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Submitted: 12/6/19 • Approved: 12/6/19 • Last Updated: 12/9/19 • R239928-G0-S3
November 28, 1818 - October 11, 1888
JOSEPH THOMAS "PAPPY" MINTER, was born on 28 November 1818 in Georgia to John Morgan Minter & Dorothy Brooks Mathis.
Joseph married Sarah Ann Carter on 16 December 1835 in Putnam County, Georgia, and they had 10 Children:
John Thomas Minter (1837-1866),
Ann Elizabeth Minter-Byrd (1839-1907),
William Hawkins Minter (1840-1817),
Joseph Morgan Minter (1842-1917),
Fannie Hill Minter-Simms (1846-1923),
Dorothy "Dollie" Brooks Minter-Stephens (1848-1920),
Robert Anthony Minter (1851-1908),
Sylvanus Oliver Minter (1854-1906),
Martha E. Minter-Denney (1858-1907), &
Agustus Harmon Minter (1861-1929).
Joseph migrated to Texas with his wife and their first EIGHT children in 1855. The Methodist Church (in present day Pine Forest) was founded in 1855 on half an acre of land donated by Anthony Thomas Willison, part of which was used as a cemetery. The community was called the Stout Creek neighborhood at that time. Classes were held in a building on the church property starting in the late 1860s.
Joseph Thomas Minter and his father, John Morgan Minter bought a half interest in the townsite and helped lay off the streets and divide the town into lots in 1855. The other half interest was owned by Anthony Thomas Willison who lived in the community for five years before the Minters arrived. The Minters bought Willison's interest in the townsite the following year (1856), when Willison moved away. However John Morgan Minter died on 27 August 1856 just beore the controlling interest allowed them to name the community, Pine Forest. Joseph T. Minter built and opperated one of the first grain mills and cotton gins on his farm, both of which served the community for many years. In 1875, Joseph T. Minter & his wife Sarah donated an additional 1 1/2 acres of land to expand the Methodist Church Cemetery. By 1890, Pine Forest had erected a school, a general store, had a blacksmith, and grew to a population of fifty.
Joseph passed away on 11 October 1888 in Pine Forest, Hopkins County, Texas, and was buried there on land he donated to the Methodist Church for the Cemetery.
*Photo & Biography by Mark Morrow
REFERENCES:
1. 16 Oct 1850 Division 57, Marion County, Georgia Census, (Sheet 78, Stamped 263B, Family #515, Line 42), Head of Household.
2. 25 June 1860 White Oak PO, Beat #1, Hopkins County, Texas Census, (Sheet 22, Line 8).
2. 31 Aug 1870 White Oak PO, Precinct #2, Hopkins County, Texas Census, (Sheet 41, Line 31).
3. 12 June 1880 Precinct #2, Hopkins County, Texas Census, (ED: 67, Sheet 21, Line 6).
4. Putnam County, Georgia Marriage Certificate.
5. J. E. Jennings, "PINE FOREST, TX (HOPKINS COUNTY)," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hnp35), accessed July 01, 2008. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
Contributed on 12/6/19 by ashaw444
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Record #: 239928