John Minear 1784-after 1860 (1110010)

John Minear was born about 1784. His birthdate comes from census estimates [he was 65 in 1850, 77 in 1860; splitting the difference, he must have been born about 1784]. In  the1850 census he claimed to have been born in Pennsylvania, and in 1860 in Virginia. He was undoubtedly born near the border between Pennsylvania and Virginia, during the time when the border was being disputed. His father was in Monongalia County Virginia (later Preston County, West Virginia) by 1789, when he purchased land on Monongalia Glade, near present day Reedsville. So, John grew up in Virginia. 

The red area on the map to the right indicates the vicinity where the Minears owned land as it would be located in modern day Preston County, West Virginia. This entire map represents counties that were originally part of Monongalia County, Virginia when it formed in 1776. Preston was still part of Monongalia in 1784, when John Minear was born. He lived in this area all of his life.

The map to the left shows the watershed area of the Monongahela River (in yellow). The Cheat River, which feeds into the Monongahela is highlighted in dark blue. This is the area where John Menear was born, and lived out his life.

In 1803, John married Catherine Fortney. There is a marriage record for this couple in Monongalia County, (West) Virginia:
Groom: John Minear
Bride: Catherine Fourtney
Marriage Date: 27 Feb 1803
County: Monongalia
State: Virginia

[Virginia Marriages, 1740-1850 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999. Original data: Dodd, Jordan R., et al.. Early American Marriages: Virginia to 1850. Bountiful, UT, USA: Precision Indexing Publishers.]

From a History of Preston County, West Virginia by Morton, Oren Frederic (1914):
[Children of] John Menear & Catherine Fortney
1. Samuel H. [b. 1805 acc to 1850 Census] m. Rachel Wadsworth 
2. Susan b. 23 Aug 1803 d. 19 Mar 1903 m John Orr
3. Henry m. Melinda Hawley
4. Keziah b. 1809 d. 1846 m. Hiram Orr
5. Elish m. Nancy Wadsworth
6. Millie m. William Moore
7. Jacob m. Elizabeth Rogers
8. Nancy m. Jonathan Fortney
9. Elizabeth m. George Morgan
10. Philip b. 1814 d. 1896 m. Sarah McKinney
11. Hiram m. (1) Phoebe Moon, (2) Elizabeth Snider
12. Solomon P. [b. 1827] m. Mary Minear 

All lineage information, including John's connection to his daughter, Nancy Jane Minear, and his father, William Minear, come from Morton’s book A History of Preston County, West Virginia. Morton’s book contained information obtained prior to 1914, from living family members. That means that these 12 children’s names came from reports from their siblings, and this is likely to be accurate information.

John can be found in Monongalia County, in the area that would become Preston, for the 1810 Federal Census: 

1810 Monongalia, VA
Jno Manier 2 m under 10, 1 m 26-44, 3 f under 10, 1 f 10-15, 1 f 16-25

Wm (William) Manier, John’s father, is found next door to him on one side and Dav (David) Manier, a brother, on the other side. Moses Manier, another likely brother, appears on the page several names above John. John would have been about 26 years of age.

Preston County formed from Monongalia County VA in 1818. The Minear family did not move, but Preston County formed where they had been living. John continued to live in Preston County for the rest of his life.

1820 Federal Census, Preston County VA (WV)

David Menear is listed two households away. There is no longer any William present. So, John’s father died before 1820. John would have been about 36 years old in 1820.

1830 Federal Census, Preston County VA (WV)

John’s brother, David Menear, is a couple of pages away.  
1840 Federal Census, Preston County VA (WV) [p. 32]

1850 Federal Census, Preston County VA (later WV)

Kazia Orr is their granddaughter, the daughter of their daughter Kezia who married Hiram Orr. Both parents had died shortly after Kazia Orr's birth, and her grandparents took her in to raise. For some reason, the Minear family was enumerated twice in 1850, as can be seen from these images. 

1860 Federal Census, Preston County VA (WV)  [House # 1767]

By 1870, he had lost his wife, and had gone to Ohio to live with his daughter Amelia (Minear) Moore and her husband William Moore. He can be found in their household in Adams County, Ohio in the 1870 Census:

His death record shows that he died in Ohio:

John Menear

Ohio, County Death Records, 1840-2001

Event Type:	Death
Event Date:	01 Apr 1875
Event Place:	Richland, Clinton, Ohio, United States
Residence Place:	Richland Clinton, Ohio
Gender:	Male
Age:	105
Marital Status:	Widowed
Race:	White
Race:	White
Occupation:	Farmer
Birth Year (Estimated):	1770
Birthplace:	Pa.

John Hiatt 1746-After 1808 (1100000)

The red oval indicates the location of the Opequan Creek. The Creek empties into the Potomac River to the north, which is the northern border of present day Jefferson County, West Virginia, but was then still part of Frederick County, Virginia. John's grandfather had purchased land in the northern part of this area in 1735.
This is where John Hiatt was born about 1746.

John Hiatt was born about 1746, in what was then Frederick County, Virginia, but is now in Jefferson County, West Virginia. His parents were John Hiatt (b. 1724) and Mary Thomas. The family were Quakers. They had moved to the area by 1735, when John’s grandfather (John Hiatt b. 1696) was granted 300 acres of land on Opequon Creek. The family became founding members of the Hopewell Monthly Meeting in Frederick County. Unfortunately, few records remain from early Hopewell church, revealing little more than the family’s presence. 

John Hiatt had relocated to Guilford County, North Carolina (see map below) by 1770, as part of the migration of many Quaker families. He appears in Quaker church records for the New Garden Monthly Meeting twice. In his first appearance, he is mentioned as having been disowned by the church for his marriage “out of unity”. This means that he had not waited for the long process that precedes a Quaker marriage. 

Preparation for a Quaker marriage involved more than just a reading of the banns for several weeks, to see if anyone had an objection to the marriage, as in other churches. Instead, a committee, generally of three men, was assigned to examine the lives of the couple. They would interview everyone who knew them, even going so far as to write to former congregations that they may have been part of to determine everyone's opinion of the couple's worthiness. 

This process generally took many months, and was sometimes known to take over a year. It is no surprise that some couples, including John & Phoebe, decided to forgo this grueling process and be married outside of the Quaker church either by a minister of another church, or a justice of the peace. John's second appearance in the records was six years later, when he had returned to the church and begged forgiveness for his "errant" marriage. 

New Garden MM, Guilford Co, NC:

29-9mo-1770 - John Hiett disowned for marriage out of unity.

30-11mo-1776 - John Hiett, Jr. condemned his marriage out of unity.

We know that he was married to Phoebe Thatcher, because in 1773 she had returned to the church and begged to be readmitted into fellowship. Since her membership records had been maintained by the Concord Monthly Meeting in Chester County, Pennsylvania, she had written to that church for their forgiveness. Her reconciliation is recorded in Concord church records. In those records, it names her as “Phebe Hiett, formerly Thatcher” which gives us both her married and maiden names. Phoebe had been attending church in Guilford County, North Carolina, and this is where she was received into fellowship at the Deep River Monthly Meeting.

Concord MM, Chester Co, PA:

4-8mo-1773 - Phebe Hiett. Formerly Thatcher, disowned some time ago, now makes acknowledgement and a recommendation received from New Garden MM [Guilford Co., NC], NC on her behalf. She removed there soon after disowned.

John and Phoebe Hiatt’s children’s births were recorded in the Deep River church records.

Deep River MM, Guilford Co, NC:

Page 19

John Hiatt

Pheby Hiatt

Ch:

John  b. 5-24-1771

Edeth  b. 10-19-1772

William  b. 11-26-1774

Pheby  b. 9-29-1776

Mary  b. 11-3-1778

Stephen  b. 9-9-1780

Martha  b. 11-22-1782 (R45)

The children of John & Phoebe (Thatcher) Hiatt are listed in the records of the
Deep River Monthly Meeting of Guilford County, North Carolina.

Shortly after their last child was born, John was again disowned. The record does not give any particulars about what his offense had been; however, from analysis of Quaker records we can get a picture of the kinds of offenses that led to disfellowship. The following is an enumeration of causes for disownment at the Hopewell MM from 1760 to 1809:

Number Offense

280 going out in marriage [“marriage out of unity”]

132 fornication

5 adultery

5 other sexual immorality

41 drinking to excess

28 a combination of offenses

22 military service

19 attending or conniving at an irregular marriage

13 quarreling or fighting

13 dancing

13 joining another denomination

9 nonattendance of meetings

4 taking the test of allegiance

3 false accusation

2 dishonesty

2 killing a mare

2 attending places of diversion

2 horse-racing

1 failing in business

1 nonpayment of debts

1 refusal to arbitrate

1 going to law

1 profanity

1 wife-beating

1 striking a man in anger

1 wounding a man

1 gaming

1 lending money for gambling

1 administering oaths

1 buying slaves

1 permitting fiddling and dancing at one's home

1 appointing meetings and preaching

[List borrowed from http://www.quaker.org/disown.html]

We can rule out the most common offenses, which were marriage out of unity, and fornication (sexual relations prior to marriage), since he was already married. If we go by the numbers, the most likely offense would be drinking in excess; however, given that the disownment took place shortly after the Revolutionary War, it is also likely that he may have been found guilty of having fortified his household, or aided the cause in some way. This was a common cause of chastisement in the day.  

Deep River MM, Guilford Co, NC:

3-5mo-1784 - John Hiatt disowned.

By 1798, both John and Phoebe had moved their membership records to Westfield Monthly Meeting in Surry County, North Carolina. 

Deep River MM, Guilford Co, NC:

2-1mo-1797 - Phebe Hiat and children granted a certificate to Westfield MM [Surry Co, NC]

Westfield MM, Surry Co, NC:

18-8mo-1798 - John Hiett received by request.

We know that they had moved to Grayson County, Virginia in 1797, because John Hiatt (called Senior, to distinguish him from his son of the same name) began to show up in tax records there. Surry County, North Carolina was just across the border from Grayson County, Virginia. Westfield Monthly Meeting, though it was across the border in another state, was undoubtedly the closest meeting to them at that time. In 1801, Mount Pleasant Monthly Meeting was organized in Grayson County, Virginia. Shortly thereafter we see that John sought reconciliation so that his membership could be moved to Mount Pleasant Monthly Meeting.

Deep River MM, Guilford Co, NC:

1-10mo-1804 - John Hiatt condemned his misconduct.

1-10mo-1804 - John Hiatt granted a certificate to Mt. Pleasant MM. [Grayson Co., VA]

Tax records in Grayson County, Virginia show us that John Hiatt continued to live there through the year 1808. At that time, many of the Mount Pleasant Monthly Meeting congregation sought for transfers to Fairfield Monthly Meeting in Highland County, Ohio. Among those who made this request, there are several members of the Hiatt family listed. John and Phoebe are not listed among them, nor is there a record extant for their being received at Fairfield Monthly Meeting. However, it is likely that they moved with the family nonetheless.

A history of Carroll County, Virginia (formed from the eastern half of Grayson County in 1842) gives the following information:

John Hiatt, Sr. sold 100 a. [acres] on Grassy Creek to Aaron Hiatt of Guilford County, North Carolina 1808

This indicates that John sold his property in Grayson County, Virginia in 1808. It seems likely that this was in order to move with his family to Ohio. He disappears from the tax list in Grayson County thereafter. No record has been found to trace him to his new home in Ohio. This is not surprising, given that there are few records surviving from those pioneer days in Ohio. The first federal census to be taken in Ohio was in 1820. John Hiatt does not appear in that census. It is probable that he had died some years before that date.

A search of tax lists, beginning in Highland County, Ohio may be necessary to narrow down the exact year of his death and to prove that he had relocated with his family.