Eli
Minerd
(1831-1911)
Eli
Minerd was born in September 1831 on the family farm at Hexebarger near Kingwood,
Somerset County, PA, the youngest of 9 children of Jacob and
Catherine (Younkin) Minerd Jr. He was an early coal and coke laborer in our
family.
When Eli was just 11 years old, his father was killed in an accident while cutting down a tree. Then, in 1847, when his mother died of stomach trouble, Eli was orphaned at age 16. The Somerset County Orphans Court appointed Jonas Younkin and Aaron Schrock as his legal guardians.
In 1855, Eli married Mary Ann Baer (1836-1887). Her parents are unknown, but she may be related to famed Judge William J. Baer, of German heritage, who was prominent with the Somerset County Court of Common Pleas, and who purchased the farms of Eli's brothers as a coal investment in the 1860s.
Their
children were Emma C. Thurston, Rev. Isaac Herschel Minerd, Charles Marion
Minerd, Martha Jane Stairs,
William Osborne Minerd, Marietta Crosby and
Margaret
'Maggie' A. Minerd.
Eli is seen here, seated at center, with five of his adult children, likely in the early 1900s. Back row, left to right: daughters Marietta Crosby, Emma Thurston and Mattie Stairs. Front row, left to right: sons Charles and Isaac.
Sadly, little daughter Maggie died as a three-year-old, of diphtheria, in August 1876. She received a terse obituary in the local Mount Pleasant Dawn newspaper. Her tiny remains were laid to rest in the family plot at Alverton Cemetery west of Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland County, PA.
The Standard coke plant of the H.C. Frick Coke Co.
In 1860, the Minerds lived near Dawson, Fayette County, PA, where Eli probably labored at the Jimtown Mines. By 1870, they had moved to Stauffer and Bridgeport, near Mt. Pleasant, attracted by the prospect of employment at the mines. It's possible Eli worked for the H.C. Frick Coke Co. at its Standard mine and coke ovens. Standard began operations in 1878, and was considered at one time to be the largest beehive coke plant in the world.
Only one photograph of Mary Ann is known to
exist, a tintype seen at the top of this biography. She is said to have been a churchgoer,
and wouldn't allow Eli to drink or smoke. She joined the Mt. Pleasant
Church of God by profession of faith in September 1878, and persuaded her
husband to join the following month, also on a profession.
Sadly, Mary Ann died at age 51 on Nov. 5, 1887. The cause of her death is unknown. She was laid to rest beside her daughter Maggie at Alverton Cemetery, and a grave marker was erected in her memory. The marker is seen here as photographed in March 1990, and is still legible today.
Eli never remarried, and spent
the remaining nearly quarter century of his life as a widower.
He is seen here as an older man, in a more formal studio portrait
setting.
Eli and his brother Charles Minerd remained close over time. Eli often traveled to his brother's home at Maple Summit near Mill Run, Fayette County, to go fishing.
In 1906, Eli went to Scottdale, Westmoreland County, PA on a visit, perhaps to see his ailing brother, Jacob Minerd III.
Son Isaac and grandson Roy Sheppard Minerd, and niece Sadie Luckey, were especially close, and exchanged letters and visits as recently as 1950. Isaac and Roy formed a father-son team that helped organize the first annual Minerd Reunion in August 1913.
Eli was a cobbler in his later years. As
an old man, he lived with his married son Charles and large family at Bridgeport, in a brick
duplex building adjacent to railroad tracks, seen at right.
At the age of 74, just after the start of the new year in 1906, Eli suffered the tragic and grisly death of his railroader son William, who was killed in a railroad accident in Connellsville. Eli had to travel to Connellsville and to endure the horrific task of identifying the mangled corpse. Compounding the horror was that the son had recently let his life insurance lapse. We cannot imagine the agony.
Eli's adult children and grandchildren remained in contact with their Minerd-Miner cousins over the years. In 1908, granddaughters Sarah "Jenne" (Minerd) Baily and Ethel (Buchanan) Minerd are known to have kept in touch with Agnes Miner, daughter of Eli's nephew Martin Miner of Normalville, Fayette County, PA. As well, Eli's grandson Roy Sheppard Minerd attended college with cousins Edward Campbell Miner and Andrew Jacob "Budd" Enos at what is now California University of Pennsylvania, with all three graduating in 1909 and going on to teach.
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Frick Memorial Hospital in Mt. Pleasant, where Eli died in 1911 |
In
the spring of 1911, Eli caught pneumonia
and was hospitalized, presumably at the Frick Memorial Hospital in Mt. Pleasant.
At about that time, he also was injured when falling down a flight of stairs.
Family members smirked that he "tripped on his beard" which would have
been out of fashion at that time. Sadly, he died at the hospital a few days later, on April 11,
1911. The Mount Pleasant Journal reported that he was "one of
Bridgeport's oldest citizens."
He and Mary Ann are buried side by side at the Alverton Cemetery near Mt. Pleasant, next to daughter Maggie and son William.
Son Isaac
was president, and grandson Dr. Roy S. Minerd secretary, of
the First Minerd Reunion in Western Pennsylvania, held in August 1913 at
Ohiopyle, Fayette County.
Eli's grave marker crumbled over the years, and disappeared. In November 1991, great-great grandson Eugene Podraza arranged for a replacement stone to be erected in permanent honor of Eli's memory.
Copyright © 2000-2007 Mark A. Miner