Michael J Minitor was born and raised in Washington, DC by his Irish immigrant parents, Samuel McCardel and Mary Jane Ellison. By the age of 18 he worked in Baltimore as a moulder and lived with his widowed mother. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps 1 Aug 1896, and was stationed on the USS Marblehead in Hampton Roads, Virginia six months later.
In 1897 Michael married Catherine Cress. Together they had eight children. The 1900 census lists the first two children and niece Honora Minitor in the Baltimore household supported by Michael's work as a molder in a foundry. The 1920 census shows two of their children have died, but six remain at home; niece Honora is not listed. Michael's wife died the same year.
The 1930 census shows that Michael now works as a real estate broker and lives with his second wife, Catherine Schroen Dettmer, and two step-children.
When Michael died in 1935 he was buried next to his first wife in Section SS, Lot 433 in New Cathedral Cemetery in Baltimore. His second wife died five years later.