Mollie Sneden

Mollie Sneden (January 13, 1709 – January 31, 1810) born as Mary Dobbs was the operator of a ferry service at Palisades, New York, in the United States, before and after the American Revolution. During the war she was prohibited from running the ferry because of her British sympathies. Mollie Sneden is listed as a Woman of Distinction by the New York Senate.

Early life Sneden was born Mary Dobbs in Westchester County, New York, in 1709. Her parents, John and Abigail Dobbs, baptized her in Tarrytown, New York. The Dobbs Family operated a ferry across the Hudson River. Ferry operation began with Mollie's half-brother, William, in 1730, departing from an Indian village called Wysquaqua, later Dobbs Ferry. (see "Dobbs Ferry: The Beginning" by Jean Fritz in The Ferryman newsletter published by Dobbs Ferry Historical Society, November 1993 The route of Dobbs Ferry across the Hudson River is recognized as one of the earliest of the Hudson ferry routes. Mollie's husband, Robert Sneden Jr., though a carpenter and farmer by trade, assisted William in running the ferry. It is not known if Mollie experienced ferry operations first-hand, but given her future vocation and both her family's and husband's connection to the trade, it is conceivable she did. The date of Robert Sneden's wedding with Mollie Dobbs is uncertain, but the birth of their first child is recorded as 1733. The couple continued living on the east side of the Hudson for several years, during which time they gave birth to four more children. Whether or not she began as ferry mistress in 1745, Mollie Sneden was certainly acting in that capacity by 1753.

The original Dobbs ferry was said to be a periauger, Mollie Sneden would have known this, and she probably began her ferry with periaugers. They were popular colonial craft capable of negotiating shallow water while carrying heavy loads. In addition to periaugers, Mollie Sneden would have used larger craft; for she ferried wagons as well as people. The Hudson River is relatively wide between Sneden's Landing and Dobbs Ferry, and a crossing varied in duration. The length of time was affected by variable winds and the tides, In that same year, the widow Mollie Sneden was granted a license to operate a tavern. The Ferry continued with other Dobbs Family members at the helm, with the help of her seven sons in 1758 Although Dobb's Ferry had always used this landing as the western terminus of its ferry service, until now it had been called different names: sometimes simply "the ferry," sometimes Paramus or Rockland, and occasionally Dobbs Ferry on both sides of the river. From this period the landing took the name Sneden's Landing.

Mollie had been licensed to operate a tavern in 1756, and in 1763 she received a license to operate a public house serving "strong Liquors" Two years later a marriage license was granted to Mollie Sneden and George Calhoun. It is not clear if Mollie actually carried out the marriage license by marrying George Calhoun. The British and Hessians, commanded by Cornwallis, were ferried in row galleys and landing craft from Dobbs Ferry, New York to Closter, New Jersey, closing in on George Washington and the badly outnumbered Continental Army. After this experience, heady for British sympathizers, she would have known in 1781 through gossip and John's ferry connection that General George Washington had established headquarters in Dobbs Ferry. Here he was to plan with Marshal Rochambeau the Yorktown campaign which would bring the Revolutionary War to an end. After the British surrendered, at the nadir of Tory experience, she would have witnessed the first naval 17 gun salute to General Washington fired from the British Warship, H.M.S. Perseverance, which was anchored offshore in the Hudson River.

After the Revolutionary War

Mollie left Sneden's Landing after the war ended. With her bachelor son, Dennis, she moved to New York City, leaving operation of the ferry to John, "The Patriot." Other sons moved to the British colonies of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. In about 1788, when she would have been 79, Mollie returned with Dennis to Sneden's Landing and took up residence in a house adjacent to the landing known as the "Mollie Sneden House," 14 Washington Spring Road. She resumed involvement with the ferry and continued to work in this connection until shortly before her death. Mollie Sneden died on January 31, 1810, at the age of 101 years and 18 days, surviving her husband by 66 years.

She is buried in the Palisades Cemetery, also known as the Sneden's Landing Cemetery, in Palisades, New York. Her original grave marker was replaced in 1982 by the local historical society because it had crumbled and become illegible.