~ Mark This 'Bucket List' Event on Your Calendar! ~

Our 2025 national reunion will include the following:

Fri. Evening, June 20, 5:30 p.m. - group dinner at Out of the Fire Cafe. GPS address 3784 PA Route 31, Donegal, PA 15628.

Guest speaker Brad Harbaugh

Sat., June 21, 10 a.m. through late afternoon - gathering at the historic Camp Christian, where our reunion were held in 2023 and as far back back as 1914. We will broadcast cousin interviews and other happenings throughout the day via Facebook Live. At noon, we’ll take a group photo on the front steps. Then a lasagna lunch we’ll provide with cold drinks and coffee. Please bring a meat or side dish or a dessert to share. No alcoholic beverages, please.

Rev. Dr. Brad Harbaugh of Raleigh, NC will be our guest speaker talking about the importance of faith, family connections and legacy. Brad’s great-grandfather Allen Edward Harbaugh  -- the "Mountain Poet" of Mill Run --was our original family genealogist in the late 1800s. Tables will be available for display of family heirlooms such as photo albums, letters and artifacts.

A raffle will be held and a freewill donation taken to offset costs. If you can bring a high quality item to donate for the raffle, please do. Also enjoy hiking and biking trails, basketball, fishing, campfire, ping-pong for all ages. Sleeping rooms are available upstairs at Camp Christian by contacting the office directly at 724.455.2700 - email office@camp-christian.org. GPS address 472 Killarney Road, Mill Run, PA 15464.

Sun., June 22, 10:40 a.m.. - worship service at the Indian Creek Baptist Church in Mill Run, where our pioneer ancestor Jacob Minerd Sr. sleeps for the ages in the adjacent cemetery. GPS address 311 Baptist Church Road, Mill Run, PA 15464.

~ A Cheery 'Hello!' from Your Long-Lost Cousins in 2023 ~

 

Check out this cheery Facebook Live greeting from your cousins at our 2023 reunion on the steps of the Camp Christian lodge.

~ Why the Laurel Highlands and the Pittsburgh Region? ~

Southwestern Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh are the epicenter of our clan's growth and development 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 produced 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, scattered all over the world. Regardless of your homeplace today, your roots are here.

 

Above: beautiful view of downtown Pittsburgh and its rivers. Below: 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.