Minerd.com 2009 Annual Review

If you have ever googled your own name, or a relative's maiden name, you are the very reason why Minerd.com was created in 2000. My precise intention was to attract online searchers among an estimated tens of thousands of cousins of the sprawling Minerd-Minard-Miner-Minor family.

Now, a decade later, the site continues to pursue its mission, having drawn nearly 1,000 distant relatives and friends out of the woodwork. Each has added a unique thread to the fabric of documented lives and stories of our Pennsylvania-German pioneer clan. But with an estimated 50,000 of us "out there," the site has a long way to go before connecting with everyone and telling a truly complete story.

Of its 10 years online, the past one has been an extraordinary year of growth and public recognition. For the second time, Family Tree Magazine named it one of the top 10 family websites in the nation. Cousins have provided valuable content and insights.

~ Top New or Expanded Discoveries in 2009 ~

The more we dig, the more we learn, and the more we question. That cycle leads to the inevitable conclusion that the family at large has played a broader, more fascinating role in the sweep of Americana than I could have ever imagined. Top finds of 2009 include the following personalities and stories:

Isaac W. Blood - played an unusual but direct role in the founding of the nation's giant Walgreens drug store chain when he sold his aging Chicago pharmacy in 1901 to up and coming entrepreneur Charles R. Walgreen Sr. Photo courtesy of Walgreens Drug Stores Historical Foundation.

Matilda Langdon Hayden - built a substantial private library of rare books and manuscripts sold at auction in Manhattan in 1924 by the American Art Association. The collection included works by, among others, Balzac, Browning, Burroughs, Carlyle, Dickens, Eliot, Hawthorne, Molliere, Poe, Sand, Ruskin, Scott, Shakespeare, Tennyson, Thackeray, Bronte, Hardy, Whittler and Swift.

Dr. Edward Quintard - named in the New York Social Register and was the personal physician to many celebrities, including best-selling author Samuel Clemens ("Mark Twain") -- and was at Clemens' deathbed in 1910. Is mentioned in several biographies and been portrayed twice in films about Clemens. Photo courtesy of the University of Virginia Library.

Leona Thorne - educator for the Chicago Board of Education spanning more than half of a century, teaching circa 1880 at Cottage Grove School and later at J.R. Doolittle, Jr. School (1892-1894), Ryder School (1911) and then as principal at Moseley School (1915-1922).

Willis E. Thorne - a municipal lawyer in Chicago who handled controversial, high profile and politically charged cases, often involving labor unions. Helped publish the booklet, Public Library Branches in Public School Buildings and personally wrote The League of Nations, the Big Issue (1920) and War Eternal of Predatory Greed and Self Preservation (1937).

Ernest Uriah Ayars - devoted his life to a career as a Seventh-Day Adventist Church missionary and educator in South America, helping found or lead schools such as the Chile Academy in Chillán, Chile; Lima, Peru; and River Plate College in Argentina. Mentioned in many articles in the national Review & Herald newspaper.

Isham "Gaylord" Davidson - an insurance industry executive of Springfield, IL, and a student of history who was a life member of The Lincoln Centennial Association. In 1922, traveled to Washington, DC to help formally return an old captured Civil War regiment banner from the state of Illinois to the state of Tennessee. Photo courtesy of Library of Congress.

Donald Miner Davidson Sr. - renowned geologist in Africa and Europe before returning to Minnesota's Mesabi iron fields and becoming president of the E.J. Longyear Company. Was inducted in 2002 into the National Mining Hall of Fame.

S. Isadore (Sutherland) Miner - a talented Michigan writer who edited publications for John Harvey Kellogg (founder of the Battle Creek Sanitarium and co-inventor of Kellogg's Corn Flakes). After divorcing husband James Weston Miner in the 1890s, went to Texas and became a pioneering Dallas Morning News reporter, social reformer and women's advocate columnist under the pen name "Pauline Periwinkle."

Carl B. Shelley - District Attorney in Dauphin County, PA for 14 years, and later elected judge of Dauphin County circa 1960. Handled controversial political cases and was mentioned in Time, Newsweek and Life magazines. Is cited in the book Pennsylvania Politics, Today and Yesterday (1980) and Don't Call Me Boss (1988), a biography of Pennsylvania governor and Pittsburgh renaissance mayor David L. Lawrence.

Oliver Hazard Perry - was "prominent in business and church circles" of Columbus, OH and served as treasurer of the Columbus Buggy automobile manufacturer which the New York Times once called the "largest concern of its kind in the world." The company launched the careers of tire manufacturer Harvey Samuel Firestone and World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker. Photo courtesy of Google Books.

Bobby "Uke" Henshaw - also known as "Uncle Ukie," was a noted vaudeville entertainer who made a name in select national and international circles. Box Office credits him with having "introduced the ukulele to England and then toured Europe with it..." Also played small parts in a number of now-obscure Hollywood films, including The Set Up and Return of the Frontiersman, among others.

Edward H. McReynolds - Enjoyed a high profile career as assistant to the president and director of publicity and advertising for the Missouri Pacific Lines railroad in St. Louis, and as Chairman of what today is the prominent American Advertising Federation, before a scandal led to his tragic demise.

Civil War Cousin Headcount Increases to 106

In 2009, five cousins were newly discovered to have been Civil War soldiers, bringing the headcount of known cousins and spouses serving in the "War of Rebellion" to 106. These four fought for the Union: William Buck Hayden, Adrian Johnson, Uriah Minerd and Isaac Moore, while Presley Martin was confirmed as the first known Confederate.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, the U.S. Veterans Administration provided copies of previously thought-to-be-lost Civil War pension files of Gilman Rose and Eugenus B. King, adding deeply to our body of knowledge about these men and their immediate families during and after the war.

A great differentiating strengths of Minerd.com is its relentless pursuit of original, on-site, proprietary research on a national scale. In August-September 2009, for the 18th year, cousin Eugene Podraza and I traveled to a new region to conduct our work -- this time to 13 counties in five days in Kansas City, Northwest Missouri and Eastern Kansas.

The red dots on the map at left show the counties where we conducted our proprietary brand of "paper archaeology."

We focused on gathering firsthand documentation about 19th century cousins who migrated to Northwest Missouri, never to return, and long forgotten by kin back East.

The research involved time-tested procedures of visiting courthouses and libraries to obtain public records (wills, deeds and newspaper obituaries) and exploring cemeteries to find and photograph ancient, fading or overgrown grave markers.

The trip produced more than 175 pages of copied archival material and the acquisition of several books -- now added to the family archive of some 125,000 pages -- and scores of photographs of many old family grave markers and farms. Seen here, cousin Eugene pays his respect at the neglected, rural grave of George "William" and Helen (White) Clark at the Joab Holloway Cemetery near Laredo, Grundy County.

Since 1990, Eugene and I have visited nearly 60 counties in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and District of Columbia. They assure that data come from the best possible original sources, rather than relying on the work of others. During 2009, I also personally traveled to these exceptional repositories -- the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, IN; National Archives in Washington, DC; and West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV.

Younger Americans today are hungry for historical understanding, to figure their place and context in the chaos of today's society, but do not know how to make this connection. Minerd.com strives for relevance, not only by being search-engine friendly, but also by utilizing social media technology in the hope the website's story will spread to a technologically savvy group.

This has included adding the "Share This" icon at the top of each page, to be shared with others via email, Facebook and Twitter, among others. I also am using my personal Facebook page to promote the website and reunion.

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." Full text.

In March 2009, Diane Haddad of Family Tree Magazine wrote a remarkable post on her Genealogy Insider blog, entitled "Tips from a Reunion Whiz." She analyzed our "Pittsburgh 250" family reunion as an example to follow. Diane identified four highlights for readers to "steal some inspiration for your own gatherings." Her suggestions included: 1.) Enlarge your invite list; 2.) Consider sponsorship; 3.) Visit a historical site; and 4.) Incorporate family history. Full text link.