George
Howard Minard
(1877-1955)
George Howard Minard was born on July 8 (or 18), 1877 near Uniontown, Fayette County, PA, the son of William H. and Ollie (Stull) Minerd. He was a longtime coal miner who spelled his last name with the "a."
The federal census of 1880 shows that at age two years, George and his younger brother Charles resided next-door to their parents in the home of their uncle, Robert Hixenbaugh, near Uniontown.
When George was seven, in 1884, his father was tragically killed in an explosion at the Youngstown (PA) works of the Youngstown Coke Co. In a rare legal move for the times, George's widowed mother successfully sued the company and received more than $500 in damages to support herself and her children.
On Aug. 17, 1896, whenhe was age 17, George married 16-year-old Anna Weimer (1878-1947), a native of Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland County, PA, and the daughter of George and Hannah Weimer. At the time, he worked at Mt. Braddock, and she was residing at the nearby coal mine patch town of Oliver.
The Minards had four children -- Wyland "Wiley" E. Minerd, Olive H. Crawford, Nettie R. Rossomme and Evelyn M. Augustine.
Following his father's dangerous field of work, George was a coal miner for US Steel Corporation. He is thought to be the same "George Minerd" who worked in 1904 at the Stewart Mine in Fayette County. On July 1, 1904, at age 27, he was injured at Stewart when he was "badly bruised about body," according to that year's Report of the Bureau of Mines of Pennsylvania. In 1910, he was a "lamp cleaner," according to the US Census, and in 1931 was a "lampman," per the Uniontown City Directory. George and his son Wyland worked together at the Percy plant of the H.C. Frick Coke Company in the fall of 1912.
George was a member of the Calvary Methodist Church in Uniontown (founded by his father's first cousin, Rev. David E. Minerd). They lived at the coal mine patch towns of Youngstown, Percy, and later at 419 West Main Street, Uniontown.
Heartache struck the family on Oct. 31, 1912, when 18-year-old son Wiley was accidentally shot and killed while celebrating Halloween. In a major story, the Uniontown Daily News Standard reported that Wiley and his friends:
...had
been at a prayer meeting at the Percy church early in the evening and planned to
celebrate Halloween later.... It is claimed that two of the young men ...
had revolvers. Suddenly a revolver shot rang out and young Miner [sic]
fell to the ground crying out that he was shot.... According to the story
told later to the county detective, [the friend] intended to fire off his
revolver to frighten the girls. He pointed it down to the ground, but
stepped backward into a small ditch which caused him to raise his hand as he was
pulling the trigger. The bullet entered young Miner's body and inflicted a
fatal wound. In the general excitement the young people did not realize
how the accident had occurred.... The deceased young man was an active
worker in the Percy church, also in the Christian Endeavor Society and the bible
class in Sunday school.
A coroner's inquest at Lemont on Nov. 6, 1912 found that Wiley had been shot in the abdomen by Dennis Matthews but the jury ruled that "the shooting was incidental." Wiley was buried at Park Place Cemetery in Uniontown. Some 34 years later, in October 1946, after his parents purchased a plot of graves at Uniontown's Sylvan Heights Cemetery, Wiley's remains were relocated there.
When the federal census was taken in 1930, George and Anna and their youngest daughter Evelyn lived in South Uniontown. George's occupation was listed as coal mine laborer.
Sadly, on June 2, 1947, Annie passed away of "a lingering illness," and was buried at Sylvan Heights Cemetery in Uniontown. George survived her by 8 years. In the fall of 1955, he resided in the Weimer Nursing Home, and died there of nephritis on Nov. 8, 1955. He was buried beside his wife and son at Sylvan Heights.
Daughter Olive Minard ( ? -1978) married Ira D. Crawford and had 2 daughters. She passed away in December 1978.
Daughter Nettie married George Rossomme and had three children.
Daughter Evelyn (1910- ? ) married Raymond Augustine but had no children.
Copyright © 2002, 2008 Mark A. Miner