John Minor (1819 or 1820 - 1885) - Happy 200th (or maybe 199th) Birthday!

John Minor of Peoria, Illinois is my 3rd great grandfather.  Today is either his 200th birthday or his 199th.

Relationship to me:  me > my dad > William Minor Sr > John R Minor (1880 - 1937) > Francis Grant Minor > John Minor.

Details about John Minor's actual birthday are sketchy at best.  His Civil War draft registration entry lists his birthday as 19 Oct 1919 (1).  However, his cemetery marker list his birth year as 1820. (2)  More research is needed on this important item to figure out which is correct.  He was born in Pennsylvania and likely in Greene or Washington County, the son of John Updike and Rebecca (Maxwell) Minor.

At some point in the 1840s he married Martha Neal who was also born in Pennsylvania.  They appear in the 1850 census in Wood County, Virginia.  Today this is part of West Virginia.  But their oldest son and second child, Francis Grant Minor, was born in Peoria County in 1852. They must have made the trip west to central Illinois in the early 1950s.

Springdale Cemetery (3014 N. Prospect Road, Peoria, Illinois), John Minor marker; photograph taken by Diane Minor, 2007.

Census records indicate they lived in Woodford County, Illinois for a short time before returning to Peoria where they seem to have stayed for the rest of their days.  This couple had five or six children.  Their oldest may have died as a young child.  Louise, Francis Grant, Margaret (Minor) Miles, California (Callie) (Minor) Tripp and Edna are all buried in Springdale Cemetery with or close to their parents. (3)

John died in 1885 but the exact date is not known to me yet. (2)  The state did not require death records until 1916 so death records are very few in Peoria at this time.  I did check the online index that the County has put online and his name is not listed.  I'll have to check Peoria papers for an obituary next time I'm there.

Much more research is need on this man and his family to fill in all of the details of his life.

Related Blog Posts -
Francis Grant Minor (1852 - 1918)

Bibliography -
(1). "U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 Oct 2014), entry for John Minor, residence 2nd Ward, Peoria, Illinois; citing "Consolidated Lists of Civil War Draft Registration Records," entry 172, record group 110, NAI 4213514, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
(2). Springdale Cemetery (3014 N. Prospect Road, Peoria, Illinois), John Minor marker; photograph taken by Diane Minor, 2007.
(3).  Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 17 October 2019), memorial page for John Minor (1820–1885), memorial no. 68667130, cemetery marker in Springdale Cemetery and Mausoleum, Peoria, Peoria County, Illinois, USA; maintained by "Denise Parsons," contributor no. 47102203.

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