Howard J. Minard Sr.
(1850-1904)
Howard J. Minard Sr. was born on July 7, 1850 (or 1853) near Wharton Furnace, Fayette County, PA, the son of Daniel Minerd. His mother may have been either Susan (Stettman) Minerd or Drusilla (Ridenour) Minerd. He is one of many cousins in the extended Minerd- Minard- Miner- Minor family to lose his life in a railroad-related accident.
Not sufficiently educated to read or write, Howard also spelled his name "Minerd," "Miner" and Minor." In 1860, when the census was taken, Howard was a 10-year-old. The census shows him living with his father and [step?] mother and six brothers and sisters near Farmington, Fayette County, where his father worked as a day laborer.
Howard is listed in the 1870 census, residing with his widowed mother and several siblings, at what is now Normalville, Fayette County. He was listed as age 16 though he more likely was age 20.
Within a year or two, evidence suggests that Howard either married, or had a significant relationship with, Kate Camel (Campbell). In about 1872, in Cincinnati, she bore a son, Howard Campbell. Whether Kate died, or the marriage fell apart, is unknown. The boy carried the name Campbell during childhood, but later took his father's rightful surname and thereafter was known as "Howard C. Miner."
By 1880, if not earlier, Howard was living in his mother's household, this time in Connellsville, Fayette County. His occupation was given as "coal miner" and his age as 28. Also residing in the home were his eight-year-old son Howard; brother Stewart Minerd, also a coal miner; and boarders Peter Grim, Franklin Fuller and Ezakiah Fuller.
He may be the same "Howard Miner" described cryptically in the Connellsville (PA) Courier of April 8, 1881, reporting gossip about doings in the coal town of Youngstown, near Uniontown, Fayette County: "Howard Miner has gone to the gold country of California, but we suspect that he will get off at Moore's station." Moore's Station is believed to have been a stop along the Pittsburgh & Connellsville Railroad in the coal country of nearby Westmoreland County.
Sometime in the 1880s, Howard moved to Braddock, the booming industrial heart of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County. He worked there as a laborer, possibly at Andrew Carnegie's famed, sprawling Edgar Thomson Works. Nicknamed "E.T.," the plant featured "immense, fiery Bessemer furnaces" that was "the nation's leading rail mill because of its advanced machines and methods," writes William Serrin in his book, Homestead: The Glory and Tragedy of an American Steel Town. (He is not the same Howard Minard, married to Katie Ebner, who also resided in Braddock in the late 1800s.)
Laborers in Pittsburgh's dirty, smoky steel mills, sketched
and published in 1880 in Harper's Monthly Magazine
On Nov. 12, 1890, at Rankin Station near Braddock, Howard married Margaret McLaughlin (1861-1927), by the hand of John Glunt, a justice of the peace. Howard was age 40 at the time (though he swore on his marriage license that he was 37), while Margaret was 28. She was a native of Butler County, PA, and resided in Pittsburgh. Margaret had been married once before, to Thomas J. Cramer (also spelled "Kramer"), and was divorced by decree of the Butler County Court of Common Pleas on Sept. 23, 1886. On the application, Howard signed his name with an "X." He stated that he had not been married before, and that he had been born in Fayette County.
Howard and Margaret had four children -- Alice Haley, Joseph David Minard Sr., Elizabeth "Lizzie" Minard and Arcilia Minard. Each of their names were inscribed in the "Births" page of the family Bible. Alice was born in Braddock, while Joseph and Arcilia were born in Hunker.
Sadly, Arcilia suffered from stomach problems. After enduring this virtually since birth, she died at the tender age of 4 months, 27 days, on Sept. 29, 1898, and her name was the first to be inscribed on the "Deaths" page of the Bible. She also was the first of the family to be laid to rest in the cemetery at Tarr's Station, today known as the Mount Lebanon Cemetery (also Tarrs Cemetery) in East Hempfield Twp., Westmoreland County. In 1899, Howard purchased Lot 31, the 10-foot-wide space on the west side of the cemetery where Arcilia had been buried the year before. Its location is not far over the hill from where the shed is today. His purchase price was $31.
Also in 1898, during the Philippine Insurrection, son Howard enlisted in the US Army, on May 12. He served in the 10th PA Infantry, and was wounded in action during the Battle of Malate in July of that year. He survived the wound, was discharged in October, and returned home to Western Pennsylvania.
Pages from Howard and Maggie Minard's family Bible
When the federal census was taken in June 1900, the Minards were residing in Connellsville, Fayette County. They then migrated to Hunker, Westmoreland County, PA, where coal mines and coke ovens provided plentiful jobs. Their home was along the Hunker/Mount Pleasant Road.
Howard is mentioned in a typed but unpublished history of Hunker, a town laid out on the farm of Frederick Hunker. In the year 1900, he was among the occupants of 18 homes in this new community. All three of their children are named as students of the Hunker School, taught by Mary Colestock.
On Jan. 15, 1894, the year their son Joe was born, Howard and Maggie purchased a five acre tract of land in Hunker from Henry A. Klingensmith. It was along the public road leading from Hunker to the Mount Pleasant Road, and adjacent to land of the Keystone Coal company. During the ensuing years, they erected a frame dwelling house and frame barn on the property. The following year, they bought a 1.5 acre tract along the same road from Peter M. and Elizabeth Highberger.
On Oct. 5, 1903, the Minards added to their holdings when they signed a deed to buy 1.5 acres of land in Hunker for $60. The seller was Angelo Zanotti. The tract was along the "public road leading from Hunker to the Mount Pleasant Road" and adjacent to properties of Amos C. Ritenour and Henry Beeson. Howard signed the deed with an "X" and Maggie with her written signature. The deed refers to Howard as "Howard J. Miner." They then turned around and sold the five-acre tract to Andrew Caccia for $600.
Tragedy struck
just five months later, on Nov. 28, 1904, when Howard was killed
by a moving railroad locomotive. He was employed as a laborer at a local stone quarry.
"Being cold," said the Connellsville Daily Courier:
... he started across the track to a brick yard to get warm. Just as he reached the track local freight came rapidly around the curve. Minerd was paralyzed with fear. He stood stalk still on the track until the engine struck him.
The Courier described his death as "instantaneous," and his injuries as a broken neck, crushed arm and severed legs, with the engine
wheels running over his breast. Two maps of Hunker shown below, one old and the other one modern, display the approximate location of where Howard met his untimely end.
The Minard homestead would be the house just below the L in Belson Run.
Maps of the railroad curve where Howard was killed. At left, the 1902 map has
a dot marking the location of their home, just below the "L" in Belson
Run.
At right, the blue dot in the 1977 is the spot where Howard was struck.
Howard was only age 54 at the time of his death. His mangled remains, said the Greensburg Daily Tribune, "were taken to Scottdale to Murphy & Company and prepared for burial." Records of Murphy & Company (today the Galone Caruso Funeral Home) show that his body was shipped to the Tarr's Cemetery the next day, on the 3:28 p.m. train, for burial. He was dressed in a black suit, with the word "Father" engraved on his casket. Presumably he rests beside his infant daughter Arcilia. His grave is not marked, and may never have been.
The grieving Maggie received many condolences and notes from relatives and friends. She saved two especially kind notes in her family Bible. One letter was from an attorney in Butler, Joseph B. Bredin. He wrote the following to Maggie, whom he addressed warmly as "Mag:"
John was in today & told me of your sad loss. I feel very sorry for you and although I did not know Mr. Minor well, like I did know you, I've always felt a cousinly affection from the days you used to come to see me - long, long ago - I don't know what to say in a berevement [sic] like this. It's beyond words, but i wish you to know I'm very, very sorry for you under this affliction.
The other
letter was from a now-unknown friend, and is seen at right. The friend likely
was from church circles, is dated Dec. 1,
1904, from Scottdale, PA, and reads:
I have just learned the sad news of Brother Minard death and would hav com to his funeral but under the present curcumstance could not. You and family hav our heartfelt sympathy in your sore bereavement. Let us think of him as one of the faithful who will hear the master say Well don thou good and faithful servant. Enter through into the Joy of thy Lord ... Our loss is his gain. May God help you to bear up under this vail of sorrow...
Maggie, devastated, worked with neighbor Amos C. Ritenour to settle her husband's estate. When all debts were paid, and parts of her land sold, Maggie received $17.88 in cash, and each of three children received $11.92.
As a widow, Maggie lived on their Hunker property the rest of her life, and
never remarried. She kept a gun at home to scare off intruders. Her son Joseph
stayed with her at home and looked after her interests. The family spelled
the name "Minard" from that time onward, to today.
Maggie passed away at the age of 66 on June 29, 1927, at her home near Hunker. She was laid to rest in the Tarr Cemetery, presumably beside her husband, who had died some 23 years previously. The funeral was conducted by the Rev. Schilling of New Salem, near Uniontown, Fayette County. Her grave was never marked.
At the time of Maggie's death, her son Joseph and daughter Elizabeth were still residing at home. The Daily Courier reported that she was survived by seven grandchildren, as well as one brother, David McLaughlin, of Delphos, Allen County, OH.
Daughter Alice (1891- ? ) was born in Braddock. She married John Joseph Haley (1886- ? ), the son of John and Harriet Haley, and a native of McKeesport, Allegheny County. The wedding took place on Christmas Eve 1912. He was an electrician, residing at New Stanton. After marriage, they lived in Hunker. Circa 1927, they lived at Scottdale. They had five children -- Lucille Haley, Evelyn Haley, Paul Haley, Betty Haley and Helen Marie Haley.
Bird's eye view of Hunker, turn of the 20th century
Son Joseph
(1894-1970), seen here, stood 5 feet, 7 inches tall, and had brown eyes,
black hair and a dark complexion. He was born in Hunker on Nov. 6, 1896. As a young man, he worked as a coal
cutter.
Later, during World War I, he served as a US Army medic in an evacuation
hospital in France, and was discharged at Camp Dix, NJ on July 22, 1919. At age
34, on April 11, 1931, he married nurse Ruth Irene Klingensmith (1906-1985) in a ceremony
at Jeannette,
Westmoreland County. She was the daughter of E.J. and Sarah (Bush) Klingensmith.
They resided at Hunker,
Westmoreland County, and their children were Alice Louise Kintigh, Joseph David
Minard Jr., and Carol Ann McGuffey. Joseph Sr. passed away on May 11, 1970. Ruth
died the day after Thanksgiving 1985. They are buried together at the Mt.
Lebanon Cemetery (also known as Tarrs Cemetery) in East Hempfield Twp.
Handwritten notes in the family papers, passed down in the generations, state
that Joseph was related to Howard and George Miner of Scottdale, Westmoreland
County, and Ernest Minerd of Youngwood,
Westmoreland County. A descendant recalls often visiting "Aunt Betsy,"
the widow of Joseph's half brother, Howard
C. Miner, in her Scottdale home.
Daughter Elizabeth (1896- ? ) was born in Hunker on Oct. 10, 1896. At the age of 16, on July 1, 1912, she married 19-year-old Carl W. Long (1893 - ? ), the son of J.F.V. and Pearl Long. He was a native of Youngwood, and worked as a barber. Because they were so young, both Elizabeth and Carl had to obtain the consents of their parents for the marriage to take place. The Longs resided in Youngwood. They separated on Nov. 16, 1924, with divorce court hearings conducted in Westmoreland County in February 1926. The news of the divorce was published in a local newspaper, under the semi-comical headline, "Seven Persons File Divorce Libels Here; Mismated County Couples Seek Decrees From Courts." After her divorce, she moved into the household of her brother Joseph, where she was enumerated on the federal census of 1930. Later, she married John Oliver. More of her life will be featured here when learned.
Family graves at Mt. Lebanon Cemetery in Tarrs, PA
Copyright © 2002, 2005-2006 Mark A. Miner