Surnames: Lowndes, Nellis, Snell, Timmerman

Towns and villages: Canajoharie, Ephratah, Palatine, St. Johnsville, Stone Arabia

Counties: Albany, Fulton, Montgomery

Source: History of the Mohawk Valley - Gateway to the West - 1614-1925
Covering The Six Counties of Schenectady, Schoharie,
Montgomery, Fulton, Herkimer and Oneida.
Volume IV, Illustrated; Page 892
Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1925

Earnest effort, close application and the exercise of his unusual talents have won Winfield Snell Kilts, M. D., prestige as a physician in the central part of the Empire state, where he makes his home, and where he enjoys a large and increasing practice. He was born in Stone Arabia, New York, on September 19, 1880, his parents being Albert and Eva Demetria (Snell) Kilts, both of whom were of Holland Dutch ancestry. Albert Kilts was born in Stone Arabia, Montgomery County, New York on May 2, 1840, the son of John and Nancy (Nellis) Kilts, and spent his life in agricultural pursuits. He died where he was born, on December 27; 1907. John Kilts, the paternal grandfather of Winfield Snell Kilts, was born in Stone Arabia and died there. His wife, Nancy (Nellis) Kilts was born in Stone Arabia and died there. Eva Demetria (Snell) Kilts, mother of Winfield Snell Kilts, was born at St. Johnsville, New York, and is now living in Stone Arabia, having reached her seventy-third milestone on life's journey. She is the daughter of Enoch and Julia (Timmerman) Snell, the former of whom was born in Snellsbush, New York, and died in St. Johnsville. He was a farmer by occupation. His wife, Julia (Timmerman) Snell, also was born in Snellsbush and died in St. Johnsville. Winfield Snell Kilts was graduated from the Canajoharie high school in the class of 1902. He then entered the Albany Medical College at Albany, New York, and graduated in 1906, with the degree of M. D. He served one year as intern in the Samaritan Hospital in Troy, Rensselaer County, New. York, and in 1907 opened an office at East Springfield, Otsego County, where he remained for three years, then returned to Canajoharie and now enjoys a large practice throughout that section. Dr. Kilts was united in marriage to Miss Genevieve Maude Lowndes on January 12, 1908, in Albany. She was born in Albany and is the daughter of Alexander and Sarah (Snell) Lowndes, the former of whom was born in England and died in Albany where he had been a grocer. Sarah (Snell) Lowndes, mother of Mrs. Kilts, died in Albany. The church associations of Mrs. Kilts are with the Emanuel Baptist church of Albany. Two children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Kilts: Ruth Genevieve, born in East Springfield, New York, on December 28, 1908, is now a student in the high school in Schenectady; and Winfield Snell, Jr., born in Canajoharie, on January 28, 1910, died in Schenectady on February 22, 1924. Dr. Kilts is a Mason, being a member of Hamilton Lodge, No. 9, and of Hiram Union Chapter, No.53, H. A. M., both of Canajoharie. He also holds membership in Canajoharie Lodge, No. 516, I. 0.0. F.; Tarajoras Tribe, No. 148, I. 0. R. M., and the Fort Rensselaer Club, all of Canajoharie. He attends the Reformed church and is identified with the democratic party. Dr. Kilts has been health officer of the village of Canajoharie from 1912 to the present time, and justly merits his position as one of the leading physicians not only in the immediate community where he resides, but of the surrounding section. Note: A corrected item received states David Kendall Martin's research, as taken from his Snell and his Failing books. In both of those books (and accepted by Carolyn Sidenius in her Descendants of Peter and Anna Kilts Snell) the wife of Enoch Snell was NOT Julia Timmerman, but Julia Helen FAILING. Julia's grandmother was a Zimmerman, but her paternal line (and her maiden surname) was Failing. Many old biographies have confused German vs. Dutch ancestry, probably because Deutsch (German) sounds like Dutch. However, in the case of the above New York Kilts and Snells, it has been well documented by recent genealogists that their ancestors came from the Palatine region of Germany, and not from Holland.