John
Minor
(1806-1866)
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. As a boy, he moved with
his parents to Sego, Perry County, OH.
John married Lucretia Morris (1811-1863) on Aug. 17, 1829. They had four children -- John "Henry" Minor, Eliza J. Swearingen, Matilda J. Culp and Diantha E. Roberts.
The Minors 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.
The Minors' farm near Salem, Ohio, as seen in August 1997
John was a carpenter who built many of the brick homes still standing and in use today in Pickaway County.
Lucretia
died, apparently in Pickaway, at age 52 in 1863. The cause of her death is
unknown.
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 was chosen to administer the site, and among the debts paid were to Stephen Defenbaugh "for Coffin" and to Rev. Brice "for preaching funeral."
Rare old map of the Pickaway Plains showing Camp Charlotte
(far right), where John died in a fall
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 their old, tall white grave marker at the Salem UP Church, viewed in the photo here by great-great grandson Robert Culp (now deceased) and cousin Eugene Podraza.
The marker later was restored to its full upright position by the township trustees who oversee the cemetery.
Copyright
©
2000, 2005-2006 Mark A. Miner.
Map of Pickaway
Plains from
Historical Collections of Ohio (1888) by Henry Howe.