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Our 2008 national reunion at the Heinz
History Center helped the City
of Pittsburgh celebrate its 250th birthday. Seen
here, Pittsburgh 250 Commission President Bill Flanagan gave remarks to
more than 115 cousins and friends, as did Heinz History Center CEO Andy
Masich.
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Welcome! 2008
Reunion Helps
Celebrate "Pittsburgh 250"
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 This award-winning site -- founded in May 2000
and named one of Family Tree Magazine's
"Top 10 Family Websites"
in the nation -- is a
forum for sharing knowledge and promoting the national reunion of our large pioneer clan,
the Minerd- Minard- Miner- Minor family, with origins in the Pittsburgh
region of Pennsylvania. The
site may change the way you think, learn about and understand families. While
our clan is no bigger, better or more interesting than anyone
else's, it is symbolic of many early families who put down roots and let time work its magic.
Instead of
just tracing backward, we're also exploring forward in
time to tell the saga of one Pennsylvania-German family over a span of 275
years. It starts with German-Americans Friedrich and
Eva Maria (Weber) Meinert Sr., and their son, Revolutionary War veteran Jacob Minerd Sr. and his wife Maria Nein,
pioneers of Fayette/ Somerset Counties, PA, and thence to thousands of their
descendants, down to the present day, with long-term, collective impact on our nation. We're
very interested in making contact with all descendants, everywhere.
Today,
cousins primarily spell the name Minerd, Minard, Miner and Minor. On average, though, fewer than 1% of us carry the name, with the remaining 99%
having some other name. As a
result, most cousins don't even know they belong. When we stopped counting in
2000, we had identified
about 15,000
cousins and spouses, but the actual number has grown dramatically since the
launch of this site and may be substantially higher, perhaps 40,000
to 50,000 all told among the diaspora. A staggering 550-plus cousins have passed
away since we began counting in July 2000. Helping cousins and communities connect with their roots, honoring past lives with
more than 1,175 biographies and more than 5,000 images, and exploring
the clan's connectedness with American society and culture, are at the center of our interest. Be sure to scan
our newly published 2007 Annual Review.
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"Pittsburgh
250" -- 2008 National Family Reunion
Draws 115 Cousins to Pittsburgh, Some for the First Time
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More
than 115 Minerd-Minard-Miner-Minor cousins and guests celebrated "Pittsburgh
250"
at the clan’s three-day reunion weekend on June 27-29, 2008. The reunion made
the KDKA-TV evening news, and was featured in articles in both of Pittsburgh’s
major daily newspapers. It truly was a once-in-a-lifetime,
unforgettable gathering of the scattered branches of our massive clan. Our
reunion brought cousins to Pittsburgh whose ancestors left here in the early
1800s, and who have never been back since. They would have had no other reason
to come to Pittsburgh except for the lure of reconnecting ancient family
ties.
At left, in the Great Hall of the Heinz
History Center, reunion president Mark Miner (left) shakes hands with History Center
CEO Andy Masich to say "thank you" for providing a terrific facility.
He and his staff furnished our committee with outstanding, personal service, and
for that we extend our deep appreciation.
Cousins
traveled here from many states, including as far away as California, and from
many Pennsylvania towns. Attendance was up by two-thirds from last year, with
many new faces. To see the news stories, click here -- Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette ("Getting
to Know You") and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ("Clan's
Reunion to Draw from Across the Country").
Minerd.com
Featured in Pittsburgh Quarterly Magazine
In its special commemorative
"Pittsburgh 250" edition, Pittsburgh
Quarterly magazine publishes "Family Is Everything -- and for Mark
Miner, Cousins Are Everywhere," authored by Minerd.com founder Mark A.
Miner. The article highlights our award-winning Minerd.com website and how it is
contributing to the Pittsburgh 250 initiative. Pictured in an attractive layout are cousins and "significant
others" of the past -- Allen E. Harbaugh,
William Curtis McKnight, Thomas
Ward Custer, Annette Hanshaw, Rebecca
Minerd, Christian and Esther
(Barnhouse) Freed, Henry Yutzy, Harvey
"Dean" Miner, Corwin Tilbury,
Seth Reed Johnston and Virginia
(Riley) Snyder. In promoting the article, magazine publisher Doug Heuck calls ours' the
"biggest family in town and says our "reunion could fill Heinz
Field." The magazine bills itself as a forum "where commerce and
culture meet." Click for a PDF
reprint (1MB in size).
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Minerd.com Founder
Helps Dedicate Ohio Historical Society Monument Honoring "Custer
Homestead" in Tontogany, Ohio
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Website founder Miner (far left) with
organizers of the Custer Homestead marker dedication ceremony in
Tontogany, Ohio: Paul Houser (portraying Thomas Ward Custer), Bernard
Scott and Steve Alexander (the nation's foremost General Custer
re-enactor). Right: Miner gives his powerpoint presentation.
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Minerd.com
founder Mark A. Miner joined state and local dignitaries to formally
dedicate a bronze Ohio Historical Society marker honoring the "Custer
Homestead" in ceremonies in Tontogany, Wood County, on Sun., Aug. 10. The
plaque memorializes the family of General George Armstrong Custer
and his family during their little-known years of residence in Tontogany during
the Civil War. The Custers had an unusually close relationship with the
Minerd-Minard-Miner-Minor family spanning three generations.
At the dedication, Miner presented
a 45-minute powerpoint on "Tontogany's Deep
Secret" featuring the story of Thomas Ward Custer, Rebecca
Minerd and their child born out of wedlock, Thomas
C. "Tommy" Custer. The event was held as part of the 2008 Tontogany
Festival at the new Otsego High School Auditorium and
Performing Arts Center. He also gave brief remarks and the unveiling.
Also speaking were Jim
Carter, president of the Wood County Commissioners and past president of the
Historical Society of Grand Rapids; Representative Randy Gardner of the
6th District of the Ohio State House of Representatives; Senator Mark Wagoner
of the 2nd District of the Ohio State House; Jody Blankenship, manager of
outreach programs at the Ohio Historical Society; Mark Young, president
of the American Civil War Museum of Ohio in Bowling Green; James Shank,
re-enactor with the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry; Steve Kryder, president
of the Historical Society of Grand Rapids; re-enactor Paul Houser
portraying Captain Thomas Ward Custer; and re-enactor Steve Alexander,
portraying General George Armstrong Custer. The event was featured in the Toledo
Blade newspaper.
Following the unveiling, the Air National Guard Band of the Great
Lakes, 555th Air Force Band performed a concert of patriotic music. The marker
then was transported in a special procession through the a Tontogany
neighborhood to its place of permanent enshrinement in Centennial Park for all
to enjoy in perpetuity.
The festival was organized by
Bernard Scott and a hardworking committee which worked for five years to
generate support for the project. Miner assisted the effort in fundraising, and
all told, the project raised more than $2,000. Robert and Beverly Miner
of nearby Bowling Green attended the events -- Beverly's groundbreaking research
of the "Tommy" Custer story in the late 1980s and the national
publicity it is now receiving have been a vital component of the formal effort
to recognize the Custer homestead. Click for more
images of the Custer family.
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Order
Now - Your Own Copy of the Rare Reprint of the Younkin Family News Bulletin
Newspaper of the 1930s
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 This
11” x 17” size book has been published by Minerd.com founder Mark A.
Miner. It is a complete set of all 44 pages from the eight issues
of the rare family newspaper from the 1930s and early ‘40s. Each page is
professionally scanned from originals found in cousins’ collections all over
the U.S., with an attractive cover and high quality paper and binding. Only 100 copies are being printed – be sure to secure your
copy. This
low price is possible through generous underwriting by several generous Younkin
cousins.
The reprinting has generated news coverage in the Uniontown (PA)
Herald-Standard (headlined "Reprinting
of Family's Newspaper Highlights Reunion") and Somerset (PA) Daily
American.
The
original Younkin
Family News Bulletin
was the brainchild of Charles
Arthur Younkin, of Charleroi, PA. Working together with cousin Otto
Roosevelt Younkin, they led a national reunion and following
involving thousands of cousins during the Great Depression, a phenomenon called
the "Great Younkin Awakening." Their efforts set the stage for the
renewed interest in Younkin family connections today, and the establishment of
the Younkin Reunions in the 1990s. The original YFNB was a six-page,
five-column tabloid priced at $1.00 per year. The first issue was loaded with
family stories and obituaries, a reunion wrap-up and letters from readers. All
told, eight editions were printed. Now you can have the entire set for your own
research library, or as a stocking stuffer. Copies were unveiled at the Younkin Reunion during the weekend of July 25-27 at
Kingwood, Somerset County, PA. Order
now!
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In Memory - Captain Erick Foster -
Killed in Iraq
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FORT
BRAGG, NC – Cousin Erick M. Foster, a captain and paratrooper with the 82nd
Airborne Division, died Aug. 28, 2007 of combat injuries sustained during an
enemy attack using small arms fire in Muqdadiyah, Iraq. The great-grandson of Oakey
and Gertrude (Shroyer) Harbaugh, Erick was the troop commander of A Troop,
First Squad, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team. He was a native of
Wexford, near Pittsburgh, PA, and graduated from Duquesne University in 2000
with a bachelor’s degree in information systems management. Erick had one
previous combat deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2004 to
2005. He is survived by his parents Robert and Barbara (Kellner) Foster and sisters
Abby
Foster and Elizabeth Werkheiser. Click here for the Army’s official
announcement, a related story in the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette, and a KSDK-TV
feature in St. Louis about a special tribute made by his sister Elizabeth.
Tragically, Erick is now one of 27
known cousins of the Minerd- Minard- Miner- Minor family to make the ultimate sacrifice
by giving their lives in military service during wartime.
Please
see our "Iraq War Prayer
Page" and join us in praying for Erick's family, and for all cousins
serving in harm’s way as they carry out and support military operations in
Iraq and worldwide.
Kellner's Fireworks is planning a huge fireworks exhibition on Aug. 22, 2008 in
Oil City, PA in memory of Erick and as a fundraiser for the Wounded
Warrior Project. Be sure to visit the Capt. Erick M Foster Memorial Fireworks
Exhibition website. If you know of
other veterans in our family who have given their lives for our country, please contact us
immediately.
Minerd.com a "Top 10 Family Web Site" in the Nation
Minerd.com received
a major award in 2003 when named one of the
"Top 10 Family Websites"
in the nation by Family
Tree Magazine. The April 2003 issue said that "Today's Minerd-Miner-Minor kin will find an astonishing amount
of their history here." The editors wrote that our site, among others, was "selected by scouring the web until our eyes ached and our
mouse-clicking fingers cramped." In a related
feature story, the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette praised the site's "abundance of information ... clean
design and easy navigation."
We Want to Hear from You!
Our website and archives are continual works in progress. We regularly update
the site with
new findings, and add to the archives with news of you and your family, past and
present. (We even welcome
ultrasound photos from the womb, such as the image here of Jacob
Benjamin Miner, a 1999 addition to the family!) If you have questions or
information, spot any errors, or wish to contribute your own writings or
archival materials,
please contact us.
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Acknowledgements
- Click for our updated Who's Who
2008
booklet
Researching the names Minerd, Minard, Miner, Minor, Meinert,
Meyndert, Meinder, Minder, Minord
Total visits:
from May 7, 2000
launch to Sept. 30, 2008: 1,256,240
Visits in September 2008: 12,798 --
Last
updated: Oct. 4, 2008
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Copyright
© 2000-2008 Mark A. Miner.
Anniversary graphic courtesy of Semonik
Creative.
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