Bio-Minerd, Levi Springer

Levi "Springer" Minerd was born in May 1853 in Farmington, Fayette County, PA, the son of Samuel and Rebecca (Smalley) Minerd. He was a pioneer settler and coal miner of Kansas.

Springer was named for Levi Springer, "one of the most prominent citizens of the community of his day," said the 1913 book, History of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, authored by James Hadden. The elder Springer may have been a good friend, or customer, of our Springer's parents.

In the late 1870s, Springer purchased a lot of ground in Fountain Mills, Fayette County, a community now known as Everson. When he was unable to pay his debt obligations in 1882, the county commissioners sold the property to Isaac Messmore.

The federal census of 1880 shows that Springer resided with his parents in West Newton, Westmoreland County, PA, where he labored as a coal miner.

Just four years later, in 1886, when Springer was age 33, he and his parents and siblings ventured westward to Kansas, leaving their longtime homes, and settling in Pittsburg, Crawford County.

Trained in the rugged coal mines of Western Pennsylvania, Springer and his brothers are said to have "removed the first coal by using a slope mine, in what is now Lincoln Park in Pittsburg..." The photographic postcard seen here shows a deep coal mine in Pittsburg in the early 1900s.

According to a family memoir, Springer invented a gate "to be used in the mines, that would open and close, as the loaded coal cars was pulled into and out of the slope mines, with mule teams." His patent application, filed on March 14, 1895, when he was living at Minden Mines, Barton County, MO. In his introduction, he wrote:

My invention relates to mine-doors, and more particularly to doors which open both toward and from the operator. The object of my invention is to produce mine-doors which are normally held closed by a yielding pressure, so that while currents of air are successfully intercepted, cut off, or confined to their proper sphere, yet at the same time the doors will be closed automatically after the passage of a car or after the force of an explosion is spent, and will also open independently of each other. A further object is to produce doors of the character referred to, which are simple, strong, durable and inexpensive of construction

Springer's patent for a mine-door, filed on March 14, 1895, and approved on Christmas Eve 1895, when he was living in Minden Mines. Click for the full text of the U.S. Patent Office's approved summary.

In November 1897, Springer married Mary Marie Wolfe (1877-1923). She was a native of France or Germany, born in March 1878, and came to the United States as an infant. The wedding took place in Barton County, MO.

Springer worked as a coal inspector in Baker Township in 1900. When the federal census was taken in 1920, the Minerds made their home in Lincoln Township, Crawford County. Springer and their sons all were listed as coal mine laborers. By 1924, they had moved to Howard, Elk County, KS. A rare old postcard photograph view of the Main Street of Howard is seen here, postmarked 1906.

Springer continued his interest as an inventor, and in 1924, when they resided in Howard, Elk County, KS, he filed an application for a patent for a new type of hay stacking device. A sketch is seen here, from an elevation perspective. The patent was approved on Jan. 12, 1926. In his narrative, he wrote: An object of the invention resides in providing a hay stacker or like character of device, wherein the wheeled platform carries a vertically extending standard... Another object of the invention resides in providing a wheel supported platform, on which is mounted a drum..." Click here for the full text of the patent summary as approved by the U.S. Patent Office.

At some point, they moved to Croweburg, a tiny coal mining community north of Pittsburg. It's likely that Springer worked at one of the the Crow Coal Company mines, as Mine 16 was less than half a mile from the Minerd homeplace. Springer may have been a coal mine boss as his land holdings were more than most other miners in the area. The tract remained in the family until 1964, when their heirs sold it to Joe and Elizabeth Burnick for a token dollar.

They are buried at the Mt. Olive Cemetery in Pittsburg, in the Wolfe family plot.