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Most of the research and collecting of facts of the for the first 4 generations of early MINTERS, beginning with the earliest immigrants, was accomplished by GAIL MINTER BYNUM over the past several years. I, JOHN B. MINTER, assisted with some data and helped to structure this tree using FTM in 2005, so we then decided to co-operatively publish what we currently know. We are distant relatives and descend from John d. 1743. We would like to think that these are in fact our immigrant ancestors, but some courthouse records linking them all together are missing, having been burned. Other supporting facts do in fact seem to tie John d. 1743 to these first MINTER immigrants. This information is presented in hopes that someone will come forward with new facts and information to confirm these connections. We would especially hope that someone (possibly a William Sherer descendent) has the MINTER FAMILY BIBLE in their possession and make it available for study.
MY MORE COMPLETE FAMILY TREE CAN BE FOUND ON WORLDCONNECT.ROOTSWEB BY SEARCHING FOR "JOHN MINTER d.1743". Look under the database "jbminter1" , or paste the following link.
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jbminter1&id=I0277
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Richard and son Edward came to Virginia in 1620. Their names are on the muster rolls for Elizabeth City in 1624/25:

Source: Adventurers of Purse & Persons 1607-1624/25, Third Edition, pp.56
Chapter title; The Muster of Inhabitants of Virginia 20 January-7 February 1624/5

Richard Mintrene, His Muster:
Richard Mintrene Aged 40 in the "Margaret and John", 1620 (*)
William Beane aged 25 in the "Diana", 1618
Edward Mintrene aged 12 in the "Margaret and John", 1620
John Inman aged 26 in the "Falcon", 1619
William Brown aged 14 in the "Southampton", 1622
Provisions: corne, 12 barrels;
houses 2;
armes: Peeces 8, sword 1, Armors 2;
lead 100 lb.

*From Richard's age, 40 years, at arrival date, we can imply a birth year of 1580.
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Source: From the Sherer Collection held in the Dacus Library, Winthrop College, Rock Hill, NC.
Sherer Papers Ref. Minter Family Bible Chap. 2A William Sherer II p.94, "In the Minter Family Bible is found a notation of this family of Minters coming from Wales to Virginia in 1635-thence to North Carolina-later to South Carolina."
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E-mail from Gail Minter Bynum 2-23-2005 follows:

"As regards the Preliminary Report on the Minter Family, I got this information in a Minter file in the State Library of Virginia in Richmond. There were 4 typewritten pages. It began with the account of the earliest Minters.
"The first Minter to set foot in the U.S. was a single teenager girl, Desire Minter (no apparent relationship to we USA Minters), who came over on the Mayflower as a ward of Gov. and Mrs. John Carver in 1621.

"Our next Minter of record is a Richard (Mintrene) Minter who made a will in 1634 in Jamestown area. A re grant of a head right of 250 acres was made in 1635 to his son Edward Minter and wife Grace and Richard's second son John."

The researcher then mentioned our John Minter 1743 and his family , The Minters in Fauquier County, Cumberland County, Goochland County, Powhatan County, and Pittsylvania County. There was a reference to wills and land sales,.but there was no bibliography or documentation given. What I found valuable was the reference to the will of Richard Minter 1634. Although there was no documentation to where to find the will, I was able to use the information to conduct my own research. When I searched through books on early Virginia for Richard Minter, I found him in Cavaliers and Pioneers Patent Book 1. This particular document gave me the names of his sons. In another book, Early Virginia Immigrants 1623-1666 by George Cabell Greer, 1912. Reprinted by the Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, Maryland, 1960, I found the tie -in between Edward Minter and John Minter. Greer made an alphabetical listing of ca. 20,000 immigrants, the year in which head right was claimed, and the patentee or other party bringing over the immigrant. Under Edward Minter, I found:

Grace Minter 1638 by Edward Minter
John Minter 1635 by Edward Minter
Ruth Minter 1635 by Edward Minter
Annie Minter 1635 by Edward Minter

In Kansas City, Mo. there is a branch of the National Archives. Several years ago I went there checking on an ancestor of my mother's. While I was there I checked ship passenger lists for any Minters. That's when I found John Minter on the "Paule". He was the only one I found coming into Virginia in 1635. Every ship captain had to present a manifest stating where he sailed from, the date of the sailing and a complete list of passengers. When I checked beyond 1635, I found no other Minters. Since no other Minters came over in 1635 but John Minter, it appears that he is the one mentioned in the Early Virginia Immigrants. We are lucky that Minter was not a common name like Smith or Jones. As our ancestor came over in the early years when there wasn't much population, it was easier to track him. I have never found in my research in the books and other documents of Early Virginia any other Minters except Richard, Edward and John. I believe that all the Minters in Virginia had Richard as the common ancestor but proving it is another matter. When I found the notation in the Minter Bible that the first Minter came over in 1635, It fit with what information I had already accumulated on John Minter 1635.

When I was looking for the information on the Phillips family that I had found in a record in the State Library of Virginia, I came across a note that stated the information in the record came from the Yorktown County Clerk's office. We may be in luck because I learned that Gloucester County was for a number of years a part of another county named York. York County was on the south side of the York River and Gloucester County was on the north side of the York River. I'm hoping that our ancestors went from Charles City to York to Gloucester to Essex. In the clerk's office in Yorktown there are records from 1633. Gloucester did not become a county until 1651. Patent records and head right records for Gloucester are located there. Here is what I have from the head right records for the Phillips:

John Phillips Head right 1669 Petscoe Parish
Richard Phillips Head right 1667
William Phillips Head right 1671
Jeffrey Phillips Head right 1691

In the same record there was miscellaneous information on the Phillips.

1681-1682 John Phillips was a witness to a power of attorney Thomas Todd to Thomas Dudley
1708 Nicholas Phillips was a witness to a deed Edward Davis and Paul Watlington.

Maybe John Phillips is the father of Frances. Her brother John may be a junior. In October I am going back to Virginia. I will go to Yorktown to find out all I can about John Minter and the
Phillips. Maybe the answer will be there. I was glad to hear about your definitive proof about the Minter Bible. Gail

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1. John MINTER b: ABT 1619 in Wales?
2. Edward MINTER b: 1608