Sylvanus Snow was the father of John Dirlam's first wife, Sarah. His father, Samuel, moved his young family to Ashford in Windham County, Connecticut in 1725. Five more children were born there.
Two of those children are interesting here. One, our ancestor Sylvanus, had a long history of military service, and three of his sons also served. And the other of interest, Sylvanus' older brother, Stephen, was a business success.
By 1774 Ashford had 2231 inhabitants including 13 slaves, one of whom belonged to Stephen Snow. And although in 1784 Connecticut adopted emancipation at age 25 of slaves born after that year, Snow accumulated more slaves. By the time of the 1790 census, he owned 3 of the 7 in Ashford. All the principal families in the larger towns had a slave or two, especially the families of doctors, lawyers, and public officials. And slaves worked in New London's manufacturing businesses and large farms. Stephen Snow was prosperous and operated several successful businesses in Ashford. The slaves are a measure of that success. Incidentally, no other Ashford based Snow owned slaves.
And interestingly, I can't find a record of any form of military service for Stephen Snow. There was a Cape Cod, Massachusetts man with the same name, who was called to New Bedford in September 1778 when a British raiding party from New York landed and destroyed 70 vessels and a large number of buildings. And again when HMS Somerset ran aground off Truro, while chasing a French squadron in a gale, this other Stephen Snow helped guard rescued crewmen.
