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September 2005
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Unknown
Faces and Places
Civil War veteran Nathan W. Minard, his wife Sarah Jane (Woodruff) Minard and others keep watch over their home in Richland, Kansas. Born in Harrison County, OH, and later a resident of Knox and Tuscarawas Counties, OH, Nathan served in the "War of the Rebellion" with the 96th Ohio Infantry. Later, after the war, he and Sarah Jane and their children migrated westward and became pioneer settlers of Iowa, Missouri and Kansas.
While residing in Richland, KS, Nathan helped build the local Evangelical United Brethren Church and was among its first trustees. After Mary Jane's death in 1892, Nathan married twice again, first to Phoebe (Ogan) Bainter and then to Eliza Dunn.
While it was well known that the family's origins were German, the pronunciation underwent a change in Nathan's final years, just after World War I. After some of Nathan's grandson returned home from the Army, having fought in Europe, they wanted no part of anything German, and began saying the name "Meh-NARD" rather than the traditional "MY-nerd."
Copyright © 2005 Mark A. Miner