Harry
Oliver Minerd Sr.
(1893-1938)
Harry
Oliver Minerd Sr. was born on April 12, 1893 at Bridgeport near Mt.
Pleasant, Westmoreland County, PA, the son of Charles
M. and Sabina (Pierce) Minerd.
Seen at right, Harry stands with his younger brother Ralph.
Harry
and his brothers Will and Ralph were
baseball players in the coal mining company leagues around Mt. Pleasant. He is
known to have played for the Buckeye team in 1910. Box scores of some of his
games were published in the Connellsville (PA) Daily Courier and are
preserved today in the Minerd Minard Miner Minor Archives.
Harry married Mazie Rumbaugh (1893-1952), a native of Mt. Pleasant. They had two children, Catherine Myers and Harry Oliver Minerd Jr. They also adopted two children -- Gladys Kelley and Frank Brown.
Daughter
Catherine is seen at left.
In 1916, the Minerds resided at Keister, near Uniontown, Fayette County. That year, they became aware that an infant girl, Gladys Kelley, daughter of Louis and Gladys Kelley, needed foster care. They took in the baby and then sued to adopt the baby, which was approved by the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas on Oct. 27, 1916. The fate of the little girl is unknown, though it's suspected that she died young.
Harry registered for the World War I military draft in 1918, and stated his occupation as track layer for the Lincoln Coal and Coke Company of Waltersburg, Fayette County.
The Minerds are known to have resided in Van Meter, Rostraver Township, Westmoreland County, circa 1927 when son Harry was born.
Harry was a laborer for the Pittsburgh Coal
Company at its Banning Mine. The interior of the underground mine, showing
innovative coal cutting technology of the era, is seen here in a rare
photograph. (The image was published in a penny postcard that was printed in
Leipzig, Germany.) Later, the Minerds resided at Bridgeport, where Harry worked
at another local mine.
At age 45, Harry died at Connellsville State Hospital on Oct. 21, 1938. He was buried at Greenlick Cemetery. Pallbearers were George Smith, Charles Rhome, Edward Smitley, Emory Jones, Kenneth Seaman and Robert Hare.
Mazie spent 14 years as a widow. She died in 1952, and is buried beside her husband.
Son Harry Jr. (1927-1982) was a mill worker. He married at least twice. His first wife was Geraldine Hendricks. They divorced due to "indignities" in December 1958 by decree of the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas. He married 33-year-old widow Margaret Louise (Jamieson) Drumm, the daughter of Charles McCormick and Mabel (Stillwagon) Jamieson, in 1959. She was a factory worker in Connellsville. Harry is believed to have died in Sacramento, CA on June 6, 1982, at the age of 55.
Copyright © 2001, 2005 Mark A. Miner