Henry Snapp

Henry Snapp (June 30, 1822 – November 26, 1895) was a U.S. Representative from Illinois and a member of the Republican Party. He was the father of Howard Malcolm Snapp, who also later served as a U.S. Representative from Illinois. Over the course of his career, Henry Snapp was active in local, state, and national public life, contributing to the legislative process during one term in the United States Congress and representing the interests of his constituents during a significant period in American history.

Snapp was born in Livonia, Livingston County, New York, on June 30, 1822. When he was three years old, he moved with his parents to Rochester, New York, where he attended the public schools. In 1833, the family relocated west to Homer Township in Will County, Illinois. There Snapp completed his public education and worked on the family farm, gaining firsthand experience with the agricultural life that characterized much of the region in the early nineteenth century.

As a young adult, Snapp moved to Joliet, Illinois, which would remain his principal home and professional base. He studied law in Joliet under the firm of E. C. Fellows & S. W. Randall and was admitted to the bar in 1843. Although qualified to practice, he did not immediately enter into active legal practice, waiting approximately seven years before doing so. His early involvement in public affairs began at the municipal level; in 1854 he was elected city attorney of Joliet, marking his first known elective office and establishing his reputation in local legal and political circles.

Snapp’s political career advanced to the state level when he was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1868. He served one two-year term in that body, where he became particularly noted for his efforts to promote the use of Joliet limestone in the construction of the Illinois State Capitol, thereby supporting both a major state project and an important local industry. He was re-elected to the Illinois Senate, but resigned his seat in order to accept the Republican nomination for the United States House of Representatives.

At the national level, Snapp was elected as a Republican to the Forty-second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Representative Burton C. Cook. He served as a U.S. Representative from Illinois from December 4, 1871, to March 3, 1873. His term in Congress fell during the Reconstruction era, a significant period in American history in which federal lawmakers grappled with the political, economic, and social consequences of the Civil War. As a member of the Republican Party representing Illinois, Henry Snapp contributed to the legislative process during his single term in office, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents. He declined to be a candidate for renomination to the House in 1872 and returned to private life at the conclusion of his term.

After leaving Congress, Snapp resumed the practice of law in Joliet, continuing his long association with the city’s legal and civic affairs. In his personal life, he had married Adeline Broadie in Joliet in January 1847. The couple had several children, including Sarah, Dorrance Dibell, Elizabeth, Henry D., Howard M., and Charles D. Their son Howard Malcolm Snapp followed his father into public service and was elected as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1903, extending the family’s involvement in national politics into the next generation.

Henry Snapp remained in Joliet for the rest of his life. He died there on November 26, 1895, and was interred in Oakwood Cemetery in Joliet, Will County, Illinois.