Sarah
Jane 'Jenne'
(Minerd) Baily
(1879-1966)
Sarah Jane
'Jenne' (Minerd) Baily was born on June 14,
1879 in Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland County, PA, the only child of Rev.
Isaac H. and Sarah Susanna (Schiebler) Minerd. She was but a young girl when her mother died, and her father
later married Margaret Jane Sheppard.
When Jenne was 10, she was baptized at the Mt. Pleasant Methodist Church. But at age 12, she was struck by polio, paralyzed in her legs, crippling her for life. She found the strength to be mobile, however, up until her last years.
As
a girl, she moved with her parents and family to the New Haven section of
Connellsville, PA, and then in the early 1890s to Uniontown, PA.
In 1904 and ’05 she corresponded with Joseph K. Brown, a cousin
(perhaps on her mother’s side), and copies of two penny postcards he sent in
reply (seen here) are now in the Minerd-Miner-Minor Archives.
Jenne
felt a strong need for her family to make something of themselves. She
lent money to her brother Roy so he could
attend medical school, helping him become the 1st physician in his branch of the
family.
In the photo at left, Jenne sits at far left, with her siblings Albert (top), Roy (right) and Bess.
When Jenne was 33, she married widower George Ellsworth Baily (1860-1917), the son of Ellis B. and Harriet Baily, and a native of Carmichaels, Greene County, PA. The wedding was conducted by Homer B. Whitfield at Greensburg, Westmoreland County, PA. It was George’s second marriage, and at age 51 he was 19 years old than Jenne.
George was a farmer. They resided at Carmichaels, Greene County, PA.
The Bailys had two children – Grayce Beeman and James Ellis Baily.
Heartache rocked
Jenne after only five years of marriage, when George died
in June 1917, at age 56. He was laid to rest at Glades Cemetery at Carmichaels.
In the photo at right, taken in the 1920s, Jenne poses with her daughter Grayce and son James. She never remarried.
Jenne later moved to Pittsburgh, where her parents and siblings resided. Little is known of her life after that.
She died on Aug. 7, 1966, and is buried at Restland Cemetery in Monroeville, PA.
Copyright © 2001, 2005 Mark A. Miner