Barnett Snyder was born around 1820 in Pennsylvania. He married Rebecca Eckley in the early 1840s, and they had at least six children: Julia, born around 1845; Isaac, born around 1849; Franklin, born around 1854; Matthew, born around 1856; Hannah, born around 1859; and Frances, born around 1862. They settled in Lower Dublin, Pennsylvania, which became part of Philadelphia in 1854. Snyder worked as a farm laborer, and by 1850, he owned $600 of real estate. A decade later, he owned $100 of personal property.
He enlisted in the Union army on September 11, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company A of the 14th Pennsylvania Cavalry later that day. The regiment was stationed in Virginia and present-day West Virginia for most of the war. He was eventually captured by Confederate forces and imprisoned in Salisbury, North Carolina. He died there on December 30, 1864.