1843 William Hazlett Minor Sr

William Hazlett Minor Sr 1843–1893
BIRTH 1843 • Fayette Co., PA
DEATH 6 JUL 1893 • Arcata, Humboldt Co., CA
3rd great-uncle

SPOUSE:

Harriet E. Hedden 1848–

PARENTS:

Samuel Minor 1800–1878, married
Louisa Keller 1806–1848

CHILDREN:

James M. Minor 1878–1949
Isaac O. Minor 1879–1904
Loretta Belle Minor 1881–1926
Alice Eleanor Minor 1884–1969
Harriet L Minor 1886–1887
William Hazlett Minor Jr 1886–1969

SIBLINGS:

Eliza Douglas Minor 1826–1902
Louisa Minor 1827–1879
Daniel Keller Minor 1829–
Isaac Minor 1830–1915
Sarah Ann Minor 1833–1856
Samuel Minor 1835–1863
Rachel Minor 1839–1870
David Wilson Minor 1839–1920
William Hazlett Minor Sr 1843–1893
Theodore Henry Minor 1845–1932

FACTS and EVIDENCE:

Ancestry.com page:  https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/69705632/person/34215558467/facts

Photos of William H. Minor and his wife Harriet Hedden Minor:

1848 Samuel Minor’s wife and William H Minor’s mother, Louisa Keller, dies in 1848.

1850 US Census:  Name: Samuel Minor.  Age: 49  Birth Year: abt 1801
Birthplace: Pennsylvania.  Home in 1850: Union, Fayette, Pennsylvania, USA
Gender: Male.  Family Number: 185
Household Members:   Name Age
Samuel Minor 49
Louisa Minor 23
Daniel K Minor 22
Isaac Minor 19
Sarah Ann Minor 17
Samuel Minor 15
Rachel Minor 13
David W Minor 11
William H Minor 6
T H Minor 4   http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8054&h=197022&ssrc=pt&tid=69705632&pid=34215530590&usePUB=true

1856 sister Sarah Ann Minor Sembower dies in Iowa.

1860 US Census:  Name: Saml Minor. Age: 59 Birth Year: abt 1801
Gender: Male. Birth Place: Pennsylvania
Home in 1860: North Union, Fayette, Pennsylvania
Post Office: Uniontown. Family Number: 410
Household Members:   Name Age
Saml Minor 59
Wm Minor 17
Theodore Minor 14
(Note: Unknown what relation the following people were listed at Samuel’s home – they may have been boarders, or Sarah Lutz may have been teaching Theodore and the other children listed):
Sarah Lutz 45
Jno O Todd 12
Caroline Cropp 7
Jacob Smith 5
Emily Smith 4
Robt Smith 1  http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=7667&h=3680085&ssrc=pt&tid=69705632&pid=34215530590&usePUB=true

1863 brother Samuel Minor dies in Arcata, California – attacked while out working lumber – brother Isaac had left early for town for some business, Samuel was shot with a gun, shot with arrows, scalped, and hacked with an axe – he lived about a day longer and was able to describe the attackers.

1870 US Census:  Name: Theodore H Minor. Age in 1870: 24. Birth Year: abt 1846
Birthplace: Pennsylvania. Home in 1870: Canaan, Henry, Iowa
Race: White. Gender: Male
Post Office: Mount Pleasant
Household Members:
Name Age
Theodore H Minor 24
Mary J Minor 22
Anna L Minor 2
Joseph H Minor 3/12
John Dannels 52
Anna Dannels 51
William H Minor 27 http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=7163&h=26456390&ssrc=pt&tid=69705632&pid=34215528855&usePUB=true

1880 US Census: Name: William Minor
Age: 37
Birth Year: abt 1843
Birthplace: Pennsylvania
Home in 1880: Arcata, Humboldt, California
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Self (Head)
Marital Status: Married
Spouse’s Name: Harriet E. Minor
Father’s Birthplace: New Jersey
Mother’s Birthplace: Pennsylvania
Neighbors: View others on page
Occupation: Farmer
Household Members:
Name Age
William Minor 37
Harriet E. Minor 32
James M. Minor 1
Isaac O. Minor 8m  http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=6742&h=20387061&ssrc=pt&tid=104666471&pid=310087576889&usePUB=true

BIO:

William was born in 1843 near Uniontown, Fayette County, Penn., where he worked on his father’s family farm until age,21. In 1864 he enlisted in the Penn. Volunteers for the Civil War. His description on the enlistment paper is given as “eyes grey, hair dark, complexion dark, height 5’6”.”

While William was at work constructing a trench, a large man jumped into the trench, landing upon the young soldier.  This caused a chest injury, and on September 29 he was admitted to Mt. Pleasant Hospital, Washington, D.C. Hospital records show “dysentery and remittent fever…returned to active duty October 27.” The military record has him
returning to Fort Ethan Allen, Virginia, on Nov. 3, 1864. He was mustered out of the
Army at Fort Ethan Allen on June 13, 1865.

Shortly thereafter his hospital stay, William received the following letter dated Oct. 9, 1864,  from his father, Samuel. This letter is still in the possession of William’s descendants and has been carefully reproduced here; spelling and all, exactly as his father
wrote it:

“My sone I reseved your letter Dated Mount Pleasent Hospittel September the 30 and was glad to hear from you, but verry sorrye to here that you was sick but I was looking to it when you stand out at knight you must rap up the best you can … know Billy I will tell you
something about home well we thrashing dun the meshine broke and we hade to wate 10 days it rain a part of boath days the wheat staks whare all a little groad we had 82 bs of what and one hundred and thirty fore bushels of oats we have our corn cutup theadore has got out of the Noshin of listing for the present well William I haven’t laid out your money yet and I gess I wont till Spring … know William the fare has come off and was how grait things Theadore and our houskeeper went to the fair and thare was a young lady came home with them and staid all night with us hur name was Jane Craft and she was a very pirty girl and lived in Brownsvill…Theadore has gown to the mountain today for grapes
and has knot got back yet…we had knot hard from David sense you left home nor from Isaac. I close four the present your father write as soon as this come to hand and let us know how you have got.  Samuel Minor to William Minor.”

After his Civil War duties William returned to the farm to work for his father for the next six years. Then in 1879, at age 29, and with the savings he had accumulated by working for his father, he left Penn. to join his brother, Isaac, and, we believe, his brother, David, in Arcata.

William’s date of arrival and means of transportation are indicated on a transcontinental passenger train’s list of passengers containing his name and stating that the train passed Carlin, Nev., Aug. 7, 1872. He probably arrived in San Francisco on the following day and soon took an ocean steamer from San Francisco to Eureka and thence to Arcata where he worked for his brother, Isaac.

Five years later, on Nov. 7, 1877, at age 34, he married Harriet Eleanor Hedden. It is uncertain where they lived for the first one or two years, but it is known that their first child, James Marion, was born Aug. 24, 1878, in Isaac’s Arcata Bottom farmhouse and that the next five children were born on the ranch that William bought on Arcata Bottom about one mile west of Arcata. Since Isaac Oliver, William and Harriet’s second child, was born on Oct. 13, 1879, it indicates that William bought his farm and moved there at least prior to that date and possibly even by the end of 1878.

On his farm William raised thoroughbred horses and did general farming, which included hay, potatoes, poultry, hogs, milk cows, a family vegetable and berry garden, and fruit and English walnut trees.

Mary Kjer Minor, wife of William Hazlett Minor, Jr., who lived in Arcata to adulthood and was the daughter of Mads Kjer, who settled on his farm on the Arcata Bottom in 1874, stated that William H. Minor, Sr., was the first official agricultural instructor for the Indians on the Hoopa Reservation.

William was troubled with chronic bronchitis ever since his chest injury in the Civil War. On July 17, 1891, at age 48, William applied for a total disability military pension, listing “chronic bronchitis, affliction of the liver, and general debility.” His death two years
later, July 6, 1893, due to “consumption” was attributed to the Civil War chest injury.

Despite the early death of William and his marriage of only 15 years and 4 months, he left his widow, Harriet, in comfortable circumstances. With the money she received from selling off part of the farmland, the accumulated funds left her by William, and her $30 per month Civil War widow’s pension, she lived the remaining 32 years of her life very
comfortably on the family farm which included the large 14-room house, the smaller original home, outbuildings, and 15 acres of farmland. She rented out the cottage on the farm property and hired one or more men to do the farm work.

At the time of her husband’s death she had five children, 14 years and younger, all of whom lived to adulthood. The five children helped with the farm work and management as well as pursuing their educations independently.

Harriet, along with her daughter, Loretta Belle, are listed as two of the seven founders of the Arcata Baptist Church. Harriet was born Oct. 22, 1848, and died on March 19, 1926, at the age of 77 at the home of her daughter, Alice Eleanor Brown in Oakland, Calif. She is buried beside her husband in the William Minor plot at Greenwood Cemetery, Arcata.
The plot is located to the right of Isaac Minor’s mausoleum.

At the death of Harriet, the farm and buildings were inherited in equal shares by the remaining three living children, James Marion, Alice Eleanor, and William H., Jr., and sold shortly thereafter. The smaller home is now at least 110 years old and the larger one 98 years of age. Both of these homes are in good condition, the farmland has been  increased to near its original size of 150 acres and is a successful dairy farm under its present owners, Johnnie and Mary Avila, Jr. The home is located at 3067 Foster Rd., Arcata.

There were six children from the marriage of William and Harriet. The last two were twins. The six are listed as follows:

1. James Marion Minor, born Aug. 24, 1878, died Feb. 6, 1949, at age 70. Married Mary Elizabeth Millard, Jan. 6, 1910, daughter of the Arcata pioneers, Samuel and Catherine Millard. Had two sons, Carl Wilbur and Gordon Marion. James Marion, an electrical engineer, helped to build the first electric power line through his native Humboldt County.

2. Isaac Oliver, born Oct. 13, 1879, died June 9, 1904, unmarried. As a young man in his early 20s, Isaac Oliver went to Bakersfield, Calif., to work in the oil business for his uncle, Theodore H. Minor. He contracted valley fever and died of this ailment shortly thereafter at age 24.

3. Loretta Belle, born Mar. 8, 1881, died Feb. 12, 1926, at age 45 of a brain tumor. She was unmarried and lived with her mother on the family farm as companion and general helper.

4. Alice Eleanor, born June 8, 1884, died July 8, 1969, in Oakland, Calif., at age 85. She married Claude Brown of Santa Rosa and had two daughters, Arnolda Lowry and Claudia Elva Laverty.

5. William Hazlett, Jr., born Sept. 24, 1886, died May 6, 1969. He married Mary Kjer of Arcata. In his late teens and before his marriage, William moved from Arcata to Riverside, Calif. Here, with his wife, Mary, he established himself very successfully in the orange grove business accumulating several fine groves and being affiliated with the Sunkist Growers Cooperative. William and Mary had one adopted son, William H. Minor, III.

6. Harriet L., born Sept. 24, 1886, died Jan. 19, 1887, at three months of age. Harriet L. was a twin sister of William Hazlett, Jr.

Headstone for William H. Minor ad wife Harret E Minor:

Photos of the homes of William H. Minor Sr: