The following McMinn Narratives were provided by Lee CASE.


Article 385

JOHN A. MCMINN FAMILY

John A. McMinn, son of Robert McMinn and Jane Kuykendall was born circa 
1776 in Rutherford county, North Carolina. He came to the Henderson area 
before 1800. John married Elizabeth Robinson of Beaufort. He traveled to 
White County, Tennessee in 1806. It is oral tradition that he was a surveyor. 
A descendant of his who died in 1929 had surveying tools that went back four 
generations, and believed to belong to John A.


John A. and Elizabeth were the parents of four sons, Robert 18 June 1799-1860 
in Kerr County, Texas, who married Sara Kuykendall. Their children, born 
1821-1843 were Elizabeth, who married John Roland Corn; Jean, who married 
Edward Osteen; Sara Affa, who married Riley R. Porter; Cynthia, who married 
John C. Anthony; Didema A.; John J.; Jesse T.; Francis Marion; Valintine; and 
Mary, who married Joseph Treadway. Descendants of Jean and Edward Osteen 
still reside in Henderson County. Robert moved to Georgia, but was back in 
Henderson County around 1840. He served as Deacon of Crab Creek Baptist Church. 
Robert and wife are buried at Mountain View Church in Kerrville, Texas.


The second son, James R. McMinn 1802, the last record of him was in 1880. Yell 
County, Arkansas. He married Sara Corn in 1846 in Buncombe County, North 
Carolina. His children, born 1846-1859 were James P., who married Lucinda; 
John M.; Elizabeth; Adelia A.; Elisa Jane; Jesse M.; Robert and Sarah McMinn. 
James P. and John M. were in McMinnville, Oregon in 1900. James R. lived in the 
Green River township in 1850. He owned land in the Clear Creek Section on Rocky 
Mountain, on which a rock quarry was located in 1840. He co-owned land with his 
brother Jesse, at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Family lore is that they donated part 
of this land for the McMinn Cemetery Plot. Tombstone inscriptions indicate that 
relatives were in this area in 1812.


The third son, John M. McMinn 6 July 1803-1867 in Henderson County. At one time 
he lived in the Green River Township on McMinn Creek. John M. had nine children 
born 1825-1840, James who married Elizabeth Freeman; George, who married first 
Elizabeth England and second Mary England; John L. Jefferson who married E. Jane 
Freeman, and their descendants still live in Henderson County; Margaret Cora 
who married William Welsey Wolfe; Elizabeth M., who married John Heatherly and 
whose descendants settled in the Green River area; Nathan Van Buren, who married 
Lizzie England, and their descendants live in Brevard, North Carolina: 
Jessie L.; Mary E., who married David Noe; and Sara(Sarah Jane McMinn), 
who married James "Jack" Downing.


The fourth son, Jesse McMinn 26 February-1806 - 5 February 1862 in Henderson 
County, North Carolina, married Zilpha Shipman. Jesse settled in the Clear Creek 
area. He is buried in the Scottish custom of having the tallest Altar Tomb for 
the elder member of the family. His children were James N. 1827-1873, who 
married Malinda Maxwell of Chestnut Gap; Andrew Jesse May 1828 - December 1848; 
John J. 1829, who married Elizabeth, and they had one daughter named Zilpha. He 
sold his land which included a Government Still, and left Henderson County to 
go west in 1867.


John A. McMinn was my great great great grandfather.
Sources: 1800-1830 census Buncombe County North Carolina, 1850 census Kerr 
County, Texas. 1800 census Yell County, Arkansas. McMinn's of America by V. 
Britton, family Bibles of Elizabeth Vogler, and Ellen Smith, family lore, 
deeds, and church records.

--Kenneth McMinn


Article 386

ROBERT MCMINN (see further comments below)

Robert McMinn came to Charles Town, South Carolina in 1769 and received a 
Protestant Land Grant in the Long Canes district of the Savannah River. The 
flat country did not look much like his native Scotland, so by 1770 he bought 
land in old Tryon County, North Carolina. He served here on the Committee of 
Safety in 1775. The hostile Indians and War of the Revolution hindered his 
progress toward the Blue Ridge mountains. Shortly after his death in 1797 in 
Rutherford County, North Carolina, his wife Jane Kuykendall McMinn bought land 
from her father Abraham Kuykendall in the Flat Rock area of Henderson County.

The children of Robert and Jane McMinn were born between the years of 1770 and 
1796. They were William Abraham, who marrried Margaret Byers and died in Marion 
County, Alabama in 1829. Mary, who married Edward Johnson and died in Rutherford 
County, Tennessee in 1843. John A., who married Elizabeth Robinson and died in 
1808; James, who married Elizabeth Woodfin and died in Hickman County, Tennessee 
in 1865, Elizabeth, who married Jesse Case and died in Pulaski County, Missouri; 
an unnamed daughter, Joseph, who married Elizabeth Warren and died in Hall 
County, Georgia in 1849; The Reverend Robert, Jr., who married Louinia Beard and 
lived in Cobb County, Georgia; Jane, who married Absalom Beard and died in 
Randolph County, Missouri: and Jesse, who married first Affa and second Sophia 
Boling and died in Fanning County, Georgia. Jane McMinn was living with her son 
Jesse in Union County, Georgia in 1840.

John A. McMinn is believed to be buried in an unmarked grave on property he 
owned on the east side of Bat Fork Creek. In 1825 his wife Elizabeth, and heirs 
sold this land to John Justus and an adjoining tract to Robert Jones.

John Robinson, father of Elizabeth McMinn, was born 1749 and died 20 February 
1845. He is buried in the Armstrong Family Cemetery near Barker's Creek, in 
Anderson County, south Carolina. Her mother was Jane Barr. He was a traveler, 
moving from South Carolina to old Tryon County, North Carolina to Jonesboro, 
Tennessee, and then back to South Carolina. From the Pendleton court records 
9 August 1790, a suit was brought against him for absolutely refusing to comply 
with the census law. He refused to list his family and did not appreciate the 
government meddling in his affairs. The case was dismissed 9 November 1790 with 
costs. Listing fifteen children could have also been a headache.

John A. and Elizabeth McMinn had four sons, all born in Blue Ridge Township, 
Henderson County; Robert, born 1799, married Sarah Kuykendall and died in Kerr 
county, Texas; James R. born 1802, married Sarah Corn, died in Yell County, 
Arkansas; John M. born 1803, married Frances Sanders in Henderson county; Jesse 
L. born 26 February 1806, married Zelpha Shipman. Zelpha was the daughter of 
Edward Shipman and Manna Robinson. Jesse L. McMinn was the great grandfather 
of this writer.

Sources: court and census records, grave markers, and Family Bible.

--Effie M. Lyda

ROBERT MCMINN (further comments submitted by Paul McMinn)

Clarification on Effie Lyda's notes:  Robert McMinn presented himself in Charleston in 
Sept 1767 and rec'd 100 acres on the bounty and was among other recipients recently 
arrived from Newry in Northern Ireland.  (Janie Revill, 1932) It's quite likely 
that he was on that ship Britannia that arrived in Charleston in August 1767 but 
there is no conclusive proof since many of the ship manifests no longer exist.  I 
did this research for Noma Lee McMinn Taylor in 1981 based on records found in SC 
Archives (I have the documents).  Revill mentions Long Canes on the Savannah River 
as the location for the land but many of those petitioning for land on the Bounty 
actually had land surveyed elsewhere.  Robert received  a Land grant on the bounty 
from King George III amounting to 100 acres on the North side of Broad River.  Because 
he received 100 acres, we can assume he presented  himself with no wife or children, 
or would have received more acreage.   This land was originally surveyed in 1768 in SC 
and this land was part of Old Tryon County which ended up in NC after the border in 
the west was moved south in 1772 to include lands originally granted in SC.  This 
land is in present day Rutherford County, NC.  Robert is also listed in Revolutionary 
History of NC as petitioning the state for reimbursement of a rifle and stolen horse 
by Tories.  Burial place is unknown and assumed to be on his land in Rutherford CO or 
in Mud Creek Cemetery where his father in law, Abraham Kuykendall is buried.