WELCOME to the Christine (Snider) Knapik Family Page.






CHRISTINE (SNIDER) KNAPIK FAMILY HISTORY

Christine Snider, youngest daughter of Mike and Veronica Snider, was born in Wooten Wells on June 24, 1921 in Robertson County near Bremond. For the first couple of years following her mother's death in 1937, Christine was the "mother" of the family and cooked and washed clothes for her dad and brothers, Bruno, Louis and Lee.

As a young girl, she met Frank Joe Knapik (Born March 6, 1919)who lived just a little way from the Mike Snider home. On January 23, 1941, Christine married Frank Knapik, son of Jasper and Francis (Gurney) Knapik at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Bremond. After the wedding, they set up housekeeping on a farm back of Bill Wachel's place.

According to Christine, "It was a year or two after we married that we had a piece of a car. In those days, we was working for 75 cents a day and didn't have a steady job. We put in lots and lots of hard work. When we laid by, we had to go and help our neighbors. Me and Frank didn't have a car so we went to church and town with Daddy."

According to Frank, "In those days, it was hard to raise enough money for a car. The bank wouldn't do business with a younger man. Now-a-days, kids right out of school have cars and pickups and they call it hard times! We had to walk everywhere."

"I remember walking to school. Sometimes it was so cold, we just had to turn around and go back home. When we went to town in the winter time in an open wagon, we'd have to build a fire in a #3 washtub to keep from freezing. On them cold winter nights, we'd warm up a brick, wrap it up and put it in the bed with us to keep our feet warm."

"In those days, the floors in those old farm houses had so many cracks, you could count how many chickens you had without ever getting out of the house! When we'd get up on a cold winter morning, our shoes would be frozen solid. I'd take some hot coals out of the stove and shake them around in my boots to warm 'em up. Once, I remember it got so cold in the house that a pan of water froze on the stove and the stove still had hot coals in it!"

"I remember one boy, Louis Nowatski, used to come to school in the winter time with the ground frozen and he'd be bare footed. People just didn't seem to get sick much in those days. Course there wasn't no doctors around."

"Another time, a bunch of us boys went duck hunting and Steve ran out in the freezing water, shoes and all, and got wet up to the waist. We then walked around in the freezing weather for several hours and he never did get sick!"

According to Christine, "In those days, mighty few peoples has Christmas trees. Most of the time, we just throwed stockings on the bed for the kids."

Frank and Christine lived for several years in a one room house on the J.O. Taylor's place where their first two children, Raymond and Al were born. Next, they moved to Bill Snider's old house across from the Kirkpatrick place where they lived for many years before moving to Bremond. Christine and Frank raised cotton and a few head of livestock. However, according to Frank, "We made more money off our turkey flock. There was money in raising turkeys in those days."

After the Snider clan moved away from the Kirkpatrick place, Frank and Christine continued to live at the farm where their third child, Cathy, was born. Frank and Christine later moved to Bremond and Frank went to work for the Alcoa Aluminum Company in Rockdale where Frank's two sons also found employment.

Frank retired after 25 years of service with Alcoa although he continued to raise cattle on his farm near the Little Brazos River. He also spent a lot of time playing dominoes with the oldtimers in Bremond. Frank died on May 4, 2001 in a nursing home in Bremond.

Christine lived in Bremond until her death on December 10, 2006 at age 85. She had lived in the Bremond area she loved for over 85 years.

March 6, 1919 � May 4, 2001

BREMOND � Services for Frank Joe Knapik, 82, of Bremond are set for 11 a.m. Monday at St. Mary�s Catholic Church in Bremond. Burial will be in the church cemetery. A rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. Sunday at Peiskee Funeral Home in Bremond. Mr. Knapik died Friday in the Bremond Nursing Home. He was a lifelong resident of Bremond and was retired from Alcoa Aluminum Company of America in Rockdale after 25 years of service. Survivors include his wife, Christine Snider Knapik of Bremond; a daughter and son-in-law, Cathy and Jim Penick of Bremond; two sons and daughters-in-law, Al �Winky� and Jean Knapik of Bremond and Raymond �Yogi� and Linda Knapik of Hearne; eight grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

Christine Snider Knapik died Sunday, December 10, 2006 at approximately 1:00 PM of heart complications and passed away peacefully during the ambulance ride to the hospital.
Willie (Snider)Storemski Family History
Connie (Snider) Kubiak Family History
William Marion (Bill) Snider Family History
Bruno Snider Family History
Louis Snider Family History
Lee Snider Family History

.

Over time, I intend to include family history information for all families that tie back to Tom and Jacob Snider. Bear with me, this will take some time!

Leonard Kubiak

For questions or comments, send me an Email

Click Here to Return to the Snider Family Homepage