(below) Former residence of Charles and Hazel Snell.
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“William Snell Sr. and his wife, Sarah Essery, bought the 100 acres, known as Lot 22, SB [Hay Township] in 1860 for 70 pounds, six shillings and three pence from the Canada Company. [Ed. note: If these were British pounds of the era (rather than Upper Canada pounds) the equivalent amount today would be roughly $80,000.] They moved from Exeter with four of their children: Joseph, Charles, John and Letitca [sic]. Four more children were born on the farm; William Jr., Mary (Neeb), Thomas, and Francis (Fanny Tieman).
The Snells built a log cabin just behind where the present house stands, built in 1872. Fanny (1874) was the only child born in the new house. The first barn is used as a drive-shed today. The second barn is now the northeast part of the present barn. Later a larger addition was added to the west end of the barn. Two good wells which supply lots of water to this day were dug. The Snells were the first English-speaking folk to settle in the German settlement of Dashwood. They taught the German villagers to speak English and in turn were taught German. The Snells were members of the Dashwood Evangelical Church and were strongly Tory in politics.
William Jr. told us, his grandchildren, that when he was a small boy, the bears would come and peer in the windows of the log cabin. William Sr. sold the farm to a Thomas Privet, who owned it for about two years when the property came back to William Sr. There is no record that William Sr. ever moved out of the house. John Snell bought the farm from his father’s estate for $2,857 in 1902. [Ed. note: Roughly the equivalent of $400,000-$500,000 today.] He tore down the woodshed and built a new kitchen and woodshed that are still part of the house today. When John’s brother-in-law, Edward Neeb, died, John lived with his sister, Mary Neeb, in Dashwood. he would walk through the field every day to his beloved farm.
John’s brother, William Jr. and his wife, Mary Ann (Beaver) and their children, Hilda (Matthews), Hazel (Watson), and Charles lived in the house. They helped John work the farm. Charles Snell and his wife, Hazel Kestle, bought the farm from Uncle John’s estate for $5000 in 1939. [Ed. note: Between $200,000 and $300,000 in today’s funds.] Charles and Hazel took care of their parents, William Snell Jr. and Mary, until their deaths. Charles and Hazel raised four children: Raymond, Mary (Watson), Ronald and Elizabeth (Prouty). They retired to Exeter in 1967, and sold the farm to its present owner, Robert Hoffman. After 107 years, Lot 22, SB [Hay] had passed out of the Snell name.”
extracted from “Hay Township Highlights: 150 years of Diversified Progress, 1846 – 1996”, published by the Hay Township Book Committee under the auspices of Hay Township Council, Alice Gibb ed.; pgs. 622-623 ISBN : 0-919939-43-0