Minerd.com Archives 2004-2005

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The Minerd.com Archives

Additions in 2004 and 2005
Also see Pittsburgh Tribune-Review "Focus" Magazine

Carnegie Steel workers

We maintain an extensive archive of an estimated 120,000 documents, thousands of photographs and hundreds of books covering 1,500 branches of the Pennsylvania-German family of Minerd-Minard-Miner-Minor.

We actively add new items year-round to broaden knowledge and deepen understanding. Sharing the data helps cousins learn about and re-connect with their families by preserving materials that document the lives, past and present, of our ancestors.

California University of PA

The archive has been built since 1985, thanks to efforts of many cousins who freely have shared their research. Archival holdings range from old letters, postcards and family lists to court papers, books and news articles -- as well as from obituaries, funeral cards, newsletters to certificates, awards and photographs.

Each year, cousins Eugene Podraza and Mark Miner travel to new regions of the country to conduct proprietary, firsthand research on waves of cousins who left Western Pennsylvania in the 1800s, never to return.

Springfield Pike in PA

When you contact our archive, it becomes an interactive experience. Copies of materials are available on request. You're invited to add to our body of knowledge.

Please consider donating copies of materials about your own life and work, and those of your parents or grandparents, for reference value and the use of future generations.

We don't want originals unless you'd otherwise destroy them. To inquire, click here.

Items Added Since January 2005
Click to also see materials added in 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 1999-2000

Moon Genealogy booklet by the late Olive Duff, with entries on Ella (Miner) Moon, Edna (Gorsuch) Hyatt and others.
November 1942 edition of The Reader's Digest containing the article, "Convoy to Murmansk," mentioning and quoting James Howard Crabtree.
Nationally distributed DVD presentation, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, a special two-disk collection, featuring an interview with Denise (Kessler) Miner.
Copies of articles about the Civil War battle of White Sulphur Springs, WV (where Burkett M. Fawcett was killed as a member of the 3rd WV Volunteer Infantry), provided by Dr. Robert Conte, historian of the Greenbrier Resort.
Civil War pension papers of Samuel Smale of the 96th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and Spanish-American War military papers of Howard C. Miner of the 10th Pennsylvania Infantry.
Copy of a 2005 booklet co-compiled by John J. "Jack" Campbell, A Brief History of Early Westmoreland County.
Cornish (UK) Guardian newspaper article, "Day World Saw Terror Attack on the US," picturing Rev. Charles Alkula leading a memorial service at RAF St. Hawgan in England.
Audiotape of Elizabeth (Zoeller) Miner's 15-minute interview on KDKA-AM Radio in Pittsburgh on Oct. 16, 2005, describing her work on a Red Cross nursing mission to Beaumont, TX, to help refugees and other victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Copy of the 2005 book, There's No Place Like Dunbar! 2002-2004 - Historical Vignettes and Personal Reflections from The Daily Courier's Dunbar Column, authored by Donna R. Myers and Bonnie L. Zurick of the Dunbar (PA) Historical Society. This is the third book published to date citing Minerd.com as a resource, and includes vignettes of many members of our clan.
Complete set of issues of the Historical Society News Magazine of the Churches of God Historical Society in Findlay, OH, mentioning Dr. G. Richard Kern who is a trustee emeritus and also a member of the archives/museum oversight committee for 2004-2007.
Copy of the Official Municipal Program of the Sesqui-Centennial of the City of Pittsburgh (1758-1908), mentioning Corwin D. Tilbury as a member of city's Select Council at the time of the celebration.
Collection of 47 old penny postcards sent to Lula (Stairs) Swift from 1908 to 1918 from her brothers, sisters, cousins and an aunt of the Stairs, Crosby and Piper branches.
Washington, PA newspaper clipping about the golden wedding anniversary of Norton and Margaret (Fisher) Bedillion.
Copy of the book, Fixed Mix Seeks Same: The First Book of Dog Personal Ads, by Christine Ecklund and Dean Minerd (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2005).
Copy of Paul Everett's book, The Prisoner, naming Constance (Jagerski) Miner in the acknowledgements (Paulist Press, 2005).
Copy of a 1945 article from the Shawnee (OK) News-Star about five sons of Jacob and Amelia (McCullough) DeLong who served in the US Armed Forces during World War II.
High resolution digital photographs of Fallingwater from the Library of Congress "American Memory Project."
Copy of the 2005 book, George Fluckey the Hessian Soldier, by Lois Catlett and Sharon (Catlett) Kossieck, containing extensive excerpts of Minerd.com biographies of Daniel and Margaret (Fluckey) Miner Sr. and their descendants of Cardington, Morrow County, OH. Minerd.com is credited as the source throughout the volume.
Photograph and World War I registration card of George McDonald, who died of an epidemic of influenza while in basic training at Fort Riley, KS. Copy of
Athens (OH) Messenger newspaper obituaries of mixed-race descendants of Jacob and Ruth (Adams) Minerd, including son in law Fleming Woody who began pre-Civil War life in Virginia as a slave but gained his freedom at age 15.
Newspaper obituaries of the family of William and Hattie (Gaines) Miner, a railroading family of Altoona, PA
Copy of Thomas McElwain's 1981 book, Our Kind of People: Identity, Community and Religion on Chestnut Ridge, mentioning the Minard family of Philippi, WV.
Copy of the 1870 book, History of Washington County, by Alfred Creigh, LL.D., mentioning Samuel Birch (of the 16th PA Cavalry) and Cyrus Lindley (of the 140th PA Infantry) for their service during the Civil War.

Items Added in 2004:

Expanded Civil War pension files of brothers Isaac F., James Jr. and William Minerd of the 85th Pennsylvania Infantry, copied at the National Archives in Washington, DC.
Civil War pension files of brothers Henry C., John and William Minerd of the 17th West Virginia Infantry, of the family of Minerd-Minard of Grafton and Philippi, WV, found at the National Archives.
Civil War pension files of Jeptha Lame of the 40th Indiana Infantry, found at the National Archives.
Copy of the book, The John Cears Kear Family by Donald L. Kear (The Gregath Company, 1984), mentioning John and Caroline (Minerd) Pring and their descendants.
Obituaries from the Knoxville (TN) Journal and Tribune (1906) for Civil War veteran Henry C. Miner.
Copy of the Fall 1999 issue of Goldenseal: West Virginia Traditional Life, featuring the article, "We, the People of Chestnut Ridge," by Joanna Johnson Smith, Florence Kennedy Barnett and Lois Kennedy Croston.
Letter to the editor of the Washington (PA) Observer-Reporter, entitled "They Should Check the Welfare Rolls," authored by Donald R. Miner, published June 1, 2004.
Washington (PA) Observer-Reporter article, "Arc on Mission to Educate Public on Helping Mentally Retarded," by Laurie Carson, published March 26, 2004.
Article from the newspaper of Drew University, entitled "Smith and Watts Shine Brightly in DUDS' Hello Out There," mentioning Evan Smith.
Copy of the Fallingwater Oral History Project Interview Transcription OH-97-27 (dated Aug. 14, 1997) featuring comments from Leola (Skinner) Miner and Denise (Kessler) Miner.
Copies of papers of the Bear Run Meetings and Minutes records, 1955 through 1959, from the Edgar Kaufmann Jr. Papers at Fallingwater (95.734 - Box 3), mentioning Ralph and Leola (Skinner) Miner, Frank Miner, Lester Miner, Oakey and Gertrude (Shroyer) Harbaugh, Lester Harbaugh, J. Frank Younkin and J. Fae Younkin.
Copy of the January-February 2004 issue of Timeline Magazine of the Ohio Historical Society, mentioning Alpheus Minerd (a.k.a. Alfred Minard) and his killer William Nichols in a cover feature about the Ohio State Penitentiary.
Copy of the 2000 book, The Explorer's Guide to the Youghiogheny River Gorge, Ohiopyle, & S.W. Pennsylvania's Villages, by Marci McGuinness and Bill Sohonage, picturing Reuben Leonard caning chairs, and mentioning George Potter, Benjamin Leonard and Christmas Leonard.
Page from Lewis Clark Walkinshaw's 1939 book, Annals of Southwestern Pennsylvania, with a biographical profile of Uniontown (PA) City Treasurer John Davis Kerfoot, husband of Pearl McKnight.
Jan. 7, 2004 Daily Hampshire (MA) Gazette article, headlined "Hanging Mountain Cooperative Pools Resources to Buy Good Food," quoting Heather (Miner) Strader.
Copy of the 1942 book, The Hoyes of Maryland, by Captain Charles E. Hoye (Sang Run, MD), mentioning John J.P. and Louise (Minerd) Hoye of Oakland, MD and Dunbar, PA.
Copy of the 2001 book, Danville in the Civil War, by F. Lawrence McFall, Jr. (Lynchburg, VA: H.E. Howard, Inc.) mentioning Albert Miner, who died as a Civil War POW at a smallpox hospital in Danville.
Winter 2004 Historian's Newsletter of the United Methodist Historical Society of Ohio, of which Beverly (Hansen) Miner is Membership Secretary/Treasurer.
Copy of pages from the 1890 book, Local and National Poets of America, edited by Thomas W. Herringshaw (Chicago: American Publishers Association), featuring a photograph, biographical profile and two poems by Allen E. Harbaugh, "The Mountain Poet" of Mill Run, PA.

Click to also see materials added in 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 1999-2000