Little information about Van Minian is known, and he remains an obscure figure despite continued efforts to develop a biography for him.
He was initially identified by his signature on a birth record in the collection of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, which has aided in the identification of a body of birth, baptismal, marriage, and family records and decorated religious texts.
The bride listed on the Vermont fraktur, Sidanna Shannon, was actually Sidney Shannon of Northampton, PA and was the daughter of Mary Ammerman, of German or Dutch heritage, which may explain the connection.
Stylistically, Van Minian divided his compositions into carefully ruled sections in which he depicted figures in profile.
Texts are in English or German, often written in an ornate Gothic calligraphy but sometimes in cursive.