Agnes
(Miner) Miller
(1884-1985)
Agnes
(Miner) Miller was born on Oct. 11, 1884 at Normalville, Fayette County, PA,
the daughter of Martin
and Amanda (Williams) Miner.
She taught school in Fayette County for 28 years, with her husband was very active in the
community, and she lived to be 100 years of age.
As a young woman, Agnes attended the Normalville Normal Institute and the University of Pittsburgh at Uniontown. She later taught school in Springfield and Saltlick Townships for 28 years. The schools where she taught included Middlefork, Poplar Run, Pritts, Normalville (#1 and #2), Pleasant Hill, Hampton, St. John, Indian Head and Washington (1905-19; 1920-21; 1925-50).
Because female teachers of that era were not allowed to be married, Agnes spent her 20s and early 30s as a single woman.
One of Agnes' friends in Normalville was Ethel Buchanan. On Christmas Day 1908, Ethel wed one of Agnes' distant cousins, Albert S. Minerd of Uniontown, Fayette County. (Agnes' father Martin Miner, and Albert's father Isaac Herschel Minerd, were first cousins.) A festive wedding ceremony was held at the home of James Dickens, with many photographs taken that day. The event may have planted the seeds for the clan's first Minerd-Miner Reunion, held five years later, in August 1913, with Martin Miner and Isaac Herschel Minerd elected as officers.
Wedding party for Agnes' friends/cousins in 1908: Seated, L-R:
Jenne
Minerd, Agnes, Mattie McClean, Ethel (Buchanan) Minerd,
Maude Brooks, Nettie Miner and Twila Brooks.
Standing, L-R: Don
Brooks, Bud Brooks, A.G.C. Sherbondy and Edward
Campbell Miner
Following
the Buchanan-Minerd wedding, Agnes's Minerd cousins in Uniontown did not receive
any communication from her for some time. The following May 1909, Jenne Minerd
and Ethel (Buchanan) Minerd conspired to play a little friendly prank on Agnes.
They sent her a penny postcard, seen at right, with the word
"NOTICE" written in all capital letters at the top. The message went
on to read:
$1,000 reward to the person giving any information of the whereabouts of Miss Agnes Miner. Her friends and relatives have not heard from her for long they fear she has been kidnapped. Cousins Jenne [and] Ethel Minerd
On June 6, 1918, at the age of 33, Agnes married 35-year-old carpenter and contractor Lloyd M. Miller (1883-1958), who was the son of Samuel P. and Sarah M. Miller. (The two families were close. Lloyd's sister Mary Miller married Agnes' brother John Walter Miner.)
The Millers had two daughters, Alene Cavanaugh and Freda Channing.
Lloyd
proudly shows off a new automobile
Many
of the schools where Agnes taught were one-room facilities, including Poplar
Run, seen at right. Agnes' niece Helen
Miner and cousins Florence Hart and Winifred
Hart also taught at Poplar Run over the years.
For many years, Agnes was secretary/treasurer of the Normalville Cemetery Association. Her hand-drawn map of the old section of the cemetery, behind what is now the Normalville Methodist Church, is the only known reference to the burial site of her grandmother, Sarah (Ansell) Minerd. Agnes belonged to that church for 81 years, where she taught Sunday School and was a director of the Epworth League and an active member of the United Methodist Women.
In
1927, Agnes served on the reception committee for the
“Connellsville-to-Farmington Good Road Association." The
organization played a key role in
the economic development of Normalville by supporting the paving of the "Mountain Road"” between Connellsville and Normalville, and thence to
Farmington. The road is seen here in a rare old postcard view.
A family history buff, Agnes made extensive lists of the Minerd-Miner family that have proven to be an invaluable verification of early branches. These lists are now in our archives.
Lloyd
also was active in the community. He
served as a Springfield Township school director for 24 years, was township tax
collector for eight years, was constable for one term and a charter member of the
Indian Creek Valley Lions Club.
In October 1932, during the Great Depression, Lloyd and Tilden Kern directed several local men "on relief" who were "put to work on the improvement of the cemetery at [Normalville]," said the Daily Courier. "The work will embrace the removal of a bank at the present entrance, the filling in of the United Brethren church yard adjoining and construction of a parking place for cars during funerals." Added the Courier, "A funeral director is authority for the statement that more persons are buried in the Normalville cemetery than any in the region. the people of the community say it is one of the most desirable places in the mountains, very well located."
Agnes and her sister in law Maude Brooks Miner helped in the summer of 1946 to organize the first reunion of former students and friends of the Teachers' Normal School at Normalville (for the years 1901-1904). The event was led by L.G. Chorpenning, a local attorney who was quoted in the Daily Courier saying, "Your hair may be gray, your head bald but no matter, we will turn back the old clock of time 40 years and all be young again for at least one day."
After a lifetime of hard work, Lloyd died at the age of 75 on Nov. 15, 1958 at Connellsville State Hospital. He was laid to rest in the Normalville Cemetery.
Agnes outlived him by more than a quarter century, to the ripe old age of 100 years. During these later years, she was a member of the Pennsylvania Retired Teachers Association.
She also spent countless hours organizing and writing family trees of the various branches of her father's massive family. These included descendants of Jacob and Catherine (Younkin) Minerd Jr. and John and Sarah (Ansell) Minerd; the much-married Minerd and Ansell families; Minerd-Miner graves at Normalville Cemetery; descendants of Perry and Joanna (Miner) Enos, Elijah and Hannah (Minerd) Murray, Martin and Amanda (Williams) Miner and Andrew "Jackson" and Susanna (Minerd) Rose Sr.; and uncles and aunts on her father and mother's sides of the family. Click here to see scans of these manuscript lists, preserved today in the Minerd-Minard-Miner-Minor Archives.
Seen at right, she holds a birthday cake circa
1980, when she turned 96.
Agnes died on May 15, 1985, in her 101st year, and was buried beside her husband Lloyd.
They are mentioned in the 1960 book, Kern Family History, in connection with the Normalville Cemetery Association.
Daughter Alene married William Cavanaugh. Their son Glenn Robert Cavanaugh has taught English and speech at Derry (PA) School District. Glenn's wife, Jacquelyn Kaye Mraz, has taught English and composition at Greater Latrobe (PA) High School.
Daughter
Freda Miller (1922-2007) married Blaine H. Channing (1921-1986). Following in her mother’s
footsteps, she went to college, receiving her bachelor of science degree in 1944
at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She then taught at Normalville Elementary School for 37 years
(1944-47 and 1950-84) and was guest speaker at our 1997 reunion, themed "A
Sense of Wonder," honoring family
educators. Said the Connellsville
Daily Courier, "She was an active member of the Community Food Bank,
served on the Springfield Township Election Board for many years, served as past
secretary for the Normalville Cemetery Association, was an active member of the
Mountain Senior Citizens of Normalville and she organized many trips for the
senior citizens." Blaine was employed for many years as a conductor for the Union Railroad at East
Pittsburgh. A military veteran of World War II, he was
a member of the National China, Burma and India Veterans Association, and a
charter member and president of the Normalville Area Volunteer Fire Department.
Blaine passed away after a lingering illness on June 10, 1986. Freda outlived him by more than two
decades. She died on Feb. 13, 2007, and was laid to rest with her husband at
Normalville Cemetery.
Miller-Channing-Cavanaugh family reunion, circa 1980
In 1994, an essay by Freda, entitled "Is Everybody Normal in Normalville," was published in the book, Yesteryear in Ohiopyle and Surrounding Communities, Vol. II, compiled by author Marci Lynn McGuinness.
Copyright
© 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 Mark A. Miner.
Poplar Run photography by Edward Grimm.