Sadie
(Minerd) Luckey
(1867-1955)
Sarah
Catherine 'Sadie' (Minerd) Luckey was born in 1867 at Hexebarger, near
Kingwood, Somerset County, PA, the daughter of Charles
and Adaline (Minerd) Harbaugh. She was the youngest of 62 grandchildren.
As an infant, Sadie and her parents moved to a farm at nearby Nicolay, near Mill Run, Fayette County, PA.
On Nov. 30, 1893, at her parents' home, Sadie married Joseph M. Luckey (1858-1955). He was the first known cousin to graduate from what is now California University of Pennsylvania. In 1889, he ran for commissioner of Lower Tyrone Twp., Fayette County, and in 1893 campaigned for county superintendent, though he did not win.
Their nine children were Dr. Paul David Luckey, George Luckey, Charles S. Luckey, Mary Malone, Ray Luckey, Roy Luckey, Martha Rebecca Bailey, Andrew Luckey and Ruth Evans.
The
Luckeys resided near Dawson, Fayette County. A bird's eye view of Dawson is seen
at right, from a rare old postcard. The town sat next to the Youghiogheny
River, with the towns of Vanderbilt and Dickerson Run just across the river.
The Luckeys were longtime members of the Bryan Methodist Church at Dawson, where they are buried.
Sadie had a deep love for family, and in June 1892, before she was married, she wrote a letter to Roy Sheppard Minerd, the young son of her cousin Rev. Isaac Herschel Minerd:
You ought to see the little lambs now. They are awful nice and we have about fourty five little chickens and the calves are growing nice. I don't know when I will get down to your place but I think I will before long in a couple of weeks I think. Tell your Papa that Uncle Jake Minerd is poorly. I was there over last Sunday. They don't think he can live long. They Dr. says he will have to have his foot taken off and he thinks he can't stand the operation. He says he will die first.
In February 1893, she wrote again to young Roy, with excitement about the new Maple Summit Church soon to be under construction on land donated by her cousin, Robert Bacom Harbaugh Sr.:
We are having plenty of snow this winter. There is good sleighing now and still snowing. If you was here you & Ernest cold have fine times coasting on the hill side. Pa made Ernest a nice sled. He is out with it near all the time.... We don't have any little lambs or calves yet the ones we had when you was here is big now but we still have milk but we don't get much any more. Tell your Papa that we are going to get a church house at last. They are going to begin next Monday. I was glad to hear that you are all coming up in the Spring. Now don't fail to come for we would be glad to see you.... Give my love to Papa, Mama, Jennie, Albert & Bessie not forgetting your self.
In July 1950, more than half a century later, she received an unexpected letter from Roy, and wrote back to him immediately:
I received your letter. Was at the supper table when it came. I could not eat till I read it. I don't think I ever got a letter that I was more pleased and your visit if it was short. I think of so many questions I would like to ask you. One is where your Dad & Mother are burried and Uncle Eli. I have forgotten, and if you have Bess and Jennie's address please send it to me. I will try and let them know I am living. There is not many of the Minerd family left.
Joseph spent his entire career as an educator. In 1927, the Connellsville Daily Courier reported:
J.M. Luckey to Retire After 40 Years as Teacher
After 40 years in the teaching profession, J.M. Luckey, supervising principal of the schools of Lower Tyrone township, is preparing to retire at the end of the term, in May.... He is now in his 70th year. [He] began teaching in 1879 at Maple Summit, in Stewart township. He was then for several years in Dunbar township. He taught also in Mount Pleasant township and the Independent district in Westmoreland county, but most of the time in Lower Tyrone township. Of his 40 years in the profession, 25 were spent in his home township....
In 1913, 1920 and 1923-1925, the Luckeys and their children attended Minerd-Miner Reunions at Confluence and Ohiopyle, PA. At the reunion in August 1923, at Confluence Park, Joseph was elected to the "committee on reunion" along with Daniel Martin Younkin, while Lawson Minerd was named president and Joseph Ream, secretary. The Meyersdale Republican newspaper reported: "A lot of routine business in relation to badges and other details was transacted. J.R. Minerd of Connellsville, made a fine address. The meeting was closed with singing, 'God be with us till We Meet Again'."
In August 1924, the Luckeys attended the Minerd-Miner reunion at Lincoln's grove, near the Western Maryland Railroad Station in Confluence. Among the 82 individuals present were Sadie and her son George and daughters Martha and Mary, as well as Sadie's sisters Martha Gorsuch and Allie Overholt and brother Lawson Minerd. At the 1925 reunion, with 120 present at Sellers' hall, Joseph was again elected to the executive committee along with Freed Minerd, Ross Hyatt, L.L. Mountain and Daniel Martin Younkin, with Sadie's brother Lawson Minerd re-elected president of the association, and Joseph Ream elected as secretary-treasurer. Reported the Meyersdale Republican, "Rev. Joyce gave an address portraying the benefits of family reunions and showing why they should be held. Burgess C.R. McMillan gave a recitation and Rev. Williams of Connellsville made an interesting address."
The Luckeys also enjoyed the annual Harbaugh Reunions, which began in 1926. They are known to have attended every year from 1948 to 1953, when Joe occasionally received the award as "Oldest Man Present" and they together won the award for "Longest Married."
In about 1929, Sadie and her grown daughters returned to Maple Summit and searched for her childhood homeplace, but it was nowhere to be found, and the ground was overgrown.
At
least 11 of their descendants have worked in the field of education. Son Dr. Paul
D. Luckey is profiled in Volume IV of Walkinshaw's Annals of Southwestern
Pennsylvania. He was a World War I veteran, noted physician, member of
the Connellsville City Planning Commission and a co-inventor of an iron-lung
respirator at Connellsville State Hospital. Grandson Kenneth Luckey was
the 1st known cousin to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West
Point.
Copyright © 2000-2002, 2005, 2007 Mark A. Miner