Bio-Minerd, HarryCole

Harry Minerd
(1885-1939)

Harry Minerd was born on Aug. 1, 1885 in Dunbar, Fayette County, PA, the son of James Valentine and Nancy (Warman) Fuller Minerd. Of medium height and build, he was a longtime laborer in his hometown.

On Sept. 14, 1906, when he was 20, Harry married 18-year-old Flora Cole (1887-1976), a resident of Mt. Braddock, Fayette County, and the daughter of William M. and Mary Jane (Sullivan) Cole. Harry had brown eyes and dark hair.

Their six children were Harry W. "Pomp" Minerd, Virginia Morey Haggard, Mary Holub Roebuck, Charles Minerd, Nancy Brown Pierelli and Elizabeth Minerd. They also raised a grandson.

Harry enjoyed watching baseball, and in September 1904, the Connellsville Courier reported that he and friends William White, Thomas McDowell, George McGovern, John McMillen, C.E. Harvey and Charles Richey traveled to Connellsville to attend a game between the Connellsville and Johnstown clubs. The following winter, he and his brother Bert made plans to join the newly formed Dunbar baseball team. Said the Courier: "The boys will get themselves in shape for the opening up of the season and will be ready to meet any amateur team in the county. They will endeavor to arrange for games early in the season with the following named clubs: Fairchance, Uniontown High School, Lemont and the Crescents of Connellville."

At the time of marriage, Harry was a "machine man" working at the Dunbar Furnace. A few years later, in 1910, the Minerds lived near Dunbar, where Harry was a laborer in a nearby coal mine. They also resided for awhile at Mt. Braddock and at Republic, near Uniontown, PA. Circa 1939, they made a home on Second Street on Bryson Hill in Dunbar.

Sadly, their daughter Elizabeth (1903-1911) died at the age of seven-and-a-half, on Jan. 11, 1911. She is buried in the Minerd family plot at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Dunbar. The cause of her untimely passing is not yet known.

Harry registered for the World War I military draft in 1918, and stated his occupation as a coal miner for the Ames Manganese Manufacturing Company of Dunbar. That same year, in October 1918, Flora's 77-year-old father passed away in the Minerd home on Bryson Hill.

When the federal census was taken in 1930, the Minerds lived in the coal mine village of Thompson, Redstone Township, Fayette County, where Harry was a coal mine laborer. They spent time in Steubenville, OH, where they lived in August 1933 at the time of marriage of their daughter Virginia, with Harry holding a mining job which would have been rare during the Great Depression.

Circa 1934, when they publicly announced the marriage of their daughter Virginia to Reuben Morey, they made their home in Bryson Hill, in Dunbar.

Dunbar Furnace, early 1900s, courtesy of the Dunbar Historical Society

During the Thanksgiving holiday in late November 1933, Harry and his friends Junior Emigh and Bus Bodkin traveled to their camp in Potter County, presumably to hunt. A short article in the Uniontown Daily News Standard reported their safe return home.

A news article credited Harry for making a "gruesome discovery" one morning in September 1937. He was waiting with others for a streetcar in Dunbar, on his way to work. At about 6 a.m., "in the misty dawn ... [he] saw a dark object along the Baltimore and Ohio railroad tracks 25 yards away," said the Uniontown Morning Herald. To everyone's horror, they saw that "It was a man's head, which had rolled to the side of the tracks. Just a few feet away in the middle of the tracks was the body." The victim was identified as Thomas Callahan, age 55. Said the Morning Herald, "It was evident that he had fallen on the tracks and was so dazed that he was unable to rise before a freight train about 3 a.m. snuffed out his life."

Harry died two years after the discovery, at age 54, on Sept. 27, 1939. The cause "was a complication of diseases." Following a funeral at the Dunbar Methodist Church, led by Rev. William Hamilton, he was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Dunbar.

Flora is seen here, as a striking young woman, posing with her sister, Blanche (Cole) Blacka. She was a member of the Dunbar Baptist Church.

Flora outlived her husband by 37 years. She died on Sept. 18, 1976, at the age of 89, on arrival at Connellsville State General Hospital. She is buried beside Harry at Mount Auburn. Her obituary in the Daily Courier noted that she outlived two daughters, one son and one grandson, and was survived by five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

[Note -- Flora's father was a cousin of Jacob Cole, who married Mary Minerd, and of Susan Cole, who married Isaac F. Minerd.]

Son Charles Minerd (1906-1943), also nicknamed "Pomp," was born in 1906 in Dunbar. He was a longtime machinist in and around Dunbar.

When Charles was age 23, he was listed in the 1930 federal census, living in the home of his aunt Alice (Minerd) Ellis Doughty in Dunbar, along with her children and a cousin. His occupation was listed as "driller" in a local "stone quarry."

Charles later married Mary Lunch ( ? - ? ) and they made their home on Bryson Hill in Dunbar.

In March 1933, while working at the New Castle Lime & Stone Company plant in Dunbar, Charles was injured in a freak accident. Said the Connellsville Daily Courier, "Mr. Minerd was working around the air compressor and came in contact with the belt which began turning him over the axle of the machine. A fellow workman heard his call for help and extricated him." While his injuries were not considered serious, the Courier said, "they are quite painful as his face and arms and other parts of his body are badly bruised and lacerated."

Charles later suffered "an extended illness," said the Courier, and it may have been caused by the 1933 injuries. He passed away "of complications" at age 37 on Dec. 1, 1943. He rests near his parents in the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Dunbar.

Daughter Virginia Minerd (1913- ? ) married her first husband, Reuben G. Morey (1905-1970), the son of George and Susan (Metz) Morey. The couple was wed in Washington, Washington County, PA on Aug. 30, 1933.

At the time of marriage, they both lived in Steubenville, OH, where Reuben was a farmer.

The Moreys lived in the Dunbar area, Laurel Hill and at West Leisenring, Fayette County. Reuben was a longtime coal miner and member of the Connellsville Church of the Brethren.

The Aug. 31, 1937 edition of the Connellsville Daily Courier reported that "Mrs. Virginia Morey of Dunbar spent Sunday visiting Kathleen Matthews." Then again the following winter, on Feb. 15, 1938, the Daily Courier said that "Mrs. Morey and [her sister] Nancy Minerd of Dunbar are visiting at the home of Mrs. J.A. Matthews."

Nancy and her mother in law Susan Morey were active in the Women's Work Group of the Church of the Brethren in Dunbar. In September 1938, Susan hosted a chicken dinner in her home for 23 guests, at which Virginia assisted in preparing. The social event was covered in the local newspaper.

On Nov. 11, 1939, Reuben deserted Virginia, and remained away permanently. Virginia filed for a legal separation in Fayette County Court in June 1946. Four months later, in October 1946, the divorce was granted.

Reuben went on to marry again, to Marie Berg. They resided along Route 40 (National Highway) west of Uniontown. Reuben died at the age of 65 on May 14, 1970.

Virginia later married Charles Haggard. In September 1976, at the death of her mother, Virginia resided in Valley Station, KY.

With good paying employment scarce during the Great Depression, noted the Connellsville Daily Courier, Harry joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in about 1935.

Later, he married Mildred Baker (1920-2004), daughter of Freeman and Martha (Richter) Baker of Bullskin Township, near Connellsville. Harry's father in law, a coal miner and masonry laborer, was a baseball player early in life, once managing the Breakneck squad.

The Minerds resided for more than four decades in Breakneck in Bullskin Township, near Connellsville, and were members of the Breakneck Church of God.

They had three children: Harry Richard Minerd, Gerald "Mike" Minerd and Marlene Guadiello.

In late October 1945, they hosted a double birthday party for daughter Marlene Kay and son Gerald. Reported the Connellsville Daily Courier, "Games were played and lunch was served by Mrs. Minerd. Favors were tiny baskets filled with candy. The honorees were the recipients of many lovely gifts."

Mildred outlived her husband by more than a quarter of a century, making her home in Connellsville. She was a member of the Breakneck Church of God and, said the Greensburg Tribune Review, "was a loving mother and grandmother. She enjoyed cooking and sewing and spending time with her family." She died at Sunshine Estate Personal Care Home at the age of 83 on Feb. 8, 2004, and was laid to rest in Mount Olive Cemetery in Bullskin Township.

Son Gerald "Mike" Minerd wed Phyllis "Bonnie" Hampshire, the daughter of John and Mae (Shelley) Hampshire. They have two children -- Michael and Colleen.

Daughter Marlene Minerd married Michael Guadiello. Their two children are Michele and Michael.

Her first husband was John Brown ( ? - ? ). They had one son, Terry Brown, born in 1937. They lived in Connellsville. Later, after the Browns divorced, John made his home after that in Vacaville, CA.

Nancy married her second husband Patrick Pierelli ( ? - ? ). They maintained a home in Buena Park, CA. Later, she moved to Valley Station, KY to live with her sister Virginia Haggard. Nancy died in Virginia's home at the age of 52 on Sept. 17, 1972.

Son Terry Brown (1937-1967) married Marci (?). They had three children -- Michael Brown, David Brown and Jon Brown. Tragedy rocked the family in early November 1967 when Terry, age 30, was killed in an automobile accident in Anderson, CA. News of the accident was published in the hometown newspaper, the Connellsville Daily Courier.

Daughter Mary Minerd (1923- ? ) married John F. Holub and George Roebuck. She was a member of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Dunbar Volunteer Fire Company, the Franklin Quilters of Dunbar and the Franklin United Methodist Church.

Her second husband, George Roebuck, was a machine attendant at Anchor Cap in Connellsville.

Obituary of Charles Minerd courtesy of the Dunbar Historical Society