Syntha A. Minnick (maiden name: Selsor) was born on March 1, 1830, in Indiana to Andrew and Nancy Selsor. Her father was a farmer who owned $400 of real estate by 1850. She grew up in Indiana, and she married Isaac Minnick on November 30, 1849. They had at least eight children: Louisa, born around 1851; Helen, born around 1855; Caroline, born around 1857; Eveline, born around 1857; Nancy, born around 1860; Mason, born around 1866; Christiana, born around 1866; and Luther, born around 1870.
They lived in Baker, Indiana, and her husband worked as a farmer. By 1860, they owned $60 of personal property. They moved to Jackson, Indiana, in the 1860s, and then to Wabash, Illinois, in the 1870s. Her husband died in the early 1880s, and she passed away on March 4, 1883.