John Abner Minter

  General Notes:

from: http://webpages.charter.net/chamberlayne/minter/mnotes.htm Minters of Henry County by Donald W. Chamberlayne : chamberlayne@charter.net
John Abner Minter
From census listings of 1850 through 1880, in which there are some inconsistencies, it is determined that John A. Minter was born about 1834. He married Eliza Ann Ziglar, whose birth year of 1840 is from the same census listings. John's two younger sisters, Susan and Martha Ann ("Mattie"), married Eliza's two brothers, James and Charles. The three Ziglars were among the five children of Jane (Jones) Ziglar, who moved from North Carolina (Forsyth or Stokes County, now the Winston-Salem area) to her father's home in Henry County after the death of her husband James in 1843. The source of this background on the Ziglar line is a Margaret Lambert, in message board postings at Rootsweb.com, Mar-05-2006 and Apr-17-2006, in response to an inquiry by a descendant of Susan and James Ziglar who is researching her line from a sister of John Abner (Note 5J).
The 1860 census found John and Eliza in Dale County, Alabama, where he was said to be a merchant, and there were no children.

Soon thereafter, when the war broke out, he served as an officer with the 54th Alabama Infantry, and by the end of the war had attained the rank of colonel. Early in the war, his company was captured at Island No. 10 near Memphis (dates unclear), held for a time in Illinois before being returned in a prisoner swap in 1862. He is also listed as a member of the 37th Infantry, since the 54th, 42nd, and 37th were consolidated as of April 9, 1865 [See www.civilwarhome.com/54alainf.htm and www.tarleton.edu/~kjones/54alainf.html>].
The census of 1870 showed John and Eliza farming in Lewis County, Missouri, still with no children. In the 1880 census, in the town of Canton in Lewis County, was listed John A. Minter, 45, minister, with Eliza A., 39, and one child, daughter Julia A, 7. From the 1898 letter of Capt. A. S. Minter, described in the Bulletin as previously noted: "A son of Silas, Col. J. A. Minter lived in Ozark, Alabama, became a Colonel in the Confederate Army.... He later became a famous Missionary Baptist preacher."
There is likely a good deal more to be learned about the Rev. Col. J. A. Minter. (Photo courtesy of Seth Compton)

John married Eliza Ann Ziglar. (Eliza Ann Ziglar was born circa 1840 in Virginia and died after 1880 in Lewis Co., Missouri.)