Daniel
Minerd
(1811-1860+)
Daniel Minerd was born in 1811 in Fayette County, PA, the eldest son of Henry and Hester (Sisler) Minerd. He grew up in Dunbar Twp., Fayette Co., and may have been a casualty of the Civil War.
Daniel is thought to have been married twice -- first to Susan Stettman (1822- ? ) and second to Drusilla Ridenour (dates unknown). He and Drusilla lived at Wharton Furnace near Farmington, PA, but their ultimate fates are unknown. In 1840, he worked as a "filler" in Wharton Twp.
His children were all born between the years 1845 and 1856. They included Mary E. Minerd who may have married Franklin Grimes; Stewart Minerd who may have married Eliza Groover; Catherine Minerd; Howard Minerd; Barbara Minerd who married George E. Firestone; Minerva Minerd; and Henry Minerd, who married Eliza Swink.
On Oct. 23, 1854, at the home of his parents in Wharton, he witnessed the wedding of his sister Barbara to Henry 'Foxy' McKnight. The wedding also was witnessed by Daniel's brother in law, William McKnight, husband of Mahala Minerd.
Daniel died sometime after 1860. It is said that he was killed in the Civil War, and that his son Henry had to go to work at a young age to help support the family. In the book The Lewis Family of Oliphant Furnace, Pennsylvania by Thomas L. and Jack Walter Lewis, one of the co-authors reports that:
...I learned that [Henry's] father died about 1865 when he was 12 years old and that is why he had to go to work at such an early age. According to Mom, his dad died while with the Union Army during the Civil War. I remember him saying that he could hear cannon and musket fire in the mountains shortly after the battle of Gettysburg. He thought it was the retreating southern armies who got lost or trapped and had to come further west to go back across the Mason & Dixon line.
While Daniel is not confirmed to have served in the war, this is an exciting new area of research to be pursued.
Daniel's widow Drusilla (also known as 'Drusan' or 'Druth') lived in Springfield Twp. (in 1870) and in Connellsville Twp. (1880). Her fate is unknown.
Copyright © 2000, 2002 Mark A. Miner