Laura Jane 'Jennie'
(Minerd) Williams
(1874-1968)
Laura
Jane 'Jennie' Minerd was born in 1874 at Maple Summit, Fayette County, PA,
the daughter of Martha Emma (Minerd) Gorsuch.
She was the first known woman in our family to teach school in Fayette County,
PA.
Jennie was raised by her grandparents, Charles and Adaline (Harbaugh) Minerd. It's thought that Jennie's father was C. Walter Shipley. Her parents never married, and her mother sued the alleged father for support the same year as Jennie's birth, a fact reported in the Sept. 17, 1874 Uniontown Genius of Liberty.
Education was very important in the family during
Jennie's growing-up years. Her grandfather Charles Minerd and uncles Lawson
Minerd and John K. Hall all served
on local school boards during that period in her life. Jennie herself became a teacher
and in 1892, at age 18, taught at the Egypt School in Stewart Township, near
Ohiopyle, Fayette County.
Jennie married Charles Jacob Williams, who was a carpenter and contractor, and may have had his own store in Allenport, Washington County, PA.
The Williamses had 11 children -- Grace Williams, Mabel Williams, Estella Florence Robinette-Hagerty-Dixon, Laura Ruth Moist, Charles Henry Williams, Marella Irene Carter, John Alvah Williams, Isabella Williams, William Edward Williams, Andrew Norris Williams and a baby son who died in infancy.
As an indication of the tragically low survival rate of infants of that era, young daughters Grace and Mabel died of diphtheria, and daughter Isabella died of scarlet fever.
The photo seen here is of Jennie with
baby Isabella on her lap
with son John and daughter Marella.
Charles stands in the background at right, barely visible.
Jennie was raised with her younger first cousin, Ernest E. Minerd, who also had been born to a single mother. Jennie and Ernest were close and were more like sister and brother.
Jennie died in 1968. When more becomes known about Jennie and Charles' adult years, it will be added to this biography.
In 1997, when our Minerd-Miner-Minor Reunion honored more than 220 educators in the family, Jennie was recognized in an article in the Greensburg Tribune-Review and also in our special reunion booklet, A Sense of Wonder.
Copyright © 2000, 2003 Mark A. Miner