Van Lieu Minor, born in July 1880, was the son of D. William (born in 1860), a farmer, and his wife, F. Marie Minor (born in 1859). Van Lieu was the eldest of five children. The family lived in Battle Creek (Mich.). By the age of 30, Van Lieu married Ettie M. [surname unknown] (February 5, 1879-April 15, 1972), with whom he had two daughters, Doris E., (born in 1907) and Frances (born in 1912). In 1910, Van Lieu, Ettie, and Doris lived in Louisville (Ky.), where he taught public school. Between 1910 and 1922 Minor taught at University High School in Chicago (Ill.), while he attended graduate level classes at the University of Chicago. Also during the early 1920s, Van Lieu taught a variety of history, civics, and government classes at Kalamazoo Central High School in Kalamazoo (Mich.). Minor earned an A.B. and an A.M. from the University of Michigan. CMU hired Minor as a professor in the History Department by 1924. There, he taught a wide variety of history, civics, government, economics, and courses to help student teachers learn how to teach history in primary and secondary schools. Professor Minor taught at CMU from 1924 through 1939. When Professor Claude S. Larzelere retired as Head of the departments of History and Social Sciences in 1939, Professor Minor was promoted to fill the position. He then served as Head of the departments until at least 1946. Both of Professor Minor's daughters graduated from CMU with a B.A., Doris in 1927 and Frances in 1934. There is no obituary for Professor Minor, but it appears that he may have died during or shortly after 1946. (This information is from the collection, a variety of CMU and Mount Pleasant publications, and AncestryPlus.)
From the description of Papers, 1907,1946. (Clarke Historical Library). WorldCat record id: 61257239
