Born: Ulster, Pennsylvania, 1813.Died: Chicago, Illinois, 1902.
Born: Ulster, Pennsylvania, 1813.
Died: Chicago, Illinois, 1902.
Mr. Minier was of German and English parentage. Both of his grandfathers were soldiers in the Colonial Army. He was educated at the Athens University, Pennsylvania. At the age of nineteen he became a schoolmaster in New York State. In those early years he also developed his ability to speak in public.
He came to Illinois in 1837 and settled in Bureau County, where he resided for ten years. While there, he surveyed the State road from Peru to Knoxville and taught schools. One of these was at Leepertown.
Jan. 1, 1839, he was married to Miss Sarah Ireland. To this union six sons and six daughters were born. In 1839 he surveyed a part of the Illinois River bottom about Starved Rock.
In the spring of 1841 he was immersed by Dr. P. G. Young in or near Magnolia, Illinois. In 1847 he came to Bloomington and opened a high school for young people. The next year he conducted the same kind of school at Mackinaw.
In 1851 he moved to his farm in Tazewell County, near the Little Mackinaw Church. He got his land from the Government with soldiers' warrants. The land cost him eighty-three cents per acre. Soon after he became a Christian he was induced to enter the ministry. He was with Alexander Campbell on a part of his tour through Illinois in 1853. In the earlier years of his ministry, he preached now and then at Bloomington, Elkhart, Fremont, Mackinaw town, Little Mackinaw, Hittle's Grove, Washington, Waynesville, Le Roy, Springfield, Peoria, Pekin and elsewhere. During those years he was associated with H. D. Palmer, Wm. T. Major, William Davenport, Andrew Ross, William Ryan, O. A. Burgess and other distinguished men. In 1867, in company with Messrs. Blackstone, Boyer and Stroud, he platted the town that bears his name. It is located three and a half miles south of his old home.
In all-round culture and Christian character, there were few, if any, superior to Mr. Minier in the period of his prime. He was rated high in educational lines. Frequently he was called upon for lectures. In schools, sometimes his subject was trees; then again it was birds. He was president of the North American Forestry Association, also of the State Horticultural Society. He was also a member of the National Peace Society and an earnest advocate of its principles; also of all temperance work.
In his young manhood he was very handsome. His elegant appearance and refined manners attracted all classes. He was welcomed by the young as well as the old. Little children would run out to meet him where he was being entertained. With his brethren in the ministry he was always cordial and entirely free from any feeling of jealousy. He never preached a long sermon, and his services were in wide demand for weddings and funerals and other public or semi-public occasions. He never used tobacco in any way, in which he was in striking contrast with some of his contemporaries. He could easily quote from Milton, Young and, especially, from Shakespeare. "He saw sermons in stones, books in brooks and good in everything." In the pulpit he was a teacher. His speaking was on a dignified level. He depended upon the truth of God, presented distinctly and carefully. He never got lower than a high level.
There was in him a fine sense of humor. While he did not encourage unseemly demonstrations, he enjoyed a ripple of appreciation that fit the occasion. At one time, a good, sedate sister called him to account for creating what she called "unholy levity" in the congregation. In all kindness, he responded:
"My dear sister, you would forgive me if you knew how much I keep back."
He had his troubles, as other men have, but he never intruded them on his friends. He never went around looking "blue." At one time one of his friends said to him:
"Bro. Minier, how do you seem so cheerful when you have been walking through deep waters?" He replied: "My dear brother, trouble is the last thing in the world to nurse. I must save my strength to do my work. I will not waste time on what can not be remedied. Any trouble that comes to me I will not lay upon the hearts of others."
One of his moral axioms was this:
"When we have done what we can to make the world wiser, better and more beautiful, we should be satisfied."
"Only the actions of the just smell sweet and blossom in the dust."