Born in Rockingham, Windham Co., Vt., Nov. 11, 1809, where he lived until 19 yrs. of age; he then spent 5 years in Bellows Falls and Proctorville; he left the latter place Aug. 19, 1833, in company with his brother George, Dean and Reed Ferson, for Illinois, and arrived in Chicago Sept. 3; they remained there for some two weeks, and bought the southeast corner lot of Lake and Clark streets for $400, and three of the party returned to Vermont leaving Dean Ferson here; the next Summer, Mr. Minard married, and in company with his wife and Reed Ferson, they came to Chicago. Mr. M. and John Murphy rented a hotel and at once set up in busness; thirteen months after the purchase of the lot by the four Mr. Minard bought out the three shares, and paid $1,276 and in a few months after he sold the lot for $7,500; this gave him his first start. In Dec. following (1834), Mr. and Mrs. Minard left Chicago and came to St. Charles and remained through the winter in a log house with Dean Ferson, and in early spring, 1835, he located a claim in Elgin, near where the Asylum now stands, and worked very hard for a year improving it. Early in the sping of 1836, Mr. Reed Ferson and Ira Minard purchased the land where East St. Charles now stands, built the dam, bridge, store and mill, and by their energy at once made improvements which at once stamped the place as eing the foremost town on Fox river. In Aug. 1842, Mr. Minard was elected to the State Senate for 4 years; he gained the reputation then of being a clear thinker and one of the ablest financiers in the state. His own immense business provented him from longer serving the state in that capacity; while in the Legisiature, he was one of the foremost supporters of the Michigan canal through the state, and perhaps no one did more to advance it than he. He married Sarah P. Wheeler in Cavendish, Vt., in 1834; they have three children - Helen, Geo W. and Charles I; Mr. Minard died Jan. 22, 1876, leaving his large estate to his three children.