Andrew Jackson Minnick was born on March 6, 1840, in Fall Creek, Indiana, to Michael Minnick and Lydia Henry. His father was a farmer who owned $1,500 of real estate and $400 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Middletown, Indiana.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on August 19, 1862, and mustered in as a corporal in Company H of the 69^th Indiana Infantry later that day. The regiment took part in the siege of Vicksburg, the Red River campaign, and the Battle of Fort Blakely. He mustered out on July 5, 1865, in Nashville, Tennessee.

 

He returned to Fall Creek after the war, and he married Lydia Bickell there on July 2, 1867. They had twelve surviving children: Sophia, born around 1868; Girtia, born around 1869; William, born around 1871; Frank, born around 1873; Lee, born around 1877; May, born around 1879; Otis, born around 1880; Ray, born around 1882; Fay, born around 1883; Ethel, born around 1886; Juna, born around 1888; and Gladys, born around 1893.

 

He settled in Fall Creek and worked as a farmer, and by 1870, he owned $300 of real estate and $600 of personal property. He fell ill with Bright’s disease around 1913, and he died of prostrate trouble in Fall Creek on August 23, 1914. Local newspapers eulogized him as “one of the best known and best liked citizens of Henry County” and “one of the wealthiest farmers of Middletown.”

SOURCES