During this snow siege that we have all endured, I began thinking of the Snow family of Edgartown. The name has disappeared from the annals of Edgartown, much as we all wish that this current snow would just up and leave.

As far as I can ascertain, Edgartown was the only Vineyard town to have any Snows. Arthur Snow, formerly of Great Britain, was the first to appear. In 1737 he married Deborah Butler, a widow of Edgartown. The last Snow to live in Edgartown was Fanny Snow Sandsbury, the daughter of Charles Snow, a blacksmith who died in 1900 at the age of 85. Charles was the son of Timothy and Abigail Snow, as was his brother Joshua. Neither boy was born in Edgartown. Timothy and Abigail lived in Marion for a while and the boys were born there. But soon after that the family came to Edgartown. In 1843 the two brothers were members of the 213 man strong militia of Edgartown.

I am especially fond of Joshua, who married Lucinda Smith of Edgartown in 1835. He and Lucinda built one of my favorite houses, the lovely full cape at the corner of Main street and Pease’s Point Way. Tradition has it that Lucinda actually paid for the house out of the proceeds of her candy making business. I don’t know how true this is, but candy making had a long tradition in old Edgartown as a way for women to earn some money, much as catering does today. Lucinda and Joshua did not have any children, and their house became the home of Richard L. Pease and his family after Lucinda died in 1875. Joshua predeceased her in 1872. According to several censuses, he was a carpenter and probably built that house.

His brother Charles was a blacksmith and in 1836 married an Edgartown woman, Sarah Frisbie, whose mother Betsy lived at the corner of Davis Lane and School street in the house now owned by the Khyatts. As soon as the snow melts, I need to go down to the registry of deeds and check to see if Charles and Sarah were the Snows who lived on Chappy on a magnificent farm off Litchfield Road overlooking Katama Bay. That property later became the property of Felix Rackemann of Boston.

Charles and Sarah did have children, one of whom, Fanny, married James C. Sandsbury. The Sandsburys lived out on Katama Road and purchased the defunct Katama railroad right of way in that area. They had four children. So there is some Snow DNA out there; maybe the Snows of Edgartown are not yet finished.

Mary Jane Carpenter lives in Edgartown.