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Rebecca "Jennie" (Minerd) |
Rebecca
Jane "Jennie" (Minerd) Conley Woodmency was born on March 22,
1852 at
Hexebarger, near Kingwood, Somerset County, PA, the daughter of
Charles and Adaline (Harbaugh) Minerd.
She was married twice, and was one of our first known cousins to reside in Chicago. The man seen here was her second husband.
Jennie had dark hair and grey eyes. At about age 14, she and her parents moved to a farm at nearby Nicolay, near Mill Run, Fayette County, PA.
On Oct. 25, 1874, when she was 22, Jennie married John 25-year-old Conley (1849- ? ), also spelled "Conly" and "Conelley"). John was a native of New York State, and his father an immigrant from Ireland.
John was a cooper (barrel-maker). They had a daughter (or foster daughter), Margaret G. Beutel, born in 1880 in Pennsylvania.
The Conleys first lived at Springdale, near Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA, and later moved to Chicago, Cook County, IL, when he was transferred in his work.
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| Jennie and presumably her first husband John Conley |
When the federal census was taken in 1880, they made their home in East Deer Township, Allegheny County.
The photo seen here, of a couple standing on porch steps, is thought to show John and Jennie. It's not known if this photo was taken in Pittsburgh or Chicago. The date of this photo also is unknown.
One of Jennie's cousins, Amy (Minerd) Tilbury Thorne, also settled in Chicago circa 1870, making their residence in the city's Fifth Ward.
When the census was enumerated in 1900, Jennie, John and Margaret resided together in Chicago, on Bowen Avenue. Their 25-year-old nephew, William Conly, also lived under their roof. That year, John worked as a foreman in a glue factory.
Sadly, John passed away sometime during the years 1900-1910. Unfortunately, nothing is known about the date or cause, nor where he is buried.
Jennie's
whereabouts in 1900 are not yet known, although it's presumed she lived in
Chicago. A search for her in the federal census of that year has been
unsuccessful to date.
The census of 1910 shows Jennie living on Prairie Avenue in Chicago with her married foster daughter Margaret Beutel and her husband Joseph, a police sergeant, and their three children.
During the 1910s, Jennie married widower John L. Woodmency (1859-1929), the son of David and Casinda (Morrison) Woodmancy. He was an old friend from Fayette County who had lived in Iowa since he was age 21, and was a dairy farmer. She was seven years older than he.
John had been married once before, to Ida A. (?) (1855- ? ). John and Ida made their home in Grundy Center, Palermo Township, Grundy County, IA, and had three children -- Edward F. Woodmancy (born 1875), Martha B. Woodmancy (1886) and David D. Woodmancy (1894). The 1900 census shows this family living on Second Street in Grundy Center. During the decade of the 1900s, Ida died, and the census of 1910 shows John and his son David residing together in Grundy Center, with John making a living as "buyer - live stock."
After marriage, our Jennie and John moved to his home in Iowa, in Grundy Center, Grundy County.
In 1923, either Jennie or John is believed to have taken the farming photo seen below. In the caption on the back are these words: "Archie & Paul moving upland hay." The photo was developed and printed at a studio in Hamburg, IA, and was found in the collection of Jennie's brother Lawson Minerd. The identities of Archie and Paul are unknown.
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Woodmency hay mowing operation in Iowa, 1923 |
Jennie
occasionally returned home for visits. The photo seen at left was taken
circa 1895 in the Minerd home at Nicolay, just a few years before her parents
died. She also is seen in family reunion photos in the late 1920s taken at
Confluence, Somerset County, PA.
The 1920 census of Grundy County shows the couple living on Marshal Street in Grundy Center. John's occupation that year, at the age of 65, was "stock buyer." The census-taker speller Jennie's name as "Jane" and wrote her age as 66 when in fact it was closer to 68.
On Jan. 2, 1929, John died at age 70 at Grundy Center. The news was telegraphed immediately to Jennie's sister, Sadie Luckey, in Dawson, Fayette County, PA. The telegram did not give particulars, though it was known that he had been in poor health. The Connellsville Daily Courier eulogized that "He was born and reared at Sugar Loaf, near Ohiopyle.... At the age of 21, he went West and located in Iowa where he was engaged in buying and selling stock."
Jennie outlived her second husband by eight years. She relocated to live with her widowed, 50-year-old foster daughter Margaret in St. Paul, Ramsey County, MN. In their household in the year 1930 were Margaret's five younger children -- Roberta C. Beutel, Bernard J. Beutel, Bernadette A. Beutel, Frank T. Beutel and Frances Beutel, and lodger William J. Wampler.
She
passed away on
Aug. 16, 1937, at the age of 85. She was buried at Grundy Center.
Jennie and her parents and siblings are mentioned in a lavishly illustrated, 2011 book about one of their cousins who was a Civil War veteran and lodged in her girlhood home upon his return from the army -- entitled Well At This Time: the Civil War Diaries and Army Convalescence Saga of Farmboy Ephraim Miner. The book, authored by the founder of this website, is seen at right. [More]
~ Daughter Margaret (Conley) Beutel ~
Foster daughter Margaret Conley (1880- ? ) was born in December 1880 in Pennsylvania. She married Joseph B. Beutel (1873- ? ), a native of Missouri, and they resided in Chicago at least from 1904 to 1917. They had eight known children -- Jane Beutel, Mary Beutel, Margaret Beutel, Roberta C. Beutel, Bernard J. Beutel, Bernadette A. Beutel, Frank T. Beutel and Frances Beutel.
When the federal census was taken in 1910, the Beutels made their home in Chicago, on Prairie Avenue, with Joseph working as police sergeant on the city force, and Margaret's widowed mother boarding in their home.
In 1920, the Beutels lived on Edgerton Street in St. Paul, Ramsey County, MN, with Joseph employed as a checker in a packing plant.
Copyright © 2000, 2002-2003, 2011 Mark A. Miner