Minner Mystery

It is hard to believe that your own mother, Ruth Anna Minner, did not know the names of her father’s parents. But this was the case in our family. Some time in the late 1980’s, my mother thought it was important to write what she could remember about the names and dates for the family. Her father’s line was quite short since she had no information about her paternal grandparents. From this came my first research goal; to find the parents of Eugene Minner.

Ruth Anna Minner

I was able to obtain a copy of the marriage certificate for Eugene Minner and Idella Slaughter for 1914 at the DE Archives. There was a space on the form for the names of parents. No names were listed for Eugene, just that they were born in Delaware. Idella’s side had the same Delaware birth information for her parents. Above that information were the names of her parents written in as though it was an afterthought.

My grandfather Eugene was a quiet, unassuming person. I thought, perhaps his parents were dead at the time of his marriage and he felt no need to put the names on the form. My grandmother’s parents were still alive at the time of the marriage and the clerk at the marriage registration desk coaxed this extra information out of her.

Eugene Minner

Idella was living at home with her parents at age 30. Back in that era, it was probably time to marry her off. They did not have to look very far because Eugene was living nearby according to the 1914 Directory for Clayton, Delaware. On the marriage certificate, Eugene is registered as being 44 years old. He was actually 50 years old. Knowing my grandmother’s aversion to calling attention to herself, I can see why she trimmed some years from the record of her future husband.

Idella Slaughter

The marriage license did not clarify the situation or give me the names I was seeking. I found no obituary for my grandfather, age 87, in the Middletown Transcript for Dec 1951, the week after his death. Luckily I kept searching into the next week and came across an obituary for a William H Minner, age 91, from Millington MD. In the text, the next of kin included a Eugene Minner of Middletown. Finally a family connection!

I was just starting my research and did not know exactly what to do next. I looked on the Internet for the family of William Minner’s married daughter mentioned in the obituary. There was a family in the Millington area with the same last name and a William as the first. What were the odds of them being connected?

William H Minner

Off to the computer for a letter to see if this Millington family was in any way connected to my Grandfather’s brother. A few weeks later I received and e-mail from someone with a totally different name concerning this Minner connection. My letter went to the wrong family; but they knew the right family and passed it on. Thank heavens for small communities.

I had indeed found the correct connection and even a cousin of my mother who remembered her and the trips they took to Middletown to visit. However, the best was yet to come……….

This family contact was also interested in genealogy. Although no Minner research had been completed, he understood the passion for the search and had a well-organized collection of photographs.

Stephen Minner

Several of these photos lead us to the correct father for William and Eugene.  Stephen Minner was the name my mother had been searching for all those years. Stephen Minner died in 1900, therefore my theories about the marriage certificate were probably correct. The photo of Stephen Minner is such a wonderful addition to the story of the Minner Mystery. It is too bad my mother was unable to find this in her lifetime and see his picture.

Eugene & Idella Minner

Another picture in this collection is what my bother and I believe to be the wedding photo of Eugene and Idella. When this photo was first pointed out to me as my grandmother, I did not recognize her because of the dark hair. As a child, I never saw any pictures of my grandparents when they were young. They were always ‘old’ to me. The photo took awhile to register. Then my brother observed that the clothing was Eugene’s Sunday best and Grandmother was in a white dress (a color I never saw her wear). He was the first to surmise that this could be a wedding picture. It is nice to think that we have a picture of that day,. The family would have gathered on December 25, 1914 for a Christmas celebration and possible a marriage ceremony.

Subsequent research at the DE Archives has proven the family connections, location of farms, siblings, obituaries, and more directions for research.

However, I am very glad that at the beginning I did not know much about researching. I would have never taken the chance on the "blind letter" hoping for the family connection in Millington MD. A thank you goes out to the kind person who passed it on to the correct family. A special thank you for the family who kept the pictures in such great shape. And a thank you to the cousin with the memories who helped to pin point the research.

One mystery solved and on to others………………..