Bio-Minerd, Anna-Lowery

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Anna (Minerd) Lowry
(1868-1933+)

Anna E. (Minerd) Lowry was born in 1868 in Dunbar, Fayette County, PA, the daughter of Isaac and Catherine (Smiley) Minerd.

On July 1, 1895, at the age of 27, Anna married 22-year-old Gipson R. Lowry (1873-1933), the son of Lewis and Mariah J. Lowry of Dunbar. The ceremony was performed in Dunbar by Rev. A.R. Rush. At the time of marriage, Gipson worked as a local coal miner.

They had at least three children.

Sadly, two of their children died young -- a son, who was buried at Franklin Cemetery in Dunbar, PA, and an infant who died in December 1904 at the family home at Oliver, PA, and was buried at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Dunbar. The Uniontown Daily News Standard reported that the elder son's remains would "soon be removed to the family lot in Mt. Auburn."

The Lowrys' only daughter surviving to adulthood was Emma Cramer Agona. She lived in Jeannette, Westmoreland County, PA.

In 1920, when the federal census was taken, Gipson and Anna resided in Harrison City, Westmoreland County, PA, where he worked as a coal miner.

When coal was mined out at one location, Gipson and Anna would relocate to find work in other, operating mines. They moved at some point to Fairbank, Fayette County, a small coal patch town near Uniontown.

At age 59, Gipson died at home at Fairbank on May 16, 1933. He was buried at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Dunbar. The funeral service was conducted by Anna's cousin, Rev. David Ewing Minerd.

Later that year, on Nov. 30, 1933, a fire of "undetermined origin" caused $300 worth of damage to Anna's frame-structure home in Fairbank. Both the New Salem and Uniontown fire companies were dispatched to the scene to extinguish the flames.

Anna's fate is unknown, though she was last known to be living in Jeannette in 1944.