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Kissin' Cousins

Extensive Intermarriages Between the Minerd-Miner Family and the Younkin, Harbaugh and Mayle Clans of Southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia

In the film Gone with the Wind, as expected by the family, Ashley Wilkes (played by Leslie Howard) marries his cousin Melanie Hamilton (Olivia DeHavilland).

 

In the opening scene of the epic film Gone With the Wind, the ravishing Scarlett O'Hara is being wooed by two lovestruck men on the front porch of her family home, Tara. One of them gossips that their friend Ashley Wilkes has become engaged to a cousin, Melanie Hamilton. 

Scarlett pouts, because of course she's secretly in love with Ashley. The suitor, not understanding Scarlett's disappointment, says that "The Wilkes and Hamiltons always marry their own cousins."

Sound familiar?  Many Minerd-Miner-Minor relatives married their own cousins too!  And also those in the Younkin, Harbaugh and Mayle-Male families.

Later in the film, Scarlett confronts Ashley and demands to know why he is marrying the other woman. He responds, "She is like me, part of my blood, and we understand each other."

Ashley's comments offer insights about why many Minerd- Minard- Miner- Minor descendants married their cousins in Southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia in the 19th and early 20th centuries.  Although marriages of first cousins today are illegal in many states, they were commonplace then, especially in rural communities where clusters of families lived on adjacent farms and were of the same ethnic background and cultures. 

The founder of this website is descended from one such marriage -- Henry Minerd (1809-1890) who married his mother's cousin, Mary "Polly" Younkin (1815-1886). Their son Ephraim, in turn, married twice, both times to cousins of the Younkin and Harbaugh clans.

 

Today, the popular image of cousin marriages is of illiterate, hormone-happy mountain hicks whose cross-eyed children had six fingers on each hand and webbing between their toes.

But people of the 1800s had no knowledge of modern genetic research (which became a recognized science in the early 1900s), nor were there laws to prohibit intra-family unions. In fact, cousin marriages were considered to have value as a way to ensure that like-minded couples with similar values and heritage stayed together. 

It may be surprising to learn how many noted couples were related. Among them were President Franklin Roosevelt and Eleanor; Albert Einstein and Elsa Löwenthal; On the Origin of Species author Charles Darwin and Emma Wedgwood; poet Edgar Allen Poe and Virginia Clemm; author H.G. Wells and Isabel; the grandparents of President John F. Kennedy (John F. and Mary J. [Hannon] Fitzgerald); and Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar Kaufmann Sr. and his wife Liliane, who commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design their country home Fallingwater.

President Thomas Jefferson urged both of his daughters to wed cousins. In Dawn Brodie's biography, Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate Portrait, she writes: 

Jefferson encouraged his daughters to 'marry within the family.'  Martha married her distant cousin, Thomas Mann Randolph ... [and] Maria married John Eppes, the son of her mother's half sister. Jefferson's younger brother Randolph married his first cousin, Anne Jefferson Lewis. Today it all looks fairly incestuous, but no one then seems to have been in the least troubled by the inbreeding.

In the 1930s and early '40s, extensive family history research and publishing conducted by Charles Arthur Younkin of Charleroi, PA and Otto Roosevelt "Pete" Younkin of Masontown, PA, in connection with the First Younkin National Home-Coming Reunion further documented the intermingled marriages between the Minerd-Miner-Minor, Harbaugh and Younkin cousins. Additional investigations in the 2000s have identified a staggering count of more than 200 marriages between the Minerd and Mayle/Male clans of Philippi and Grafton, WV. 

To learn more about these early Minerd/Minerd, Minerd/Harbaugh, Minerd/Younkin and Minerd/Mayle marriages:

 

~ Minerd to Minerd Marriages Before World War II (18) ~
Husband Wife Year
Charles Minerd - son of Jacob and Catherine (Younkin) Minerd Jr.
Adaline Harbaugh - daughter of Leonard and Martha (Minerd) Harbaugh Sr.
1847
Frances Ellen Ferguson - daughter of John and Martha (Churchill) Ferguson
1872
Rosetta Harbaugh - daughter of David and Mary Magdalene (Whipkey) Harbaugh
1877
1890
1893
Julia Hanshaw - daughter of Hiram B. and Catherine (Miner) Hanshaw
1898
Hazel Stillwagon - daughter of Mariah J. (Minerd) Whetzel and Peter "Clark" Stillwagon
1900-01
Mary Minerd) Cole - daughter of Burket and Susan (Hartzell) Minerd
1909
Dora Strauch - daughter of John and Mary Hester (McKnight) Strauch
1911
Lillian Rhoads - daughter of James and Minnie (Younkin) Rhoads
1913?
Robert Marshall White Jr. - son of Robert Marshall and Mary Rebecca (Pope) White Sr.
Lenora "Nora" Turner - daughter of Homer W. and Sarah B. "Sallie" (Hull) Turner
1916?
Lottie Daunice Miller - daughter of Jesse Alva and Flora "Belle" (Farabee) Miller
1916
Gertrude Shroyer - daughter of Jacob Adam and Laura Belle (Younkin) Shroyer
1917
Ida Frances Rose - daughter of John N. and Carrie (Eicher) Rose
1918
Gladys May (Miller) Daniels - daughter of Jesse Alva and Flora "Belle" (Farabee) Miller
1920
Charles Laclair West - son of George and Mary A. (Devan) West - family of William A. and Arthilla (Fell) West
Viola Rebecca White - daughter of Charles Henry and Elizabeth Ann (Johnson) White - family of Robert Marshall and Mary Rebecca (Pope) White Sr.
1926?
Sarah Pearl Rankin - daughter of George W. and Lillie (Fields) Rankin
1920s
Thelma Mae Welsh - daughter of James Franklin and Irene (Miner) Welsh
1930s
Margaret Lancaster - daughter of Samuel B. and Matilda Elizabeth (Miner) Lancaster - family of Enoch Miner Sr.
1930s

 

 

~ Minerd/Younkin Marriages Before World War II (31) ~
Minerd
Younkin
Year
Jacob Minerd Jr. - son of Jacob and Maria (Nein) Minerd Sr. Catherine Younkin - daughter of daughter of Johannes "John" and Catharina (Dorscheimer) Younkin
1802
Henry Minerd - son of Jacob and Catherine (Younkin) Minerd Jr. Mary "Polly" Younkin - daughter of "Yankee John" and Nancy (Hartzell) Younkin
1830s
Laura Minerd - daughter of Jacob and Catherine (Younkin) Minerd Jr. John M. Younkin - son of Jacob "of John" and Eleanor (Chambers) Younkin
1830s
Adaline Harbaugh - daughter of Leonard and Martha (Minerd) Harbaugh Sr. Charles Minerd - son of Jacob and Catherine (Younkin) Minerd Jr.
1847
Catherine Knight - daughter of James and Susanna (Imel) Knight Jr.  William Younkin - son of Wilhelm "William" and Catherine (Firestone) Younkin
1859?
Jacob M. Younkin - son of John M. and Laura (Minerd) Younkin Mary Jane Christner - daughter of Levi and Catherine (Younkin) Christner - family of Charles and Jane (Johnston) Younkin
1859
James Minerd Jr. - son of James and Sarah (Walters) Minerd Sr Candace Rush - daughter of John K. and Syvilla (Younkin) Rush
1861
Ephraim Minerd - son of Henry and Mary "Polly" (Younkin) Minerd Joanna Younkin - daughter of Rev. Harmon and Susan (Faidley) Younkin
1866
Lucinda Harbaugh - daughter of daughter of David and Mary Magdalene (Whipkey) Harbaugh William "Dayton" Younkin - son of George and Charlotta (Younkin) Younkin
1870s
Rosetta Harbaugh Minerd - daughter of daughter of David and Mary Magdalene (Whipkey) Harbaugh Ephraim Minerd - son of Henry and Mary "Polly" (Younkin) Minerd
1877
Susanna "Susie" Harbaugh - daughter of David and Mary Magdalene (Whipkey) Harbaugh Alexander "Wilson" Conn - son of Eliah "Eli" and Nancy (King) Conn - family of Thomas R. and Sarah “Sally” (Younkin) King.
1892
Zobeida Jane (Ream) Colborn - daughter of Thomas and Sarah (McMillan) Ream Jr. Silas Younkin - son of Henry F. and Mary (King) Younkin
1892
Sarah "Ellen" Enos - daughter of Perry and Joanna (Minerd) Enos William Harrison Hart - son of George H. and Nancy Jane (Showman) Hart and grandson of David and Jane (Younkin) Showman
1893
Frederick Albert Ream - son of Albert and Barbara Ellen (Dull) Ream - family of Thomas and Barbara (Haines) Ream Sr. Alice Jane Younkin - daughter of William "Henry" and Rachel (McClintock) Younkin
1895
Minnie Enos - daughter of Perry and Joanna (Minerd) Enos Jacob Y. Kuhns - son of Jacob and Susanna (Younkin) Kuhns - family of Jacob J. "Dorky Jake" and Dorcas (Hartzell) Younkin
1896
John Vough Jr. - son of Missouri (Younkin) Wingerd and John Vough Sr. Martha Ellen Swarner - daughter of Henry and Barbara (Younkin) Swarner
1901
Jessie "Gertrude" Conn - daughter of Alexander Wilson and Susannah (Harbaugh) Conn Samuel Melchi Firestone - son of Ross and Jane (Hartzell) Firestone
1911
Edith Gribble - daughter of Timber "Lake" and Emma (Beerbower) Gribble Charles R. Wiltrout - son of Jacob J. and Jemima (Geary) Wiltrout - family of Adam and Elizabeth (Younkin) Wiltrout
1912?
Charles Henry Rose Sr. - son of Levi and Anna (Leichliter) Rose

Harriet "Hattie" Smith - daughter of Albert and Mary Catherine (Moon) Smith - family of "Weasel Jake" and Catherine "Katie" (Faidley) Younkin

1912
Lillian Rhoads - daughter of James and Minnie (Younkin) Rhoads
1913?
Carl Vincent Gorsuch - son of Richard Mason and Martha Emma (Minerd) Gorsuch Edna May Conn - daughter of Rush and Mary Jane "Molly" (Phillippi) Conn - family of Thomas R. and Sarah "Sally" (Younkin) King
1914
Oakey David Harbaugh - son of Robert Bacom and Elizabeth (Long) Harbaugh Sr. Gertrude Shroyer - daughter of Jacob Adam and Laura Belle (Younkin) Shroyer
1917
Mabel Hall - daughter of James R. and Mary Eliza (Harbaugh) Hall
William "Russell" Burkholder - son of James "Wesley" and Harriet (Firestone) Burkholder
1918
Ida Frances Rose - daughter of John N. and Carrie (Eicher) Rose
1918
Richard A. Gorsuch - son of Richard Mason and Martha Emma "Matt" (Minerd) Gorsuch Blanche Hazel Swarner - daughter of John H. and Bertha Mae (Cramer) Swarner - family of Henry S. and Barbara Jean (Younkin) Swarner 1919 
Thomas Henry Rankin - son of John William and Phoebe Ann (Maust) Rankin
Gladys May (Miller) Daniels - daughter of Jesse Alva and Flora "Belle" (Farabee) Miller
1920
Sarah Pearl Rankin - daughter of George W. and Lillie (Fields) Rankin
1920s
Bertha Ream - daughter of Joseph Ward and Sarah Ellen (Harbaugh) Ream Donald Wilbert Conn - son of Harvey Leslie and Ida Mae (Metzler) Conn - family of Thomas R. and Sarah "Sally" (Younkin) King
1923
Beatrice Younkin - daughter of Silas and Zobeida Jane (Ream) Younkin Homer C. Rush - son of Grant and Margaret (Critchfield) Rush - family of Jacob J. and Sarah (Dull) Rush
1923
Olive Ailene Rowan - daughter of William Austin and Hattie (Johnson) Rowan Linzy Silvester Conn - son of Harvey and Ida (Metzler) Conn - family of Thomas R. and Sarah "Sally" (Younkin) King.
1929
Margaret Lancaster - daughter of Samuel B. and Matilda Elizabeth (Miner) Lancaster - family of Enoch Miner Sr.
1930s
  Younkin DNA study webpage

 

 

~ Minerd/Harbaugh Marriages Before World War II (10) ~

Minerd
Harbaugh
Year
Martha (Minerd) Imel Leonard Harbaugh Sr.
1819
Charles Minerd Adaline Harbaugh - daughter of Leonard and Martha (Minerd) Harbaugh Sr.
1847
Ephraim Minerd Rosetta Harbaugh - daughter of David and Mary Magdalene (Whipkey) Harbaugh
 1877
Josephine Minerd Winfield S. Hall - son of Joseph and Elizabeth Hall and stepson of Elizabeth (Rowan) Hall
1881
James R. Hall Mary Eliza Harbaugh - daughter of Joseph and Jane (Williams) Harbaugh
1884
Rev. John Austin Harbaugh Isabella A. "Belle" Robbins - family of Jonas and Julia Ann (Williams) Rowan
1909
Annie "Gertrude" Shroyer Oakey David Harbaugh - son of Robert Bacom and Elizabeth (Long) Harbaugh Sr.
1917
Cyril "Edgar" Ream Nora Pearl Harbaugh - daughter of Marshall and Annie M. (Shroyer) Harbaugh
1917
Ethel Irene Ream William Elliott Harbaugh - son of Marshall and Annie M. (Shroyer) Harbaugh
?
Ollie Magdalene Harbaugh Lloyd Jackson Hall - family of Joseph and Elizabeth (Rowan) Hall
?

 

 

~ Minerd/Mayle Marriages (200+) ~

Comprehensive List

 

~ Further Reading

"The Surprising Truth About Cousins and Marriage" - TodayIFoundOut.com, Feb. 14, 2014
 
A portion of this article originally was published in the Younkin Family News Bulletin. Copyright © 1993, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2011, 2013-2014, 2020 Mark A. Miner