"Welcome The Traveler Home" by Jim Garland, Edited by Julia S. Ardery

Jim Garland (1905-1978), the author of this book, was born in Bell County Kentucky and grew up, like several others of his family, to become an underground coal miner. He was also a well known labor leader, union organizer, and folk singer who also happened to be the brother of Aunt Molly Jackson and Sarah Ogan Gunning both of whom were also folk singers and active in support of trade unionism and worker's rights. He organized and was a member of both the United Mine Workers of America and the National Miners Union. His organizing work was primarily in Harlan and Bell counties in Kentucky where he had worked at various times in several mines. He wrote this book, or at least, wrote most of the manuscript well before his death in 1978 but never published the book himself. At some point, his wife Hazel seems to have passed the manuscript on to the Kentucky writer Julia S. Ardery (1889-1977) who edite the work but also failed to get it published in her lifetime. Ardery wrote one other major book, " The Temptation: Edgar Tolson and the Genesis of Twentieth-Century Folk Art", which is a masterful biography and work of art criticism which was also not published in her lifetme. I have written about the Tolson biography at this link.When we consider that "Welcome The Traveler Home" was not published in the lifetimes of either the author or editor, it is a miracle that the book was ever published at all. However, Ardery was from a prominent Bourbon County Kentucky political family and the mother of a US Army Major General; a second son who worked for a time in Washington, DC, as a journalist before joining the University of Kentucky which published this book; and a third son who was an accountant who died by suicide four years before his mother's death. It seems likely that one of her sons was instrumental in the effort to have this book by Jim Garland published as well as Julia Ardery's book about Edgar Tolson. Rarely in the world of book publishing do manuscripts survive long enough to published after the death of the author. Yes, I acknowledge that it does sometimes happen, but it is as rare as hen's teeth. Garland's style of writing was exemplary of his lack of education but still strong writing. Ardery said in her Introduction that she had done as little as possible to alter Garland's original work with only minor edits for clarity of meaning, some organizational work since his manuscripts appears to have been less than well organized. But the content of the book is what makes it more than well worth reading. While I do believe it has some significant historical inaccuracies in it, it is still a fine first person discussion of the effort to unionize the Kentucky coalfields in the 1920's and 1930's. It also provides some interesting glimpses into the lived of he two famous folk singing sisters of Garland. But, sadly, it is devoted almost entirely to the time he spent in Eastern Kentucky as a coal miner and union organizer with minimal discussion of his life as a folk singer afer he was forced to leave the coal fields because he believed he had been targeted for death by coal operators. Two absolutely minimal references are made to two other very important figures in the effort to unionize the coalfields, Don West and Sam Reece. in the case of Don West whom Garaland says replaced him in the organizing effort when he was forced to leave Eastern Kentucky, the reference is only one sentence long. In the case of Sam Reece who was the husband of Florence Reece who wrote the classic labor ballad "Which Side Are You On?", Garland uses about three sentences to say that at some point in the union effort, he had borrowed Sam Reece's car to make a trip out of town. Both Don West and Sam Reece were major figures in the effort to organize the coalfields. I knew Don West quite well from about 1974 until his death in 1992 but never heard him mention Jim Garland in any of the many discussions I heard him give of his life as an organizer, miner,labor activist, and educator. I was also able to spend two days in the company of Florence and Sam Reece at Highlander Center in New Market, Tennessee, which Don West and Myles Horton founded. I spent roughly a year living at the Appalachian South Folklife Center in Pipestem, West Virginia, which was founded by Don and Connie West. It would have been very educational if I had been able to hear and cross reference all those people's memories of the organizing efforts Harland and Bell counties including their discussions about each other. Such complete knowledge from all of them would have vastly improved my knowledge about Jim Garland and his work. The book is full of references to Appalachian social customs, mores, and history as Jim Garland chose to describe it all. It is a fairly well written book, extremely well edited by Julia S. Ardery, and well worth the time to read by any student of American Labor History, Appalachian Studies, or Kentucky History. It is very minimal in its discussion of folk songs despite the addition of the lyrics of several songs across the length of the text. My particular copy which I bought at a Goodwill Store for $1.59 plus tax is also inscribed by Suzy Roy and Betty Garland Roy, the daughter of Jim and Hazel Garland. A third signature is signed simply "Mrs. Jim Garland". It appears that all three signatures were made with the same red fine point marker. Due to the length of Betty's inscription which refers to Jim Garland as "Daddy" and to Sarah Ogan Gunning as "Aunt Sarah", I believe the signatures are authentic. I have added a scan of the inscription page below. I hope you can find and read your own copy of the book if you are a student of Appalachian Studies, Union Organizing and History, or Kentucky History. It is a fascinating read!

The Music Of Coal

 

Few professions have ever generated the amount of music about their industry which has been generated by coal and coal mining.  The music of coal has been around in the United States nearly as long as coal mining itself.  Several important musical artists have recorded complete albums of coal mining songs in tribute to the industry and the men and women who do the work of coal.  There have also been numerous anthology albums about coal and coal mining with widely varied artists being involved in those productions.  The music of coal has been recorded by singers from nearly every genre of American music.  But the majority of coal mine music has come within the related fields of country and Bluegrass music both of which can arguably say they are the music both  of the Appalachian Region and of the working class.  There are numerous songs from the greater body of coal mining music which are among the most popular songs in all of American music.  Nearly everyone who has ever lived, worked, or been descended from anyone who lived or worked in the coal industry has their own list of favorite coal mining songs.  So do I!  I will begin this blog post with my own top ten list of coal mining songs which does include a couple of those which nearly everyone in America knows and will also include a few of which many of you readers might have never heard.

I cannot clearly state which is my favorite coal mining song of all time but I will begin this list with the songs which mean the most to me as the son, grandson, nephew, and brother of coal miners.  I never worked in the coal industry but I grew up in Knott County Kentucky about three miles from Wayland, Kentucky, a classic company owned coal mining town in Floyd County Kentucky.  I also grew up only fifteen or so miles from Wheelwright, Kentucky, and only ten miles from McDowell, Kentucky, both of which were also classic company owned coal mining towns.  My father and several other family members worked in the Elkhorn Coal Mine at Wayland, Kentucky, and two of my uncles worked for years at Wheelwright and McDowell.  I grew up in a country store and coal miners were our neighbors, customers, and friends.  My oldest half-brother, Hewie Hicks, died in a coal mining accident.  I knew and was mentored by several people who worked as union organizers in the coal industry including Don West, Hosea Hudson, and Florence and Sam Reece.  I was also mentored by William Howard Cohen, one of the first high profile opponents of strip mining, and by Bill Blizzard, whose father led the UMWA miners at the Battle of Blair Mountain.  In addition to growing up in Eastern Kentucky coal country, I also spent a total of about seven years in Raleigh, Logan, and Mingo counties in West Virginia and also worked as a salesman in Boone, Lincoln, Wayne, Wyoming, and McDowell in the West Virginia coal fields.  I know coal, coal people, and the music of coal.  

My Favorite Coal Songs

1) Which Side Are You On? by Florence Reece.  Almost anyone who has ever been around a union coal mining area or known even one United Mine Workers member has heard this song.  It was written by Florence Reece on the back of a calendar page in a Harlan County coal camp during the seminal organizing effort of the Harlan County Coal mines in the 1920's.  I am very proud to say I heard the story of this song directly from the mouths of Florence Reece and her husband Sam. This is arguably the greatest union organizing song ever written and has been adapted by numerous other unions in addition to the UMWA. 

2) Red Wing Blackbird by Kathy Mattea whose two grandfathers were Italian immigrant coal miners in West Virginia. This song comes from Kathy Mattea's incredible album "Coal" which is one of the three best coal mining albums ever recorded.  The song was written by Billy Ed Wheeler who actually wrote at least two of the best coal mining songs ever recorded.  This song fits squarely into a subgenre of coal mining music which I call "Music of Death and Danger In The Mines".  It is a beautiful piece of writing and masterfully sung by Kathy Mattea.  

3) The L & N Don't Stop Here Anymore by Kathy Mattea.  This song also comes from that wonderful album by Mattea but was written by Jean Ritchie, the famous American folk singer and writer who grew up in a coal camp in Perry County Kentucky, and was the first graduate of the social work program at the University of Kentucky although she never used her degree in social work to earn a living.  It falls into a sub-category of coal mining music which I call "The Demise Of The Coal Mines".  It has been recorded by numerous musical artists but, in my opinion, no one does it as well as Kathy Mattea who is the granddaughter of two Italian immigrant coal miners in West Virginia.  

4) Last Train From Poor Valley by Norman Blake. This song is probably one of the least known yet best songs in all of coal mining music.  It is also a classic number in that sub-category which I call "The Demise Of The Coal Mines".  Norman Blake did an incredible job of describing and immortalizing the death of a coal mining valley in this song.  And the song also fits into a general category of music about lost love.  "I saw the last train from Poor Valley takin’ brown haired Becky Richmond bound."

5 Dark As A Dungeon by Merle Travis.  This is just one of the great coal mining songs written by Merle Travis, the classic country music singer and native of Muhlenberg County Kentucky, the heart of the Western Kentucky coal fields.  Travis also recorded my other most favorite album of coal music called "Songs Of The Coal Mines".  This song fits squarely into the sub-category "Music of Death And Danger In The Mines". 

6) You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive by Patty Loveless.  Patty Loveless who sings this song on her incredible album "Mountain Soul" grew up in the coal mining country of Pike County Kentucky and is a key artist from that amazing group of people from the Big Sandy River Valley who have changed the face of American music and popular culture with their work.  The song has now been recorded by a large number of other singers and would be singers but nobody can equal the job Patty Loveless does on it.  It is clearly  one of the songs about "Death And Danger In The Mines". 

7) Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Earnie Ford. This is another of the wonderful coal songs written by Merle Travis and is found on his "Songs Of The Coal Mines" album.  But Tennesse Earnie Ford's version of it is the one most people remember and is also my favorite version.  This song falls into a sub-category of coal mining music which I call "The Hard Life Of The Coal Miner".  The line "you load sixteen tons and what do you get, another day older and deeper in debt" personifies the life many coal miners led all across the Appalachian coal fields of the twentieth century.  

8) Black Waters by Kathy Mattea. This song was written by Jean Ritchie, the second of her compositions which I have placed on my list of favorites, and it well deserves to be better known than it is.  This song is not on Mattea's "Coal" album as she says in the narration before the song on this link since she was not aware of it when she was recording that album.  I love Jean Ritchie's writing but I love Kathy Mattea's style a bit better.  If you are into folk music, you might want to listen to Ritchie's version of the song.  These lines from the song place it squarely in the category of "Environmental Protest Music In The Coal Industry" which, in my opinion is the second most important category of coal mining music just behind union organizing music: "Now there's scenes of destruction on every hand And there's only black waters run down through my land Sad scenes of destruction on every hand black waters, black waters, run down through the land."

9) Joe Hill by Joan Baez. Alfred Hayes and Earl Robinson wrote this classic union organizing song which actually originated in the Colorado copper mining country.  But it quickly became a favorite of union miners in all types of mining all across the country.  Other than "Which Side Are You On?", this is probably the best union organizing song ever written.  In its own way, it memorializes every man and woman who ever died in an organizing effort whether that effort was in the coal, copper, iron ore, garment, or farming industries.  No one can equal Joan Baez's vocal work on this song.  These lines from "Joe Hill" are one of the strongest statements ever made about the importance of determination and unceasing effort in the union organizing effort: "From San Diego up to Maine, In every mine and mill, Where working-men defend their rights, It's there you'll find Joe Hill."

10) Coal Tattoo by Billy Edd Wheeler.  This is the second Billy Edd Wheeler written song I have put on my favorite list although numerous others have recorded excellent versions of it including Kathy Mattea on that incredible album "Coal".  But I really like Wheeler's version and so will you if you like coal mining songs.  This song fits squarely in that sub-category of coal mining songs called "Music Of Death And Danger In The Mines" and utilizes a very unique approach to the subject matter with a living miner, instead of a dead miner, as the narrator. "Somebody said "That's a strange tattoo You have on the side of your head" I said "That's the blueprint left by the coal A little more and I'd be dead".   

Categories Of Coal Mining Music

There are several sub-categories of coal mining music and I will discuss each of them separately and give a few more musical examples of each. Those sub-categories of coal mining music include 1) Union Organizing Songs; 2) Environmental Protest Songs Of Coal; 3) Death And Danger In The Mines; 4) The Hard Life Of The Coal Miner; 5) The Demise Of The Coal Industry; 6) Songs Which Glorify Coal Mining; and, 7) Songs Supporting Strip Mining.  

Union Organizing Songs

Obviously, the most important, but not always the most popular, of these sub-categories of coal mining music is "Union Organizing Music".  Without coal miners and the United Mine Workers Of America, life for the entire American working class would be very different.  The coal miners and the UMWA played a very important part in gaining many of the most important rights of workers in America.  And without unions, it would not be many years before these basic rights would be gone as has been demonstrated in the worst possible manner by the widespread proliferation of Right To Work laws in many states. In addition to the UMA, in the early days of the coal mine organizing efforts, the National Miners Union and the International Workers of the World, aka the Wobblies, were also important to the orgganizing effort.  Among those rights which coal miners and the UMWA have helped win for American workers are the forty hour work week, company paid health insurance, minimum wage, paid vacations and holidays, sick pay, the entire body of work place safety laws and regulations, collective bargaining, the right to strike, and numerous others including major environmental laws and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.  These rights were gained by the joint activities of many unions both within and outside the coal mining industry and numerous unions played a part in the effort including the Industrial Workers of The World (Wobblies), the National Miners Union, the United Auto Workers, the Teamsters, and the entire AFL-CIO.  

I have already listed a couple of the best union organizing songs in all of American labor and coal mining history: "Which Side Are You On?" by Florence Reece and "Joe Hill" by Joan Baez.  But there are several other very important union organizing songs which arose from the effort to organize the American coal mines, especially the Appalachian coal fields.  Among my favorites of these songs is "The Harlan County Boys" by Merle Travis which is another of the songs on his wonderful album "Coal" and which immortalizes those early union organizing efforts in Harlan County Kentucky in the early twentieth century.  We can always use one more good Harlan County song and one more good coal mining singer.  So I am adding to this list "Harlan County Blues" by George Davis, The Singing Miner, who was not only an Eastern Kentucky coal miner but also a performer, recording artist, and disc jockey at WSGS, 101.1FM, the best radio station in all of the Appalachian coal fields.  Another of the songs of George Davis belongs on this list, "When Kentucky  Had No Union Men", which is a fine example of union organizing music.  Billy Bragg's song, "There Is Power In A Union", also deserves to be on nearly any list of union organizing music.  Woody Guthrie's "Union Burying Ground" also is a fine example of union organizing music and far less well known than it deserves to be.  From the mines of Nova Scotia, we must also include Greg MacPherson's "Company Store" which commemorates the occasion on which union miners burned a company store to the ground in protest.  The lyrics are powerful, unflinching, and brave: "I haven't worked in 40 days  For 23 I've had no pay  In a week I'll have no place to stay  In an hour they'll have to kill me.  Half the town'll die from the mining of the coal  The other half'll leave when the mine decides to close  The people who are left will starve to death at the hands of the company store."  While this listing of coal mine union organizing songs is incomplete, it is a start for any of you readers who are interested in learning about trade unionism in the coal fields and how coal miner's unions have often led the union organizing movement in America.  

Environmental Protest Songs Of Coal

"Black Waters" performed by Kathy Mattea and written by Jean Ritchie is the only environmental protest song of the coal business I included on my personal top ten.  But there are numerous others I love including "Paradise" by John Prine.  "Paradise" is one of the few coal mining environmental protest songs to become widely popular and few people even stop to realize that it is such a song.  But the lyric lines from the chorus leave no doubt about it: "And daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County  Down by the green river where Paradise lay?  Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking  Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away."  If the town has been hauled away and it is too late to go back to Muhlenberg County, the song can only fall into one sub-category, coal mining environmental protest songs.  Mike Morningstar's "The Buffalo Creek Disaster" is a fine example of a coal mining environmental protest song about one of the worst manmade disasters in the nation. These lines from the song cover two different aspects of that disaster which killed more than 130 people.  They confront both strip mining and the disastrous flood which was caused by a combination of factors, all rooted in corporate greed including mismanagement, denial of the damage caused by coal mining, and the avoidance of regulatory intervention.   They strip off all the topsoil and uproot all those trees, They killed those folks in Buffalo Creek, and then shrug the blame with ease.  Don't give a damn for life or land, just roll on like they please." If you are interested in written documentation of the Buffalo Creek Disaster and other negative outcomes of the coal industry, I would suggest that you read this book edited by Wess Harris, "Written In Blood". 

THIS IS A BLOG POST IN PROGRESS! IF YOU LIKE THIS INCOMPLETE VERSION, PLEASE COME BACK IN A FEW DAYS AND I WILL TRY TO HAVE IT COMPLETED. IT IS A LARGE SUBJECT AND JUST KEEPS GETTING LARGER EVERY DAY WITH NEW SONGS APPEARING FROM THE COALFIELDS ALL THE TIME!

Ned Pillersdorf Is Running Against Hal Rogers For Congress!

On Friday, July 4, 2025, in Rosenberg Square in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, attorney Ned Pillersdorf, the husband of former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Janet Stumbo will announce his entry into the Democratic primary election in opposition to long time Congressman Hal Rogers, who at 89 is one of the longest serving members of congress, and perhaps one of those most likely to be unable to successfully complete another two year term. Kentucky's 5th district contains most of the ten poorest counties in the state, and has one of the highest percentages in the nation of recipients of both Medicaid and SNAP, commonly referred to as Food Stamps. The district is also the site where in 1964 President Lyndon Johnson launched the War On Poverty. The district is also sometimes the bearer of the brunt of the heartless jokes about how "we declared a War On Poverty and poverty won". It is also the disrict in which former Congressman Carl Perkins spent his career working tirelessly for the betterment of all Kentuckians. Ned Pillersdorf has also spent his entire legal career working tirelessly in the district for the betterment of all Kentuckians without having ever spent a day in public office. Pillersdorf is the attorney who put together the coalition of pro bono lawyers who won thousands of appeals of highly unjust deprivations of Social Security benefits to the former clients of jailed attorney Eric C. Conn. He is also the attorney who represented the dismissed employees of Blackjewel Coal in their battle to receive unpaid wages when the company folded without warning. No one in the last 40 years has done more for Eastern Kentucky and its people. Every person who has benefitted from the work of Ned Pillersdorf should be in Prestonsburg on July 4, 2025, to support the man who has supported you in your times of greatest need, always been there when injustice was running rampant, when the wrongly persecuted workers of Kentucky were facing the loss of everything they ever owned, when widows and orpans were in danger of losing pension benefits from their deceased fathers, and anytime injustice was continuing to preserve poverty in the 5th district of Kentucky. I look forward to the day when Ned Pillersdorf will be sworn in as Congressman Pillersdorf and the US House can once again have a Democratic majority.

"Storming Heaven" by Denise Giardina, Notes On Reading A Classic Appalachian Novel

 

 

I have often lamented in this blog that I frequently end up reading books far too late which I should have read long ago.  This is another of those instances.  I had known of Denise Giardina and her work not long after this novel was published in 1987 and had never read it.  In fact it is not even the first of her novels which I have read.  I had read her fine historical novel "Saints and Villains" a few years ago and, sadly, I have never written about it on this blog which I will try to do in the next few days.  But, in my opinion, this is the first Giardina novel anyone unfamiliar with her work should read.  Now, after having read three of her books, I don't consider this novel her best but it is the first of her novels about the struggles of coal miners along the Tug River and the border between Kentucky and West Virginia and it should be read before moving on to "The Unquiet Earth" which is the sequel to this novel and the book which I consider to be her best.  And, Yes, I will write about that one soon also.   

"Storming Heaven" is a fine novel about the coal field wars of the 1920's in West Virginia and Kentucky, and is based on actual events during those incredibly difficult times when many brave Appalachian men and women were fighting and dying in the effort to organize the Appalachian coalfields.  While it is based on that epic struggle, Giardina used her poetic license extensively in terms of place names, and rarely mentioned any historical figure by their actual names which I have to assume was at least in part a defensive action which she felt was necessary by the still extant willingness of the enemies of unionization to become overly and unnecessarily litigious in their defense of coal operators to treat their employees as being worth less than a mule since they had to buy mules and could always hire another man if their anti-labor practices killed or disabled another. 

This novel is written by a woman who is descended from some of the Italian immigrant workers who were imported to the coal fields during the early days of the coal industry in Appalachia and she knows her story well.  I would bet that she heard much of the content of this book at the feet of her older relatives on long winter nights in or near the coal camp towns in which they had worked.  Her consummate knowledge of her material is refreshing at a time when it is common for other writers to grab one or two reference books and produce a second rate novel about some aspect of life in America about which they know little other than the probability that a book about their current topic might sell a few thousand copies.  She knows the region.  She knows the dialect.  She knows the coal industry and its absentee owners.  She knows the pain, death, and diseases which have befallen coal miners and their families ever since the first underground mine was opened in some remote hollow of Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, or Tennessee.  This is a fine, honest, sometimes painful book and has easily taken its place beside other novels such as James Still's "River of Earth" and Davis Grubb's "The Barefoot Man".  And this book proudly joins Grubb's work in support and admiration of the men and women who fought and died to build a union work place in Appalachia.  

The book is written in a somewhat unique style with several different characters being utilized in alternate sections or chapters as the narrator.  It is first person writing in multiple voices and it works quite well.  Major characters include a pro-union mayor C. J. Marcum in Giardina's mythical town which is based on Matewan, West Vitginia.  There is native Appalachian union man Rondal Lloyd who devotes more of himself to the union effort than he does to the woman who loves him deeply.  That woman, nurse Carrie Bishop loves both Rondal Loyd and the mountains of the region.  She devotes her life's work to helping heal the sick, treat the wounded, love the starving children, and support the union miners and their families in any way she can. But  the one thing she cannot do is to maintain a consistent relationship with Rondal Lloyd.  He comes and goes, fights every day to win union recognition for miners somewhere in the coal fields and usually returns to Carrie when it convenient for him.  Many of the characters in the book are purely fictional but quite a few are clearly based on important figures of the union effort such as murdered Police Chief Sid Hatfield who died on a West Virginia court house steps because he supported the miners and fought by their sides in their effort.  The book ends at the Battle of Blair Mountain in the only instance in US history when the federal government used the army to fight American citizens.  

This is a fine novel by a writer who knew her subject matter as well as any child of a coal miner can.  It is an incredibly well worthwhile book to read.  Don't pass it up, especially if you live in the coal fields of America and need a little refresher course on how good men, women, and children died to build unions and fair labor practices in this country. 

Ruminations On Labor Day 2023

 

Labor Day was created by President Grover Cleveland on June 28, 1894.  He was a Democrat which is just one more proof, if you need any, that if you want something done for the working class in America you must elect Democrat to all offices at all levels.  

This Labor Day in 2023, the United States is very fortunate to have President Biden in office since he has proven over his long and highly successful political career that he is a committed friend of the working class and of organized labor.  

Both for the working class and the country in general, organized labor has done more for the country than any other segment of the populace.  Unions fought for and won the forty hour week, the eight hour day, paid vacations and holidays, sick pay, company provided health and life insurance, ended child labor, unemployment benefits, workers compensation laws, Black Lung Benefits, disability benefits, the Medical and Family Leave Act, and not one of those benefits of organized labor's work was ever a focus of action by the Republican Party.  They were all produced with the cooperation of organized labor and Democratic presidents.  

The bottom line for the working class in America will always be that if workers support unions, Democratic elected officials, and the rights of workers we all win.

Coal Mine Fatalities In Elkhorn Coal Company Letcher County Mines

 

Elkhorn Coal Company Accident Report Book 1942-1955

While working on a large, somewhat related research project in the Elkhorn Coal Company records at the Wayland Historical Society, Wayland, Kentucky, I located and became tangentially interested in the “Elkhorn Coal Company Accident Report Book 1942-1955.  The book is a handwritten, folio sized, expandable record book with removable stiff paper pages some of which are written on both sides and some on the front only.  For my research purposes, I was primarily interested in the fatalities only.  The book contains thirteen fatal accidents which occurred between January 7, 1943, and January 20, 1956.  These fatalities are recorded in red ink as compared to the other non-fatal accidents which are all in black ink.  The names of the victims of these accidents are Frank Adams; Bill Tilley; Charlie Russell; Stacy White; Amos G. Bryant; Charlie Johnson; Lafayette Johnson; C. D. Hampton; William Breeding, Jr.; Arvil Breeding; Riley Little; Print Bullion; and George Washington.  All were single fatality accidents. 

When I attempted to cross reference these fatalities with the list of thirty-five names of miners on the “Dedication” page of the “Twentieth Anniversary…of Local Union 5895 United Mine Workers Of America 1933-1953”, none of the names in the “…Accident Report Book...” matched any of the names in the “…Anniversary…” book.  I considered the possibility that these miners could have not been members of the UMWA at the time of their deaths and it seemed highly unlikely that all of them could have been killed before being initiated as union members.  My second attempt to locate the correct answer to the discrepancy involved searching in the individual employee records in the files of the Historical Society.  None of these victims matched any of the names of the printed list of Elk Horn employees in the historical society records for the Wayland operation. 

My next attempt to reconcile the discrepancy involved checking the online issues of the Floyd County Times in the “History” collection of the Floyd County Public Library which are available at: http://history.fclib.org/floyd-county-times   After having searched for each of the thirteen fatalities in at least two weeks’ editions of the newspaper, I still found none of the thirteen men listed in news stories relative to their accidental deaths.  Throughout its long history under the ownership/editorship of Norman Allen, the Floyd County Times was always highly diligent about covering all deaths in the county.  At this point, I knew that it was definitely unlikely that the men listed as victims of fatalities in the “…Accident Report Book…” had actually been working at Wayland at the time of their deaths. 

My next attempt to locate these men involved searching each name in the memorials section of the incredibly useful and accurate Find A Grave website which I often use and contribute to on a regular basis.  That feature of their website can be found at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial  and is highly useful to veteran genealogists and the person who is simply searching for an occasional lost friend or relative.  When I searched for the victims using the filters of full name as recorded in the “…Accident Report Book…”, correct year of death, and Kentucky as the location, I immediately found Frank Adams buried in the Holbrook Cemetery at Mayking in Letcher County. His obituary is located on page 2 of the Mountain Eagle newspaper of January 14, 1943. 

The following information is taken verbatim from the obituary of Frank Adams in the Mountain Eagle Newspaper of January 14, 1943, found online at the Kentucky Digital Library.

“Frank Adams was born October 10, 1883, in Owsley County Kentucky, and departed this life January 7, 1943, at the age of 59 years, 2 months, and 28 days.  On January 1, 1905, he was married to Nannie Burton, to them were born 10 children, 2 of them having passed away in leaving 8 today, who along with his wife and 12 grandchildren still survive him.  The children are Mrs. E. R. Holbrook, James Adams, Charley Adams, Mrs. Enoch A. Holbrook, Mrs. Elmer Amburgey, Mrs. Clarence King, Opal Adams, and Stella Adams.  Frank Adams came to this section in 1919 and has lived all that time at Sergent.  He was faithful employee of the coal company here while it was operating, and since that time has worked elsewhere.  He was a trusted and tried worker and was dependable in every respect.  He made friends with all whom he met; he was a kind hearted and friendly like fellow never saying anything of anyone else and always taking care of his own business.    He had many friends and was highly respected.  He was a devoted husband and father and always ready to help anyone in need and to go to the relief of his neighbors and friends.  As spoken of one of old, it was said of him, "He was a good man", and that speaks of his life.  In his untimely passing, Sergent has lost one of his good citizens, his wife a devoted and true husband, and his children and grandchildren a respected and loving father, and the Company for which he worked a faithful and trusted employee, and the Miners Union one among their best men.  He will be missed much but let us hope in all our loss that it has been his eternal gain.  Funeral services were held at the late home Sunday with Elders J. C. Prince, Dewey Sexton, and G. Bennett Adams and burial in the Holbrook Cemetery.  Burial in charge of Craft Funeral Home.” 

 

 When I searched for Bill Tilley and Stacy White using those same filters, I immediately found them buried in the Thornton Cemetery at Thornton in Letcher County. Amos G. Bryant is buried in the Englewood Cemetery at Christopher in Perry County.  Charlie Johnson is buried in the Halo Cemetery at Halo in Floyd County. Lafayette Johnson is buried in the Hemphill Cemetery at Hemphill in Letcher County.  William Breeding is buried in the Wright-Collier Cemetery in Letcher County which does not have a listed post office location on Find A Grave.  Arvil Breeding is buried at the Henry Meade Cemetery which also does not have a listed post office location in Letcher County.  Print Bullion is buried at the Whitaker Cemetery at Whitaker in Letcher County. I was able to locate all the listed fatalities except for Charlie Russell, George Washington, Riley Little, and C. D. Hampton in cemeteries in Letcher County, Floyd County, or Perry County.  After about the third correctly located victim, I realized that the “…Accident Report Book…” does not list employees of and accidents at Elkhorn Coal Company in Wayland.  Elkhorn Coal Company operated mines at several locations in Letcher County including Blackey, Cromona, Fleming, Jackhorn, Jenkins, Kona, Mater, Seco, Sergent, Thornton, and Whitesburg.  Basic information about all those companies can be located at:  

http://www.coaleducation.org/coalhistory/coaltowns/coalcamps/letcher_county.htm

Since I have no idea how many friends, relatives, former co-workers, or researchers might be seeking information about these men, I spent the time to send suggested edits to the person who maintains each of their memorials on Find A Grave and hopefully they will add that information to the memorials.  None of these memorials had a written obituary and none contained more than basic information.  I sent those messages in the hope this additional information would assist some unknown persons in the future to complete their personal searches of one or more of these memorials. Within twelve hours, I received a grateful and informative e-mail from a woman named Ellen Beam who is not just the manager and creator of the memorial for Charlie Johnson but also his great-niece.  Her message told me that her grandfather …”William Johnson had a picture of his brother's accident, hanging on the front room wall. It was a drawing showing how Charlie got caught by the machine and drug…my grandpa said he was there when it happened.” I know absolutely that all of these men were employees of some Elkhorn owned entity in Letcher County.  It also seems logical that all of them were probably working for a single Elkhorn entity in Letcher County.  I had thought at first that it could be likely that the full newspaper stories of their deaths can be located in the online archives of  “The Mountain Eagle” which are available at this link:  http://kdl.kyvl.org/?f%5Bformat%5D%5B%5D=newspapers&f%5Bsource_s%5D%5B%5D=Mountain+eagle+%28Whitesburg%2C+Ky.%29

But due to the fact that those archives for the Mountain Eagle are not entered in chronological order and it can take considerable time to locate a particular week’s paper.  Since I began this research, I came into contact with a resident of Letcher County, Richard M. Smith, who owns and actively uses the eight volume record of Letcher County cemeteries.  He assisted me both to verify some information I already had and was able to find some I did not have.   I hope that what I have done so far will benefit others.  Good Luck in that effort!

Roger D. Hicks, M. Ed.

Christmas On Beaver When Times Were Hard!

 On Beaver Creek, the times were hard.

We had no taters, had no lard.

All the way from Allen to Kite,

Times were tough, money was tight.

It wasn't any better from Martin to Wheelright.

Both forks were suffering, it felt like a blight.

The mines were down, people were leaving.

Old grandmas sat crying and grieving.

Miners were headed to places off yonder

While mothers of children would sit and ponder

How to feed four, or five or six

Hungry mouths with nothing to fix.

Christmas was just about a week away

And children had learned not to say

Old Santa's name by night or day. 

This had become a mighty hard life

For hardworking husbands and every young wife.

There would be no toys under green trees.

Adults were praying on bony knees.

Smoke houses were empty of the last meat.

The canning was gone, nothing to eat.

Squirrels were in hiding in the highest trees 

Too far to shoot the ones you did see.  

Rabbits had been killed till few were around

And  they all hid warm underground.

Old men were selling their best coon hound

Nothing to feed them, nothing to go around. 

A lot of dry cows were already beef

And acorns were sought under every dry leaf.

Real old men and their real old wives

Said this was the worst time in their lives.

Christmas was less than a week off

And lots of people had started to cough.

Hungry people get sick a whole lot quicker

With nothing to eat and no pot licker.

But somewhere off in them big cities

The ones who had left bought a few play pretties,

Loaded them up with flour, lard, beans, and rice,

They were bringing it home and didn't think twice.

On Beaver they knew they had poor kin

And letting them starve would be a great sin.

In Kendallville, Cincy, Chicago, and Dayton

That Friday afternoon they all were waiting

For quit time to come and time off to start

So they could come home and touch grandma's heart.

They loaded all the good stuff they all could afford

Filled up their tanks and thanked the Lord

They still had good jobs near Christmas day

So they come home and proudly say

We didn't know what you need but thought we should

Bring a few things and maybe we could

Help out some in these hard times,

Sing a few carols, recite a few rhymes,

Cook a few dishes on Christmas day

And thank the Lord while we all pray

That times get better and the mines start up

And grandpa can buy another bluetick pup.

Granny can see her way till spring

And hoe in the garden and softly sing

Those Old Regular songs she likes so much

That she sings with her own special touch.

Maybe the children can get new clothes

And  John L. Lewis will speak out for those

Who need to work now right here on Beaver

So nobody else will have to leave her

To go up north to some strange town

Where family and friends are never found.

We'll all come back to Beaver some day

Settle right in and always stay

On the old home place with the little old house

Where we can be as warm as a mouse,

Right here on Beaver, the creek we love

Which was a gift from above.

Right here where home is in our souls

Where we want to stay until we grow old

Right here on Beaver, both left and right,

Where we can sleep warm every night,

With the peace of Christmas in our lives

With husbands, sons, daughters, and wives.    

Roger D. Hicks, December 24, 2022