USA > Pennsylvania > Lycoming County > Genealogical and personal history of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Volume I > Part 26
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project of Wildwood Cemetery, and the sequel may best be learned from the following brief extract from the minutes of the organization :
"The Wildwood Cemetery Company owes its origin mainly to the enterprise of Mr. J. M. McMinn, civil engineer, who having examined the high ground in the vicinity of Williamsport for a suitable location purchased by articles of agreement, upon the 23rd day of March, 1863, from Augustus Hagerman, a piece of ground containing eighty-three acres, situated in Loyalstock township, adjoining the creek on the west. At a meeting of the citizens of Williamsport, held at the office of James Armstrong, Esq., upon the 25th day of April, A. D. 1863, for the pur- pose of taking measures to organize a new Cemetery Company and pro- cure lands for the same, there were present: Robert Faries, James Armstrong, B. H. Taylor, George W. Lentz, Dr. W. F. Logan, George W. Youngman, Abraham Updegraff, Peter Herdic, Samuel W. Crans, H. B. Mellick and Clinton Lloyd. Hon. James Armstrong was elected . president, and Clinton Lloyd secretary. On motion a committee con- sisting of Clinton Lloyd, William H. Armstrong and George W. Young- man was appointed to prepare a charter on incorporation for a ceme- tery company, with such name as the committee might see fit to adopt, and present the same to the court of common pleas of Lycoming county for allowance. On motion a committee consisting of James Armstrong, A. Updegraff and G. W. Youngman was appointed to negotiate for the purchase of additional lands from McClintocks and Mrs. Vananda (now the Mound and Catholic Cemetery). On motion a committee consisting of Oliver Watson, Mathias Eder and W. H. Armstrong was appointed to urge upon the viewers appointed to view a route for a public road running along the east end of the proposed Cemetery ground, the pro- priety of reporting in favor of the same. On Motion, Resolved that an agreement be at once drawn up to be signed by those willing to con-
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tribute, pledging themselves to contribute equal proportions to the pay- ment of certain purchase money due to Augustus Hagerman, on agree- ment made with him by McMinn, for the purchase of sixty acres for cemetery purposes, and also the purchase of such other adjoining lands as a majority of the contributors might determine to acquire, which agreement being and signed by all present, the meeting adjourned."
At the fourth meeting, held May 11, 1863, it was "Resolved that Robert Faries, J. M. McMinn, Peter Herdic, W. H. Armstrong and George White, be a committee to make a survey and lay out the cemetery grounds, and determine the size, shape, and place of the lots, the route of the roads, and all matters necessary to the improvement of the prop- erty, and report to a subsequent meeting of the stockholders for their - action."
The charter was granted August 18, 1863. The company was or- ganized under the charter of September 28, 1863, with Abraham Upde- graff as president and Clinton Lloyd as secretary. John M. McMinn was elected engineer and superintendent by the committee on surveys and con- tinued in that capacity until September 2, 1869, when he resigned. In the meantime he had built all the roads and drives, laid out the lots, and had two maps made for the use of the association. One of these maps illustrates the cherished dream of the enthusiastic originator. It took all the territory embraced by the Mound Cemetery and Catholic Cemetery Anyone looking at this map, now in the hands of the secre- tary, Mr. John F. Laedlein, will be impressed by the exhibition of prac- tical foresight there presented as well as the irremediable misfortune in the present situation of three conflicting interests, which will forever pre- vent the original plan from being carried forward to the perfection of symmetry and beauty that nature had placed so easily within man's handiwork.
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Although Mr. McMinn's general health might have been consid- ered vigorous, yet he suffered from dyspepsia and the long list of ail- ments that follow in its train, the most serious of which was sick head- ache. The attacks of this malady became so frequent that he felt his intellectual power becoming impaired and his usefulness destroyed so that he determined upon seeking a more uniform climate. He readily yielded to the persuasion of William Underwood, an old Quaker with whom he had been associated for more than thirty years to join him in a pur- chase of a plantation near Norfolk, Virginia. He accordingly sold his property in Williamsport and removed south in September, 1869. He at once identified himself with the interests of the general public, and contributed his enthusiasm and energy to the various local schemes for advancing the prosperity of the community. His public speech advocat- ing the construction of the Norfolk and Western Railroad was well re- ceived, and satisfied the people that he had settled among them as a per- manent citizen. He was selected as chief engineer and superintendent of the Norfolk and Princess Ann Canal Company, and his report, pub- lished May 17, 1870, glows with bright possibilities of the enterprise. While engaged upon this work between Newton's Creek and Tanner's Creek, where the object was to promote surface drainage, accomplish. tidewater sewage disposal for the city of Norfolk, develop choice oyster grounds, and open up direct waterways, he absorbed so much of the poisonous miasma that after an illness of but ten days he suddenly died, September II, 1870, in his fifty-first year.
As a civil engineer he had attained a high place in his profession, his greatest skill being shown in his preliminary surveys and location. He was never idle, always devoting his spare moments to scientific study and investigation. His special favorites were geology and botany, which were thoroughly mastered in their local significance, which aided
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him immensely in acquiring professional thoroughness. His herbarium of plants and cabinet of minerals were something wonderful for a pri- vate individual, and would have been brought back to Williamsport if a suitable place could have been obtained for them; as it was, they were donated to the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, D. C. His cor- respondence extended to the highest institutions of America and Europe, and his scientific acquaintance with Agassiz, Torrey, Gray, Darlington, Henry, Porter, Dan, Baird and other eminent men had developed into a personal intimacy. From his associations in early life with Orthodox Quakers about West Chester, he had imbibed the peculiar doctrines taught by the Society of Friends to such an extent that his entire after life was moulded by their influence. He naturally became identified as an abolitionist, and when the cause of negro slavery appeared as a factor in politics, he was one of the staunchest co-workers with Abram Upde- graff, Tunison Coryell, and others, whose lives became conspicuous for their sympathy for the needy and oppressed. He became an early mem- ber of the "Washingtonians," that remarkable total abstinence society that was born during the year 1840, in Chase's Tavern, Baltimore. Hc was a leading spirit in the Milesburg " Laurel Leaf " Division, Sons of Temperance, sometime earlier than May, 1846, and remained an active worker in the cause of temperance both public and private as long as he lived. His dislike for tobacco was so pronounced that he frequently subjected himself to ridicule on account of it; believing the habit was simply intolerable, he could indulge no sort of forbearance with it.
Aspirations for political office were never detected in his life. He wanted to work and not to lead, and this fact has been the means of many ambitious persons receiving credit for valuable services which justly belonged to him. He was once elected alderman in his ward, which annoyed him very much and he never qualified. Although of
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strong religious convictions, yet he never connected himself with any church organization, feeling that he could not conscientiously hold fel- lowship with men whose lives were notoriously impure and hypocritical. Yet he contributed regularly and liberally to all benevolent objects for which he was approached, and systematically joined in the support of the First Baptist Church, in which his wife and some of his children held membership. His own creed was the Golden Rule, and his ambition was to be called an "honest man." His remains were brought from his southern home to be laid upon a spot he had often admired in the city of the dead, and which his own genious and tender sympathy had created.
Caroline Youngman McMinn, the wife of John M. McMinn, and daughter of Elias P. Youngman and Amelia Antes, was born in Young- manstown (now Mifflinburg), Union county, Pennsylvania, January 7, [822. When she was nine years of age her parents removed to Lycom- ing county, and settled in the old Antes homestead, near the site of Antes fort, in 1830. They remained here until the spring of 1835, when they moved to Nippenose Narrows, at the mouth of Morgan's Run, taking up their residence in the strong stone building that had been built for a fulling mill and formed into a dwelling, and there her parents dwelt as long as they lived. Caroline attended for a time the Ladies' Sem- inary at Jersey Shore, of considerable note in its day. While her father was county recorder (1839-1842) he remained in Williamsport, the county seat. At this time, also, his son, George W. Youngman, studied and began the practice of law, his brothers Henry and John attending school, and Henry learning the tannery business. Their father after the first year, having purchased property on the north side of Fourth street, above William, adjoining Andrew McMurray's Hotel (afterward the American House), Caroline went there to keep house for them, and remained until the fall of 1842, when her father's term having expired
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he sold the property to H. D. Ellis, and returned to Nippenose. In the winter of 1843-4 her cousin, Mrs. Ira Canfield, visited at their home, and Caroline returned with her to Center county. At a party given her she met her future husband, John M. McMinn, who was then bookkeeper for the Washington Iron Works Company. The company failed that winter, and Mr. McMinn secured a school in the neighborhood and went to teaching. In the autumn or early winter of 1844, Mr. McMinn en- tered into partnership with James Hays, in the tanning business in Penn's Valley.
On October 15, following, Caroline and John McMinn married, in Williamsport, and for a wedding trip drove to the home of his parents in East Bradford, Chester county, a distance of nearly two hundred miles. On their return to Center county they found that Hays had changed his mind, and the partnership was dissolved. Mr. McMinn now accepted a position of teaching in Nittany Valley, April, 1845. They moved to Milesburg, where they remained until the fall of 1849. Here three children were born to them: Joseph Handerson, October 21, 1845; Charles VonLinnaeus, February 11, 1847; and Herman Samuel, May 27, 1849.
At the time of their residence in Milesburg, Caroline McMinn at- tended a Methodist revival, where a manifestation of conversion came over her, and choosing the Baptist Church, was baptized into fellowship of that church. Mrs. McMinn had been brought up in the faith and doctrine of the German Reformed Church, the church of her ancestors. Upon taking up their residence at Nippenose, the family attended the Presbyterian Church at Jersey Shore, of which her father became a con- sistent member about 1842, and under his pious influence and devout ex- ample the Spirit of the Master prevailed in the household and remained throughout the lives of his children. During their residence in Miles-
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burg, Mr. McMinn was engaged in teaching until 1847, when he went into the lumbering business on the Moshannon Creek, on the western slope of the Allengheny mountains. In the fall of 1849, Mr. McMinn was in partnership with Samuel Mckean, with their lumbering interests at the mouth of Bear Creek, when in a night of October of that year an unprecedented freshet swept away the accumulation of their labors and their total investment went down with the flood.
As there was great need of transportation facilities in the Valley of Bald Eagle, Mr. McMinn turned his attention to civil engineering and surveying and decided to locate in Unionville and thus endeavor to bring about an improvement. In 1850 he was engaged in making surveys for the construction of the Bald Eagle plank road from Milesburg to Tyrone, and following up this work by the construction of the road.
On the 12th of May, 1851, a son was born to them and named Edwin, and on June 14, 1853, a daughter was born and named Mary Amelia. In this year her husband made the first surveys for the Lock Haven & Tyrone Railroad, when he was offered the position of principal assistant engineer to Robert Faries, who was engaged in making surveys for the Sunbury & Erie Railroad, with his office at Williamsport. Ac- cepting the offer he left his home in Unionville four days after the birth of his daughter Mary. In October following (1853), Mrs. McMinn with her family went to Williamsport to reside. They were soon set- tled in their new home, a small house on the south side of Fourth street, below Mulberry. The March following they moved to a more com- modious dwelling on the north side of the same street, between Acad- emy and Franklin streets. Here on December 8, 1855, a daughter was born and named Caroline.
On December 17th of this year the First Baptist Church of Will- iamsport was organized. Mrs. McMinn was one of sixteen who first
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constituted this religious body, the others being Rev. J. Green Miles, Foster Taylor, Elizabeth Coulton, Amanda Hurdic, Virginia Hall, Mary Sprout, Washington Newberry, Susan Brewer, Isabella H. Miles, J. N. Black, Annie E. Trainer, A. R. Sprout, Ellen Donnelly, Susannah New- berry, Angeline Titus ; Mrs. McMinn remained in the fold of that church, except during her stay in Philadelphia, until her death.
On December 12th, 1857, a son was born, the seventh and last child, to Mr. and Mrs. McMinn, and they named him Benjamin Frank- lin. In September, 1858, they removed from their rented home in East Fourth street to their newly built home at the northeast corner of Fourth and Locust streets, now owned by Mr. Frank Bowman. Here they re- mained until October, 1869, when to seek a milder climate for the benefit of her hsuband's health they purchased a plantation near Norfolk, Vir- ginia, to which they removed. After a residence there of only eleven months her husband died of malarial fever, after a sickness of ten days' duration, on the eleventh of September, 1870. The following year, Mrs. McMinn returned to Williamsport, where she resided for several years, when she went to Philadelphia to keep a home for her son and daughter who were employed there, remaining about ten years. Again returning to Williamsport she remained until her death, which occurred without pain or suffering, on January 8, 1903, aged eighty-one years and one day. She had been blessed with a vigorous constitution, never having suffered sickness in all her life, and when her lamp went out, it was in peace. Mrs. McMinn was fond of traveling. In the year 1865 she went alone to visit her brother Henry, who was living near Rockford, Illinois. This was considered at that time quite an undertaking. Several years following the death of her husband she took a trip down the Mississippi river as far as Louisiana, spending a winter there and witnessing one of the terrible floods following the breaking of the levees; and she also went twice to
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Ireland. In her last visit there she spent the winter of 1883 in Dublin, and greatly enjoyed the quaint ways of the Irish people. Mrs. McMinn was a faithful wife, and her seven children living to-day, 1905, testify of her love as a mother. She was an exemplary Christian, had a brilliant mind, a retentive memory, and a penetrating analytical ability ; she was observant of everything about her, and was able to describe minutely and accurately what she saw, was able to see the amusing side of things, and it was a treat to hear her describe the people she met on her travels. She had strong likes and dislikes, and despised intensely everything that was a sham or a fraud. In her home she was exceeding hospitable and, although a faithful Baptist, always opened her house to its fullest capacity when the Presbyterians or the Methodists of her town held a convention. She fully sympathized with her husband in his public- spiritedness and in the festivities of public events, took a prominent part with him, and always did her share valiantly. She was thoroughly patriotic, and during the Civil war aided in making up boxes and barrels of clothing, food and medicines, for the use of the sanitary commission. She trained her children to be patriotic, honest, sincere, and Christian. She taught them to hate everything that was false, and to stand by the truth with inflexible determination. There was never a blot on her fair name, and she possessed the respect of all who had known her.
Mrs. McMinn was of Palatinate German stock. On her father's side she was descended from Johan Ditrick Youngman, who came to this country in 1732, and Joachin Nagle, who came to this country in 1751; also of John Henry Pontius, one of the earliest settlers in Buffalo Valley. On her mother's side she was a descendant of Henry Antes, the famous colonial justice and the founder of Bethlehem, and the first business manager and property owner of the Moravians in Pennsylvania. He came to Pennsylvania about 1720. She was also descended from Will-
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iam DeWees, who in 1690 came as one of the earliest settlers in German- town; also of John Paul, who came to Pennsylvania in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Also of Jacob Shoemaker, one of the earliest settlers in Germantown, coming to this country in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Thus she could boast that her ancestry were among the earliest and best of the settlers of this fair land. She could also boast of having seven colonels of the Revolutionary war as belonging to her kinship. Of these were Colonel Frederick Antes, member of the conven- tion of 1775; Colonel William Antes, sub-lieutenant of Philadelphia county ; Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Antes, the famous scout and warrior ; Colonel David Rittenhouse, the treasurer of Pennsylvania dur- ing the Revolutionary war, and also a celebrated astronomer; Colonel William DeWees, who was sheriff of Philadelphia, and who led the pro- cession of the day and commanded the bells to be rung when the Declara- tion of Independence was officially announced in Philadelphia; Colonel Henry Shoemaker, who was sub-lieutenant of Berks county, and hauled three thousand loads of produce to Washington while he was at Valley Forge; also Colonel George Nagle, who was the captain of the first com- pany of riflemen to answer to the appeal of Washington to go to Boston. There was also Captain Peter Nagle, who was a particular friend of Washington ; Colonel Potts, who at Valley Forge was a great friend of Washington; and Charles Shoemaker, who was a member of the consti- tutional convention of 1776, and others of lesser fame.
Mrs. McMinn always appreciated the honorable career of her an- cestors, and urged her children to be worthy of the fame that was their rightful inheritance. She sleeps by the side of her husband in Wildwood, the beautiful cemetery that was his creation, and his greatest delight and pride as a public benefactor, and the development of which she had watched with keen interest. Only a modest stone marks her resting place,
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but the memory of her deeds will live as her greatest monument in the hearts of her children forever.
Seven children survive her, as follows: Joseph H., coal merchant and a member of the Williamsport school board; Charles V. L., post- master at Newberry, Pennsylvania; Herman D., a civil engineer at Du Bois, Pennsylvania; Edwin R., minister of the Baptist Church at Burlington, Iowa; B. Franklin, foreman of the Pennsylvania railroad shops at Philadelphia; Mary A., wife of Isaac M. Grier, superintendent of Mound Cemetery, Williamsport, Pennsylvania; and Caroline, fore- man of the office of the Philadelphia Local Telegraph Company.
Charles VanLinaeus McMinn, son of John Mathias and Caroline Youngman McMinn, was born February II, 1847, at Milesburg, Center county, Pennsylvania. At the age of two years and nine months he was taken by his parents to the home of his grandparents, John R. and Mary McMinn, in East Bradford, Chester county, Pennsylvania, where he remained until December, 1862, when he went to Williamsport, Penn- sylvania, and entered Dickenson Seminary. Prior to this time he had at- tended common school at Harmony Hill, Chester county, where he at- tained proficiency in the common branches fitting him to enter the farther advanced studies at Dickenson. He remained at the latter school until the close of the June term of 1863, when he returned to Chester county. October 1, 1863, he went to Wilmington, Delaware, and entered as an apprentice to the business of tinsmith with James C. Johnson, a prac- tical mechanic of that business, and remained until October 1, 1867, when he returned to the home of his grandparents, and three months later went to Williamsport and entered the employ of the firm of White & Taylor, remaining until April, 1868, when he started in business at . Newberry. After the experience of two years he returned to the firm of
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White & Taylor, remaining until the firm dissolved by reason of the death of the senior member, in February, 1874.
Mr. McMinn again started in business for himself in Newberry, July 1, 1874, and continued until 1892, when he sold to F. A. Vanderlin, and in December of that year entered upon journalistic work with the "Times," a daily paper issued January 7, 1893, where he remained until 1897. October 1, 1898, he acepted the position of assistant postmaster in the postoffice at Newberry, which position he held until March 1, 1904, having been appointed postmaster by President Theodore Roosevelt with commission dated February 14, 1904, to continue from that date four years. At the election held in February, 1878, he was elected a member of the common council of the city of Williamsport for a two years term. He was again elected in 1882, and re-elected in 1884, remaining in office until April 1, 1886, thereby serving six years, giving satisfaction to his constituency by his careful discharge of duty. He has always been a Republican in politics and was favored by many adherents of other par- ties when a candidate for office. He was elected county assessor for the Seventh Ward of Williamsport, February, 1887, and continued by re-election to hold that office until his resignation, September 1, 1904. May 21, 1895, he was commissioned by Governor Daniel H. Hastings as alderman for the Seventh Ward, to succeed J. L. Ranck, Esq., whose death caused the vacancy. At the next ensuing election, held in Febru- ary, 1896, Mr. McMinn was elected for a five years' term, receiving a second commission from Governor Hastings. In 1897 he was again elected and commissioned by Governor William A. Stone for a five years' term, but owing to his appointment as postmaster resigned as alderman, April 8, 1904.
Mr. McMinn was married in Philadelphia, November 30, 1869, to Clara Virginia Parsons, of Wilmington, Delaware, who was the daugh-
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ter of Charles and Adaline Parsons. The former was born in England, coming to America when twelve years of age and accompanying his parents to Wilmington, Delaware. On arriving at manhood he was en- gaged in the business of a bookbinder, and when attaining to a prosperous business died in 1848, leaving one son, John Clayton, and one daughter, Clara Virginia. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. McMinn. The first, Anna Spurway, born September 7, 1870, died by the falling in of a church floor at Newberry, December 25, 1872. Charles Clayton, second child, born September 27, 1873, married April 2, 1896, Edith L. Alderman, of Dundee, New York. Herman Samuel, third child, was born February 5, 1885.
Mr. McMinn is a member of Camp 222, Patriotic Order Sons of America, admitted April 20, 1896; has also been connected with other orders ; was a member of the Order of Odd Fellows from 1868 to 1875; had for a number of years been a member of the order of Good Templars and had also been a member of the Improved Order of Red Men until the tribe at Newberry suspended. He was admitted a member of the First Baptist Church of Williamsport, March 10, 1863. In 1870 he be- came connected with the Second Baptist Church at Newberry, when in 187I he was elected superintendent of the Sunday School, and held that position until 1898, when he withdrew and again resumed his member- ship with the First Church. During his relation with the Second Baptist Church (afterward renamed the Memorial Baptist Church), and when holding a holiday entertainment during the evening of December 25, 1872, when the church building was crowded to its fullest capacity, the floors suddenly collapsed and the whole company of people were plunged through debris to the basement below, resulting in the death of thirteen persons and the injury of more than fifty others; among the number
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