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Note: http://www25.brinkster.com/nimsd/PatrickMargaretHall.htm !1. Newspaper clippings from Jennie Lillian Hall's scrapbook, currently in poss. of Varla Owens Wright, Phoenix, AZ.
!2. Funeral Memory card of William Hall, Sr.
!3. Correspondence from Laura Hall McKeen.
!4. Correspondence from Lola Hall Cross.
!5. Excerpts from a record kept by John Alexander Hogg, obt. by corr. 5 JUN 1966.
!6. 1850 Census of Centreville, Butler, PA, doc. file #1, 10 MAY 1967.
!7. Life history written by family members, titled ROBERT HALL, SR.
!8. Death certificates of William Hall and Minerva T. Hall
William Hall, son of Patrick and Margaret Hall <PatrickMargaretHall.htm>, was born in Donegal County, Ireland, on January 9, 1811. William came to America at age 14, a "bound boy", apprenticed to his uncle, John Floyd, a wealthy merchant living in Philadelphia, who owned several ships and warehouses.
In a letter written in the mid-1900s to Mrs. Tenny Boyer, his cousin, John A. Hogg, Jr. related a family story that might explain why William left Ireland so young. According to the letter, "Once I was told that in his teen years, he was very small of stature, and a superstition prevailed among the Irish that such a one of small growth had been bewitched, and that one day an old woman whose wrath had been stirred, shouted such an accusation at William, and that William, his Irish being stirred up, hurled a stone at the woman causing her demise. Due to this he was smuggled onto one of the Floyd’s vessels and thus he came to America. Which story accounted for the reason William never permitted himself to be photographed. Floyd was married and had one daughter, but the story is that one day he took our grandfather over his holdings, and told him that upon his death he was leaving his estate to both the daughter and our grandfather. But upon John Floyd’s death his auntie Floyd knew nothing about any such nonsense. Grandfather was then out on his own and proceeded to learn the carpentry and building trade."
Minerva Thompson, daughter of James and Sarah Thompson was born on June 23, 1825. In another document, John Hogg tells Minerva's story of how she and William met. According to John, William was traveling by stage through Ohio, and they stopped at a tavern. At the watering trough, he met Minerva, who was fetching water for the tavern. John doesn't say how long they stayed there, perhaps they spent the night. In any case, William fell in love with Minerva and "told her he would be back when the girl [Minerva] reached 18 and he would marry her". (Perhaps this "tavern" was actually the boarding house kept by Minerva's parents.) William did come back, and they were married. They build a log cabin on a hilltop in Iowa, where their children were born.
-Tenny (Squires) Boyer, cousin of John A. Hogg, Jr., and granddaughter of William and Minerva Hall.
Another account of the first meeting between Minerva and William was told by her sister, Sarah (Sadie) who recalled that William was somewhat strange in appearance, having very long legs and a relatively short torso. Minerva made fun of him, and her sister warned her not to do that or she'd end up married to him - which she did.
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