James
'William' Minerd
(1880-1966)
James
'William' Minerd was born on July 30, 1880 at
Lemont Furnace, Fayette County, PA, the son of William
and Sarah Elizabeth (Whoolery) Minerd. A
coal miner and steelworker, he is seen here with his second wife, Lillie. Sadly,
his long life was filled with a series of great heartache -- losing a
young wife, five children and an adult grandson in unusual, tragic ways.
On
Nov. 4, 1899, at the age of 19, William married 16-year-old Lizzie Bennington
(1883-1899). She was the daughter
of Chauncey and Mollie Bennington of Hopwood, Fayette County.
But after just six weeks of marriage, and shortly after giving birth to a daughter Bessie, tragedy struck the young family. Lizzie died on Dec. 13, 1899 in the wee hours of a Sunday morning. The details are lost to history. She was buried at Hopwood Cemetery, with her grave marker seen at right. (The grave was a stopping point on a tour of the cemetery during the 2005 Minerd-Minard-Miner-Minor Reunion.)
Devastated over the loss of his wife, the grief-stricken William returned to his parents' home and worked as a coal miner at Brownfield. The tragedy compounded when baby daughter Bessie became sick and died at the tender age of eight months at Brownfield, of "c. infantum."
After
five years as a childless widower, William married Lillie Fordyce on Aug. 3,
1903. She was a native of Markleysburg, Fayette County, and the daughter of
David and Abbie Fordyce.
The Minerds had nine children -- John
"Jack" Minerd, Clara Atkinson, Irene
Rosenthal, Elsie Gnat, Dorothy Black, Edith Minerd, Lawrence Minerd, Arthur
Minerd and
Virginia Minerd. The young parents are seen here, at left, with their four
eldest children. (Note the barely visible image of the baby seated on Lillie's
lap.)
They may also have had a infant son who died in childbirth in November 1911, and a daughter, Edith Minerd, who died in April 1913 at age 14 months. The son's remains were laid to rest at Park Place Cemetery in Uniontown. Daughter Virginia died at birth three days before Christmas 1918, and was buried at Hopwood. Their funerals were handled by the Vance Funeral Home of Smithfield. Seen at right is the etched stone marking the graves of three of their children at Hopwood.
William registered for the World War I military draft in 1918, and stated his occupation as coal miner for Scott and Brownfield at Smithfield.
The Minerds lived at Smithfield, Fayette County, PA, until about 1927. That year, following the death of William's mother, they moved to the city of Warren, Trumbull County, OH, where industrial jobs were much more plentiful, and where the remained for the rest of their lives.
Warren, OH in a rare old
bird's eye view
The Minerds' heartache compounded in Warren. In October 1929, 13-year-old son Arthur was struck and killed by an automobile while riding his bicycle with friends. The Western Reserve Democrat reported that:
The great danger to children riding bicycles on public highways was brought very forcibly to the attention of officers of Warren … when Arthur Minerd … was almost instantly killed…. The bicycle on which the boy was riding was struck by a car…. The boy was one of three in a group riding bicycles, and dashed across the highway in front of the car when summoned by one of his companions. He was tossed against the curb, striking his head on the edge of the stone, fracturing his skull…. He was a student in the East Market St. school and was well liked by his teachers and classmates.
Seen
here, son Lawrence worked as a truck driver for the Olympia-Oakford
Amusement Park in McKeesport, PA, near Pittsburgh. He often wrote letters home to his
sister Irene. Later, he moved back to Warren, driving a truck for the Hess
Modern Market. Tragedy
struck again over the Fourth of July holiday in 1935, when Lawrence went
swimming with friends. Said a Warren
newspaper:
[He] drowned in Mosquito creek near the Youngstown road bridge.... Witnesses said Minerd swam across the creek shortly after 8 p.m. and was about half way back across the 25 yard stretch when he apparently was overtaken by cramps. He sank in midstream and his body was removed from the water an hour later by the Warren fire department. He had crossed to the east side of the stream and had shouted to companions just before he plunged into the water on the fatal trip. "Wait 'til I rest a minute and I'll come over," he told them.
His
body was brought back to Hopwood for burial beside his brother Arthur.
Grandson and namesake James William Minerd served as a private in the U.S. Army. He was assigned to Company B of the 34th Infantry Regiment, part of the 24th Infantry Division. When the Korean War broke out, in late June 1950, James' unit, was shipped out to South Korea. Tragically, less than a month later, on July 20, 1950, James was killed in action, during the fallback to the Pusan perimeter. A history of the fighting said that at Taejon, the North Korean Peoples Army "encircled, overran, and utterly shattered the American infantry...." Listed first in the local newspaper as missing, James finally was reported as killed in action. The 19-year-old soldier's remains were sent home for burial in the Minerd plot at Hopwood. An article in the Warren newspaper said he was the "first Trumbull County soldier to be reported missing in action in the fighting in Korea." Posthumously, he was awarded a Purple Heart.
Despite the many family heartaches, William continued his longtime work as a laborer for Republic Steel Corporation in Youngstown. He finally retired in 1953, at the age of 73.
Republic Steel's Youngstown plant
Ten years after William retired, in 1963, the Minerds celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. To celebrate, an open house was held at the home of their daughter, Dorothy Black.
William
and Lillie lived their remaining years on Henn Hyde Road in Warren.
William passed away at the age of 86 at the Milton Manor Nursing Home on March 30, 1966.
Lillie
outlived him by a little more than two years. She died on July 16, 1968, at the
age of 85.
They are buried together for eternity in Hopwood , in the same plot as their fallen children and grandson, and in the same cemetery as parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.
Son John (1904-1972) was married to Margaret Mason, Margaret Smith and Stella Kozinski. He moved from Warren to Johnston, near Cortland, OH in 1952. He was employed by Burbank Van & Storage for 30 years, retiring in 1963. His wife Stella "worked for 36 years in production at the General Electric Ohio Lamp Division, retiring in 1978." In addition to son James, who was killed at war, John's children were Roy E. Minerd, Kenneth E. Minerd and Catherine Bassin. Said a newspaper, Roy E. Minerd "served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II and retired in 1984 from the U.S. Postal Service, Niles office, after working 30 years."
John Minerd, Clara Atkinson, Irene Rosenthal
Daughter Clara (1906-1950) married George Atkinson, a truck driver. They resided in Canton, OH, where she "was a member of the First Christian Church in Canton and the Royal Neighbors of America," said a newspaper. They had no children, but raised a niece Arlene and a nephew Robert in their home. Clara died "of an extended illness" at age 44.
Daughter Irene (1909-1994) married William E. Rosenthal (1900-1972) and had one son, William J. Rosenthal. They resided in Warren. Irene "was a 50-year member of the Royal Neighbors of America," said the Warren Tribune.
Daughter Elsie (1920-1999) married Bernard Gnat (1918-1998). Said a Warren newspaper, he "retired in 1985 as a welder at ITT Grinnell, where he had worked 23 years, and previously worked at Packard Electric... [He] served in the Army as a first lieutenant during World War II, where he received the Air Medal with three Oak leaf clusters..."
In
2003, a Korean War Memorial, dedicated to 119 casualties from Trumbull, Mahoning
and Columbiana Counties, was dedicated in their memory. The name of James W.
Minerd is among those engraved on the impressive structure. The memorial is
located in Veterans Park in Wickliffe Circle in Austintown, on the west side of
Youngstown, OH, and was funded by donations, selling bricks and fundraising by
the Korean War Veterans Association, Chapter 137.
Copyright © 2000-2006 Mark A. Miner