George Snook

George Snook at his daughter Annie Snook's wedding on 3 June 1914 in Port Arthur

George William Snook (6 September 1864 - 23 September 1930) was an English emigrant to Canada.

Early life

He was born on September 6, 1864, in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, the son of Maria Bryant Young and John Gray Snook.

In the 1871 England census, he is 6 years old, living with his parents in Britford, Alderbury, Wiltshire, England. Also in the household are four younger siblings: Bessie, Alfred, Frank, and Henrietta.

In the 1891 Census, he is 28, unmarried, a boarder at 33 Clifford Street, in Southampton, St Mary, Hampshire, England, working as a "Corn Porter Dock", with an unrelated married couple, Edward C Moore and Henrietta Moore.

His 1910 Empress of Ireland voyage notes that he emigrated from England in September 1889 to Newfoundland, but other sources mention his emigration in 1892. Either way, his son by Anna "Annie" Parsons was born George Snook Jr. on 17 February 1892 in Fortune Bay, Newfoundland. He was not married to her when the child was conceived.

Daughter Annie Snook was born in Port Arthur 21 July 1893. At the time the family was living on Cumberland Street in Port Arthur, and he was occupied as an Engineer.

Sometime after this they moved to Schreiber, likely to become a marine engineer at Isbester's Landing.

They witnessed a friends' wedding in 1899 while living in Schreiber. In the 1901 census the family of four (George, Annie, and George Jr. and Annie Jr.) are still listed as living in Schreiber, he earning $400 annually.

His brother Edward J. Snook joined him in Canada from England in September 1905.

He and his brother Edward J. Snook (November 1881 - 27 January 1952), visited England in 1910, returning to Canada on the Empress of Ireland, having departed Liverpool, England and arrived at St John, New Brunswick, Canada, on 19 February 1910. His profession is given as General Foreman, while his brother's is Marine Engineer. Four years later, this ship would sink on the St. Lawrence River 29 May 1914 with a loss of 1,024 lives in one of the worst disasters on the Atlantic. This information must have chilled Snook.

He may have been present in the powerhouse in 1908 at the Current River disaster. [1]

Marriage and family

They had perhaps five children:

• George Snook Jr. (1892 - 1960), born in Fortune Bay, Newfoundland
• Anna Bryant "Annie" (1893 - 1989), born in Port Arthur
• A son Albert Lester, (13 May to 16 July 1897). The death certificate notes the infant died of a cough.
• A son strangely named H. B. Clyde, recorded as a birth in the Port Arthur records February 1899, but does not appear with their family in the next record, the 1911 census, so likely he died in infancy.
• Lillian Snook (about 1903 - ??) She appears with the family as the daughter and an 18-year-old tailoress in the 1921 census, but strangely not in the 1911 census, when it's just George, Annie, their namesake children, and George Sr.'s brother Edward living together. Another reference to her is in George Jr.'s obituary, which mentions his being survived by a sister, "Mrs. Don McLeod" of Fort William. In George's 1930 obituary there is no mention of her! She is not listed as a surviving child, or at all. Other possible references to her are a Mrs. Lillian McLeod living at 290 Argyle Street on two voters' lists in 1935 and 1949, as a widow, with Mr. and Mrs. Lorne McLeod, the Mr. being a truck driver in 1935 and a fireman in 1949. (possibly her brother-in-law). A search of the Chronicle-Journal archives might find an obituary or marriage reference.

Snook's obituary mentions only George Jr. and Annie as his children, so this list is complete except for any other children who died very young.

Current River Powerhouse, 1905, where Snook likely worked

He and his wife are listed in the 1921 census as living at 230 Algoma Street, Port Arthur, with an income of $1550, living with an 18-year-old daughter called Lillian. All three are listed as methodists, he is an Engineer at a "Powerhouse", his wife has no job, and his daughter is a "Tailoress" at a "Tailor shop".

His wife died 4 February 1924.

Death

Tombstone

Late in life he moved to Winnipeg. He died in hospital there on September 23, 1930, at the age of 66. His body was moved the following day back to Port Arthur. He was buried 26 September 1930 at Riverside Cemetery in what is now Thunder Bay, Ontario.

George W. Snook, 65, a former resident of Port Arthur, died in hospital in Winnipeg, Tuesday. Mr. Snook was formerly employed by the Public Utilities as an operator at the Current River power house, for sixteen years. He is survived by one son, George, of Kenora; one daughter, Mrs. A. Currie, of North Transcona, Manitoba; three sisters and three brothers, in England; and one brother, E.J. Snook, of Port Arthur. The body will arrive tomorrow; and the funeral will be held Friday afternoon from 299 Arthur Street to Trinity Church. The funeral will be under the auspices of the Masons. Burial will be in the family plot at Riverside cemetery. Rev. Harry Heathfield will conduct the services.

— Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 24 September 1930

Sources

Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 24 September 1930

Manitoba Consumer and Corporate Affairs; Manitoba, Canada Source Information Ancestry.com. Web: Manitoba, Death Index, 1871-1947 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: Vital Statistics. Manitoba Consumer and Corporate Affairs. http://vitalstats.gov.mb.ca/Query.php: accessed 6 September 2012.