Sylvanus Miner (1709 - 1786)

Born 3 Mar 1709 in Stonington, New London County, Connecticut

Ancestors

Husband of Ann (Avery) Miner — married 6 Oct 1737 in Stonington, New London, Connecticut, New England

Descendants

Died 15 Mar 1786 at age 77 in Horton, Kings, Nova Scotia

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Biography

Sylvanus Miner was the second child of Thomas Miner and Hannah Avery.^[1] He was born on 3 Mar 1708/09 at Stonington, New London, Connecticut,^[2] and christened there on 5 Mar 1711.

Sylvanus was admitted a member of the church in Stonington on 5 May 1734.

He married Ann Avery 16 Oct 1737 in Stonington. They had 5 children, all born in Stonington:

• Ann Miner, born 27 Oct 1738
• Thomas Griffin Miner, bap. June 29, 1740; m. Sarah Witter
• Sylvanus Miner, Jr., born 5 Oct, 1742; bap, Oct. 10, 1742; m. March 15, 1769, Lucy Brownell. He d. May 9, 1794. Children:
  • Anna Miner, b. Feb. 4, 1770
  • Lucy Miner, b. Nov. 6, 1776
  • Cynthia Miner, b. Jan. 7, 1782
  • Anna Miner, b. Dec. 13, 1784
  • Sylvanus Miner, 3rd, b. Jan. 30, 1787. (For one member of this family, see Trueman's "The Chignecto Isthmus," p. 245).
• Hannah Miner, b. 2 Jan 1745/46; bap. Feb. 17, 1744-5; m. Dec. 26, 1763, to Benjamin Peck, Jr.
• James Miner, b. 12 Nov 1747; bap. Nov. 12, 1749; m. Sept. 26, 1771, Elizabeth Turner, dau. of John and Bathsheba (Whipples) Turner, b. June 15, 1753. Children: **Elizabeth Miner, b. Dec. 14, 1772, m. Sept. 28, 1795, to Samuel, son of Nathaniel Brown
  • Hannah Miner, b. Jan. 16, 1778
  • Mary Miner, b. Jan. 4, 1784; m. Feb. 17, 1814, to Jonathan Borden
  • Rebecca Miner, b. July 20, 1785; m. Oct. 23, 1807, to James Woodman
  • Abigail Miner, b. April 23, 1788; m. Oct. 26, 1814, to James, son of Obadiah Wickwire; Susanna Dunham, b. Sept. 18, 1790, m. in May, 1812, to William Turner.

The Miner family of Kings County, Nova Scotia, founded by Sylvanus Miner, the Horton grantee, has been traced to John Miner, Sr., who settled at Stratford, Connecticut in 1657-8. Sylvanus Miner was one of the original land owners on the Horton grant. During the early 1760's the government of Nova Scotia encouraged New Englanders to immigrate to Nova Scotia. The Governor offered free land grants and easy settlement terms. At the same time, New England needed to expand into fresh lands. The Horton grant was the first of these. It was populated by settlers from towns in southeast Connecticut, which included the Sylvanus Miner family.^[3] Sylvanus, his wife, Ann, and their five children: Thomas, Sylvanus Jr., Hannah, James and Ann moved to Horton in 1761.^[4]

Sylvanus Miner died in Horton, Kings County, Nova Scotia 15 Mar 1786, aged 77, and was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, Kentville, Kings County.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Eaton, Arthur Wentworth Hamilton, 1849-1937. The history of Kings County, Nova Scotia, heart of the Acadian land. The Salem press company. Salem, Mass. 1910. The Miner or Minor Family, pp. 749-50
2. ↑ Thomas Minor Society Sylvanus Miner
3. ↑ McNabb, D. A. (1986). Land and families in Horton Township, N.S., 1760-1830 (T). University of British Columbia. Retrieved from https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/831/items/1.0097085 (Original work published 1986)
4. ↑ Wright, Dr. Esther Clark. Planters and Pioneers Nova Scotia: 1749 to 1775. Revised Edition. Justin Wentzell. Beaver Bank, NS Canada. 2007; pg. 187.  : Miner, Sylvanus; Horton, 1761.

• History of Stonington etc. (Wheeler, 1900), p. 469, no. 99: https://archive.org/stream/historyoftownofs00whee_1#page/n491/mode/1up

• The Groton Avery Clan (Avery & Avery, 1912), p. 136, no. ii: https://archive.org/stream/grotonaveryclan01aver#page/136/mode/1up

Acknowledgements

Researched by Sara V Mosher, May 2019. This profile was created through the import of 124-DeCoursey.ged on 13 September 2010.