William
Thomas Minor
(1887-1967)
William
Thomas Minor was born on June 5, 1887 at Pursley Creek
near Waynesburg, Greene County, PA , the son of Elias
and Elizabeth (King) Minor. He was the second of five sons.
When Bill was a boy or teenager, his mother became ill, and a housekeeper was employed to help. About that tiem, he badly burned the last three fingers of his left hand. The panicked housekeeper, knowing no better, told him to curl the fingers down toward his palm, and wrapped them in that position. The fingers locked in the curl, and remained that way permanently.
During the winters, he and his older brother Charley slept in the grain house on their farm, even in winter, and the snow blew through the cracks in the walls.
Bill
and his brothers Porter, Harold
and Ross all loved to play baseball on
local teams in the Waynesburg area. The photo seen at right shows Bill
and Ross posed with the same team, although they all are wearing different
uniforms. The red arrow shows Bill, while the blue arrow points to Ross.
When Bill was about 20, his father left the family and moved away from home, after years of disputes and hard feelings. It's said that he was "vicious and mean, and did a lot of drinking," and that Bill and Charley ran their father off at the point of a gun, or perhaps an axe.
Bill and his mother and brothers later moved to a farm house, just down the road from where he was born. Bill later lived there himself, as well as one of his married daughters.
Bill registered for the military draft during World War I, and listed his occupation as a laborer for the Carnegie Gas Company at Pursley, Greene County. On the registration card, he noted his crippled left hand.
He worked as
a farmer (1912), wool dresser (1918) and oil field contractor (1920s and early
'30s). He had an entrepreneurial bent, and once owned his own business,
"Minor Brothers"' in partnership with his brother Charley. The
work often involved specialized removal of broken drill bits from deep in oil wells and
providing repairs to get the damaged machinery back into operation. They
also delivered tools to job sites. Seen here
is a rare old postcard showing typical oil pumping derricks in and around rural
farm settings in the Greene/ Washington County area.
In one instance, the brothers lost a drill bit, and Bill and Charley had a lengthy discussion about it on the porch of Charley's home. Bill threw up his hands in desperation, and said, "That's it, I quit. If you want the business, it's yours. I'll sell you my half." Charley was interested in keeping the business, and replied, "I don't know where I'll find the money, or how long it'll take, but I'll pay you for it." A few days later, the bit was retrieved, cooler heads prevailed, and Bill changed his mind.
The Minor Bros. often did not get paid in cash for drilling, but instead would receive between 10 percent and 20 percent of the payouts from the sale of oil and gas produced by the wells.
Minor Bros. went out of business during the Great Depression. In 1932, they went after a big contract put out for bid by the Home Natural Gas Company. A nephew recalls that a lot of politics were involved. The brothers went in with a low bid, and got the contract, but their costs were too high, and they lost the business. Unfortunately, the brothers had to file for bankruptcy, and were officially declared bankrupt on July 9, 1932. Their bankruptcy paperwork is on file today in the Greene County Courthouse in Waynesburg, and also at the National Archives branch in Philadelphia.
Large, color tinted and framed portrait of Bill (seated, right) and
his four brothers -- our "Photo
of the Month" for October 2003
Prior to marriage, in about 1910, Bill had a "significant other" relationship with Mary Whitehill. They had one daughter, Elizabeth "Pearl" Conaway (1910-2001).
Bill was married twice. His first wife was Elizabeth Orndoff (1893-1916), whom he married Aug. 29, 1912. He was age 25, and she 19. She was the daughter of Inghram N. and Sidney (White) Orndoff. (The name also has been spelled "Orndorf.")
Seen
at right is a clock, one of the first items that William and Elizabeth
purchased when they were first married. It is a mantel clock with seven-day
spring winding, which tolls on the hour and half-hour. The case is oak,
assembled with small nails. It recently has been cleaned and oiled and runs
well, and is in the home of a grandson.
The Minors had two children -- Fred Minor and Ferne Elizabeth Shriver Higginbotham. Tragically, Elizabeth died of blood poisoning while pregnant with their third child, on Feb. 12, 1916, after only four years of marriage. She was only age 22, and left behind the two youngsters to her husband's care.
Adding to the tragedy, brother Charley's wife Bertha died of tuberculosis a little more than a month later, on March 23, 1916, leaving behind an infant son. Bill and Charley thus were both widowed before reaching the age of 30.
Bill felt he was unable to raise his son
and daughter. Ferne was taken in by an uncle and aunt, Luther and Sudie (Orndorf)
Cole. The Coles has been married in 1910, and were farmers who resided at nearby
Pine Bank. They graciously raised Ferne until she was about 12 or 13, at which
point she went to live with her father and stepmother.
Bill later married 28-year-old widow Mary Frances (Cole) Kniseley (1888-1938), seen at left, the daughter of William and Josephine (Bell) Cole. They wed on July 13, 1918. Her first husband was Charles K. Knisely, who had died the previous December. Mary was a lifelong resident of Wayne Township, and she was a member of the Pursley Baptist Church. She considered her husband's children as her own, and called stepdaughter Ferne "Puss." She died a few months after this photograph was taken.
Bill
and Mary had one daughter of their own, Irene Marie Glover. Irene is seen at
right. In addition to owning two homes near Pursley Creek, Bill also owned a
farm at Kuhntown.
The topic of Bill's father was never discussed at home. If it came up in conversation, recalled Bill's daughter Ferne, "the subject got changed, or you got cut off." As well, Mary did not like Bill's mother, and no photographs of her were allowed in the house.
Mary suffered from heart disease. She began suffering from the effects of the illness in the fall of 1937, and never fully recovered. She passed away at age 49 on Feb. 25, 1938, at home. At her funeral, held at the Ralph Scott Funeral Home, the song selections were "Beautiful Garden of Prayer," "Face to Face," and "Good Night and Good Morning." Her pallbearers were Roy Stewart, stepson Fred Minor, Raymond Stewart, Earl Spragg, Allen Spragg and Albert Cole.
In
the photo seen here, Bill relaxes with brother Harold,
visiting from Cleveland, OH,
on the hillside farm circa 1920, and is seated at left holding a
groundhog.
In about 1949, Bill moved off the farm, and into the town of Waynesburg, where he remained the rest of his life.
Tragedy struck again in 1950, when son Fred died suddenly. Fred, a "big man," was a drilling contractor like his father. He obtained contracts wherever the work took him. In April 1950, he completed a job in Canada, and returned home to Pursley Creek. There was talk that he and his cousin Ray might pool their resources and revive Minor Bros. In sleeping one night on the family sofa, on April 11, 1950, Fred suffered a massive heart attack, and fell dead to the floor.
Bill was so shattered by his son's untimely death that he would not go to the funeral home.
Heartache struck one more time, in 1965, when married daughter Irene Glover passed away at age 46.
Bill's Waynesburg newspaper obituary and grave marker
Bill outlived Mary by nearly three decades. He died at his home on Eighth Street in Waynesburg on Aug. 11, 1967, at the age of 80. He was laid to rest with his wives and mother at Rosemont Cemetery near Rogersville, Greene County. At the time of death, he had five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Daughter Pearl was raised by her mother. She married Floyd Milton Conaway ( ? -1961). They resided at Brave and Spraggs. She was a member of Kents United Methodist Church in Brave, and was a part owner of Parker Texaco Service Station in Spraggs. They had one son, Floyd Earl Conaway. Pearl's in-laws were mentioned a booklet entitled Nancy Minor Park Kinsfolk, compiled by the Park and Stemple families. While this group of Minors were from England, and thus not our family, Pearl was under the impression that it was our clan, and gave the booklet to a nephew. A copy today is in the Minerd-Miner-Minor Archives. Floyd Conaway passed away on May 14, 1961. Pearl outlived him by four decades, and passed away in Waynesburg on Oct. 3, 2001. Their son Floyd (1931-2002) married Evelyn Ruse. He was a disabled military veteran, and worked "as a crane operator and welder at Rohanna's Salvage Yard and Levine's Salvage Yard," said the Washington (PA) Observer-Reporter.
Daughter
Ferne (1914-1993) married Ephraim Adam Shriver Sr. (1908-1987). They had two
sons -- Ephraim Adam Shriver Jr. and William R. Shriver. In 1947, after a
divorce, she married Samuel Higginbotham, and they lived for many years in
Adrian, MI. Ferne is seen in the photo at left with her two sons, Adam
(left) and Bill. Ferne and Sam are seen at right.
Son Fred (1914-1950) married Thelma Cox. She was a descendant of a family of Samuel Minor, an early settler of Greene County, but not related to our group. Fred also had a significant other, Jeanette Moore ( ? -1980). Fred had two sons, Fred and Donald. He is buried at Jefferson Memorial Park. In 1969, Fred and Thelma were mentioned in the Nancy Minor Park booklet, as Thelma was a descendant of the English family.
Daughter Irene (1919-1965) married James Delbert Glover (1914-1984) on April 12, 1939. They resided in Bill's old home near Pursley Ceek, and had one daughter, Ferne Lucille Glover. They belonged to the Pursley Baptist Church. James worked for Tri-State Engineering Company in Washington, PA, and was a member of the Moose and Eagles lodges in Waynesburg. He passed away at age 70 on June 15, 1984. They are buried together at Rogersville.
Copyright © 2000, 2003, 2005-2006 Mark A. Miner