Minerd.com in the News
See our postcard series in the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
"Focus" Magazine
Minerd.com
regularly is in the news and makes news. Telling
the story of our website, reunion and research is a key
to reaching many thousands of cousins and the public at large and sharing this
website's encyclopedic trove of family information.
Our goal is to educate them about our mission to document the early lives of more than 1,500 of our collective forefathers and mothers, and the enormous, long-term collective impact that an average, ordinary American family can have on society. Here is a summary of news-making efforts since 1999:
~ 2008 ~
Oct. 21, 2008 - Minerd.com's founder Mark Miner will give a powerpoint presentation at the Civil War Round Table of Erie, PA on his award-winning topic, "Tontogany's Deep Secret: The Unknown Son of Thomas Ward Custer," telling the story of General George Armstrong Custer's nephew, Thomas C. Custer.
Aug. 9-10, 2008 - Minerd.com founder Mark A. Miner will participate in ceremonies unveiling an Ohio State Historical monument honoring the family of General George A. Custer and his parents and brother Thomas Ward Custer in Tontogany, Wood County, OH.
July 26, 2008 - Minerd.com founder Mark A. Miner will unveil and distribute copies of a specially reprinted booklet, Younkin Family News Bulletin, 1937-1941, at the national Younkin Reunion to be held at the Kingwood Picnic Grove in Somerset County, PA. The booklet will contain high quality copies of all eight original family newspapers, published by Charles Arthur Younkin, as well as invitations and newspaper clippings from the National Younkin Home Coming Reunions of the 1930s.
June 27-29, 2008 - The Minerd-Minard-Miner-Minor family's annual national reunion in Pittsburgh, to help the city celebrate its 250th birthday, is covered with feature stories in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and a segment on the KDKA-TV evening news. The Post-Gazette article is headlined "Getting to Know You," and the Tribune-Review's is "Clan's Reunion to Draw from Across the Country."
April 27, 2008 - A postcard dated 1911 is published in the "Focus Magazine" of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, showing West Main Street in Addison, Somerset County, which was a toll stop along the National Turnpike, our nation's first super highway, in the 1800s.
April
16, 2008 - The "Genealogy Insider" blog of Family Tree Magazine,
authored by Diane Haddad, publishes a preview of our upcoming Pittsburgh 250
reunion, entitled "Let's
Hope They All Don't Bring Potato Salad." Haddad writes: "My
favorite part [of Minerd.com], Connectedness,
takes a look at Minerds who ran in the Oklahoma 1889 land rush, fought in wars,
worked (and died) in steel mills, served on Pittsburgh's city council and more.
Check it out, especially if you're planning to crash the reunion -- you'll have
to blend in somehow."
April 16, 2008 - The VisitPittsburgh.com press release with the invitation to our reunion is published on the TravelersJournal.com website.
March 30, 2008 - In its Sunday "Focus Magazine," the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review republishes a postcard from our archives, showing a color-tinted bird's-eye view of Dawson, Fayette County, PA. The card originally was published in the Sept. 2, 2007 issue of "Focus."
March
2008 - To promote Western Pennsylvania as the
ancestral home of tens of thousands of extended cousins in our clan,
Minerd.com and our national reunion have been profiled
on VisitPittsburgh.com,
the website of the Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau. We also
are granted permission to use VisitPittsburgh's distinctive orange and purple
logo.
Feb. 3, 2008 - An undated postcard from our archives, showing three men standing on the corner near the Buckman House hotel in Rockwood, Somerset County, PA, is published in the "Focus Magazine" of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,
~ 2007 ~
Dec. 16, 2007 - A postcard from our archives, dated 1913, is published in the "Focus Magazine" of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, showing muddy Morgantown Street in Fairchance, Fayette County, PA. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biography of Margaret (Hoye) McClain.
Nov. 4, 2007 - An undated postcard from our archives is published in the "Focus Magazine" of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, showing an unpaved street and utility poles on South Commercial Street in Ohiopyle, Fayette County, PA in the early 1900s. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biography of Mary (Leonard) Potter.
October
2007 - A photograph taken by the founder of this website, at the annual
national Younkin Family Reunion in July, is published in the December 2007
edition of Early American Life, in an article
entitled "Shaping Up American Music." The photograph shows several
Younkin cousins, part of the Mount Union Sacred Harp Singers, performing
"shape note" singing at the early 19th century Mount Union Church near
Rockwood, Somerset County, PA. Among the Minerd cousins buried in the church
cemetery are Rachel (Phillippi) Gearhard Younkin Wilkins (widow of Josiah
Younkin) and Sarah (Artest) Younkin (wife of Charles
Younkin). (See the entry on this website for July 28, 2007.)
September
2007 - In a published review of the "Tontogany's Deep Secret"
presentation by this website's founder, at the national convention of the Little
Big Horn Associates, in Nebraska, Steve Arnold writes: "Another
presentation tore the lid off 'Tontogany's Deep Secret'... Speaker Mark
Miner plowed new ground by raising questions about why the Custer clan refused
to acknowledge the boy. The Custer's, he said, were a tight knit family so it
seems surprising they would ignore a son of one of its favored members. The only
answer he offers is the idea of respect for a tragic family." (Little
Big Horn Associates Newsletter, Vol. XLI, No. 7, Sept. 2007. Also see the
entry on this webpage for July 21, 2007.)
Sept. 30, 2007 - An undated postcard from our archives is published in the "Focus Magazine" of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, showing the water tower and manufacturing plant of Robertshaw in Youngwood, Westmoreland County, PA. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biographies of Ralph Charles Minerd Sr., Bertha (Minerd) Van Dyke, George B. Miner, James Dumphry Crosby, Ulysses "Grant" Rose, Earl C. Trout and Grant Louis Firestone Sr.,
Sept. 2, 2007 - With the Youghiogheny River shown in the foreground, a color-tinted postcard from our archives, showing a bird's-eye view of Dawson, Fayette County, is published in the "Focus Magazine" of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Aug. 5, 2007 - Undated postcard from our archives shows the arch built to mark Connellsville's centennial in 1906, and is published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Made entirely of coke, an industrial fuel, the arch was created by the H.C. Frick Co. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biographies of Jennie (Miner) Turner Paolone Stevenson and Mallzena (Younkin) Shaffer).
Title slides of two national presentations by Minerd.com's founder in July 2007
July 28, 2007 - At the annual national
Younkin Family Reunion, Minerd.com founder Mark Miner gives a powerpoint
presentation on "Charleroi Charley, Masontown Otto and the Great Younkin
Awakening of the 1930s." The talk focuses on the pioneering, exhaustive
Younkin research, newspaper publishing and reunion organizing efforts of Charles
Arthur Younkin and Otto Roosevelt Younkin in Western Pennsylvania during the
Great Depression, and the legacy of their efforts today through the exhaustive work of the
late Donna (Younkin) Logan (seen at left) of the 1990s and early 2000s.
Plans are announced to republish all eight original issues of the Younkin
Family News Bulletin newspaper from 1937-1941, in an attractive cover to
deposit in libraries all throughout Western Pennsylvania. As well, a volunteer
team is formed to begin scanning the voluminous, thick three-ring binders of
genealogy papers compiled by Logan during the years of her research, so that the
data can be widely and freely distributed for use by generations of Younkin
cousins in the future.
July 21, 2007 - Minerd.com's founder Mark Miner presents a powerpoint talk at the annual national conference of the Little Big Horn Associates in North Platte, Nebraska, on his award-winning topic, "Tontogany's Deep Secret: The Unknown Son of Thomas Ward Custer." The event, telling the story of Thomas C. Custer and his mother Rebecca Minerd, is set against the backdrop of the national persona of General George Armstrong Custer. Miner also is mentioned in the July 2007 edition of the Little Big Horn Associates Newsletter.
July 8, 2007 - Postcard from our archives depicts pedestrians watching as a horse-drawn carriage pauses on a commercial block in Waynesburg, Greene County, in an image postmarked 1915, and showing the People's National Bank and other businesses, is published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biography of Clinton Theodore Farabee.
June 10, 2007 - A postcard from our archives, dated 1921 and showing the U.S. Pipe Mill in Scottdale, billed as the "largest in the world," is published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biography of Howard Campbell Miner and Marcellus Murray.
May 22, 2007 -
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. This is the second time our website has
been authorized to use an official logo to promote a region's historical
anniversary, with the first time in 2003 featuring the logo of the Ohio Bicentennial
Commission for our "Ohio Bicentennial Page"
honoring the Buckeye State's 200th birthday.
May
15, 2007 - Minerd.com is reviewed on the I'm Just
Rick" blog of Rick Minerd (AOL Journal). Entitled "Minerd.com,"
the piece reads, in part: "The Minerd's I grew up knowing of a connection
with were all in Southern Ohio. The bad news for those who don't like us is that
there are Minerds in every nook and cranny of the planet. Something like a
quarter of a million are related in one way or another. Maybe it's a
million." Seen here, Rick is the great-grandson of Jacob
and Martha (Buck) Minerd Jr. of Athens County, Ohio.
May 2007 - Minerd.com founder Mark Miner is named in the May 2007 issue of the Little Big Horn Associates Newsletter, as one of the speakers for the LBHA's annual national conference, to be held July 21, 2007, in Nebraska.
April 29, 2007 - An undated postcard from our archives, showing a bird's eye view of Carnegie Steel Company's Homestead Works, comprising open hearth plants No. 3 and No. 4, structural mills, sheared plate mills, the armor plate department and electric powerhouse, is published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biographies of Jennie (Miner) Paolone and Ida Ellen (Farabee) Taylor.
March
26, 2007 - Minerd.com founder Mark Miner is the featured speaker before
about 75 members of the Greater Pittsburgh
Civil War Round Table on "Tontogany's
Deep Secret: The Unknown Son of Thomas Ward Custer." Held at the
Hampton Community Center in Allison Park, the talk is based on his award-winning
article in the Research Review Magazine of the Little
Big Horn Associates, first published on this
website, and is previewed in the Round Table's monthly newsletter, The
Arsenal. In a newsletter commentary published in April, reviewer Rich
DeCecco said the topic was "interesting" and that the talk included
"a very professional looking power point presentation."
March 25, 2007 - A postcard from our archives, showing Sewickley Valley Hospital, on Blackburn Road, today part of the Heritage Valley Health System, is published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biography of Jennie (Miner) Paolone.
Feb. 11, 2007 - A postcard from our archives, mailed in 1912, showing a streetcar making its way toward downtown Greensburg, Westmoreland County, PA, is published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biographies of Pearl (Beggs) Altman and Viola (Younkin) Mountain.
~ 2006 ~
Dec. 31, 2006 - An undated postcard from our archives, of the United Brethren Church of Youngwood, Westmoreland County, PA, is published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biography of Claude C. Overholt.
Nov. 12, 2006 - A postcard from our archives, postmarked 1914, showing the rooftops of Wilkinsburg, near Pittsburgh, is published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biography of Eli Leonard.
Oct. 8, 2006 - A postcard from our archives, mailed in 1911, depicting the stone walls and towers of the Western Pennsylvania Penitentiary on Pittsburgh's North Side, is published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biography of Martha (Minerd) Gorsuch.
September 2006 - The Newsletter of the Little Big Horn Associates carries a photograph of Minerd.com founder Mark A. Miner on the back cover, "Faces of the Richmond Conference," seen accepting the Lawrence A. Frost Memorial Award for authorship of "Tontogany's Deep Secret: The Unknown Son of Thomas Ward Custer." The article was adapted from material first published on Minerd.com.
Aug. 27, 2006 - A postcard from our archives, postmarked 1913, is published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, showing the National Tube Company's works and furnaces in Pittsburgh. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biographies of Rachel (Long) Pritts, Della (Firestone) Hilling, Ida (Murray) Ritenour and Harriet (Younkin) Romesburg Turney.
July
29, 2006 - The article about a forgotten Ohio oilfield worker, first told on
Minerd.com, wins an award for the best article published in a magazine dedicated
to the legacy of Gen. George Armstrong Custer. Author Mark A. Miner, founder of
Minerd.com, accepts the Lawrence A. Frost Memorial Award for "Tontogany's
Deep Secret" at the annual conference of the Little
Big Horn Associates in Richmond, VA. He is seen here with John S.
Manion, chairman of the LBHA editorial review board. The article appeared in the
Summer 2005 edition of the LBHA's magazine, Research Review. The
LBHA is a 900-member organization devoted to research, publications and
conferences about Gen. Custer, the battle and his family. The article
specifically features the obscured life of Thomas
C. Custer, who was born out of wedlock to Gen. Custer's brother, Capt.
Thomas Ward Custer,
and Rebecca Minerd, who were
neighbors on farms in Tontogany, near Bowling Green, OH. Through rare documents,
photographs, newspaper articles and court records, Miner not only delves into
the Custer family's years of residence in the sleepy Ohio town during the Civil
War, but gives insights into the 19th century handling of illegitimate children,
and the degree to which the boy's story was kept quiet. The award is named in
memory of Dr. Frost, a nationally recognized authority who was longtime curator
of the Custer collection in the Monroe County Museum in Michigan.
July 23, 2006 - A postcard from our archives, postmarked 1944, is published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. It shows an automobile on Scullton Road (now known as Route 653 or Springfield Pike), leaving Normalville in Fayette County, with the "Little Alps of America" as a backdrop. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biographies of Iva (Conn) Henry, William Jacob Long, Bessie (Enos) Weimer and John Walter Miner, all of different branches of the family who lived in the Normalville/Scullton areas.
June 4, 2006 - An undated postcard from our archives, showing the railroad junction in Brownsville, Fayette County, PA, is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biography of Thomas Springer McKnight.
April 23, 2006 - A postcard from our archives, postmarked 1914 and showing the popular West View Park in Pittsburgh, is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biography of Mentzer Tilbury.
April 6, 2006 - Before several hundred VIPs at a meeting of the Pittsburgh 250 Commission, an initiative of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, Minerd.com is praised for its creativity and innovation by Andrew Masich, CEO of the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, and founding member of the Commission.
March 12, 2006 - A postcard from our archives, postmarked 1908 and showing Main Street looking east in Connellsville, Fayette County, is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biography of Warren Dempsey Younkin Sr.
Feb. 5, 2006 - A postcard from our archives, postmarked 1915 and showing a bird's eye view of South Burgettstown, Washington County, PA, is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biography of Ida Catherine (Firestone) Langenheim.
Jan. 1, 2006 - A postcard from our archives, showing the Indian Creek Reservoir between Normalville and Mill Run, Fayette County, PA, is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biography of Jonas Rowan.
~ 2005 ~
Nov. 27, 2005 - A postcard from our archives, showing the Ackley covered bridge, built in 1832 across Wheeling Creek, connecting Washington and Greene Counties, is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The bridge was moved to Henry Ford's Greenfield Village in 1937, where it can be seen today. The image may be seen in the Minerd.com biography of Henry and Polly (Younkin) Minerd.
October
2005 - Families of Fayette County, the quarterly publication of the
Fayette County (PA) Genealogical Society, features the article, "Minerd.com
Website Launches 'Online Quilt Museum'."
October
2005 - "Tontongany's Deep Secret" -- the groundbreaking Minerd.com
story of Thomas C. "Tommy" Custer
-- who was the son of Civil War Medal of Honor winner Thomas Ward Custer and the
nephew of General George Armstrong Custer -- is published nationally in the Research
Review Magazine of the Little Big Horn Associates. Authored by Minerd.com
founder Mark A. Miner, the 11-page article is illustrated with more than 20 rare
photographs and images. It tells the story of Tommy, his mother Rebecca
Minerd and his famous father, and how the community of Tontogany, Ohio
harbored the deep Custer family secret "which everyone knew but no one
publicly discussed." In the preface, the magazine editor writes that the
article reveals "documents, photos, newspaper articles and more in
examining the only recently discovered evidence regarding Tom Custer's son... It
presents an interesting insight into nineteenth century handling of illegitimate
children." Click here to order
a copy.
Oct. 16, 2005 - Undated postcard from our archives, showing the famed "Hangover" cabin that Pititsburgh department store owners Liliane and Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr. constructed circa 1921 for use as a weekend retreat at Bear Run, Fayette County, is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The house sat about 1,500 feet southeast of the Bear Run Falls where the Kaufmanns later build their world famous home, Fallingwater, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Sept. 24, 2005 -
Seen at right, Minerd.com is featured with a display
table at the annual Dunbar-Fest sponsored by the Dunbar (PA) Historical Society,
including photos from our website and publications from past reunions. Cousins
from several branches of the family stop by to visit with website founder Mark
A. Miner.
Sept. 11, 2005 - Postcard from our archives, from the early 1910s, showing the Main Street of Mt. Pleasant, PA, looking eastward, is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Sept.
2005 - Minerd.com and its founder, Mark A. Miner, are acknowledged as
sources in the newly published book seen at left, There's No Place
Like Dunbar! 2002-2004 - Historical Vignettes and Personal Reflections from The
Daily Courier's Dunbar Column, authored by Donna R. Myers and Bonnie L.
Zurick of the Dunbar (PA) Historical
Society. This is the third book published
to date citing Minerd.com as a resource. In the dedication, they wrote: "A
very special thanks to ... the nationally recognized www.minerd.com
website, for encouraging us and sharing glimpses of his family's ties to the
Dunbar community."
July 24, 2005 - Postcard from our archives, postmarked 1908 and showing the Soldiers' Orphans School in Jumonville, near Uniontown, PA, is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
July 12, 2005 - Minerd.com founder Mark A. Miner is invited to speak at the 2007 national conference of the Little Big Horn Associates to be held in North Platte, Neb., on July 21, 2007. The topic will be Miner's research of General George A. Custer's little-known nephew, Thomas C. Custer.
July 8, 2005
- The national
Minerd-Minard-Miner-Minor Reunion is featured in a Somerset
(PA) Daily American article, " 'A Legacy of
Quilting' Reunion's
Theme."
June 12, 2005 - Postcard from our archives, postmarked 1912 and depicting the main pavilion at Washington Park in Washington, PA, is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
April 24, 2005 - Postcard from our archives, postmarked 1910, showing a bird's-eye view of the railroad yards at Dickerson Run, Fayette County, is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
March 2005 - The 740-page book, George Fluckey the Hessian Soldier, is published by authors Lois Catlett and Sharon (Catlett) Kossieck. It contains extensive excerpts of Minerd.com biographies of Daniel and Margaret (Fluckey) Miner Sr. and their descendants of Cardington, Morrow County, OH. Minerd.com is credited as the source throughout the volume.
Feb. 27, 2005 - Postcard from our archives, dated 1909 and depicting the "largest gas pumping station in the world," at Brave, Greene County, PA, is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Jan. 2, 2005 - As part of a cover story about Western Pennsylvania's "Old Coal Kings," the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review publishes an undated postcard from our archives, showing the coal tipple of the H.C. Frick Coke Co. in South Brownsville, Fayette County.
~ 2004 ~
Nov. 7, 2004 - Undated postcard from our archives, showing the historic West Brownsville, PA birthplace of James G. Blaine, who served in the U.S. House and Senate, and was a presidential candidate in 1884, is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Sept. 26, 2004 - Undated postcard from our archives, showing Spray Rock Cottage at Bear Run, Fayette County, owned by the Edgar J. Kaufmann department store family, and demolished in the 1930s to make room for what is now the guest house at Fallingwater, is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Aug. 22, 2004 - Postcard from our archives, postmarked 1918 and entitled "General View of Rochester, Pa.," is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
July 8, 2004 - An
Associated Press wire story
about our reunion is sent to
scores of
newspapers throughout Pennsylvania. The article is published in the Harrisburg Patriot-News, Beaver County Times, Uniontown
Herald-Standard, Connellsville Daily Courier, Johnstown Tribune-Democrat, Waynesboro Record-Herald
and Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader, among others.
June 27, 2004 - Undated postcard from our archives, depicting the Leisenring No. 1 coke plant of the H.C. Frick Coke Co. near Uniontown, is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
May 16, 2004 - Postcard from our archives, dated 1918 and entitled "Scenes Along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad" on the Youghiogheny River at Indian Creek, Fayette County, PA, is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
March 28, 2004 - Postcard from our archives, of the "Triumphal Arch, Washington, Pa., Centennial Oct. 2-8, 1910," is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
March 7, 2004 - Postcard from our archives, postmarked 1909 and showing Main Street looking west in Connellsville, Fayette County, PA, is published in the "Focus" Magazine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Click here to see the list for 1999-2003
Copyright
© 2000-2006 Mark A. Miner,
President of Mark
Miner Communications, LLC