Allen A. Minkler was born 25 December 1858 in Omro, Wisconsin. His parents were Levi Minkler (1819-1862) and Mary Ann Terrill (1822-1864). He married Almeda Hemerick (1849-1915), daughter of Michael Hemerick and Eleanor Dings, 19 November 1879 in Clay, New York. They had three children. Allen died in 1938 in Akron, Colorado. Ancestors, descendants and relatives lived mainly in New York, Missouri and Colorado.

This book is about the hospital ward, also called the nursing unit or inpatient unit. Part 1 gives a history of nursing unit floor plans since roman times. Part 2 reviews contemporary planning problems. Part 3 contains the yale studies in hospital function and design, concerned with hospital problems of today. Part 4 considers the structure and possible future applications of the concept of progressive patient care.

Teeter Nave , son of Conrad Nave and Anna Ott, was born in about 1745, probably in Pennsylvania. He married Ann Vanderpool, daughter of Abraham Vanderpool and Rebecca Isaacs, in about 1768 in Rowan County, North Carolina. They had seven children. He died in 1805 in Carter County, Tennessee. Descendants and relatives lived mainly in North Carolina, Tennessee and Indiana.