Abia Minor was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania in about 1815, the son of stock drover John Pierson Minor and his first wife, Hannah McClelland. As a young man Abia (a-bye-ya) followed his family's tradition, bought and farmed land near the town of Bridgeville in what was then western Virginia. But he had aspirations that … Continue reading Transcription: A Letter Home-Abia Minor
Isabella McClelland Minor
The House that Jacob Built
Yellowed from one hundred eighty-four years, the paper unfolds with a pungent, almost yeasty smell. Ink, now walnut brown, spreads line after line across the long, creased sheet. When pen touched this page, the roads west of Pennsylvania's Allegheny Mountains were detestable. Neither railroad nor canal connected Greene County stock and crops to eastern metropolitan markets. Small farms dotted … Continue reading The House that Jacob Built
Shoots, Roots, and Leaves 