Our Special Civil War Focus
The
Minerd-Miner-Minor clan played a major role in the Civil War,
with at least 99 cousins (and spouses, including one
"significant other") serving with the Union Army. (So
far, none is known to have been a Confederate, though we're investigating one
possibility.) Of the total,
at least six died for the cause. Seen at right is private Robert
Rankin of the 2nd Pennsylvania Artillery, who was wounded in action but survived
the war.
We seek to honor their memories in the following special ways:
-
Publishing biographies of individual soldiers;
-
Preserving copies of soldiers' letters, diaries and papers;
-
Cleaning soldiers' graves;
-
Rediscovering lost graves;
-
Publication efforts; and
-
Establishing memorials at the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg.
Biographies
This website contains more than 1,100 biographies of men and women in our family, virtually all born before the year 1900. It's our goal to feature a biography for each of the Civil War soldiers in our clan, along with his portrait and photographs of his home, family and grave.
The
Lynn Point Project
In sunshine, rain and mud, volunteers have spent one Saturday morning each year in 2001, 2002 and 2006 cleaning the remote and mountainous Lynn Point Cemetery near Dunbar, PA. The group not only has re-set -- and cleared brush from -- the fallen marker of Civil War veteran James Minerd Jr. of the 85th Pennsylvania Infantry, and cleaned other graves, but is educating the public about the project, and has published a list of known and suspected burials in the cemetery. Click to learn more.
Document Preservation
Our family archives contains an estimated 120,000 documents and photographs covering the more than 1,500 distinct branches of our clan that existed circa 1900. Collecting and preserving letters, diaries and other papers of our Civil War soldiers is one of our priorities.
Rediscovering Lost Graves
Only some of the graves of our Civil War cousin-soldiers are known. In fact, of the six cousin-soldiers who lost their lives in the war, the graves of only three have been found. A special effort was made in August 2000 to find and photograph the graves of several soldiers in the state of Indiana, and we continue to search on a nationwide basis.
Civil War Museum Memorial
Cousin John P. Minor has made a personal commitment of his resources to honor two great-uncles and two other cousin-soldiers on the Memorial Walk of Valor at the new National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, PA. Other cousins have, too. The museum is a permanent, nonprofit educational institution created to promote the preservation of material culture and sources of information which are directly relevant to the war. John writes: "I have ordered memorial bricks for the four soldiers that are most closely related to my branch of the family. It would be wonderful if we could raise the money and obtain memorial bricks for the remainder.." Thanks to the generosity of John and others, the following cousin-soldiers have been honored in permanence at the museum, and their bricks are seen here:
|
 
|
|
These other soldiers are thought to be named on bricks: |
|
PVT
CHAUNCEY F MINER |
|
PVT
HENRY A MINER 171ST PA MILITIA CO K US |
| Copyright © 2000-2003, 2008 Mark A. Miner |