John B. Minor - Early Years

Early Years

Born in Louisa County, Virginia on June 2, 1813 to Launcelot and Elizabeth Minor, a weakling at sixteen, he began a long, horseback journey through the state as a newspaper agent and collector and then walked to Ohio, where he entered Kenyon College. Two of his classmates there became famous: David Davis became United States Senator, United States Judge, and administered the estate of President Lincoln; and Edwin M. Stanton became Secretary of War under Lincoln. Afterwards Minor walked through Ohio and New York, for health and recreation, and, having reached home, entered the University of Virginia in January 1831, where he was a student for three sessions, “graduating in several schools”, and received the LLB in 1834, at twenty-one. He later married the daughter of his law instructor Professor John A.G. Davis, in whose home he tutored while pursuing his own studies. He had so overcome his physical weakness that he could endure almost unlimited labor, and developed “an impressive stature and presence.”

John "John" Barbee Minor was related to the Berkley, Maury, Dabney, Herndon, Byrd, Page, and many other Virginia families and was a close friend and kinsman to Matthew Fontaine Maury and B. Franklin "Frank" Minor all three who loved to do garden growth experiments for relaxation. They constantly wrote to one another on a variety of subjects and deeply trusted one another with what they wrote. This is found in their writings that were saved. There is also a Maury Hall and a Dabney Hall close to Minor Hall at the University of Virginia. These families were and still are very close.