Jacob Snowberger was born in Ochlenberg, Switzerland in 1746, the 5th son of Johannes Schneeberger.
Johannes first came to America in 1751 with his older children and wife but had to return to Switzerland some years later to secretly bring Jacob to America without the permission of the Swiss government. The surname appears to have been changed to Snowberger soon after arrival in America.
During the American Revolutionary War Jacob served with the Cumberland County Pennsylvania Militia under Captain Samuel Royer in 1780, and under Captain James Young in 1781.
He afterwards removed to Bedford county, and reputedly was the first Snowberger to settle in Morrison's Cove.
The Snowbergers were religious dissenters, associated with the German Seventh Day Baptist denomination. Jacob’s older brother Andrew Snowberger was a founder of the Snow Hill Cloister in Franklin County in 1758, which had been inspired by the Ephrata Cloister founded earlier in Lancaster County in 1728 . Later, in 1763, a non-monastic community of German Seventh Day Baptists was founded in Salemville, Bedford County. Jacob was almost certainly a member of this community at the time of his death on July 14, 1819.
His burial place in the Burger Cemetery in Salemville is approximately a mile away from the still-active German Seventh Day Baptist Church - Red Brick at 786 Golden Rule Drive, New Enterprise, PA.
Submitted by Melvin C. McDowell.
