Ralph
Charles Minerd Sr.
(1894-1984)
Ralph
Charles Minerd was
born in 1894 in Bridgeport, near Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland County, PA, the son of
Charles Marion and Sabina (Pierce) Minerd. His and his family's lives was greatly influenced
by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
At a young age, Ralph suffered a freak injury when he "had his face badly burned while lighting a firecracker," reported the Connellsville (PA) Daily Courier on July 9, 1906. The family lived at Bridgeport at the time.
On June 27, 1913, at the age of 19, Ralph married 19-year-old Violet May Summy (1894-1973), the daughter of Ezra Summy. They eloped to Cumberland, Allegany County, MD, where the wedding ceremony was performed.
The Minerds' seven children were Alice "Marie" Plannett-Price, Dorothy Mae Podraza, Pauline Minerd, Betty Irene Hutter, Charles Ralph Minerd Jr., Robert Ezra Minerd and James Allen Minerd. Sadly, daughter Pauline died in infancy in January, 1919, when the family lived in Garfield, near Pittsburgh, PA.
Ralph worked as a tipple man at coal mines at Buckeye (1914), Garfield (1919), Belltown (1927), Bolivar, Banning and Bobtown in Western Pennsylvania. They also lived at Jennerstown (1923, where he was a policeman), Jenners Cross Roads, Mt. Pleasant and Norvelt, PA.
At Belltown, Ralph played baseball for the company team, and was scouted by the Pittsburgh Pirates. His brothers William Mullen Minerd and Harry Oliver Minerd Sr. also were talented baseball players for local coal mine company teams.
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| Ralph, seated, center, with hands together, and fellow players on a coal mine baseball team, likely the Belltown club |
At Mt. Pleasant, in the late 1920s,
the Minerds' house was
seriously damaged in a windstorm. In
the 1930s, they were among the first 50 families to be accepted to live at
"Westmoreland Homesteads," later named "Norvelt" in honor of
the town's political sponsor, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The Minerd
house is seen here. In this house, sons Robert and James were
baptized by their uncle, Rev. William M.
Minerd.
To see other early Norvelt photos, from the Library of Congress, click here.
The town was created and financed by the federal government, during the Depression, a pioneering effort to provide private home ownership for unemployed families. Violet was a member of the Norvelt Women's Club, which invited Mrs. Roosevelt to attend community fairs and building dedications.
On
May 21, 1937, the First Lady indeed paid a call. She drove her own car, and
later mentioned the visit in her popular coast-to-coast newspaper column,
"My Day." The Connellsville Daily Courier said that
"Mrs. Henry Morgenthau, wife of the Secretary of the Treasury, sat with
Mrs. Roosevelt in the front seat of the sedan when the party went
through..." Documents showing Mrs. Roosevelt's personal
interest in Norvelt are in our family archive, provided by the FDR Presidential Library in Hyde Park, NY.
Ralph and Violet celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on June 27, 1938 with a supper party at their home in Westmoreland Homesteads. Said the Daily Courier: "A large cake, topped with a bride and groom, formed the centerpiece on the table and the rooms were profusely decorated in garden flowers." Attending were Mr. and Mrs. James Ray and son Gaylord of Bellaire, Ohio, Rev. and Mrs. William Minerd and Mr. and Mrs. Gearhart of Somerset; Mrs. A. Fenton and daughters Mary and Ruth of Pleasant Unity; Mrs. and Mrs. Ezra Summy, James Summy, Francis Podraza and Mr. and Mrs. Harry Foust and son, Mount Pleasant, together with the six children of the Minerds."
The Minerds later moved to a home on Park Avenue in Mt. Pleasant, where they resided during their later years.
Violet died on March 5, 1973. She was 79 years of age.
Ralph outlived his wife by 11 years. He died in Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, FL on Dec. 31, 1984. They are buried together at Mt. Joy Cemetery, Mount Pleasant.
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| The Minerds' well-tended grave at Mt. Joy Cemetery, Mount Pleasant |
Daughter Alice "Marie" Minerd (1914- ? ) was born at Buckeye. She married James Planett on Feb. 4, 1934, at Connellsville, Fayette County, PA. They had one daughter, Penny Planett. Marie later married Robert Price, and resided in Cockneyville, near Baltimore, MD. Sadly, daughter Penny passed away at a young age in 1973.
Daughter Dorothy
Minerd (1917-2006) married Francis
Joseph Podraza (1914-1986), seen at right. Their wedding took place in
Unity Twp., Westmoreland County, on Oct. 16, 1937. They first resided in Mt. Pleasant and Scottdale,
Westmoreland County, where their three children were born - Eugene Francis
Podraza, Rosemary Wadlinger and Arlene Stover. When the vehicle she was driving
was struck by a drunk driver, which caused her to be wheelchair bound, she
refused to give in to the pain and inconvenience. The family moved to Levittown,
Bucks County, PA, where Francis obtained employment at U.S. Steel Corporation's
Fairless Works. (Dorothy's brother Jim also labored at the Fairless Works.) Upon arriving in Levittown in 1954, there were dirt roads and
telephone party lines. The family attended Faith Reformed Church. Francis
was ill for many years, and passed away in 1986. Dorothy outlived him by two
decades. In 2000 and 2002, she attended the national Minerd-Miner-Minor Reunions
at Kingwood, Somerset County, PA, a mile from where her great-grandfather, Eli
Minerd, had been born in 1831. Dorothy passed away at age 89 on July 3,
2006. A memorial service was held two and a half months later, on Sept. 17,
2006, at the church where she had been a longtime member.
Daughter
Betty Minerd married Edison J. Hutter on Aug. 2, 1941, in Winchester, Frederick County,
VA. Edison was the second-generation owner of Hutter's Garage,
founded in 1930 in Pleasant Unity, Westmoreland County. After his death in 1964,
his son Edward "E.J." Hutter became owner, a service that he and his
wife Janet continue today. The Latrobe (PA) Bulletin recently featured the
business in a prominent article, seen here. In 2002, she attended a
dedication of a new state historical marker at Norvelt, on Sept. 8, 2002.
Son
Charles Ralph Minerd Jr. (1925-1982) was married to Patricia Shuey. They had two children --
Charles E. Minerd and Joyce Minerd. He worked at Robertshaw Controls in
Youngwood. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy on the U.S.S.
Mansfield, one of the first ships to arrive in Tokyo Bay. He was a member of
American Legion Post 446 of Mount Pleasant. Charles passed away at age 56, in
Monsour Medical Center, Jeannette, Westmoreland County, on Sept. 21, 1982. He
was buried near his parents in Mount Joy Cemetery. Their son Charles
"Chuck" Minerd, also nicknamed "Radar," was quoted in
newspaper articles in the late 1990s when he was president of the Westmoreland
County Chaptter of ABATE, A Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education, a national
organization of motorcycle riders protesting mandatory helmet laws.
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| Robertshaw Controls, where Robert and Charles Minerd labored |
Son
Robert E. Minerd (1927-1996) was born when the family resided in Somerset County, PA.
During World War II, he was a private first class in the 18th Infantry in
Germany. After the war's end, he married Almerta Gradler on May 27, 1948, in
Winchester, VA. The Minerds had four children -- Merti Jo Minerd, Robert E.
Minerd Jr., Diane Minerd and David Minerd. Robert worked at Westinghouse
Electric and at Robertshaw Controls in Youngwood, Westmoreland County, before
moving to Florida, where he was employed by Eastern Airlines. After Almerta's
passing in 1987, Bob married again, to Carol (?). In the 1980s, Bob and Carol
met and began a friendship with a second cousin, Penn
and Jane (Sage) Minerd of Long Island, NY, who had a winter home in the same
community in the Fort Lauderdale area. At the age of 69, Bob died on Dec. 12,
1996, at home in Dunnellon. His obituary was published in his old hometown
newspaper, the Greensburg (PA) Tribune Review.
Son
James Minerd married Margaret Cowan on Aug. 11, 1950, in Cumberland, MD. During the
Korean War, he spent three years in the 28th Division of the Pennsylvania
National Guard and two years in the U.S. Army, 5th Division. The Minerds resided
in the Philadelphia area, where he worked at the U.S. Steel Fairless Works. They
had three daughters -- Janice, Cynthia and Connie. James attended the 2005
National Minerd-Miner-Minor Reunion in Kingwood, PA. Grandson Philip Lepre, a
U.S. Army veteran of the Gulf War, was pictured and quoted in a Bucks County
Courier Times article in 1993, when he spoke with students at Walter Miller
Elementary School about his wartime experiences. James passed away in Dunnellon,
FL, on Dec. 9, 2006.
Grandson Eugene F. Podraza has been researching the extended Minerd-Miner-Minor family since 1989. He primarily has been responsible for exploring our German roots and identifying the pioneers' offspring who themselves were pioneers of Ohio, West Virginia and the Midwest. Click here to see his paper, Our German Connection. Since 1990, he and Minerd.com founder Mark A. Miner have traveled together on 16 annual late August research trips to Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Maryland and Western Pennsylvania, exploring distant branches of the extended Minerd-Miner-Minor clan. They also have done several joint research projects in the National Archives in Washington, DC.
In 2006, great-grandson Jason Aungst served in Iraq with the U.S. Marine Corps.
Copyright © 2000-2003, 2006, 2008 Mark A. Miner