Minard, Abel

Minard, Abel a prominent layman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, noted for his great philanthropic labors, was born in Massachusetts September 25, 1814. His father died soon after his birth, and he lost his mother when he was about eight years old, so that as a mere youth he was left alone in the world. His early life was an earnest struggle for success; he was subjected to all the disadvantages which attend those who are compelled to work their own way from poverty to fortune. He learned the trade of a tanner; but his energy of character soon sought a broader field of action in business operations, which proved successful, and rapidly secured him wealth and influence. In 1846 he went to California; in 1856 removed to Lockport, N.Y.; and in 1866 settled at Morristown, N.J., where he died, January 31, 1871. In early life. Mr. Minard was a member of the Free-will Baptist Church, but in the prime of his days he neglected his Church privileges. In the spring of 1870 he united with the Methodist Episcopal Church at Morristown, in whose communion he spent his last days. In early life he promised his God that if he would bless him he would give away the tenth part of his income, and he dealt out largely to the poor and to the Church; in later years, fearing that he had not kept the vow fully he failed not to make compensation for his neglect by numerous private and public benefactions. The churches both of Morristown and Lockport were remembered in his will. He also left a sum, the interest of which is annually applied for the education of four young men in Drew Theological Seminary at Madison, N.J. But the crowning work of his life was the establishment of the "Minard Home," in Morristown (valued at $50,000), for the education of the female orphans of missionaries and home ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. See New York Christian Advocate, June 15, 1870; Prof. Buttz, in the Ladies' Repository, 1872. (J.H.W.)