Bio-Minerd, GeorgeHenry

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George Henry Minerd
(1845-1933)

George Henry Minerd was born in 1845 in Hopwood, Fayette County, PA, the youngest son of Henry and Hester (Sisler) Minerd. He was an early railroader in our family.

In 1870, the Uniontown (PA) Genius of Liberty reported that while employed at the Tyrone Mine, George "had his left wrist dislocated ... while shifting cars." Four years later, the Genius said that he was working as a brakeman on the P.&C. Railroad, and "had his hand crushed at siding, near Valley Works... [while] coupling cars. He was taken to Fountain Mills [Everson, PA]. Will probably lose his hand."

Ohio's Western Reserve Democrat once said that George "spent most of his life in the employ of the B. & O. Railroad company." In about 1890, George must have been transferred to the B&O's Pittsburgh yards, where he worked as a railroad switchman.

Sprawling Pittsburgh of George and Eva's era

George did not marry until about 1881, when he would have been age 36, and about the time that he moved to Pittsburgh. He wed Eva (McKinney) Evans (1844-1921), the daughter of William and Mary McKinney, and the widow of William J. Evans Sr.

George thus became an instant step-father to Eva's five children -- Frank Evans, John David Evans, William J. Evans Jr., Cora Evans and Alice M. Virtue. George and Eva also went on to have one known daughter of their own -- Hester Minerd, named after George's mother.

Heartache rocked this family in the spring of 1887, just a few months after they had moved to a new house on Brownsville Avenue in the city's 27th Ward. Daughter Hester, age six, contracted diphtheria, caused by blood poisoning. After enduring agonizing suffering for nine days, she died on May 10, 1887. Her tender remains were placed at rest in Pittsburgh's South Side Cemetery.

The Pittsburgh City Directory of 1895 shows George's occupation as railroad "switchman." In 1897, the Minerds bought a house on McKee (now Musgrave) Street near Greenfield School in Pittsburgh. The house -- with a spectacular view of the city -- is seen here, circa 1994.

The Minerds resided in Pittsburgh until 1911, when they sold the house and moved to West Farmington, Trumbull County, OH -- George was age 66 and may have gone there on assignment for the railroad, or he may have retired around that time. West Farmington is near the towns of Champion and Leavittsburg, Warren County, where the families of two of George's first cousins resided -- Joseph Miner and Jacob Minor -- though it's not known whether he had any sort of relationship with them.

While in West Farmington in mid-April 1914, said the Warren (OH) Daily Tribune, Eva "received word ... of the death of her sister at Pittsburg."

In September 1920, Eva came down with a serious case of tuberculosis affecting her heart. Sadly, on Feb. 15, 1921, she died at the home of her daughter Alice Virtue at 800 Anaheim Street in Pittsburgh. Son John immediately purchased a single grave for her at the prestigious Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh. The receipt, seen here, shows that John paid $50 for the plot.

Three years later, tragedy again visited the family. On the fateful evening of Jan. 26, 1924, stepson John David Evans was involved in a freak accident at work on the railroad in Pittsburgh, and died after suffering terrible burns.

Widowed after 30-plus years of marriage, George continued to reside in West Farmington. During an interview in the mid-1990s, his elderly grand-niece Anna Belle (Van Dyke) Breegle recalled coming to visit him in his declining years. George befriended her young son and promised him a dog, although the animal was never delivered, to the boy's dismay.

During his years as a widower, George is thought to have had a lady friend, Ruth Fischel, also of West Farmington.

As he neared his 89th birthday, George died in West Farmington, on April 21, 1933. He was laid to rest in the Hillside Cemetery in West Farmington, and is buried there in an unmarked grave in Lot 143 that was purchased at the time of his death by Ruth Fischel. She also was the informant for his death certificate.

A rare old postcard photograph of Hillside Cemetery is seen here.

Ruth later may have married a man named Hansen and resided on Route 1 in Rome, OH. In 1974, she wrote to the cemetery trustees asking for verification of the precise location of George's grave.

Ruth died on Feb. 25, 1975, some 42 years after George's passing. Later, ownership of the lot was transferred to Irene Yanovich of Greenville, PA -- connection unknown.