The sequence of events resulting in this account of my mother's mother's side of the family began with a foray into a collection of old photographs, many of which had been collected over the years by my grandmother, Lelia Minter Turner. After some sorting, labeling, and a few questions as to who some of the people in the photos might have been, an urge to look further, spurred by Mom's long-standing and mostly ignored call for attention to her side of the family, began to take effect. Some online time at Ancestry.com and a very rewarding effort to re-connect with some 'long lost' cousins motivated what would become a slow but persistent trek finally bringing us to this point.

        The resulting product can best be described as an annotated genealogy of a relatively small part of a very large clan, the Minters descended from John and Susannah Williams Minter of Henry County, Virginia. The title chosen for the piece may seem to be in need of the article the, as in The Minters of Henry County, but such a title would imply a great deal more coverage than can be - or at least is - delivered. One researcher of the Minters has uncovered more than 7,000 persons descending from the grandparents of John Minter, Anthony and Elizabeth, who were born in the late 1600s and resided in Caroline County, Virginia. This account barely scratches the surface of so large a family tree. By staying in a single path from Anthony and Elizabeth, through John and Susannah, then down three more generations before branching out, our coverage is contained to a modest total of some 325-350 persons, depending on counting rules, and of many of those we have little more than names and a few key dates.

        Often, the interest in family history and genealogy comes at a point in life on the back side of the curve, when so many, and sometimes all, of the members of previous generations who might have been able to help, and probably enjoy the endeavor, have gone. That is the case here, too, but we have been fortunate to enjoy the collaboration of a very knowledgeable and insightful member of the previous generation, my mother's first cousin, Elaine Minter Childress. Her participation enriched the product and made the journey a great deal more enjoyable. Sadly, she passed away in November, 2005, at the age of ninety. Hers was a life well spent.

        We hope that one or more descendants of the family in the years to come will pursue the topic further, filling in some of the gaps and perhaps correcting the inevitable errors of the work, but most importantly adding on to this outline as the family evolves through time. Thus, we hope this effort will serve in time to have contributed Parts One and Two of a multi-part story of a family which originated as a branch of the Minters of Henry County.

        Naturally, we can not claim that everything said herein is factual, but we can say that we tried to achieve accuracy to the extent practicable. Comments and contributions of fact, conjecture, or opinion from readers will be welcome.