Miner, Ralph J.
RALPH J.  MINER

The origin and early ancestry of the Miner family in England is given thus: Edward III of England, going to war against the French, marched through "Somersetshire, came to Mendippe hills, where lived Henry Miner, who with all carefulness and loyalty, having convened his domestic and menial servants armed with battle axes, proffered himself and them to his master's service, making up a complete hundred." For this service he was granted the coat of arms: Gules a fesse between three plates argent.
(I) Henry Miner, mentioned above, died in 1359. His children: Henry, mentioned below; Edward; Thomas; and George.
(II) Henry (2), son of Henry (1) Miner, married Henrietta, (laughter of Edward Hicks, of Gloucester. Their children were: William; Henry, who served in 1384 under Richard III.
(III) William, son of Henry (2) Miner, married a Miss Hobbs, of Wiltshire, by whom he had two children: Thomas, mentioned below; and George, who lived in Shropshire.
(IV) Thomas, son of William Miner, lived in Herefordshire. He married a daughter of Cotton Gresslap, of Staffordshire, and their children were: Lodovick, mentioned below; George; and Mary.
(V) Lodovick, son of Thomas Miner, married Anna, daughter of Thomas Dyer, of Staughton, Huntingdonshire. Their children were: Thomas, mentioned below; George (twin), born in 1458; and Arthur (twin), who served the house of Austria.
(VI) Thomas (2), son of Lodovick Miner, was born in 1430. He married Bridget, daughter of Sir George Hervie, of St. Martin's, County Middlesex. He died in 1480, leaving two children to the tutorage of their mother, Bridget, but she resigned them to her father and turned to monastic life in Datford.
(VII) William (2), son of Thomas (2) Miner, married Isabelle Harcope de Folibay and lived to revenge the death of the two young princes slain in the tower by their uncle, Richard III. The children were: William, mentioned below; George; Thomas; Robert; Nathaniel; John; and four others. John and Nathaniel went to Ireland in 1541 when Henry VIII was proclaimed king of Ireland.
(VIII) William (3), son of William (2) Miner, was buried at Chew Magna, February 23, 1585. His children were: Clement, mentioned below; and Elizabeth.
(IX) Clement, son of William (3) Miner, died March 31, 1640, at Chew Magna. His children were: Clement; Thomas, mentioned below; Elizabeth; and Mary.
(X) Thomas (3), son of Clement Miner and the immigrant ancestor, came to Stonington, Connecticut, in 1683. His children were: John, Thomas, Clement, Ephraim, Judah, Manasseli. Joseph. Samuel. Ann. Maria. Eunice, Elizabeth and Hannah.
(XI) Deacon Manasseh, son of Thomas (3) Miner, was born at New London in 1647, the first boy born of white parents in that town. He resided on the old homestead at Quiambaug and was buried at Wequetequod. He was a soldier in King Philip's war. He married Lydia Moore on the 26th of September, 1670, and their children, born at New London, were: Elnathan, who was born December 28, 1673, and is mentioned below; Samuel, born September 20, 1675; Hannah, born December 8, 1676; Thomas, born September 20, 1683; and Lydia, who married Sylvester Baldwin.
(XII) Elnathan, son of Deacon Manasseh Miner, was born at New London, December 28, 1673. He lived at Stonington. He married (first), on the 21st of March, 1694, Rebecca Baldwin, who died March 12, 1700. On the 17th of March, 1702, he wedded Prudence (Richardson) Hallam, a widow. He married (third), on the 14th of October, 1718, Tamsen Wilcox. His children, born at Stonington, were as follows: Samuel, who was born December 12, 1694, and is mentioned below; Manasseh, born December 1, 1695; Elnathan, born June 24, 1697; Rebecca, February 13, 1699. The child by his second wife was Richardson, who was born November 24, 1704.
(XIII) Samuel, son of Elnathan Miner, was born at Stonington, December 12, 1694. He was there married on the 3d of December, 1719, to Elizabeth Brown. His children were as follows: Elizabeth, born August 18, 1720; Rebecca (twin), August 18, 1720; Samuel, March 14, 1723; Nathan, July 16, 1724, mentioned below; David, September 26, 1726; John, December 22, 1728; Elizabeth, November 24, 1730; Jonathan, February 18, 1733; and Anna, June 26, 1735. All were born at Stonington.
(XIV) Nathan, son of Samuel Miner, was born July 16, 1724, at Stonington. On the 7th of March, 1751, he married Sarah Smith. His children, born at Stonington, were as follows: Deborah, December 24, 1751; Richardson, September 10, 1753; Sarah, December 7, 1755; Elizabeth, July 15, 1759; Robert, November 13, 1763, mentioned below; and Nathan, September 23, 1784.
(XV) Robert, son of Nathan Miner, was born in Stonington, November 13, 1763. He lived at Stonington and was there married on the 10th of February, 1788, to Mary, daughter of Christopher and Mary (Randall) Miner, who had been joined in wedlock on the llth of August, 1765. Charles Miner, father of Christopher Miner, was born November 14, 1709. Christopher Miner was born March 16, 1745. James Miner, father of Charles Miner, married Abigail Eldridge on the 22d of February, 1705. Ephraim Miner, father of James Miner, married Hannah Avery on the 20th of June, 1666. He was baptized at Hingham, Massa-chusetts, May 1, 1642, a son of Henry and Henrietta (Hicks) Miner. The children of Robert Miner, born at Stonington, were as follows: Robert, born March 7, 1789, and mentioned below; Gilbert, who was born December 26, 1791, and married Mary Ann Frick; Betsy, February 18, 1795; and William, January 12, 1803.
(XVI) Robert (2), son of Robert (1) Miner, was born at Stonington, March 7, 1789. He married Alura, daughter of Captain Spicer, of Stonington, Connecticut, and their children were: Robert Tyler, who married Lydia Baldwin; Alura Ann, who married (first) Julius Harrison, of New Milford, Connecticut, and (second) Jacob Eaton, of Meriden, chaplain during the Civil war of the Seventh Connecticut Regiment, who died at Newbern, North Carolina, in the service; Gilbert Smith, who married Virginia Windsor; Mary Elizabeth, who married Joseph North; George L., who married Jane Guild; Emily Frances, who married Colonel Ira Pettibone; Fred William, who married Belle Fayer, of Texas; Frank S., who married Mary Houston; Lucretia Victoria, who married Erastus Hubbard, of Wallingford, Connecticut; Sarah Eleanor, who died unmarried; and Ralph Jay, mentioned below.
(XVII) Ralph Jay, son of Robert (2) Miner, was born in Cornwall, Litchfield county, Connecticut, January 16, 1844. he attended the district schools of his native town. He began his business career as clerk in the general store at Cornwall Bridge, Connecticut, in 1861, and in the spring of 1862 entered the employ of the Cornwall Bridge Iron Company. In 1862 he enlisted in Company G, Nineteenth Regiment, Connecticut Infantry, and served in that regiment until it was changed to the Second Heavy Artillery. In 1803 he was mustered out of service, being discharged on account of physical disability. Later in the year he entered the employ of John Ives at Meriden, Connecticut. He came to New Haven to work for the firm of Yale & Bryan, wholesale grocers on State street in New Haven, and continued there until 1869. Then for four years he was in the dry goods trade with James H. Bunce, of Middletown, Connecticut, returning to Yale & Bryan, where again lie was a salesman for a period of about nine years. He was then in business for himself for two years in New York city as partner in the firm of Hollway, Wright & Miner, manufacturers' agents, at 167 Chambers street. He returned to the firm of Yale, Bryan & Company and subsequently Bryan, Miner & Read, wholesale grocers. After Mr. Bryan died the firm name became Miner, Read & Garrotte, which continued until the present firm was instituted January 1, 1910, under the style of Miner, Read & Tullock. Gifted with a natural wealth of common sense and rare good judgment, Mr. Miner could be depended upon for wise, sound counsel or advice at any time either in business or personal matters.

Mr. Miner was a member of the Country Club of New Haven; the Center Lodge, No. 97, Free and Accepted Masons, of Meriden; and of the United church of New Haven. In politics he was independent. He was a director of the Yale National Bank.

On the 28th of November, 1866, Mr. Miner married Sarah Ellen Yale, of Meriden, who was born September 14, 1846, a daughter of Julius Yale. They had no children but brought up a son of Mr. Miner's brother, Frank Spicer Miner, born January 14, 1872, son of Frank S. Miner, of Cornwall. Frank Spicer Miner married Betsy Hosmer, of New Haven, and their children are: Edward Hosmer, born March 14, 1903; and Frank Erastus, born September 28, 1904. Ralph J. Miner died on the 20th of February, 1917, at his residence in New Haven.
 
 

Modern History of New Haven
and 
Eastern New Haven County

Illustrated

Volume II

New York – Chicago
The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 
1918

pgs 274 - 276

 
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NEW HAVEN 
COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES
pages / text are copyrighted by
Elaine Kidd O'Leary & 
Anne Taylor-Czaplewski
May 2002