Francis H. Snow

Who was Francis H. Snow?

Francis Huntington Snow was an American professor and chancellor of the University of Kansas, and he became prominent through the discovery of a fungus fatal to chinch bugs and its propagation and distribution. Born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, he was the son of Benjamin and Mary B. Snow, and one of his paternal ancestors, Richard Warren, was a member of the Mayflower company. He was married on June 8, 1868, to Jane Appleton Aiken.

Snow attended the Fitchburg high school in preparation for Williams College, where he graduated in 1862, standing first in his class. After teaching one year as principal of the Fitchburg high school he entered the Andover Theological Seminary, completing its course of study in 1866. This same year he received his master's degree from Williams. He would later receive a Ph.D. from Williams in 1881, and the degree of LL.D. from Princeton University in 1890. He was a member of the college fraternity Delta Upsilon, and of the honorary societies Sigma Xi and Phi Beta Kappa at KU.

After leaving Andover Seminary he preached for a while, although not regularly installed as pastor. "He served two seasons with the Christian commission at the front of the Union army, being present at Lee's surrender." In 1866 he was elected to the first faculty of the University of Kansas as professor of mathematics and natural sciences. During the first year he spent in Lawrence, Kansas, he preached almost every Sunday in nearby pulpits.