Bismarck Snyder was the last of five children of George G. Snyder and Elsie Jacob Snyder. He was born inn Parley's Park (Snyderville) in 1871. He grew up in Parley's Park and Wanship in Summit county.

His education included private education, Intermountain Business college, Law school. He also served in the Spanish American War, seeing active duty in the Philipines and in Cuba.

In 1900, both Bismarck and Grant Snyder, single bachelors, one a contractor and the other a lawyer, lived in a hotel/boarding house on State Street in Salt Lake City.

In 1903, at the age of 31, he married Margaret Snell. Bismarck and Margaret were the parents of five children, three sons, Bismarck, Joseph, and Wilson Grant and two daughters, Mary Ruth and Elsie Margaret.

Bismarck was an attorney in private practice, a partner with his brother, Wilson, and others. He authored books on mining and taught at the University of Utah. Bismarck was also the attorney for Utah Power and Light.

The family was struck with tragedy in 1913, when their 8 year old son, Bismarck, was struck by a car and killed in Salt Lake City.

Bismarck Snyder died at the age of 49 when he contracted influenza which took the life of millions of people in the world-wide pandemic of 1919. His youngest child was just two years old at the time.



Obituary for Bismarck Snyder, Park Record15 Feb 1919

Bismarck Snyder Dies: The new of the passing away of Lawyer Bismarck R. Snyder last Saturday at his home in Salt Lake City came as a severe shock to his hosts of friends and acquaintances in Summit county, and particularly in Park City, where for many years he made his home and where as he first branched out as a lawyer, in which profession he won marked distinction. He as a thorough gentleman and by his always quiet, affable manner, his genial strong personality, won admiration from those who best knew him. His untimely death is a great loss to the community in which he was beloved and honored. The Record extends sincere sympathy to the bereaved widow, his children and brothers and sisters in their great bereavement.

Mr. Snyder was a victim of influenza. The funeral occurred Tuesday and was attended by a number of Park City friends and admirers.

Mr. Snyder was born at Parley's Creek, Utah, November 2, 1871, the son of Mr. and Mrs. George. G. Snyder. He spent most of his life in Utah and Oregon, and was a veteran of the Spanish-American war, having seen active service in both Cuba and the Phillipine Islands. He was admittd to the bar in 1905.

Besides his widow, Mrs. Margaret Snell Snyder, and four children, Elsie, Joseph, Ruth and Wilson Grant Snyder, he is survived by the following brother and sisters: Wilson I, Grant, Gideon, Gorace T., Rill and Jennie Snyder of Salt Lake and Mrs. C. Evans of Park City.

The Salt Lake Tribune paid the following splendid tribute to the capable lawyer and worthy citizen:

"In the death of Bismarck Snyder, Utah has lost a sterling citizen and the bar of the state one of its foremost members. He was a spendid representative of the class of self-made men of whom the west is justly proud. His father, the late, George G. Snyder, was a "forty-niner" in California and later a pioneer miner and rancher in Utah. It was in that rugged environment that Bismarck Snyder spent his childhood and youth. Although he received but meager educational opportunities, he was neverthless an assiduous student and attained prominence and recognition as a legal scholar. In collaboration with his brother, he assisted in the production of a well known work on mining law and for many years prior to his death he delivered lectures on legal subjects in the law department of the University of Utah. In the practice of his profession, he merited and received the respect and confidence of laymen and lawyers alike. He gave up the general practice of the law in 1915 to accept the responsible position of attorney for the Utah Power and Light company, which position he continued to hold to the time of his death. He was a veteran of the Spanish American war, having performed active military sevice in the Phillipines as a member of a battery, Utah light artillary.

It can be truthfully sid that his ideals ere of the highest and although possessed of a keen and exacting sense of justice, his estimation of men were always broad and generous. With unfailing industry and fidelity, he devoted himself to the performance of his heavy tasks of his profession and to his duties as citizen, husband, and father.