Minerd-Minard-Miner-Minor National Genealogy and Reunion Website

Our 2007 national reunion in Western Pennsylvania rewrote the story of our earliest German-American ancestors going back to the 1600s. Click for details about our June 2008 reunion -- celebrating "Pittsburgh 250" -- including our profile on VisitPittsburgh.com.

This award-winning site -- founded in May 2000 and named one of Family Tree Magazine's "Top 10 Family Websites" in the nation -- is a forum for sharing knowledge and promoting the national reunion of our large pioneer clan, the Minerd- Minard- Miner- Minor family, with origins in the Pittsburgh region of Pennsylvania. The site may change the way you think, learn about and understand families. While our clan is no bigger, better or more interesting than anyone else's, it is symbolic of many early families who put down roots and let time work its magic.

Instead of just tracing backward, we're also exploring forward in time to tell the saga of one Pennsylvania-German family over a span of 275 years. It starts with German-Americans Friedrich and Eva Maria (Weber) Meinert Sr., and their son, Revolutionary War veteran Jacob Minerd Sr. and his wife Maria Nein, pioneers of Fayette/ Somerset Counties, PA, and thence to thousands of their descendants, down to the present day, with long-term, collective impact on our nation. We're very interested in making contact with all descendants, everywhere.

Today, cousins primarily spell the name Minerd, Minard, Miner and Minor. On average, though, fewer than 1% of us carry the name, with the remaining 99% having some other name. As a result, most cousins don't even know they belong. At last count, we've identified about 15,000 cousins and spouses, but the actual number may be substantially higher, perhaps 40,000 all told among the diaspora. A staggering 500-plus cousins have passed away since we began counting in July 2000. Helping cousins and communities connect with their roots, honoring past lives with more than 1,175 biographies and more than 5,000 images, and exploring the clan's connectedness with American society and culture, are at the center of our interest. Be sure to scan our newly published 2007 Annual Review.

Because of its unique role in promoting Western Pennsylvania by educating cousins that their ancient roots are based here, Minerd.com and our national reunion have been licensed to use the logo of "Pittsburgh 250." This exciting development shows our commitment to assist in the celebration of the Pittsburgh region's upcoming 250th birthday in 2008, a widespread initiative led by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

"Pittsburgh 250" -- 2008 Family Reunion
to Help Celebrate Steel City's 250th Birthday

Pittsburgh, site of the 2008 Minerd- Minard- Miner- Minor Reunion, at the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers

If you’ve never been to one of our reunions before, 2008 will be your chance to be part of a once-in-a-lifetime, unforgettable gathering of the scattered branches of our massive clan. We are hoping for a crowd of 200 to 300 cousins, gathered for a very special commemoration, so your attendance is vital. Click for more.

On Sat., June 28, 2008, we'll meet in downtown Pittsburgh at the spectacular Senator John Heinz History Center -- an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution -- to help the City celebrate its 250th birthday. Activities also will be held on Fri., June 27 and Sun., June 29, creating a three-day weekend package you won’t want to miss.

This event will be talked about for years -- just imagine what you can do, see and feel here. It will be a one-time opportunity, as we plan to return to our home base of the Indian Creek Valley Community Center in 2009. The red-brick Heinz History Center museum is located at 1212 Smallman Street in a renovated ice warehouse, in Pittsburgh's historic Strip District. The "Strip" is known for its retail food markets, unique shops, and as an entertainment district with restaurants and lively nightclubs.

Because of its unique role in promoting Western Pennsylvania by educating cousins that their ancient roots are based here, Minerd.com and our national reunion have been licensed to use the logo of "Pittsburgh 250" and VisitPittsburgh.com, the website of the Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau. Click to see our special profile on VisitPittsburgh.com. We are delighted to assist in the celebration of the 250th birthday, a widespread initiative led by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

FORT BRAGG, NC – Cousin Erick M. Foster, a captain and paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, died Aug. 28, 2007 of combat injuries sustained during an enemy attack using small arms fire in Muqdadiyah, Iraq. The great-grandson of Oakey and Gertrude (Shroyer) Harbaugh, Erick was the troop commander of A Troop, First Squad, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team. He was a native of Wexford, near Pittsburgh, PA, and graduated from Duquesne University in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in information systems management. Erick had one previous combat deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2004 to 2005. He is survived by his parents Robert and Barbara (Kellner) Foster and sisters Abby Foster and Elizabeth Werkheiser. Click here for the Army’s official announcement, a related story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and a KSDK-TV feature in St. Louis about a special tribute made by his sister Elizabeth. Tragically, Erick is now one of 27 known cousins of the Minerd- Minard- Miner- Minor family to make the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives in military service during wartime. Please see our "Iraq War Prayer Page" and join us in praying for Erick's family, and for all cousins serving in harm’s way as they carry out and support military operations in Iraq and worldwide. Kellner's Fireworks is planning a huge fireworks exhibition on Aug. 22, 2008 in Oil City, Pa in memory of Erick and as a fundraiser for the Wounded Warrior Project. Be sure to visit the Capt. Erick M Foster Memorial Fireworks Exhibition website.

If you know of other veterans in our family who have given their lives for our country, please contact us immediately.

Minerd.com continues to draw visitors in record numbers. Sometime in late August 2007, an unsuspecting reader became visitor number one million. As well, the website logged a record number of visits in one month when 32,216 readers logged on in June 2007. Thank you to all who have viewed our pages once, or repeatedly, creating a base of interest that does not seem to be abating.

Sid and Nancy Miller, and Tammy and LoriAnn Smith, clean our adopted monument at Gettysburg, May 2007, in honor of Civil War soldier John K. Hall

The tireless chair of our Cemetery Cleanup Committee, Sid Miller, and his wife Nancy, daughter Tammy Smith and granddaughter Loriann comprised our reunion work crew again this year at the monument to the 107th Pennsylvania Infantry at the Gettysburg National Military Park. Says Sid, "We picked up paper, trash, twigs and straightened up stones along the fence row." Thanks to Sid, we have adopted this memorial in honor of soldier John K. Hall, husband of Lucinda Minerd, who served with 107th Pennsylvania. This labor of love is part of our reunion's ongoing commitment to honor our 94 known Civil War cousin-soldiers. The first cleanup by Sid and his committee was held on May 17, 2003. In 2005, the committee received a National Park Service award for its services at Gettysburg. (Click to see an enlarged view.) If you would like to be part of the next cleanup effort this fall, please contact us.

Minerd.com received a major award in 2003 when named one of the "Top 10 Family Websites" in the nation by Family Tree Magazine. The April 2003 issue said that "Today's Minerd-Miner-Minor kin will find an astonishing amount of their history here." The editors wrote that our site, among others, was "selected by scouring the web until our eyes ached and our mouse-clicking fingers cramped." In a related feature story, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette praised the site's "abundance of information ... clean design and easy navigation."

Our website and archives are continual works in progress. We regularly update the site with new findings, and add to the archives with news of you and your family, past and present. (We even welcome ultrasound photos from the womb, such as the image here of Jacob Benjamin Miner, a 1999 addition to the family!) If you have questions or information, spot any errors, or wish to contribute your own writings or archival materials, please contact us.

Acknowledgements - Click for our updated Who's Who 2008 booklet
Researching Minerd, Minard, Miner, Minor, Meinert,
Meyndert, Meinder, Minder, Minord

Total visits: May 7, 2000 launch to April 30, 2008: 1,169,269
Visits in April 2008: 27,672 -- Last updated: May 4, 2008