Sneed, Bertan E.

The following data is extracted from History of Madison County, Indiana.

BERTAN E. SNEED. Any city would do well to have more of such progressive and public spirited merchants and citizens as Mr. Sneed, the druggist and pharmacist of Elwood, Mr. Sneed began his career with little except his brains and energies, and having once got a foothold in the drug trade has continued his advantage from one position to another, until now for a number of years he has been an independent and fairly successful business man. Mr. Sneed represents the young and aggressive element of Elwood's citizenship, and the continued advancement of the city rests upon the spirit of energy manifested by the group of citizens among whom he is a prominent member.

Bertan E. Sneed, though born in Breckenridge, Missouri, January 27, 1874, represents an old family of Indiana, and presents a somewhat unusual case of a man returning eastward to what may be regarded as his ancestral home, His paternal grandfather was Evan Sneed, who with his wife was a native of Pennsylvania, was a Baptist preacher and one of the pioneers of his denomination in Indiana, It is related that during some of his early service in the ministry in this state he carried a musket to protect him from the Indians, He was one of the old-fashioned itinerant preachers who rode horse-back over the country, carrying a little supply of clothing and sometimes food, and his bible in the saddlebags which were part of the inevitable equipment of the preacher and doctor in those days. He finally located at Newbern, Indiana, in Bartholomew County, where his death occurred at the good 0ld age of seventy- seven. He had a family of children who were named, William, Shad- tech, Samuel, Perry and Callie.

The parents of the Elwood druggist were Perry and Catherine (Wiley) Sneed, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and the latter of Kentucky, The mother was a daughter of John Wiley, who married a Miss Wolf. He was a blacksmith by trade and a preacher in the Universalist faith, The Wiley family were among the first settlers of Bartholomew County, locating there about 1835 or 1836, near Hartsville, where John Wiley died in 1876, He was three times married and had twenty-one children by his three wives, The father of Mr. Sneed was reared at Hartsville, Indiana, became a blacksmith and. wagon maker, and for many years followed that honorable mechanical occupation, His death occurred at Cowgill, Missouri, in 1886, when about forty years of age. His wife passed away in 1876 at the age of twenty-nine. Their three children were Effie, deceased, who was the wife of 0. B. Lawson; Elsie C., of Greensburg, Indiana; and Bertan E.

Mr. Sneed, who lost his parents when he was a little more than a, child, was reared chiefly in Breckenridge, Missouri, where he attended the public schools, and after graduating from the high school in 1890 entered the Missouri Wesleyan College at Cameron, where he was one of the popular students four years, Leaving college he began his practical, career as a clerk in a drug store at Browning, Missouri, and followed the same occupation at Kirksville and green City, In 1893 he came to Indiana, and was located At Burney and at Osgood, being married during his residence at the latter place, In 1902 he came to Elwood, where he worked as pharmacist for five years, He was then in the drug business for himself at Odon, this state, for three years, and in October, 1910, returned to Elwood, where he continued his work as pharmacist until 1912, at which time he succeeded Dr. Saylor as proprietor of the leading drug establishment of Elwood, He keeps a fine store, placing special emphasis upon the compounding of pure drugs and careful prescriptions, and also maintains a large stock of druggists' sundries.

On April 11, 1900, Mr. Sneed married Miss Lottie McCallister, daughter of William and Adelaide (Burroughs) McCallister, Mrs. Sneed was born in Cincinnati, December 9, 1874, her paternal grandfather being -William McCallister, whose wife's maiden name was Vallandingham, both of them being natives of Ohio, Mrs. Sneed's mother died in her native state of Ohio in 1875, and her father now lives in Elwood, The three children in the McCallister family were Horace, Lottie, and one now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Sneed have a household of three children, Charlotte, Marcia, and Ruth, Mrs. Sneed is a member of the Presbyterian church, and he is affiliated with the Osgood Lodge of Masons and the Knights of Pythias. In politics he is one of the stanch Republicans of Elwood.

Source: History of Madison County, Indiana

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