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Minnie
(Enos) Kuhns |
Minnie Ann (Enos) Kuhns was born on Oct. 22, 1876 near Normalville, Fayette County,
PA, the daughter of
Perry and
Joanna (Minerd) Enos.
Minnie and Jake
Minnie was active at the Poplar Run Church near Normalville in her growing-up years, and in May 1892, at the age of 16, was elected librarian of its Sunday School.
On Feb. 11, 1896, at the age of 19, Minnie was united in holy matrimony with a distant cousin, 23-year-old Jacob Albright Younkin Kuhns (Oct. 18, 1872-1963) of nearby Indian Head, Saltlick Township. and the son of Jacob B. and Susanna (Younkin) Kuhns, and the grandson of Jacob J. "Dorky Jake" and Dorcas (Hartzell) Younkin. Justice of the peace George A. Dumbauld officiated.
Their union was one of more than 30 between the kissin' cousin Minerd and Younkin families in the years leading up to World War II.
The image seen here is strongly believed, but not proven, to show Minnie and Jake.
They resided in Indian Head, and together produced a family of two sons, Donald Kuhns and Charles Arliss Kuhns.
The Connellsville Daily Courier once said Jacob was "a lifelong resident of [Saltlick] township. He had been a blacksmith, timberman and farmer, and at one time had been employed by the Indian Creek Coal and Coke Co." The Courier also said that the Indian Head Church of God had been "built on his home farm."
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A rare postcard view of Indian Head |
In 1895, Jacob and W.B. Kuhns and Clark S. Miller went to Pittsburgh "to take in the sites of the exposition," reported the Courier. That year's Greater Pittsburgh Exposition, the seventh annual one, was held at what is now Point State Park in the city and PNC Park on the North Side.
Minnie and Jake
Jacob made news in the local newspaper gossip columns two days before the end of the 19th century. The Dec. 29, 1899 Courier said he "was down from Indian Head Saturday making the last purchases before Christmas. He also called at The Courier to extend his subscription for another year."
When Minnie's father died in 1909, Jacob received funds from the estate for furnishing molasses to the deceased.
Minnie died at age 60 on Nov. 12, 1932 at home, from the lingering effects of heart disease. She was buried in the Lutheran Cemetery near Indian Head.
Jacob outlived his wife by many decades.
In the mid-1930s, he and his family were named in family genealogy studies being conducted by distant cousin Otto Roosevelt Younkin of Masontown, PA. The research was in connection with the National Younkin Home-Coming Reunions being held in Kingwood, Somerset County, and which drew more than 1,000 people a year during the heart of the Great Depression.
Click to see the actual page of Otto's meticulously typed notes mentioning Jacob and his siblings and parents (spelled "Koontz").
Jake cutting a
cake
When the federal census enumeration was made in 1940, Jacob was in Saltlick, with widowed, live-in housekeeper Grace Bunter and her teenage daughter Helen in the household. His occupation at that time was as a carpenter in a coal mine.
Jacob held strong political beliefs and voted in every local election. A column in the Connellsville Daily Courier in November 1959 opined on the following:
Jacob Y. Kuhns of Indian Head holds a record that few others can duplicate. He has been voting in Saltlick Township for 66 years. Kuhns, now 87 years of age, voted for the first time "on age" as he approached 21. He is a Democrat and hasn't missed casting his ballot at a single election since he went to the polls for the first time. Despite his advanced years he requires no eye glasses when he goes into the voting booth. The Saltlick election board ... is always certain of one man coming to the polls. That man is Jacob Kuhns. He is a blacksmith by trade and works every day.
Stricken with cancer of the bladder, he passed away on Dec. 30, 1963, and is buried in the Sparks Cemetery. While officially recorded to have been age 91 at death, a family story says that he was actually 99, and had he lived just a few more months would have turned 100.
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Jake with a visitor's automobile |
~ Son Charles Arliss Kuhns ~
Son Charles Arliss Kuhns (1918-2011) was born on Aug. 2, 1918 in Indian Head, Fayette County, PA.
Charles served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
Circa 1944, he was joined in wedlock with Wiletta June Johnston (April 6, 1922-1981), a native of Mill Run, Fayette County and the daughter of Jesse S. and Ada L. (Shearer) Johnston. Their union held firm over the ebbs and flows of 37 years together.
Two known children borne of this couple were Charlene Louise Kuhns and William "Alan" Kuhns.
As of 1950, they made their home in Portsmouth, VA.
The family eventually relocated to California. Circa 1963, their dwelling-place was in Tustin, CA and in 1968 was in Lemon Valley, CA .
Willetta died in Tustin on Feb. 23, 1981. Her remains were placed into rest in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress, CA.
Charles survived her by three decades and in about 1991 migrated to Arizona, settling in Tucson. Said the Arizona Daily Star, "His love was the desert where he spent 20 of his remaining years."
Sadly, the angel of death whisked him away into the afterlife in Tucson on Feb. 27, 2011. He was pictured in his obituary in the Daily Star.
Daughter Charlene Louise Kuhns (1946- ? ) was born in about 1946. She was a 1964 graduate of Tustin High School. Circa 1964, she entered into marriage with Charles "Douglas" Warren ( ? - ? ), son of Erik Uldall of St. Louis, MO. Charlene was pictured in an engagement announcement in the Santa Ana Register. At the time of marriage, Douglas was a student at California Baptist College in Riverside. The pair put down roots in Springfield, MO. They are the parents of a trio of sons -- Joel Warren, Jonathan Warren and Jacob Warren.
- Grandson Joel Warren ( ? - ? )
- Grandson Jonathan Warren ( ? - ? )
- Grandson Jacob Warren ( ? - ? )
Son William "Alan" Kuhns (1949- ? ) was born in about 1949. He was an alumnus of Tustin High School and attended California State University at Fullerton. On July 1, 1972, he tied the marital cord with Christie Joe Cadwell ( ? - ? ), daughter of Robert L. Cadwell of the Netherlands and stepdaughter of William M. Carson of Santa Ana. Their nuptials were performed in the First Southern Baptist Church of Tustin, CA, presided by Rev. Shearer. The marriage was announced in the Los Angeles Timeswith a longer story appearing in the Tustin News, which reported that the bride "wore a floor-length white empire gown with a beaded silk bodice and long sleeves. She wore a fingeer tip veil with a tiara type headpiece and carried a cascade of white roses." Christie was a 1971 graduate of Foothill High School. The newlyweds' first home was in Santa Ana. As of 2011, the Kuhnses had relocated cross-country to Pittsburgh, PA.
~ Son Donald Kuhns ~
Son Donald Kuhns (1913-1961) was born on June 2, 1913 at Indian Head, and was a lifetime resident of the community.
He married Iva Mae Gales (March 25, 1917-2005), daughter of James Madison and Nancy Ellen (Seese) Gales of Humbert and Indian Head.
They went on to bear two children, Donald "Donnie" Kuhns and Shirley Ann Kuhns.
Said a newspaper, Donald "was a carpenter, employed by the Grove Ventures Co., a general construction company, of New Richmond, Ohio, and was a member of the Builders and Trade Carpenters' Union."
Iva was a volunteer with the American Red Cross and helped raise funds in Saltlick Township. She also led the youth group of the Melcroft Gospel Tabernacle.
The Kuhnses were plunged into grief in the mid-1940s when their young daughter was diagnosed with bone cancer on her left foot. It spread throughout her body, and at age 10, she died in 1945.
Further heartache enveloped the family in mid-summer 1961. On the fateful day of July 7, 1961, at the age of 48, Donald tragically was killed in an automobile accident about 16 miles northeast of Cambridge, Ohio. "Another car failed to negotiate a turn and went out of control into the path of the Kuhns car," reported the Daily Courier. Donald's remains were returned to Indian Head for burial in Mount Nebo Cemetery.
Now widowed, Iva spent time with the Fayette County Sunday School Association, and in 1962 and 1963 she and her son provided special music at quarterly rallies of the association's District 14, held at the Millertown Community Church and the County Line Church of the Brethren. In time she attended Calvary Assembly of God Church in town.
Iva endured for more than four decades after her husband's death and spent her last years in Connellsville. A year before her death, she endured the loss of her only son in Colorado. She died at age 87 on Feb. 20, 2005, as a patient in the local Highlands Hospital. Rev. Matthew P. Goldsberry led the funeral rites, followed by burial of the remains in Mount Nebo Cemetery.
Daughter Shirley Ann Kuhns (1934-1945) was born on Nov. 12, 1934. Tragically, as she was approaching her ninth birthday, she began to suffer from cancer of the soft tissues on a bone on her left foot. The cancer spread to her skull and spine. She finally died, relieved of her suffering, at the age of 10 years on Jan. 3, 1945. Her remains were placed into repose in Mt. Nebo Cemetery near Indian Head.
Son Donald J. "Donnie" Kuhns (1944-2004) was born on Aug. 22, 1944 in Indian Head, PA. He was a 1962 graduate of Connellsville High School. On April 15, 1966, when he was age 21, he tied the marital cord with Evelyn Rae Cole ( ? - ? ). They stayed together for 37 years until cleaved apart by death. The couple produced a family of four -- Cindy Bagwell, Kathryn Stark, Charles Brady Kuhns and Donald Richard Kuhns. The Kuhnses relocated to Albuquerque, NM in 1978 and in time settled in Center, CO and remaining for 22 years. Said an obituary, "He worked in the lumber business and as a ditch rider for the San Luis Valley Irrigation District. He then moved back to Connellsville, and prior to his death, worked as a machinist for Aristo Tech Metal in Connellsville. He loved horses, hunting, fishing, his family and collecting Roy Rogers memorabilia." At the end he was in Salida, Chaffee County, CO, where his married daughter Kathryn was living. There, stricken with cancer at age 60, he surrendered to the angel of death on Nov. 17, 2004. Funeral services were conducted in the First Baptist Church of Center, CO. His cremains were scattered in Colorado's San Juan Mountains. An obituary was printed in the Uniontown Herald-Standard.
- Granddaughter Cindy Kuhns is a 1987 graduate of Center High School. She wed Martin Bagwell. Three known offspring are Krystina Marie George, Amanda Carlson and Josh Kuhns. They were in Manassa, CO in 2004-2005.
- Granddaughter Kathryn Kuhns married Timothy Stark. They put down roots in Salida, CO.
- Grandson Charles Brady Kuhns was joined in matrimony with Gail. They have made a dwelling-place in La Jara, CO.
- Grandson Donald Richard Kuhns lived in Greensburg, PA in 2004-2005.
Copyright © 2000, 2006, 2008, 2013, 2016, 2025 Mark A. Miner