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John
Minor |
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.
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The Minors' farm near Salem, Ohio, as seen in August 1997 |
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.
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Old map of 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 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.
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Copyright © 2000, 2005-2006, 2009 Mark A. Miner |
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Map of Pickaway Plains from Historical Collections of Ohio (1888) by Henry Howe. |