John
Andrew Miner
(1878-1955)
John
Andrew Miner was born in 1878 near Metzler’s Mill, Somerset County, PA,
the son of Ephraim and Rosetta (Harbaugh) Miner.
He is believed to have received his middle name as a namesake of an uncle, Andrew
Jackson Miner.
John married Susan M. Pletcher (1887-1985). She was just 16, and her parents felt he was a great catch because they thought he had a good income. John’s parents considered Susie a great catch because she was such a nice person.
The Miners had seven children – Ethel G. Miner, Victor Clyde Miner, Edna "Evanell" Kimmel-Nicklow, Ephraim Ray Miner, Harold B. Miner, John "Raymond" Miner and Kenneth Clinton Miner.
A number of the children are pictured and mentioned in the volume Down the Road of Our Past published by the Rockwood Area Historical & Genealogical Society. Sadly, daughter Ethel (1903) and son Harold (1911) died in infancy.
Miners in the famed "Connellsville Seam" of Fayette County
John was a coal miner and timber cutter for many
years. He suffered terribly from asthma and was sick a lot
during his adult years, often coughing up black coal dust. He
and son Victor once survived a mine cave-in in Indian Head.
In August 1924, John and Susie attended the Minerd-Miner reunion at Lincoln's grove, near the Western Maryland Railroad Station in Confluence. Among the 82 individuals present in the crowd were also John's mother, son Victor and daughter Evanell, and brother and sister in law Harry David and Amanda (Pletcher) Miner. In an article about the reunion, the Meyersdale Republican newspaper spelled the family name as "Minard" but reported the following: "A very successful and pleasant reunion of the Minard family was held in what is known locally as Lincoln's grove, near the Western Maryland Railroad Station.... The family is a numerous one in Western Pennsylvania, especially in Fayette, Somerset, Westmoreland and Huntingdon Counties. The gathering on Saturday was their twelfth annual reunion."
John and his family also enjoyed the annual Harbaugh Reunions. They are known to have attended in 1947 and 1954 (when John and Susie received the "Longest Married Award") and 1951 (when they were acknowledged for having five generations present). In the five-generation photo seen at right, John sits beside his mother, while standing in the back are son Victor and granddaughter Melda Bittinger, who is holding her baby son Paul.
In 1952, the Miners suffered the loss of grandson Edward Dale Kimmel, who died of a brain tumor at age 20.
John died in 1955, at the age of 87, after much suffering with black lung disease. He was buried at the Old Bethel Church near Kingwood, a cemetery which holds many generations of Minerd-Miner-Minor cousins.
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A common wintry sight -- men clearing a heavy snowfall on the road from Confluence to Somerset, circa 1936. |
After six years as a widow, Susie married Lyman
Trimpey on March 29, 1961. They enjoyed just a little over a year of marriage, when Lyman passed away on July
7, 1962.
Susie died in 1985, at the age of 98. At her funeral, her children and grandchildren decided to form a reunion so that the family could gather at happier events. This reunion, first held in 1986 at the Kingwood Picnic Grove in Somerset County, has evolved into today's national Minerd-Minard-Miner-Minor Reunion.
Son Victor married Delphia Platter and moved to Grantsville, MD in 1940. He took his family to the Harbaugh and Younkin Reunions of the 1930s and '40s, held at the Kingwood IOOF Grove, and recalled racing in the 50-yard dash.
Son Kenneth served as a private first class in World War II. In 1953, he died in Akron, OH, leaving a wife and two young children.
Son Raymond also served in World War II, and later resided in Canton, Stark County, OH.
Daughter
Evanell operated “Smith’s Store” in Dunbar, PA. Her first husband, Irvin L. Kimmel Sr., was a crane operator for West Penn
Railways. Later, they moved to Woodbury, NJ. After Irvin died, she
married a teenage sweetheart, Orion Nicklow, and moved back to her native
Kingwood. Orion had served on the school boards
of Upper Turkeyfoot Twp., in 1951-1952 and of Rockwood Joint Schools in
1957-1958. Orion also is pictured and mentioned in the October 1995 Hexie
Gazette, published by the late Clyde Miller. Evanell and Orion were featured
in a 1987 issue of the Somerset Daily American, titled “Couple Given a
Second Chance at First Love.” She later helped found a reunion of her family
which eventually became our national Minerd-Miner-Minor Reunion.
In
1959-1960, Orion was a member of the building committee that constructed a new,
brick building to house the Old Bethel Church of God near Kingwood. Seven years
later, he took part in a mortgage burning ceremony when the church completed
repaying a $13,800 building loan. Said the dedication booklet, "Due to the
goodness of our Heavenly Father, the faithfulness of members and friends by
sacrificial giving, the indebtedness has been liquidated as of January 1, 1967,
approximately four years ahead of schedule." A copy of the program booklet
for the mortgage burning ceremony is in the archives of the Historical Society
of the Churches of God in Findlay, OH.
Granddaughter-in-law Rosella (Resh) Miner has served continuously as Secretary of our reunion committee since it was founded in 1986.
Granddaughter
Melda (Miner) Bittinger, seen here, was co-founder, treasurer and
constant supporter of our reunion until her passing in 2001. Melda had
perfect reunion attendance, and her hard work
helped transform the event into one of significance for all cousins. Click to
see a special
tribute, a quilt she made for her
daughter, and also to read her own account
of the reunion's origins in the 1980s.
Great-granddaughter Lois (Bittinger) Radcliff and her husband Jerry have owned Jerry's Auto Center in Belpre, OH since 1986. The garage now features nine wreckers and several service trucks which respond to service calls.
Copyright © 2001-2003, 2005-2006 Mark A. Miner