Bio-Minard, SolomonJr

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Solomon Minard Jr.
(1842-1878?)

Solomon Minard Jr. was born in 1842 in Harrison County, OH, the son of Solomon and Rachel (Little) Minard Sr. He was a pioneer settler of Illinois and Missouri.

As a young man, Solomon may have moved with his parents to Knox County, OH. By age 16, a few months after his father's death, he had migrated westward to Illinois. That same year, 1858, the Probate Court of Solomon's home county, Knox County, Ohio, appointed another brother, Thomas, as his legal guardian. The federal census of 1860 shows an Ohio-borne "Solomon Miner," age 20, boarding as a farm laborer with the family of Edwin Rude in Mills Prairie, Edwards County, IL.

During the Civil War, Solomon registered for the military draft, but was never selected for duty. The draft registration entry, dated June 1863, shows that he was age 23, his occupation was "Farmer," that he was unmarried and born in Ohio, and that he resided in Munson, Henry County, IL. The handwritten entry spells his name "Minard."

On Sept. 26, 1863, in Henry County, Solomon married Sarah E. Bone (1847- ? ), a Pennsylvania native thought to have been the daughter of German immigrants John and Ann Bone. The Minards had at least five children -- Luther Minard, Jesse Minard, Ellie May Minard, Frank Minard and Asa Minard.

Solomon and Sarah remained in Illinois for the birth of son Luther in 1865.

Ironically, another man named Solomon Minard (1814- ? ) lived in Illinois at that time, making his home in Attawan, Henry County. He was born in Upper Canada, the son of George and Elizabeth Minard of Vermont. This "other" Solomon came to the United States in 1836, and helped supervise construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in LaSalle County. He married Mary Burrow (1822- ? ) in 1845, came to Henry County in 1850 and acquired 160 acres of land. They produced seven children, all of whom were deceased by the year 1885, when Solomon was profiled in the book, Portrait and Biographical Album of Henry County, Illinois. He is not to be confused with our Solomon.

Within three years, in about 1868, "our" Solomon and Sarah moved further west from Illinois to Missouri, planting themselves in the town of Mirabile, Caldwell County. There, their remaining four children were born. Solomon's brother Nathan W. Minard also resided in Caldwell County circa 1872, evidence that the two families may have been close and have moved in tandem.

The 1870 federal census shows Solomon, Sarah, Luther and Jesse making their home on a farm near Mirabile, in Breckenridge Township. Boarding in their home that year was 21-year-old German immigrant Ernest Severt. Living as close neighbors was the couple thought to be her parents, the Boneses.

Sadly, Solomon disappears from the paper record sometime between 1878 (when their youngest child was born) and 1880 (when Sarah appeared on the federal census as head of her household). He may have died, or was working temporarily somewhere else, or moved out of state. The whereabouts are being researched.

In the 1880 census of Mirabile, Sarah was age 34 and listed as "wife." In her household were their three youngest children. Her parents and married siblings resided nearby.

Nothing further of their lives is known. In 2009, family researchers visiting Caldwell County checked the Docket of Administration Executors covering the period of 1857 to 1882, and marriage licenses from 1886 to 1932. They found no evidence at all that the Solomon Minards had resided in the county, although records of the Nathan W. Minard family were located. As the courthouse had burned in 1896, it is entirely possible that Minard-specific records were consumed in that inferno.

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