Albert Sheppard Minerd
(1887-1970)
Albert
Sheppard Minerd was born
on Oct. 12, 1887, in Alverton, near Mt.
Pleasant, Westmoreland County, PA, the son of Rev.
Isaac H. and Margaret Jane (Sheppard) Minerd. Albert
was a machinist and an automobile mechanic whose skills helped the family stay
solvent during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
On Christmas Day 1908, Albert married Ethel Buchanan (1889-1967) of Normalville, Fayette County. The ceremony was held at the home of Ethel’s uncle, James Dickens, and was performed by the Rev. G.E. Letchworth, assisted by Albert’s father. Ethel “wore a beautiful soft white silk dress and carried white roses,” said a newspaper account. “The decorations were in mountain pine, mistletoe and white roses, carrying out the colors, green and white. After the ceremony there was an elegant course dinner … after which the bride and groom were escorted to the 4 o’clock train and sent off for a short trip with all the proper rites….”
The
wedding gave the Minerds an opportunity to interact with some of their second cousins from Normalville who were friends of Ethel's and were involved in the
ceremony – Nettie (Miner) Brooks, Agnes
(Miner) Miller and Edward C. Miner.
A photograph taken that day, seen at right, shows the two families
intermingled in a group. This event may have sowed the seeds of the first Minerd
Reunion, which was organized by members of both branches just five years later,
in 1913.
Albert and Ethel had two children – Everett S. "Lefty" Minerd and Margaret Daw Chadwick.
In the photo seen at left, Ethel holds baby Margaret, with her mother in
law seated in profile in the foreground.
The Minerds first made their home near Albert's parents on Coffee Street in Uniontown. Two years later, in 1910, they moved to nearby Scottdale, Westmoreland County, PA, settling on Pittsburgh Street.
Later still, when his parents moved to Pittsburgh, Albert and Ethel moved there also. They resided in a variety of places in the Homewood and Wilkinsburg sections of the city.
Bert registered for the World War I military draft in 1918, and stated his occupation as a machinist with the Beacon Lighting Company.
In 1921, Albert worked as a repairman with the Lange Motor Truck Company of Pittsburgh, and is listed in the City Directory. Within two years, he had switched jobs, and was managing the Braddock Avenue Garage. He later joined the famed Mesta Machine Company in West Homestead, near Pittsburgh, from where he retired in around 1954.
In the 1930s and ‘40s, while residing in Wilkinsburg, the Minerds helped raise two of their grandchildren. Albert allowed no swearing or drinking, but is said to have had a hot temper. A good example occurred after Albert’s sister Bess died in the summer of 1953. A few months later, Bess’s widower remarried. Albert was so infuriated that he is said to have called the Homewood Methodist Church and “read the riot act” to the minister who performed the ceremony. Later, Albert is said to have quit the church in protest, and joined the Rosedale United Methodist Church in Pittsburgh.
Sprawling Mesta Machine Works.
In
the photo seen here taken later in life, Albert and Ethel stand second and
third from right. Others, standing, l-r: Anton Beck, Margaret Daw-Chadwick, Bess
Beck. Seated, middle, l-r: Margaret (Sheppard) Minerd, Jennie Baily. Seated,
front, l-r: Everett 'Lefty' Minerd, Grayce Beeman, James Baily.
In August 1954, Albert and Ethel retired and moved to Cambridge Springs, Crawford County, PA, where they bought a 113-acre farm.
Ethel died in June 1967.
Albert outlived her by three years, and died at his farm on Aug. 9, 1970 after a long illness. He was buried with his wife at Carmel Cemetery in Cussewago Twp.
Copyright © 2001, 2004 Mark A. Miner