THE MINOR-MINER FAMILIES

Thomas Minor (1608 Chew Magna, England - 1690 Stonington, CT, USA) emigrated about 1629 to New England where he has become the progenitor of many descendants. Many of those surnamed Minor or Miner living in the United States are descendants of this Thomas of Chew Magna, Somerset, England. The first six generations of these descendants are listed here. The primary reference for this Minor/Miner family ancestry, in addition to the original town records, is Thomas Minor, Descendants, 1608 - 1981² by John Augustus Miner (1981). It was reprinted in 2001 and may still be available .

Genealogy.com has forums for the Miner and Minor families.
Ancestry's Rootsweb has message boards for the Miner and Minor families.
The Thomas Minor Society (TMS) also has a website listing Thomas Minor's descendants.

The index to information collected on Thomas of Chew Magna and his descendants is below. There are other Miner/Minor families that do not appear to be related to Thomas. Patriarchs of these families include:

• Doodes Minor (1640 - 1694+) son of Meindert Doodes of Middlesex Co., Virginia
• Jacob Miner (1728-1812) of Northampton, Pennsylvania
• John Minor (<1625-1698) of Westmoreland Co., Virginia,
• Thomas Minor (c1721-1776) of Spottsylvania Co., Virginia.
• Also, some members of the Maynard family changed their surname to Mynard, Minard, Maynar, Mynar and Minor including descendants of William Mynard (died 1711 in CT).
• Some descendants of the German immigrant, Friedrich Meinert (Berks County, PA about 1730), also spell their name Miner or Minor.

Index to descendants of Thomas Minor of Chew Magna and Stonington

Genealogy by Genetics: Tiny chemical Markers on the Y chromosome create a distinctive pattern that can indicate relatedness between two men, though not the exact degree of the relationship. Y chromosome testing may be used by men with the same last name to learn if they share a common ancestor. More detailed information about markers may be found in DNA 101. Family Tree DNA is offering such testing. A y-DNA study to connect males of the Miner surname and its variants was initiated in March 2005. Results.

Selected Descendants