Sabina
A. Minerd
(1852-1915)
Sabina
A. Minerd was born on
Feb. 28, 1852 in Wharton Twp., Fayette County, PA, the daughter of Jesse and
Sarah (Smalley) Minerd. She never married, and apparently was a
lifelong caretaker for her disabled sister Margaret
H. Minerd.
The small sapling, shown here alongside of their grave marker in a photo taken in 1988, had grown so large by the year 2000 that it had knocked the marker off its base and flat onto the ground.
Sabina and Margaret (1859-1917) made their home together for many years on a farm near Ohiopyle, Fayette County. The farm had belonged to their great-grandfather, Paul Stull, dating back to the 1790s. Sabina and Margaret inherited the property from their grandmother, Margaret (Shaffer) Smalley.
Sister Margaret became ill or was injured at the age of 20, in about 1879. Confined to her bed, she was bedridden for the remaining 38 years of her life. "During the long years that she was unable to get about," said the Connellsville Courier, "she occupied her time with fancy work and produced many beautiful pieces."
The Smalley-Minerd farm sat near the Kentuck Road in Stewart Township. Today, on a nearby property stands the well known "House on Kentuck Knob," designed by world renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and built in 1956. (Another world-famous Wright masterpiece, Fallingwater, is just a few miles to the north.)
A
rare old postcard of the world-famous Ohiopyle falls is seen at right,
set against the backdrop of the "Little Alps of America."
Sabina died on Sept. 23, 1915, at the age of 63. The cause of her passing is unknown. This left her sister alone in the household.
Margaret died two years later., on March 27, 1917. As she was on her deathbed in January of that year, her brother Daniel Lucas Minerd, whom she had not seen since he left the region some 34 years before, traveled from his home in Iowa to see her. In fact, he walked on foot from Uniontown to Ohiopyle in the dead of winter to visit her at home.
The two sisters rest together for eternity at Hopwood Cemetery near Uniontown, Fayette County.
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Unpaved North Commercial Street in sleepy Ohiopyle, circa early 1900s |
Copyright © 2000, 2005-2006, 2008 Mark A. Miner