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Chester
O. Miner |
Chester O. Miner was born in 1885 in Omega, Marion County, IL, the son of Chance and Martha (Jones) Miner. He was a longtime farmer in Central Illinois.
On Aug. 19, 1907, when Chester was 22, he married 19-year old Margaret "Maggie" Reed (1888- ? ), the daughter of Albert and Phoebe (Nottingham) Reed, and a resident of Ingraham, Clay County, IL. The ceremony was performed by justice of the peace Paul Farr. At the time, Chester was a farmer living in Songer Twp., Clay County.
The Miners had at least six children -- Alice M. Miner, Pauline Miner, Almite Miner, Gerland Miner and Robert L. Miner, and one who died young.
When the federal census was taken in 1910, the Miners lived on a farm in Songer Twp. They had a six-month-old daughter Alice, and apparently had another child who had died prior to that year.
In 1913, at age 27, Chester was residing in Clay County. That year, he witnessed three sworn statements his mother made in her effort to receive his late father's accrued Civil War pension. His signature appears on all three documents.
The 1930 census shows that the Miners had migrated southward, over the Clay County line, to neighboring Cisne, Wayne County, IL. That year, living in their household were four of their children: Pauline (age 14), Almite (9), Gerland (7) and Robert (4). John was unemployed at that time but when working was a "laborer" at "odd jobs."
Records of the Illinois Death Index suggest that Chester may have died in Lamard, Wayne County, on Oct. 9, 1935. If so, he would have been age 50 at the time. This line of research will be pursued further.
The fates of the rest of the family after that are unknown.
Copyright © 2002, 2007 Mark A. Miner