"An Illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties."  Interstate
Publishing Company, 1906.  p. 550.
 
BENJAMIN F. SNOWDEN

     came to the Skagit valley in 1890 and is now one of the well-to-do small
farmers of the county. His farm of twenty acres of good land is two and a half
miles west of Mount Vernon. Mr. Snowden is a native of Missouri, born in Andrew
county in 1862. His father, John Snowden, was the son of an Indiana farmer who
moved to Missouri in 1840, where he is still living.  Mary (Carson) Snowden,
the mother of Benjamin F., was a native of Missouri also, a cousin of the famous
scout of the plains, Kit Carson. Benjamin Snowden spent his youth on the farm,
alternately gaining an education in the Missouri public schools and helping his
father. On attaining his majority, he rented a neighbor's farm and operated it
for five years, at the end of which time, having married, he removed to Colorado
and engaged in farming for two years. In 1889, his attention having been called
to the rapidly growing commonwealth of Washington, he came to this state, and
after spending a year in Seattle, decided to settle in the county of Skagit.
There he rented the farm of Mr. Brewster, the postmaster at La Conner, and
operated it successfully four seasons. Mr. Snowden purchased ten acres of land
in 1892 and cleared it. Later he bought ten more acres, and these holdings, well
stocked with horses, cattle and hogs, now constitute the Snowden farmstead in
the Skagit valley.
     Mr. Snowden was married in Andrew County, Missouri, to Miss Mary Stout,
daughter of William Stout, son of one of the early settlers of the state. Mr.
Stout owns the farm on which he was born. Mary (Stout) Snowden was born in
Missouri on New Year's day, 1870, and received her education in the schools of
her native state.  Her marriage took place when she was eighteen years of age.
She is the mother of five children Charles, Daisy, Edith, James and Theodore R.,
all of whom were born in the Skagit valley, except Charles who was born while
his parents were residents of the Centennial state. In politics Mr. Snowden is a
Republican. The Snowden farm is one of the thriftiest places in the Skagit
valley and affords an excellent illustration of what energy and economy will
accomplish in the course of a comparatively few years.

     
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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in November 2008 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.