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Henry "Franklin" Minard was born in 1854 in New Rumley, Harrison County, OH, the son of Jacob and Mary Ann (Kimmel) Minerd. He was a farmer, and a newspaper once said that he "was a companionable man, with a droll line of speech that made him popular with everyone with whom he came in contact."

During his lifetime, Frank spelled the family name "Minard" and "Miner."

On Jan. 14, 1886, Frank married Calantha Odessa Cinderella Burdette (1863-1887), the daughter of James Dunlap and Sarah (Porter) Burdette. They had one daughter, Florence Culbertson.

Tragically, the marriage only lasted 19 months. In August 1887, at just age 24, Calantha died of an enlarged spleen. She was buried at the Dickerson Church near New Athens, beside her parents. 

Calantha's grave marker, which is still legible, is seen at left in the right foreground, with the quaint one-room church in the background. The marker is at far right in the image. 

The church building itself is said to be the "oldest church in the state," and a rare old photographic postcard is seen at right.

Frank spent 15 years as a widower. 

In May 1902, he married Elizabeth "Lizzie" McBride (1860-1934), the daughter of John and Henrietta (Gordon) McBride. They had no children. They lived "on the Porter farm, a few miles south of Cadiz" in New Athens, Harrison County.

A 1903 newspaper article reported that Frank, a farm laborer, had "recently thrashed the wheat on Mr. D.D. Porter’s farm near Porter’s grove, Cadiz township. He had 240 bushels from 7 acres, or a little over 34 bushels to the acre."

At age 53, Frank died of “brain trouble” on April 30, 1908. He was buried at Cadiz Cemetery. 

A newspaper once said that Elizabeth "had the respect of many friends…" She was a member of the Cadiz United Presbyterian Church.

As a widow, Elizabeth moved to Cadiz and was a housekeeper for many years at the Ehrhart Hotel in Cadiz. A rare old postcard of the hotel is seen at left. Note the horses and buggies in the street, in front of the hotel's main entrance.

After more than a quarter-century as a widow, Elizabeth had surgery for an undisclosed illness in May 1933. Early the next year, on Jan. 26, 1934, she passed away.

In her will, Elizabeth provided funds to erect grave markers for her husband as well as her mother and her sister Susannah McBride. She also willed a number of household furniture to a McBride nephew, including a rocking chair, five straight chairs, library table, kitchen table, kitchen cupboard, lawn mower, farm implements, an ironing board, a coal bucket, two round braided rugs and a Brussels covered couch, among others.

In 1905, daughter Florence Minard (1886- ? ) married farmer Frank Clinton Culbertson (1878-1948), the son of John and Sarah Jane (McDowell) Culbertson. They lived in New Athens, Harrison County, and had five children -- Celesta Mary Carson, Frank Oakley Culbertson, Samuel Albert Culbertson, Howard Culbertson and Roy Minard Culbertson. Frank suffered from anemia and died at the age of 69 on May 11, 1948. He was buried at New Athens.

Granddaughter Celesta Mary Culbertson (1906- ? ) married Denzil Eugene Carson (1905- ? ). The Carsons had three children -- Donald Eugene Carson, Louanna Louise Carson and a baby who died in infancy in 1931. 

Grandson Frank Oakley Culbertson (1908- ? ) married Mabel Murphy ( ? - ? ). They had one son, Phillip Culbertson. 

Grandson Samuel Albert Culbertson (1910- ? ) married Virginia Strahl ( ? - ? ). They had two daughters, Linda and Sandra. 

Grandson Roy Minard Culbertson (1915- ? ) married Pearl Glover ( ? - ? ). They had three children -- Minard Glover Culbertson, Mary Kethleen Culbertson and Burde Mae Culbertson.

Great-great granddaughter Terre Carson-Jones -- seen at right with her husband and four children -- is a seventh grade teacher in Manssas, VA. Terre generously has provided material for this biography. In 2007, with her daughter as a student at Virginia Tech, she photographed a number of makeshift memorials on the campus in memory of the 32 students senselessly massacred in the tragedy of April 16, 2007. Click here to view a website with Terre's haunting images. Writes Terre: 

As my daughter is an engineering major, our hearts certainly went out to the families who lost children April 16th. My husband's co-worker lost her daughter, who was only a freshman, in the shooting. We went down in May and I put together a memorial collage for my daughter and her boyfriend who also an engineering major at Virginia Tech. I took the photos because we knew that it would be temporary, and I wanted to catch it the way it was during the spring, before the students all left for home. When we went back June 30, it was all taken down and put away.