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Jeremiah Minard was born in about 1841 in Preston County, VA (later WV), the son of Burket and Susan (Hartzell) Minerd. What follows is only speculation for now as to his fate. None of it is proven with precision. 

Our Jeremiah was last known to be alive at age nine, when he was listed with his parents and siblings in the 1850 federal census of Preston County, WV (then part of Virginia). By 1860, the family had split apart, with his parents residing in separate households, and his siblings scattered in other residences. Jeremiah's own whereabouts in 1860 have not yet been found, but are being researched. It's entirely possible that he died before 1860.

If Jeremiah grew into adulthood, as we surmise, he would have become acutely aware of the growing tension and divided loyalties in his home state of Virginia over the looming specter of civil war. When the War Between the States finally broke out, in April 1861, he would have been 20 years old and most likely an able-bodied man capable of serving in the military.

Someone we strongly suspect was our Jeremiah enlisted in the Confederate Army on May 23, 1861 at Moorefield, Hardy County, about 77 miles to the southeast of Preston County. He was assigned as a private in Company F of the 33rd Regiment Virginia Infantry and was to have served a term of one year. The 33rd Virginia was considered part of the famous "Stonewall Brigade," under the command of Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, and Jeremiah's Company F was known as the "Independent Greys" or the "Hardy County Greys." 

In Jeremiah's military service papers, on microfilm today at the National Archives in Washington, DC, his first name is spelled "Gery," "Jerimiah" and "Jeremiah." A copy of one of his muster roll records is seen here.

On July 21, 1861, less than two months after enlisting, Jeremiah and the 33rd Virginia fought at Manassas, VA, losing 183 men killed and wounded. It saw no further action that year.

Jeremiah received a furlough on Feb. 15, 1862. That same month, his enlistment period was extended for the duration of the war. He fought at Kernstown, near Winchester, VA on March 23, 1862, where another 53 men of the regiment were killed, wounded or capture. In June 1862, the 33rd Virginia fought at Gaines' Mill and in the Battle of Malvern Hill on July 1. At Cedar Mountain on Aug. 9, 1862, the 33rd Virginia again saw battle action. Toward the end of August, the regiment went back into bloody fighting at Second Manassas, where 104 men were killed or wounded, including Col. John Neff. 

After Second Manassas, Jeremiah made the decision to desert. At that time, only 200 men remained out of the original 1,000 in the 33rd Virginia due to heavy losses. On Sept. 2, 1862, he was reported absent without official leave (AWOL) and later was declared a deserter. 

Jeremiah's whereabouts after that are unknown. 

In 1987, Jeremiah was named in the book 33rd Virginia Infantry, authored by Lowell Reidenbaugh and published by H..E. Howard, Inc. The volume confirms the date that Jeremiah deserted, but provides nothing more about his service after that time.

~ Another 'Jeremiah Minard' Who Is Not Our Man ~

A man named "Jeremiah Minard" of the 48th New York Volunteers resided after the war in New Jersey, and for a time we thought he might be ours'. But additional research has proven that he is not. He claimed to have enlisted in the army in Albany, NY.

When the federal census was taken in 1870, "Jeremiah Minerd" -- the only man in America by that name -- made his home in Newark, Essex County, NJ. At the time, he was age 29 (the same age as our man) and married to 33-year-old Susan Hunt (1837-1882), who was four years older than he and a native Pennsylvanian. Jeremiah listed his occupation as working in a saw mill. He claimed to have been born in Maryland, which could be entirely true, as our Jeremiah grew up in a town only three miles from the Maryland state line, as the crow flies.

The 1880 census shows Jeremiah and Susan and their adopted two-year-old daughter Nettie (1878- ? ) in Newark. Tragically, it states that the 39-year-old Jeremiah was an engineer who had "lost his right hand, became insane" and was "in Essex County insane retreat, is like a child." The record states that Jeremiah was born in Maryland and his adopted daughter in Pennsylvania. 

Only a brief mention of Jeremiah's death was published in the Newark Morning Register, Monday, July 18, 1881

Tragically, but blessedly, perhaps, Jeremiah's miseries ended with his passing, at age 37, on July 16, 1881. His tired remains were placed at eternal rest in Newark's Fairmount Cemetery, in the Civil War section. Research by cousin Eugene Podraza shows that the death was not recorded in Essex County, nor is there an estate file or last will and testament. The only notice of his passing was a one-line mention in the Newark Morning Register, on July 18, 1881.

Susan only outlived her husband by a year-and-a-half. She made her home at 45 Hermon Street, a short street of only six blocks, stretching between Chestnut and Thomas Streets, and intersecting with South Street, to the southeast of Lincoln Park.

At age 45, afflicted with peritonitis, Susan died on Dec. 5, 1882, after suffering for two weeks. She too was laid to rest in Fairmount Cemetery. (Her New Jersey death certificate provides her age as 47.) Click for a history of the cemetery.

Entrance to Newark's Fairmont Cemetery