Jane (Minteer) Smith (1815 - 1893)

Born 1815 in Armstrong, Pennsylvania, United States

Died 1893 at about age 78 in Verona, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States

Biography

From "The Minteers As I Have Known Them" by Josephine Minteer Dickinson (1961 limited-edition private printing of 200 copies), youngest and last surviving of William Minteer and Mary Nicholson's 85 grandchildren:

"Aunt Jennie was married to William Smith whom we called 'Uncle Billy'. They established their first home near Scrubgrass, Venango County, and later moved to Verona in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania where most of their children lived and raised their families. One of my earliest recollections is of visiting in Verona with Mother and Aunt Nancy when I was four. What a visit that was! A ride on the Allegheny Valley train of the Pennsylvania Railroad, visiting in the home of Aunt Jennie Smith and all her children (now married) - also the Walter and Milligan cousins. I, the little cousin of all these grown men and women with grandchildren my age and many older. Cousin Alex who worked in the Pennsylvania Railroad carpenter shop made me a lovely walnut stool which I still have. It has been enjoyed by me, my children, grandchildren and nieces and nephews for almost eighty years. Both Alex and Albert served in the Civil War. They were captured and imprisoned in Andersonville Prison for several months until they were released by the South during an exchange of prisoners with the North."

In 1820 and 1830 the Minteer farm where she lived with her parents and siblings was in Buffalo Township in Armstrong County, PA. By 1840 the population had increased sufficiently that that the northern part of Buffalo Township had become Franklin Township, so the farm had a new address.

In 1850 she and her husband and their five children lived on a farm in Clearfield Township, Butler County, PA.

In 1860 she and William and their nine children lived on a farm in Allegheny Township in Butler County, PA.

In 1870 she and William and their seven youngest sons lived in a house in Penn Township (now Penn Hills), Allegheny County, PA. Her husband and sons William, John, Calvin, and James all worked as coal miners, while Joseph was a carpenter. Also living with them were four more coal miners, three from Scotland and the other from PA.

In 1880 she and her husband lived with their son Robert, his wife, and their two children in a house in the First Ward in Verona, PA. William was shown as being sick with asthma. Quite possibly it was something like black lung from years of coal mining.

As of March 2017 obituaries had not been found for either she or William. The only hints are that a Mrs. Jennie Smith appeared in the 1891/1892 City Directory at 3034 Penn Ave. and a Mrs. Jane Smith in 1894/1895 at 144 South St. Clair St. So it would seem that William died before 1891 and Jane after 1895.

From Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania:

Jennie, married William Smith, and died in Verona, Pennsylvania;

Sources

• Find A Grave: Memorial #151912399
• Jordan, John W. Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (Lewis Historical Pub. Co., New York, 1915, Vol. 3., p. 1248-1250)