LECTURER - Henry "Hank" Snyder

• EGG-CITING HISTORY: THE FLEMINGTON EGG AUCTION AND HUNTERDON'S POULTRY FARMS
  In celebration of National Poultry Month join Don Shuman for a tour of the Old Egg Auction, once the largest Egg Auction establishment in the United States. Don will be joined with Hank Snyder who will discuss the history of the many poultry farms that once landscaped Hunterdon's rolling farmland.
  Refreshments follow.
  Flemington Egg Auction, Park Avenue, Flemington.
  May 31, 2014

Hank comes from a long line of Dutch-Irish farmers who came in the Late 1800’s and settled in a valley just south of Flemington NJ. On his uncles farm outside of Kingston NY, he knew what he wanted to be at the age of 10 – A Poultry Man.

At the age of 16 he was employed at the Hunterdon County Egg Laying contest run by Rutgers University. This facility consisted of 50 pens housing entrees from top breeders of poultry in New Jersey. Each year records of each breeder’s pen and individual birds competed for record productions.

He was trained and educated under the last of the great professors,  that made Rutgers a leading poultry college in the North East.

He worked with Jim Weisel, President of the Flemington Auction Market, as Forman of the Rosemount Poultry Farm, in Rosemount NJ.

At age 25 he ran an egg department for Kerr Chickens in Frenchtown NJ. Later, he was Forman of their 60,000 bird breeding farm. They hatched 3 &1/2 million chicks a year.

In the early 60’s, because of over production and high grain prices in the west, the industry was devastated and 60% of the poultry men went out of business in the North East.

Hank then became a Nursery Man and grower. 

Mr. FAMous - Flemington Egg Auction Market Mascot:

This photo, taken in 1950, shows Mr. FAMous, the mascot of the  Flemington Auction Market, on a float during the 20th anniversary celebration of the market. The Flemington Egg Auction was organized in 1930 by some of the leading poultry men in the county decided that if they operated collectively, they could help themselves in the marketplace.  At the first auction, 60 cases of eggs sold. Later, poultry and livestock were sold at the market, which became known as the Flemington Auction Market.

Through the 1940’s and 1950s, the market became the largest egg auction in the country. Just after World War II, there were more than 1.200 egg-producer members.

By the late 1950's, the overproduction of eggs and high grain prices in the west  led to the decline of the market.

Of the 300 egg-producer members of the market in 1963, 32 were bringing in half the eggs sold. Poultry sales decreased in volume, due to the owners of large flocks selling their old tens or cult birds on the farms. Livestock sales also declined, due to the decrease in the number of farms in the county.

After the closing of the market in 1977, Mary Perehings of Sweet Valley Farms in Ringoes, bought Mr. FAMous and some large animal props used in parades and at the Flemington Fair. In her opinion, the items were so eye-catching full of history they still deserved to be seen. Perehings donated Mr. FAMous and the other props to the Holcombe-Jimison Farmstead Museum, where they can be seen on display today.