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Facts and Events
This William is the earliest member of the Minor/Miner family from whom a connected line of descent can be documented.
Many Minor/Miner family trees are based on An Herauldical Essay Upon the Surname of Miner, a manuscript dating to the late 1600's, that purports to trace the ancestry of Thomas Minor/Miner (the immigrant) back to a Henry Bullman who lived in the 1300s. The essay includes a Miner coat of arms and is written on a colorful, six foot long scroll originally published in New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) Register of April 1859 (volume XIII, pages 161-5). It is stored in the library of the Connecticut Historical Society located in Hartford, Connecticut. The essay, accepted by Minor/Miner family researchers for 300 years, was proven to be mostly false in a 1984 study published by the NEHGS. Ref: Miner, John A. and Miner, Robert F. The Curious Pedigree of Lt. Thomas Minor.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Miner, John A. (John Augustus). Thomas Minor Descendants, 1608-1981. (Trevett, Maine: J.A. Miner, Jan 2001 (Second Edition))
pages 7-8. - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Miner, John A. (John Augustus). An Ancestral Narrative : Descendants of William Myner, b. c.1450. (Trevett, Maine: John A. Miner, 2000)
pages 1-13.
William Minor (Minor, Mynar) is listed as a resident in North Elm section of Chew Magna, Somerset, England in 1523 (Paid 4p tax on goods assessed at 2£4s.). His wife is unknown. He received a Chew Magna house and land grant on 29 June 1554 with his son Thomas and Thomas' wife, Joan. He was buried at Chew Magna on 23 February 1585/6. He may be related to John Minere who appears on a Chew Magna manor account roll for the year 1494-5 as paying for grass on 46 acres of meadow or to Joan Minere, a widow, who appears on that roll as paying a tax known as churchscot.
William is the earliest member of the family from whom a connected line of descent can be shown. He was the great-grandfather of the Thomas Myner baptized at Chew Magna on 23 April 1608. Thomas, son of William, occurs as a witness to the will of John Veale of Chew Magna, husbandman on 16 January 1572/73 and was buried at Chew on 15 November 1573. He was a tailor and an abstract of his will (dated 20 October 1573, proved 15 September 1574) survives here, most original Somerset wills having been destroyed by German bombing at Exeter in 1942. Thomas asked to be buried at Chew and mentioned his wife, his children Clement, John, Edith, and also Richard Kente, possibly his son-in-law (ref. DD/X/SR 3b, pp. 48-9). The Manor Court Rolls show Joan succeeding her husband Thomas in the same messuage on 19 July 1574 under a grant of 29 June 1554, probably the approximate date at which they were married. Joan was buried at Chew on 21 Dec. 1592.
Of Thomas's children, John Miner was aged 'twelve and more' on 2 Apr. 1578, married Philippa Simons on 23 June 1587, having by her Thomas (bap. 12 Dec. 1588) and John (bap. 29 Oct. 1592, buried 21 Oct. 1599). His second wife was Joan Roe (married 18 Sept. 1598, buried 5 March 1627/8) by whom he had a further five children: John (bap. 2 July 1606), Clement (bap. 12 Jan. 1610/11, buried 8 Feb. 1610/11) and Bridget (gap. 7 June 1612).
Clement Miner, the eldest son of Thomas, had eight children, although the identity of his wife is not recorded: Joan (baptism not recorded, buried 23 March 1585/6), John (bap. 23 April 1587, buried 3 Dec. 1597), Joan (bap. 19 Oct. 1589, buried 9 Nov. 1595), Mary (bap. 19 Feb. 1591/2, buried 9 Feb. 1640/1), Elizabeth (bap. 7 Sep. 1594, married John Tonkins 14 Jan. 1629/30), Edith (bap. 6 Feb. 1596/7, married Thomas Bucke 31 Oct. 1623), Clement (bap. 23 Nov. 1600, father of William and Israel, living in 1640), and Thomas (bap. 23 April 1608).
Excerpt from the report of Robin J.E. Bush, specialist of note in medieval genealogical research engaged by John A. Miner.
- ↑ Miner, John A., and Robert F. Miner. The Curious Pedigree of Lt. Thomas Minor. New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Jul 1984).
Genealogical Register. (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Jul 1984), Primary quality.
Thomas Minor/Miner is a colonial ancestor of many people. However, his ancestry is incorrectly listed in many records.
Between 1683 and 1684, Thomas wrote back to England from his Stonington, Connecticut home in search of answers to how his family name was historically spelled (Miner versus Minor) and who his ancestors were. In an early example of fraudulent family history, the response he received, "An Herauldical Essay Upon the Surname of Miner," now in possession of the Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Connecticut, included a detailed pedigree and family coat of arms. The Essay, which has been accepted by Minor/Miner family researchers for 300 years, was proven to be mostly false in a 1984 study published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Ref: Miner, John A. and Miner, Robert F. "The Curious Pedigree of Lt. Thomas Minor." [1] New England Historical and Genealogical Register. New England Historic Genealogical Society. July 1984, pg 182-185.
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