak of the Civil War. He enlisted in Company C of the 137th Regiment of Pennsylvania Infantry, and on the organization of the company was elected sergeant, and subsequently was advanced to the rank of captain. This company was mustered out of service June 1, 1863. Captain Snoddy at once undertook the organization of a new regiment, which was mustered in as the 207th Pennsylvania Infantry, with him as Lieutenant Colonel. He continued as one of the commanding officers of the much hard service, and as captain and colonel he participated in some of the most noteworthy engagements of the war, including Antietam, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, and in all of the important battles in and around Petersburg. He was at Appomattox in April 1865, when General Grant accepted the surrender of Lee's forces. Following the assassination of President Lincoln his regiment was on provost guard duty at Washington during the trial and execution of the conspirators. Colonel Snoddy was twice seriously wounded during the war. Having gained distinction as a soldier, Colonel Snoddy then located at Sedalia, Missouri, and was in practice of the law there until 1885. In that year he removed to Medicine Lodge, Kansas, and from that point went to participate in the opening of the Cherokee Strip in 1893. He was one of the successful homestead seekers and located a claim of Government land three miles south of Alva. He continued the practice of law at Alva until his death, which occurred suddenly at Montrose, Colorado August 12, 1908. In the year of statehood and the year preceding his death he was the republican nominee for justice of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma. Colonel Snoddy was married to Miss LONG in 1863 at Selin's Grove, Pennsylvania. She was born in Pennsylvania June 30, 1844. To their marriage was born nine children, five daughters and four sons. One son and three daughters died in infancy, and those who reached maturity were: Claude L., who was born January 25, 1867, and died at Alva, Oklahoma June 23, 1899; he was a lawyer and journalist and never married. The second in the family is Erskine W. James Cook, born June 30, 1874, now a farmer and stock man, was married in 1909 to Miss Carrie GAMBLE, a native of Wallace County, Kansas. Edna May, born in 1877, was married in 1898 to Elmer DEEDS, and now lives at Los Angeles, California. Beulah C., born in 1881, was married in 1908 to David C. (Pat) OATES, and has two children, Marjorie and William. Pat Oates was a conspicuous character in Oklahoma affairs. He was a pioneer settler and a peace officer of old Woods County, Oklahoma, having served by election as sheriff of the original county for two terms prior to statehood. He was assistant sergeant at arms in the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention in 1907 and in 1908 was appointed a deputy warden of the State Penitentiary at McAlester, and assisted in the work of building and supervising the new state prison until January 19, 1914 , when he was killed in a prison outbreak, at which time six other persons lost their lives. Pat Oates was born in Alabama in August , 1871, and was also a veteran of the Spanish- American war, having been sergeant in a company in the First Territorial United States Volunteers. Erskine W. Snoddy grew up and received his education partly in Missouri and partly in Kansas. He attended a Catholic school at Sedalia, Missouri, and in 1887, at the age of sixteen, began work as a teacher and for four years followed that vocation in Barber County, Kansas. In 1891 he was appointed a United States deputy marshal for the Territory of Oklahoma and thus came into close touch with affairs during some of the most important openings of new territory. It was an office of great hazard and responsibility during the wild and wooly period of Northwestern Oklahoma, and he discharged his duties in that capacity for a period of seven years. In the meanwhile he had taken up ;and pursued steadily the study of law under the direction of his father. In 1900, having been admitted to the bar, he began practice at Alva. In 1901 he was appointed referee in bankruptcy for the old Sixth Judicial District, and held that office until Oklahoma became a state in 1907. In 1902 came election as city attorney of Alva, an office which by repeated re-election he has filled to the present time. For many years he has been one of the leaders in the republican party in Northern Oklahoma and in 1911 was nominated by that party for justice of the Criminal Court of Appeals. Mr. Snoddy is a member of the Masonic Order and the Benevolent and protective Order of Elks. At Kiowa, Kansas, December 1, 1892, he married Miss Sarah NICHOLSON, who was born March 4, 1873 at Shawneetown, Illinois, a daughter of Andrew and Martha Nicholson, early settlers of Barber County, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Snoddy have one daughter, Frieda May, who was born November 4, 1895, and completed her education in the Oklahoma Northwestern State Normal School at Alva. On March 25, 1915, she married Harold WHITE, a building contractor of Oklahoma City. Typed for OKGenWeb by Jack Childers November 28, 1998.