Dudley was born in
Mississippi in 1833, while John was born the second of four children in
Yazoo County, Mississippi, on June 21, 1837, to Charles W. Snyder and Susan Hale. After their father's death in 1840, the family moved to
Missouri. In fall 1856, John and Dudley moved to
Round Rock, Texas, where they founded a farm. During the
American Civil War, John enlisted in the
Confederate States Army, while Dudley got a contract to transport and sell cattle to the
Trans-Mississippi Department, also serving as a
conscription officer for
Williamson County. During the
January 1886 blizzard, John hired
J. Frank Norfleet to do his cattle droving, and also sold the ~130,000 acres of land he owned with Dudley to
Isaac L. Ellwood, who developed the land into
Spade Ranch. After 1891, the brothers worked as
horse traders. In 1900, Dudley was elected judge of
Sherman County, beating
William B. Slaughter by 4 votes. John married Catherine Jane Coffee, daughter of
John T. Coffee, having 8 children with her. He died on April 14, 1922. Dudley married Mary Oatts, having 9 children with her. He died in his home in
Georgetown in 1921. == References ==