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'SELFIES' National 2017 Reunion Broadcast on Facebook Live and Captures 'Selfie' Photos for Posterity -- 51 Guests Attend from 9 States and 16 Pennsylvania Towns

Click on the images to view the Facebook Live clip. Left: interviews with Cynthia (Minerd) Moringiello and hubby Dan of the family of Dr. Roy Sheppard Minerd -- Right: interviews with Judy (Snyder) Campbell of the family of Mary Belle (Minerd) Riley -- Dorothy (Bender) Krieg and son Robert of the family of Jasper "Jap" Knight.

Click on the images to view the Facebook Live clip. Left: Bill and Gloria (Moennig) Carey of the family of John Reuben Minerd -- Joe and Adele McKnight of the family of William Stewart McKnight -- Millicent Morgan, Dianna (Morgan) Cooksie and Shelley Betts of the family of Stephen Minerd -- Right: the Doug and Shirley (Zimmerman) Schultz clan of the family of Jessie (Miner) Schultz.

Click on the images to view the Facebook Live clip. Left: C. Robert and Beverly (Hansen) Miner of the family of Hugh Valentine Miner -- Sue Ellen (Colbert) Martin of the families of Missouri (Younkin) Wingerd and Barbara Jean (Younkin) Swarner -- Mark and Liz (Zoeller) Miner of the family of Odger Miner -- Libby Curtis and Esther Green of the family of Stephen Minerd -- Right: Chuck Reese of the family of Bertha (Minerd) Reese.

 

Who hasn't taken a "selfie" photo at one time or another? Seems like everyone everywhere has caught the popular craze.

At our 2017 national Minard-Minerd-Miner-Minor family reunion, we invited everyone to become engaged in creative selfie-taking and being part of our first-ever, historic national broadcast via Facebook Live. The broadcasts were viewed by cousins all around the country and even by friends of the family in places like Nicaragua.

Everyone's best selfie has been uploaded to the page you are reading on our award-winning Minerd.com website for posterity. They'll have more than 15 seconds of fame -- their legacy photo (hopefully) will live forever!

What could be more fun?

Many of our activities were held in and around the Day's Inn Hotel in Donegal, PA, located just a few hundred yards from from Exit 91 of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and a two-hour drive from the Pittsburgh International Airport.

Attendance was up this year to 51 guests. They came from nine states, including the furthest-traveled from Texas, and from 16 towns in southwestern Pennsylvania.

~ Friday Evening Dinner, June 23 ~

Friday evening dinner and visiting to meet long-lost (and never known) cousins. Left, L-R: Beth Radcliffe, Dianna Cooksie, Doris Hawker, Dorothy Krieg, Kristen and Robert Krieg Jr. Right, L-R: Esther Green and Beverly and Robert Miner.

Left, L-R: Shelley Betts, Karen Whitner and Jackie Jones -- Right: Libby Curtis, Millicent Morgan and Esther Green.

~ Traditional Saturday Picnic, June 24 ~

Above: wide angle view of the picnic group. Below, left: table of prizes including quilted placemats by cousin Doris (Sands) Hawker, potted plants and books by reunion president Mark Miner. Below, right: some of the heirloom photos on display brought by a variety of cousins.

Above: open-air picnic area at Days Inn Hotel in Donegal, PA bathed in sunlight.

~ Saturday Selfies ~

Above, L-R: Kristen and Robert Krieg of Lowell, MI -- and Beverly and Bob Miner of Bowling Green, OH. Below, L-R: Millicent Morgan of Columbus, OH and Dianna Cooksie of Grand Prairie, TX -- Jackie Jones and Libby Curtis of Zanesville, OH; and Joe and Adele McKnight of Connellsville, PA.

Noon Meal - Guest brought a wide variety of meat dish, side dish or a dessert to share, while we provide cold soft drinks and hot coffee. No alcoholic beverages allowed, as per longstanding policy. Robert Krieg returned thanks. In a drawing led by reunion treasurer Doris (Sands) Hawker of Morgantown, WV, we gave away keepsake prizes, such as small quilts, magnets, potted plants and books. Tables were set up so that cousins could display keepsake heirlooms old photo albums, letters, artifacts — for all to enjoy. Honorary Minerd cousin Linda Marker -- of the family of Frederick J. Younkin -- graciously provided scanning of old family photos. We also recognized all cousins in attendance above the age of 80 -- including 93-year-old Dorothy (Bender) Krieg of Otsego, MI -- and sang a happy birthday to them all.

Evening Supper - For those who were interested, we gathered for Saturday evening supper at Brady's Restaurant in nearby Acme, PA.

~ Sunday Morning, June 25 ~

Cousins on the original Jacob and Maria (Nein) Minerd Sr. farm on the mountaintop border of Fayette (left) and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania, dating to 1791.

As a group, 16 cousins drove in caravans to the mountaintop border of Fayette/Somerset Counties to see and experience the original farm settled in 1791 by Jacob and Maria (Nein) Minerd Sr. Today, 226 years later, the peak of this mountain is the site of a large windmills towering 210 feet in height, with the blades themselves measuring 100 feet in length, and are a renewable energy resource for thousands of homes in the region.

Then at 10:40 a.m., we attended morning worship services at the historic Indian Creek Baptist Church in Mill Run, where the father of us all, Jacob Minerd Sr., rests for eternity, as does his daughter Martha (Minerd) Imel Harbaugh, many grandchildren and scores of great-grandchildren and beyond.

Above: Four rows of cousins at the Indian Creek Baptist Church worship service, which was a celebration of the recently concluded "Hero" Vacation Bible School. Below, cousins at the Revolutionary War grave marker of original pioneer Jacob Minerd Sr., next to the grave of his daughter Martha Imel Harbaugh.

~ Submitted Selfies ~

A number of cousins who were unable to attend sent selfies for us to post here. And why not? Here they are:

Above, L-R: Dick and Sharon Kern of Findlay, OH (family of Dorothy [Stoner] Sheldon) -- and sisters Donna Borchers of Cos Cob, CT and Trina Abbate of City Island, NY (of the family of Ardella "Della" [Geiger] Vickers Mottie). Donna and Trina write: "We are so sorry we could not share in this wonderful event and hope you had a fantastic cousins reunion. Best wishes to our extended family and may God bless each of you!" -- Below, L-R: Kirk Miner of Columbus, OH, on vacation in Duluth, MN, and his sister Rev. Kathleen (Miner) Kisner and daughter Lila of Cincinnati, all of the family of Hugh Valentine Miner.

Above: Wayne and Cathy Green-Miner and daughter Madison of New Orleans, of the family of John Robert and Heloise (Foley) Miner Sr.

~ Why the Pittsburgh Region? ~

Southwestern Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh are the epicenter of our clan's founding in the United States of America following the American Revolution. In 1791, patriot and war veteran Jacob and Maria (Nein) Minerd Sr. settled there near Maple Summit on the mountainous border of Fayette and Somerset Counties. They had a dozen children, who in turn spawned 87 grandchildren, 469 great-grandchildren and 1,344 great-great grandchildren, for a total of 1,912 lives, virtually all born before the year 1900. Today, their descendants and spouses number an estimated 50,000 or more, and are scattered all over the world -- but regardless of a cousin's homeplace today, their roots are here.

Original Jacob and Maria (Nein) Minerd Sr. farm, straddling Springfield and Stewart Townships, on the mountaintop border of Fayette and Somerset Counties, PA, dating to 1791, from whence their dozen children scattered far and wide into Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. This historic site is about 60 miles from Pittsburgh as the crow flies.