Connectedness

When the Pennsylvania-German pioneer and Revolutionary War veteran, Jacob Minerd Sr., first came to live in the mountains of Western Pennsylvania in 1791, he and his wife Maria could have had no way of knowing that someday their offspring would number 40,000, spread throughout the United States and overseas, and that these descendants collectively would play a role in building -- and defending -- their nation.

Minerd.com is an award-winning online archive that chronicles this vast extended family's experience since the early 1700s. The site's encyclopedic content features more than 1,100 individual biographies of descendants born between the 1700s and 1900; scores of other feature pages analyzing their specific activities; and more than 4,000 rare photographs, news clippings and postcards.

This unique archive, free for all to enjoy, has attracted the Googlers of the world who have sought their family roots and contributed their own collection of one-of-a-kind materials. It serves to protect and preserve a fragmented family history and culture against the ravages of time and erosion of memory, public disinterest, destruction of interpersonal relationships, and dispersion of families throughout the world.

Because of its unique role in promoting Western Pennsylvania by educating cousins that their ancient roots are based here, Minerd.com and our national reunion have been licensed to use the logo of "Pittsburgh 250." This exciting development shows our commitment to assist in the celebration of the Pittsburgh region's upcoming 250th birthday in 2008, a widespread initiative led by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

They're off! -- James and Lydia (Miner) Brown and other pioneers rush to stake their land claim in Oklahoma in 1889	The "Peopling" of America - Many descendants of the 1800s had the insatiable "wanderlust" and ventured westward from Pennsylvania, forging into the unknown. In the process, they became pioneers, facing cruel hardships, hopelessness, sickness and even death. By persevering, they helped transform vast empty spaces into thriving towns and communities. To see our tribute to pioneers, click here, and see our special pages devoted to the Ohio Bicentennial, Western Migrations, Oklahoma Land Rush and Kissin' Cousin Marriages. Our research on mortality is articulated on our "In Lasting Memory" page documenting a staggering number of family deaths since 2000, one every 5.67 days on average.

Civil War veteran Robert Rankin	Military Service and Sacrifice - Many hundreds of cousins have served in the United States Armed Forces during wartime, in every known major conflict from the American Revolution to the Iraq War, including about 100 in the Civil War. At least 24 lost their lives in the service, the supreme sacrifice, so that we all can enjoy our uniquely American freedoms. We currently are trying to tally the number of cousins who fought in the Philippine Insurrection and Spanish American War and World War I.

Coke ovens in Fayette County, PA, the backbone upon which Pittsburgh's great steel empires were built	Coal, Coke and Steel - More than 400 descendants have toiled in the coal, coke and steel industries of our nation, including more than 20 who have died in the workplace. One cousin, a union organizer, met with President Franklin D. Roosevelt to propose a successful settlement to the Coal Strike of 1933. Several entrepreneurs have owned their own mineral and steel production companies. In the summer of 2002, one was a key player in the "Nine for Nine" coal mine rescue in Somerset County, PA, which gripped the nation and was featured on CNN and Fox television.

Eliza (Hess) Minerd and fellow elementary school teachers in Fayette County, PA	Public Education - A Sense of Wonder - the field of education has attracted an extraordinary number of people in our family. Over many generations, more than 370 cousin-educators have touched thousands of lives and conveyed a sense of wonder. They have opened young minds to the vast universe of words, numbers, athletics and arts. Cousins have worked as administrators, teachers, coaches, aides, secretaries, bus drivers and custodians, from one-room country schoolhouses to our nation's most prestigious universities.

For 60 decades, more than 20 cousins have helped construct, care for, conserve and interpret Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, Fallingwater	Pittsburgh Regional Landmarks - Some branches have remained in Western Pennsylvania over eight to 10 generations. Many have had decades of involvement with the construction, care, conservation and/or preservation of some of the Pittsburgh's region's most beloved and important landmarks -- ranging from Fallingwater, Braddock's Grave, and National Turnpike to the Minerd Funeral Home (a Uniontown landmark) and Westmoreland Homesteads (Norvelt), built during the Great Depression under the patronage of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to benefit coal miners and their families.

Annette Hanshaw, named the "most popular woman singer" in the nation in the 1930s	Popular Culture, Entertainment and Creativity - Cousins have entertained millions as Hollywood film actors, directors of entertainment at major amusement parks, as singers and songwriters, and as writers. One was named by Radioland Magazine in 1935 as "most popular woman singer" in the nation, and by the New York Times as "one of the most prolific recording singers in the late 1920's and early 30's." Another was an influential Central Illinois newspaper editor savagely attacked in Edgar Lee Masters' classic book of poems, Spoon River Anthology. A current-day cousin is a movie and reality TV producer, working with Hollywood's top stars. Yet another has had his own music label and is director of entertainment at a major Southern California theme park. Among writers, one has had his fiction published in the North American Review, and another, the "Mountain-Poet" of Mill Run, PA, had his work appear in a 19th century anthology alongside the likes of Walt Whitman, Julia Ward Howe and James Whitcomb Riley.

Rebecca Minerd and Civil War hero Thomas Custer, the general's brother, whose affair produced a son	Custer Connection - Our website tells the award-winning saga of a forgotten Ohio oilfield laborer whose father, Capt. Thomas Ward Custer, was a two-time Medal of Honor winner in the Civil War, was the brother of General George Armstrong Custer, and were among five Custers slain at Little Big Horn. This story, also published in the Research Review Magazine of the Little Big Horn Associates, received the organization's prestigious Frost Award in 2006 for "Best Article."

One of many books mentioning the name "Miner" in connection with research of mixed-race families of West Virginia and Ohio.	Almost White - One branch of the family, centered in Philippi, WV and Athens, OH, descends from a Pennsylvania German father and a Native American mother of the mid 1800s. Considered to be of mixed-race, many of these cousins were cast out of society, neither white nor black, and faced lifetimes of racial discrimination because of their skin color, with one marrying a former slave. Authors of books such as Almost White ( Collier Books, Macmillan Company, New York, 1963), journalists and scholars have studied the group, derogatorily nicknamed "guineas." Minerd.com's own proprietary research has documented evidence of racism, from flattening cemeteries, willful destruction of birth record and imposition of extra taxes by county officials, to prevention of children from attending school with whites.

NASA's space shuttle far above earth, symbolic of our cousins' significant contributions in science and in space exploration	Science and Space Exploration - At least four of descendants played key roles in the U.S. space program since the 1960s -- one as an Army nurse on the splashdown recovery stations for astronauts in the Mercury program; one as an Apollo rocket engine navigation systems engineer, who received a commendation letter signed by the astronauts in the program; one as an astro-physicist in Italy who researched gamma ray bursts in deep space; and one a physicist with Switzerland-based CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Others have been scientists, researchers featured in the National Geographic, and inventors who hold numerous patents.

Dr. Roy Sheppard Minerd, an early physician	Medicine - Escaping from the grip of early illiteracy and the peculiarly German fear of formal education, cousins have become leaders in the medical field, including a Civil War surgeon wounded by enemy sharpshooters; a nurse on the splashdown recovery units of early Apollo space flights; and an Ivy League researcher in early childhood diseases. Cousin-healthcare practitioners have worked in rural communities and at large metropolitan hospitals.

Harvest-time for farmers Lawson and Lutitia Minerd of near Mill Run, PA	Farming and Agriculture - The earliest Minerd pioneers in Western Pennsylvania made their living off the land -- farming, hunting, timbering and boiling salt found in natural springs. Today, many of our cousins continue to make a living in the fields of agriculture. One cousin in Indiana is the fifth generation to reside on the family farm, dating to 1847. Others have been forest rangers and fire wardens, protecting our natural resources.

Calvary Methodist Church in Uniontown, PA, founded by Rev. David Ewing Minerd	Religious Faith and Evangelism - Scores of our cousins have served as clergy, planting churches, pastoring congregations planting, evangelizing as overseas missionaries, educating students and preserving our religious heritage. Many church buildings constructed under the leadership of cousin-pastors still serve as houses of worship today in Pennsylvania, Ohio, California and beyond.

Warren Miner of the Pennsylvania Railroad	Transportation - Cousins have helped design, build and serve in our nation's vast, sophisticated transportation infrastructure -- from the National Turnpike, Panama Canal and early railroads to rural road and bridge building, pioneering commercial airline flight and the Interstate Highway System. More than 20 cousins and their spouses have been killed in railroad and streetcar accidents, with scores more losing their lives in vehicular mishaps.

John Fridley, one of the University of Pittsburgh's all-time leading rebounders	Professional and Collegiate Sports - Only one of our known cousins has played professional sports -- a pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers in the early 1970s. Many others have performed in minor and semi-pro leagues during their heyday in the early 1900s, while others have excelled at the collegiate level, including the winningest coach in the Ohio Athletic Conference, and the University of Pittsburgh's men's basketball record-holder for rebounding. One cousin is a former golf pro in San Diego at a prominent course which hosted PGA tournaments won by Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.

Campaign card of Dr. Harold Daniel Minerd, one of the most politically active cousins in Western Pennsylvania	Political Service - Many cousins have served the public through elected and appointed political leadership and government service. In Western Pennsylvania, one cousin was a Pittsburgh City Councilman who helped lead the Steel City's 150th birthday in 1908. In California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kansas and Oklahoma, their roles have ranged from county treasurers, prothontaries and directors of the poor ... and common pleas court judges ... to small town mayors, town councilmen, school board directors and tax collectors ... to federally appointed postmasters ... and to top regional political strategists and organizers.

The Minerd.com website and national reunion regularly are in the news and make news.	Cousins in Print - overcoming early illiteracy and spelling variations of the family name; cousins have been quoted and mentioned in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, People Magazine, Fortune Magazine, Reader's Digest, National Geographic and Wall Street Journal. Other cousins have been authors, editors and staff for the Miami Herald, Harvard Business Review and North American Review. Newspapers in Fayette and Somerset Counties, PA, the epicenter of our family's growth and development since the 1790s, have published thousands of stories and obituaries of our cousins over the years.

Unique family newspaper that helped fuel the "Great Younkin Re-awakening" of the 1930s	Genealogy, Family Reunions and Historical Research - Minerd.com is an online repository for archives of early reunions of the Minerd-Miner, Harbaugh and Younkin families of Western Pennsylvania and the Minard clan of Knox County, OH. Among descendants passionate about preserving history, one has co-founded the Ohio Genealogical Society; another co-founded the Churches of God Historical Society; while others have been leaders of local historical societies and family reunions. This rich legacy has set the stage for today's themed National Minerd- Minard- Miner- Minor Reunions, held in Western Pennsylvania.

Minerd.com homepage as it appeared in January 2004	Minerd.com's Role - Since its launch in May 2000, Minerd.com has been named one of the "Top 10 Family Website in the Nation" by Family Tree Magazine, has received national awards, and been cited in more than scores of newspapers, magazine articles and books. Postcards from its archive are regularly published in the "Focus Magazine" of the Sunday Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. From May 2000 to year-end 2006, the website attracted more than 830,000 visitors.