Caroline
(Minerd) Halfpenny
(1848- ? )
Caroline (Minerd) Halfpenny was born in September 1848 in Wharton Twp., Fayette County, PA, the daughter of William and Elizabeth (Rankin) Minerd.
In 1869, at the age of 21, Caroline married 35-year-old Calvin Halfpenny (1834-1904?). Calvin, born in Pennsylvania in August 1934, was the son of an English father and a Pennsylvania-born mother.
They had 10 children, of whom six are known -- Alice Halfpenny, Ira Halfpenny, Margaret H. Halfpenny, Emma I. Miller, Warren Halfpenny and Myra Halfpenny. More of the children's names will be added here when learned.
The year after marriage, when the federal census was taken, the Halfpennys resided in or near Connellsville, Fayette County, with Calvin employed as a "laborer." Also listed in the household in the 1870 census were four-month-old daughter Alice, and laborer Edward Dillon, an immigrant from England. Residing two houses away was Caroline's eight-year-old cousin, Charles McKnight, who was motherless and residing with Andrew and Mary Hiles.
Sometime between 1870 and 1900, the Halfpennys migrated to northeastern Pennsylvania, to the northeast of the state capitol city of Harrisburg. They made their residence in Orange Twp., near Bloomsburg, Columbia County, where they rented a farm for many years.
Bloomsburg's Main Street, looking east, in an old postcard
How or why they made the moved to this unusual location is lost to history. However, a family of English-born Halfpennys is known to have operated a woolen mill in Bloomsburg, founded in 1882, and likely were Calvin's relatives.
When the federal census was taken in 1900, the Halfpennys had been married for 31 years. Calvin was shown as a "farmer," with their 10-year-old son Warren noted as a day farm laborer. Living in their house that year were their four youngest children -- Margaret (born June 1881), Emma (born March 1885), Warren (born July 1889) and Myra (born August 1894). The census-taker noted that of the Halfpennys' 10 children, only eight were living as of that year. He also marked that Calvin and Caroline both could read and write.
Calvin is believed to have died at the age of 71 on Nov. 7, 1904. The details are not yet known. He is believed to have been laid to rest at the Rohsburg Cemetery in Rohrsburg, north of Orangeville, Columbia County.
In 1910, the widowed, 62-year-old Caroline was residing in Greenwood Twp., Columbia County, with her married son Ira. Oddly, unlike in all other censuses in which she is named, Caroline's birthplace was given as "West Virginia." This may suggest that Caroline may have lived in childhood in West Virginia, or otherwise told her children and grandchildren stories of being their as a child in some way.
The census of 1920 shows Caroline as one of three residents in the house of her widowed son in law, 36-year-old farmer Delbert M. Miller (1884- ? ), and her 16-year-old granddaughter Carrie Nagle, listed as a housekeeper. Caroline's age in this census record is given as 65, when in reality it was 72. According to a website of the Quick family, Delbert had married Emma Halfpenny, but after Emma died childless, he then married Emma's niece Carrie.
Caroline is mentioned in the 1921 newspaper obituary of her sister Mary Belle Dean, and was residing in Bloomsburg at the time. In 1923, she was named in the obituary of her brother, James Valentine Minerd, and was reported to be living in nearby Hazleton, Luzerne County, PA.
The details of Caroline's fate are not yet known, but research is underway to ascertain facts and report them here.
Son Ira Halfpenny (1877- ? ) married Myrtle (1882-1973?). They resided on a farm in Greenwood Twp., Columbia County. They had at least six children, of whom five are known -- Benjamin Halfpenny, Anna Halfpenny, Laura Halfpenny, Hazel Halfpenny and Bernice Halfpenny. Myrtle is thought to have died on Sept. 15, 1973, at the age of 91, and to be buried in Rohrsburg Cemetery.
As noted earlier, daughter Emma Halfpenny (1885- ? ) married Delbert Miller (1884- ? ). The Quick family website shows that he was a farmer near Greenwood, PA, and that he eventually died of a brain hemorrhage or of heart disease.
Copyright © 2000, 2006 Mark A. Miner