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John Minor was born in 1806, probably at Maple Summit near the border of Fayette/Somerset County, PA, the son of Frederick and Elizabeth (Sechman) Miner Sr. His life tragically was cut short by an accidental death during the Civil War years in rural Ohio.

As a boy, at about the age of six or seven, John moved with his parents to Sego, Perry County, OH, where he would have grown to manhood.

At the age of 23, John married 18-year-old Lucretia Morris (1811-1863) on Aug. 17, 1829. 

The Minors had four children -- John "Henry" Minor, Eliza J. Swearingen, Matilda J. Culp and Diantha E. Roberts.

The family resided on a farm at Salem, Pickaway County, OH. During their married life, they also lived on farms on extremely flat land near Leistville (also known as Camp Charlotte) and at Pikehole Prairie in Pickaway Twp., Pickaway County.

John was a carpenter who built many of the brick homes still standing and in use today in Pickaway County.

Lucretia died, most likely in Pickaway, at the age 51 years, 10 months and 11 days, on Sept. 22, 1863. The cause of her death is unknown, and no obituary has been found in local newspapers of the era..

Three years later, John was tragically killed in a fall.  Seen at right, the Circleville Union reported that on Aug. 17, 1866, he "accidentally fell into an ice house, at Camp Charlotte, and was so injured that he died a short time afterward.  He was a highly respectable old gentleman, and much beloved by his neighbors."

Son John "Henry" Minor was chosen to administer the site, and among the debts paid were to Stephen Defenbaugh "for Coffin" and to Rev. Brice "for preaching funeral.

John and Lucretia are buried together at Salem United Methodist Church in Pickaway County.

After John's death, his 35-acre farm was the subject of litigation among the heirs who objected to its sale by the County Sheriff to son in law John Swearingen. By that time, most of the offspring were living in Missouri.

In 1997, a windstorm toppled the Minors' old, tall white grave marker at the Salem United Presbyterian Church. The destruction is viewed in the photograph at left by great-great grandson Robert Culp (now deceased) and cousin-researcher Eugene Podraza circa August 1997. Seen at right, the darkened base of the Minors' grave marker shaft. The marker later was restored to its full upright position by the township trustees who oversee the cemetery.