Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center
LH-333
Biographical
Sketch
Scope
and Content
Inventory
The
journals of Charles Lewis Miner were donated to the Rutherford B. Hayes
Presidential Center by William Avery Miner of Waco, Texas in 2005. William
Miner, the son of Charles, transcribed the journals and published the
transcriptions along with letters
written by Charles Lewis Miner to his sister Helen Miner while living in
Coahuila, Mexico. The publication also contains a typed transcription of
Charles Lewis Miner’s memoir of his years in Clyde, Ohio; at The Ohio State
University; and in Mexico. The 1987 publication, Journals and Memoirs of
Charles Lewis Miner: from 15 July 1906 to 16 September 1931, is
available in the Library reading room.
Biographical Sketch
Charles Lewis Miner was born November 25, 1880, in Clyde, Sandusky County, Ohio. His father Charles Avery Miner was co-owner of the Miner-Wilder store in Clyde. His mother Maria Valetta Stark Miner was the daughter of Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio residents Wilson M. Stark and Matilda Green Stark. Wilson Stark served as a teacher, Superintendent of Sandusky County Schools, Fremont Postmaster, and Sandusky County Treasurer. He was also a charter member of the American Legion of Honor, serving as the organization’s first secretary.
Charles
Lewis Miner grew up in the family home at 129 Amanda Street in Clyde. He graduated from The Ohio State University
Agricultural College in Columbus, Ohio. For the next two years, Miner served as
the assistant manager of a large estate near Coahuila, Mexico, where he
introduced alfalfa and helped develop an irrigation system. He then worked on a
5,000-acre banana plantation some 80 miles south of Vera Cruz. In 1908, Miner traveled to Portland, Oregon,
where he purchased a 157-acre farm near Battleground, Washington. Miner farmed,
exchanged labor, taught school, strung telephone lines, built roads, and
surveyed. Miner sold the farm in 1911
and moved temporarily in Topeka, Kansas before settling in Calgary,
Canada. While in Topeka, Miner met Ida
May Roudebush (b. February 29, 1884 d. December 21, 1974), whom he married on
September 16, 1914. The Miners were the parents of three sons Charles Hayden
Miner (b. June 29, 1916) and Milford Roudebush Miner (b. January 20, 1918) were
born in Lakewood, Ohio. William Avery
Miner (September 20, 1920) was born shortly after the family moved to Kansas
City, Missouri.
Miner
returned to Ohio, settling not far from his sister Helen in Cleveland. He worked at a series of manufacturing jobs.
From 1914 to 1918, Miner managed the manufacturing process of Case Hardening
Company. After receiving his millwright certification, he began work at Acme Stamping.
Miner worked a series of construction and manufacturing jobs in Kansas City and
Topeka until his health began to fail.
Charles Lewis Miner died May 8, 1932.
Scope and Content
This
collection consists of 15 journals in which Charles Lewis Miner kept a record
of the events and activities of his life from September 26, 1907 until
September 16, 1931. Covering nearly a quarter of a century, the journals of
Charles Lewis Miner offer a perspective of a young man’s entry into adulthood
shortly after the turn of the 20th century. Miner’s journals provide
a glimpse of this Midwesterner’s life through the early years of the 20th
century, WWI, and the beginning of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.
As
a young, single man, Miner’s journals are dominated by his efforts to achieve
financial success. His nearly daily entries detail his struggle to attain
secure employment, achieve economic success, and develop a stable, nurturing
environment for his wife and three sons.
He was keenly aware of world events and advances in science,
agriculture, construction, and manufacturing, He wrote of his years in Mexico,
Calgary, and the western United States.
Intelligent, educated, and talented, Miner became a capable farmer,
millwright, and carpenter. Following
his marriage (1914), Miner increasingly focused on the security and happiness
of his growing family. He was an astute observer of the developing
personalities of his three sons, delighting in their childhood
experiences. While Miner never achieved
the financial independence and security that he hoped for, he discovered the
rewards of family and children. In his
last years, Miner developed diabetes. Eventually, his heath problems became so
severe that he was forced to take over the childrearing duties and household
chores while his wife found employment as an office worker. Miner’s
deteriorating health and inability to work full time weighed heavily on his
mind. From Miner’s perspective, his
future appeared bleak. His last entry
occurred on September 16, 1931
Several
unidentified photographs complete the collection.
Inventory
1/4/
linear ft.
Folder