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New Minerd.com Website Launched to Tell Family's Story |
BEAVER, PA, May 7, 2000 -- In a move to expand its large regional and national information-sharing network, a new website has been launched telling the story of the Minerd-Miner-Minor family heritage with roots in Western Pennsylvania - www.minerd.com.
"The website is a center for sharing research data, promoting our national reunion and educating the public," said reunion president Mark A. Miner, of Beaver, PA. "As the family has dispersed to virtually every state and many foreign countries, the ability to provide them with access to accurate information about the family’s history and culture helps cousins feel connected."
The family descends from pioneers Jacob and Maria (Nein) Minerd Sr. who settled on the border of Fayette/Somerset Counties in 1791, and has produced more than 13,000 descendants and spouses in the past 209 years. Miner estimates that only about 1 percent of the cousins have some form of the family name, while more than 99 percent of the cousins have some other name. As a result, most cousins do not know they belong to the family.
"One of our goals is to educate cousins that regardless of where they live, their ancient roots are in the Pittsburgh region," Miner said. "We'd like to bring as many cousins here to our reunions as possible, so they can see the landscape that has in some small or large way shaped who they are."
The family holds a reunion on a different theme each July. Since 1994, attendance has averaged about 115 cousins, and a research publication has been produced each year. Organizers mail invitations to about 500 households coast to coast.
The 1999 reunion, Coal, Coke & Steel, saluted 330 family members who have worked in the nation's coal, coke and steel industries since the 1840s. Other reunions honored wartime veterans and educators and focused on the clan's German heritage and massive size.
Minerd.com contains a "Photo of the Month" which will feature images tied to interesting stories. A "Who's Who" list names the 1,200 cousins of the first four generations, virtually all born before the year 1900, and is linked to more than 200 biographies and scores of rare photographs. The site also contains details about the upcoming July 8 reunion, "21st Century Families," featuring award-winning writer Jeff Minerd. It also highlights the family's Archives, impact on society and "Honor Roll" cousins who lost their lives in wartime and work-related accidents.
The website is a work in progress. Miner expects to add several hundred more biographies this year, and to revise existing biographies when new facts become available.
Through the website, the family hopes to educate its members and the public about how American families have had a long-term, collective and profound influence on communities across the nation.
Copyright © 2000, 2010 Mark A. Miner