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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