Snedden Profile

From Stewart Bonar April 2023

Jane, wife of William Bonnar, had another daughter called Mary. She married Adam Snedden here in Scotland. After Adam died, she emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1868, following her sister Jane and the Strachans. 

She is also buried in this cemetery, and is memorialized on a joint Beadling / Snedden stone. On the Snedden side of the stone is memorialized Our Mother (1819-1902) and Sister Mary (1859-1882). So Mother is Mary Snedden (nee Bonnar) and sister Mary is her daughter Mary Snedden. On the Beadling side of the stone is memorialized Husband Robert (1852-1930) His Wife Margaret (1856-1935). Margaret is Margaret Snedden, daughter of Mary Snedden (nee Bonnar) and sister to Mary. I have attached Margaret’s death certificate to confirm this information.

Jane Bonnar had another daughter, Ann Bonnar, who married John Aitken. Jane was living with the Aitkens in Scotland and emigrated with them. The Aitken / Bonnar family were living in the area, so I expected the St Clair grave of John & Ann Aitken would be theirs. However, the name on your website (and elsewhere) given to the mother was Anna Sneadon. Turns out this comes from the death certificate of their eldest son, David, using information from David’s son, John. However there is no other evidence of an Aitken / Sneadon family and all the other evidence points to David being the son of Aitken / Bonnar. Matching birth dates, matching emigration dates, and DNA matches between descendants of David and other members of the Aitken / Bonnar family. There are also DNA matches between descendants of David directly to me, a member of Ann’s Bonnar family. And, of course, Ann Aitken is buried in the same cemetery as Ann Bonnar’s mother and two sisters. So Michael and I are convinced that the Anna Sneadon name is an error. But now, having found Mary Snedden, Ann’s sister, in the cemetery, we also have a possible explanation of how the confusion occurred. (Sneadon / Snedden is an old Scottish name and is spelt in many different ways, so the different spelling is not an issue) I can imagine that because John would only know Mary without a husband (she was widowed before she emigrated), he thought that Snedden was her maiden name, and therefore the maiden name of his grandmother. I’m speculating, of course, but I think it is a feasible explanation.