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Click for details about our 2009 reunion -- "A Gathering of the Clan" |
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Our 10th Anniversary Year! |
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This award-winning site --
celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2010 -- has twice been named one of Family Tree Magazine's
"Top 10 Family Websites." Having drawn more than 1.4 million visitors
over the past decade, it captures the sweep of Americana through the eyes of one family,
with thousands of stories.
Minerd.com 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
one percent of all cousins carry the name, with the remaining 99 percent having some other
name, due to the long term effect of women changing their names in marriage. As a
result, most cousins don't even know they belong to this sprawling clan. When we stopped counting in
2000, more than 15,000
cousins and spouses had already been identified. In the ensuing decade, the the actual number has
skyrocketed and may be substantially higher, perhaps 40,000
to 50,000 all told among the diaspora.
A side effect of this large headcount is that staggering 625-plus cousins have passed away since we began collecting data in earnest in July 2000. Helping cousins and communities connect with their roots, honoring past lives with more than 1,332 biographies and more than 7,700 images, and exploring the clan's connectedness with American society and culture, are at the center of our interest. Be sure to take a peek at our 2009 Annual Review.
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Minerd.com Releases 2009 Annual Review |
 Minerd.com
has produced its largest, most sweeping and analytical Annual Review
covering its first decade online, and celebrating its 10th anniversary
this year.
Click for details on the site's remarkable story featuring growth and public recognition since the time of its launch on May 7, 2000. |
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Family Tree
Magazine
Again Ranks Minerd.com |
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Prayer for Our Military Cousins in Harm's Way |
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Scores of our cousins are serving in the United States Armed Forces in the war on terror in Iraq, Afghanistan and other military hot spots around the world. Please say a prayer for their safety -- click to see the names of each known one. |
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In
its article "Tips for Making a Good Web Site," the Sept. 28,
2009 edition of Family Tree Magazine again ranks Minerd.com among
the nation's "10 personal genealogy Web sites" that "are
the cream of the crop." Says the magazine, "Take some time to
visit them. They might inspire you to clean up your existing family
history site, or to put your own fascinating family story online." 
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In Memory - Capt. Erick Foster - The Ultimate Sacrifice in Iraq |
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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 
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
- Newly updated Who's Who 2010
booklet Total visits:
from May 7, 2000
launch to Jan. 31, 2010: 1,495,274 |
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Copyright
© 2000-2010 Mark A. Miner. |
