The family immigrated because they were coal miners, and strikes and a poor economic situation in Scotland had created a bad social and economic environment that made the promise and lure of America too strong to resist.
They all worked in the coal mines in Southern Illinois for many years until Robert, known as Bob to his many friends in Marion, went back to Cardenden, Scotland, to marry Elizabeth Ruth Livingstone and bring her hack with him to Detroit, Michigan, where some of her family and friends had located to find work in the automobile factories. Robert worked for Chrysler Corporation for many years and owned stock in the Company.
David Sneddon, Dave, as he was better known, continued to work in the coal mines until he and Ruben started the now legendary business, Sneddon’s Confectionery that eventually became a well-known and popular restaurant for both high school students and Marion adults. Sneddon’s was the first place in Marion to provide curb service, creating an atmosphere that became hugely popular for the next decade.
They made their own ice cream and specialized in malted milk shakes, sundaes, and ice cream cones. They had a trademark “bonnie beef” steak sandwich, grilled hamburgers, and a homemade smoked barbecue sandwich, as well. Cherry and vanilla Pepsis and Cokes were served alone or with the food at the counter, curbside, or at sturdy tables and wooden booths inside made by James Sneddon himself.
Ruth and I have three of these tables that testify to their durability and quality construction, not to mention their utility and plain beauty.
Sneddon’s, as it was popularly known, was only a block from Marion High School, and it was a logical and very popular spot for students on their way home from high school. Many of my friends recount highly competitive and contentious games of basketball played out back of the building with a sturdy, homemade pole, backboard, and basket, probably installed by the Sneddon’s themselves.
Living on the northeast side of town, I was an infrequent visitor to Sneddon’s, but I have vivid memories of tilting Larry Moore’s pinball machine there, among other more tasty memories. (He still reminds me that I owe him 5 cents.)
When I was an iceman helper and delivered ice there, I still remember the two Scotchmen who argued about the price of the slightly melted ice that had been on the truck a few hours under a heavy, quilted cover. They always gave me the asking price, though, and sent me on my way a little chagrined but a wiser business boy.
Sneddon’s closed in 1955, and Robert and Dave Sneddon found other jobs for a few years. They and their families were able to be a part of a strong Scottish American community here in Southern Illinois that included many first generation Scottish immigrants, such as the Grays, the Strangs, and the Wrights, among many others.
America is a land of immigrants from throughout the world, and we are still the land of opportunity, the most desirable place in the world to live.
People throughout the world are still trying to get to America, and many of my friends who have immigrated here recently, during peace and war and good and bad times, constantly remind me that almost all of us came from immigrants who wanted a better life, freedom to work and learn and pray, and be a unique individual based on their own merits, skills, and work ethic.
Everyone wanted and still wants the opportunity to be the best they can be, and America is the best place to find that opportunity.
I’m proud to have found a second-generation Scotch lass from the Sneddon and Livingstone clans to marry, and my sons and grandchildren have that great immigrant mixture of blood from Scotland, England and probably the European mainland before that.
America is great because people from all over the world came here to find freedom and opportunity, and they found it in abundance.
Americans learned the value of freedom, and these immigrants already knew that freedom must be protected, defended, and preserved at all costs.
They knew that freedom should never be taken for granted, that freedom is never free. Millions have fought for that belief and millions have died to keep America free for immigrants.
The words immigrant and American are synonymous. The Scotch-American tradition is only one of many, and we should all be proud of our own particular immigrant traditions.
(Extracted from the June 2005, Marion Living Magazine, article by Ray Hancock)