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After the January 20, 1998 death of Strother MacMinn, who was a professor of automotive design at Art Center, College of Design in Pasadena, California, it fell to my husband, Richard L. MacMinn, to be the executor of his estate. Among his effects was an antique embossed copper chest containing a treasure trove of old letters, deeds, photographs, several biographies of early MacMinns, and other historically relevant documents, dating from 1729 to 1905. After sorting all the documents into categories, I have begun the massive undertaking of preserving what is relevant to the MacMinn family heritage.
An extensive family history that dated back to 850 A. D., written by Herman S. MacMinn from 1903 to 1905 after thirty five years of historical research, was also found in the chest. Transcribing this into an accessible narrative has been the first phase of this historiographical project. The document, prefaced by a handwritten genealogy, is sixty-seven legal size tissue pages. It is a carbon copy of the original, with no spacing between sentences, few paragraph breaks, rampant spelling inconsistencies and inadequate punctuation. Transcription required a white sheet of paper behind each page, and a clear plastic ruler was used to distinguish one line from the next. A magnifying glass was needed to clarify words where the carbon had faded so badly that the words weren’t clear.
Editorially, I have tried to remain as faithful as possible to Herman’s archaic style of writing so that his personality, his extraordinary efforts, his devotion to the accuracy of this history, and his moral character were not lost. I have cleaned up cumbersome sentences, added paragraph breaks, and rectified inconsistent spellings of proper names. When the narrative is at its densest, either due to the ancient Scottish geography detailed in the early part of the work or by the endless listings of the progeny of descendants of Angus Mac Calman, I have tried to render it readable if one desires to venture through these passages.
The countless hours I have spent on this project so far, despite a busy career as Director of the Rocamora School, is my gift to my husband -- YOU, MacMinn, to help you satisfy your longing to know more about your heritage, and to verify that many MacMinns before you were large handsome Scotsmen with the same talents, passions and character traits you exhibit, and that Herman himself would find his own nature in you.
ABOUT THE AUTHORAn excerpt from an obituary about Herman S. MacMinn, date and publication unknown Edited by Mary Rocamora, M.A.
Herman S. MacMinn was born May 27, 1849. From earliest childhood, he had led a busy life, scarcely knowing what it meant to have idle moments. He therefore lived in a sense of achievement and work accomplished much beyond the years of his life as marked by the calendar. Much of Mr. MacMinn’s young manhood was spent in and near Williamsport, he having graduated from Dickinson Seminary and Williamsport Business College when was yet in his teens.
Mr. MacMinn went to the DuBois region when DuBois lumber interests, and and in the early (18)80’s became a permanent resident in the employ of the DuBois lumber interests. On January 1, 1896, he was united in marriage to Cora E. Fisher, daughter of the late William P. Fisher, of Unionville. He was able to accomplish Herculean tasks and withstand the ravages of inclement weather to which he was so often subjected in the work of his profession. He continued in the employ of John E. DuBois until the time of his death. He planned and plotted the various sub-divisions of the DuBois lands, not only in DuBois but in Sandy and Huston townships. He did much of the same work for others, including the late Albert C. Hopkins.
By nature a geologist, his private collection of specimens gathered from the hills and valleys of Clearfield and adjoining counties, as well as many from the Northwest, is invaluable, containing many Indian relics which he discovered in Sandy and Huston townships in Clearfield County.
As a local historian he was the peer of any man, and it is to be regretted that the manuscript of a local history which he had in the course of preparation at the earnest request of the publishers of the DuBois Morning Courier, for use in the columns of that newspaper and afterward to appear in book form, was in his hands at the time of his death and unfinished. Some years ago a history of the First Presbyterian Church of DuBois, and incidentally much other local history, was prepared by Mr. MacMinn and published in a special edition of the Courier and is highly prized both for its accuracy and the preservation of valuable information garnered by this student of history. Mr. MacMinn rendered valuable assistance to historical societies of Pennsylvania, adding many interesting pages to their records, and the appreciation of his work expressed to him many times by those capable of discerning his great ability in this field must have been a thorough satisfaction to him.
Clean in mind, clean in habits, he was a man of sterling worth and spotless character, standing at all times for the best things in his home life and in the community life. A man of inflexible principles and strong convictions, he was often misunderstood, and this misunderstanding of his motives grieved his sensitive nature sorely. He was of Quaker ancestry, and he always was true to his inner promptings. During the last thirty years he had been a consistent member of the First Presbyterian Church, served on its board of trustees, taught in its Sunday School and was one of the ardent supporters of its Men’s Bible Class. He was nearly 68 years of age at the time of his death. His wife Cora, with two daughters, Marjorie and Dorothea, survives him. He also left four brothers: The Rev. Edwin MacMinn, a Baptist minister of Alhambra, California, Joseph H. MacMinn, of Williamsport, B. Frank MacMinn, of Philadelphia, and C. V. Linnaeus MacMinn, of Newberry, and two sisters, Mrs.Mary Grier, of Newberry, and Mrs. Carrie Mackey, of Philadelphia.
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