Person:Clara Minger (1)

BIOGRAPHY: Compiled by Mae Brown Siemers Rand

CLARA SUSAN (MINGER) Kenyon, 1875-1954, and JOHN EDWARD KENYON, 1874-1940.

Clara Susan Minger was born on Sunday, the 29th of August 1875, the 13th child of Johann and Elisabeth (Hassig) Minger. As a baby he was very ill with brain fever and not expected to live; as a result her parents gave her only one name, Clara. When her younger brother, Albert, was born, he was unable to say Clara and called her Susie; eventually she took both of the names.

When Susan was eight years old, she moved with her parents and other members of the Minger family to a farm on Section 15, on which farm her parents lived for the remainder of their lives. Very likely Susan attended school in Millville, which was built in the 1870's. We can believe she received a good education there, proof of which is in a letter she wrote at age fourteen. The letter was written to her oldest brother, John Minger, then age 33; she begged her brother to write home as the family was worried about him. This priceless letter was saved; perhaps John brought it home with him and gave it to his mother for safe-keeping. The fondness which Susan had for her family is evident in the letter.

Susan was married at age 31 on 5 December 1906 in her parent's log farmhouse to John Edward Kenyon, known as Ed. They were married by Rev. G. L. Brooks and the witnesses were Susan's youngest brother, Albert, and Alice Kenyon. Two years after her marriage Susan's father died at age 80. Ed was a farmer on Section 22 in Millville Township. He was a brother of Charles Kenyon (husband of Elsie May Minger, 1895-1968) who drowned in Canada in 1908. Susan and Ed had four daughters - Clara, Berdina, Ada and Marguerite, all born in the family farm home on Section 22. Susan was attended at their births by her mother, with the exception of Ada who was delivered by Dr. Hartford of Cassville, Wisconsin.

The Kenyon's had a large farmhome; the upstairs was unfinished and it was here that the four little girls, who were close in age, liked to play. It was during a barn-raising on the Kenyon farm in July 1915 that the log house in which Susan's mother lived burned to the ground. It is said that all the men were at the barn-raising and there was no one at home to put out the fire. As there was no school in the area, Ed and Susan Kenyon gave an acre of their land on which a school could be built. It became known as the Cherry Valley School, the name also given to the area. Although the exact date when the school was built is not known, it existed by the year 1912 (and perhaps earlier) as two of the teachers boarded at the home of Charles Brown (nephew of Susan) who was also living in the Cherry Valley area at that time. All four of the Kenyon girls attended the school from the first through eighth grade. The Mill Creek ran in front of the school.

Ed Kenyon had a history of heart attacks. The day before he died he had worked hard, digging potatoes with Charles Ferris (husband of Susan's niece, Mabel Minger). When he went to bed that night he told Susan that they would go to Guttenberg the following day, but he died in his sleep in the early morning hours. Susan was a widow for fourteen years. In later years she developed cancer and after a long illness she died at age 79 on 6 October 1954 in the farmhome of her daughter, Clara Barnhart. Of a family of 14 children, Susan was survived by only two brothers, Frank and Charles Minger. Susan is fondly remembered by her daughters. She was likable, easy-going, a good cook, and a hard worker. When she did the family washing, her clothes were "really white". It was Susan who corresponded with her mother's relatives in Powhatan Point, Ohio; present day descendants in Ohio remember receiving letters from her.