Misfortune
Every life has its ups and downs. Moments of joy and moments of pain and despair. And when the hard times come, sometimes it seems like they come in clusters. The old adage suggests that "they happen in threes", but that isn't really the case. I think we only see it that way because were trying to find some kind of pattern ... to make some kind of sense of it all ... in order to keep ourselves going forward. We want to be able to believe that the worst is over now because we've hit that magical "three", or whatever else.
Some people's lives seem to have more than their fair share of crisis moments. I've seen that several times in my family history research, especially in my husband's family tree. I don't know that his family is any more prone to hard times than anyone else, but it may manifest itself that way because of how and where they lived and worked.
Many of my husband's family members have almost literally grown up in the coal mines of Kentucky. His grandfather, Everett, began working in the mines at age 9, driving a mule in and out of the shafts that were chiseled into the hills and mountains. He was chosen for the job because he was short enough to walk into the low-hanging tunnels. He probably looked much like the child in the photo below, which was found on the internet at http://kycoal.homestead.com/workingconditions.html. The pictured child is not related. There once was a photo of my husband's grandfather at about this age, but it was unfortunately destroyed by bugs a number of years ago.
Life in a mining community was hard. Wages were low, and one of the primary reasons that boys went into the mines with their relatives at such a young age was because the money they earned was desperately needed to help support their family. Accidents were frequent in the mining industry, and coal mines were the worst. Each day workers were faced with the possibilities of cave-ins, explosions, fires, or problems with methane gas. If you managed to avoid all those things, you came out of the mines with your body and your clothes caked in coal dust. And because of the enclosed working environment, you could almost guarantee a miner would eventually end up with black lung, because his lungs were coated day after day in the same dust that his body was.
Everett was not the first miner in his family. His father, Otis Legate, is listed as a miner at age 14 on the 1900 census, despite the fact that Otis' father was listed as a farmer. What made Otis decide to choose mining over farming, I wonder?
Otis was born on July 29, 1884 (or 1885, depending on the record), in Kentucky. He was one of six children born to his parents, and probably had at least a rudimentary education, since at least most of the census records he is listed on say that he was able to read and write. In April 1906, he married Claudie Silene Hamilton. The marriage record for the couple states that it was Claudie's second marriage, but so far I have not been able to find any record of another marriage. Whether it was a mistake in recording, or whether Claudie was divorced or widowed remains to be seen. Otis was 21 years old when they married, and Claudie is listed as 23. Other sources suggest she was also 21 years old. Another puzzle to try and work out. Six months after their marriage, in October 1906, their daughter Vera May was born.
We don't have a lot of information about the family beyond census records to try and create a picture of their lives between 1906 and 1930. Otis' WWI draft registration card, dated September 12, 1918, says Otis was of medium height and medium build with blue eyes and dark hair. The family that he and Claudie had started gradually grew to include seven children: Vera May, born in 1906, Everett, born in 1909, a stillborn son in 1912, Thomas, born in 1914, Mary, born in 1916, Alma, born in 1919, and Charles, born in 1921. They lived in a rented home as their family grew, quite possibly unable to afford a home of their own. Otis is listed as a coal miner throughout these years, until the 1930 census, when he is listed as a machinist. Perhaps the change in jobs offered him a change from the back-breaking labor of mining. Perhaps the pay was better. Either way, it was likely a step up for the man who had spent at least most of the last 30 years in the blackness of the mines. At least part of the time that he worked, he worked for the Gibraltar Coal Company, which was in operation from 1915 to 1937.
Otis' change from "coal miner" to "machinist" took place sometime between 1920 and 1930. I suspect it may have felt like the family's fortunes might be changing for the better. Somehow, things didn't quite go as well as they might have hoped. According to a website called "Digital History" (www.digitalhistory.uh.edu) economists considered the minimum yearly wage needed to support a family to be about $2500. And yet, "Hourly wages in coal mines sagged from 84.5 cents in 1923 to just 62.5 cents in 1929." When the stock market crashed in October of 1929, things went from bad to worse for many families across the country. There had been no way to create a budgetary safety net before the crash, and now the bottom had fallen out from under thousands of people in every walk of life. I don't have any solid information about how this affected Otis and his family personally, but it was the beginning of what must have seemed like a long, long stretch of misfortune.
Otis and Claudie's daughter, Vera, had been married twice. The first marriage, for one reason or another, was short-lived. In 1924, she married Everett Lee, and they began a family, giving Otis and Claudie three grandchildren by 1931. Otis and Claudie's son Everett had married in 1929, and had a son in 1930. Things were going pretty well, until 1932. In March of that year, Vera's 4-month old daughter came down with bronchial pneumonia and died.
And then in 1933, 26-year old Vera was stricken with what was a scourge in poorer communities of that time: tuberculosis. She died on October 24, 1933, barely a week after her 27th birthday. I'm sure that if Otis' family was like most families, folks were trying to help care for Vera, and for her remaining young children who were both under the age of 6. It was something that would prove to be both a blessing and a curse.
In January 1934, Otis' wife Claudie was sick. She may have been sick the end of 1933, but at the very least the record indicates that a doctor saw her on January 1st. She had contracted tuberculosis ... the same disease that had killed her oldest daughter only 3 months before. Had she contracted it during the time Vera was ill? It was quite possible. About 8 pm on January 28th, Claudie finally succumbed to the dreaded disease. She was only 48. I can only imagine the heartbreak Otis was feeling.
By gleaning pieces of family stories and information from the records available, we know that on October 23, 1934 two of Otis' boys, Everett and Thomas, apparently got together with friends to drink. Perhaps they were "relaxing" after a long day of work in the mines. Perhaps it was habit developed early by young men used to living a hard life. We'll never know the exact details, but there are some things we do know. Like many folks in poorer communities who drank alcohol during that time, theirs was a homemade concoction. And this particular batch probably had an unusual kick to it, because it is said to have been "cut" with embalming fluid. I have no idea who came up with the idea, or how they even got their hands on it, but the results were disastrous. Each of the men drank it, but young Thomas, only 20 years old, had the worst reaction to it. The doctor was called in at some point during the night, but nothing could be done. Thomas died about 6 am on the morning of October 24th. It was exactly a year after the death of his sister, Vera. His death certificate lists "cause not known" under the reason for his death, but from the family stories it may have been some form of alcohol poisoning ... either from the amount that was consumed, the additive used, or some combination of the two. According to Everett's son, Mitch, Everett was not immune to the effects of the brew, either ... he ended up spending several weeks in bed.
Perhaps the family hoped and prayed that the misfortune was finally at an end. Certainly, there were no more major losses (that we know of) for at least a few years. Otis went to work for the W.P.A., which had been created in 1935. In October of 1937 he was working at a W.P.A. quarry "near Carey's bridge" in Muhlenberg County when there was an accident. The 20th of October was a Tuesday. About 9 am that morning a rock slide came crashing down, and Otis was caught underneath the falling rock. He was rushed to the hospital, where he was treated until about 7 pm on Wednesday evening, when he died. His death certificate says that he suffered "crushing internal injuries to pelvis, lower abdomen & chest from falling stone (quarry)."
Otis was buried in the New Salem Cemetery, in Hopkins County, Kentucky. His wife Claudie and son Thomas had also been buried there. I don't know that his wife and son ever had markers on their graves. Perhaps there was just no money to afford them. Otis once had a marker on his grave, because his name is listed in a reading of the cemetery that was published in 1971. Today, his stone cannot be found, and it is unknown whether it has been lost, moved, or simply settled beneath the soil. Except for a few stories passed along by family members, and a single photo of his wife Claudie, there is little to mark his life or his passing. His heritage continues in his children's families ... his grandchildren, his great-grandchildren, and beyond.
His misfortune finally ended its run.
Some people's lives seem to have more than their fair share of crisis moments. I've seen that several times in my family history research, especially in my husband's family tree. I don't know that his family is any more prone to hard times than anyone else, but it may manifest itself that way because of how and where they lived and worked.
Many of my husband's family members have almost literally grown up in the coal mines of Kentucky. His grandfather, Everett, began working in the mines at age 9, driving a mule in and out of the shafts that were chiseled into the hills and mountains. He was chosen for the job because he was short enough to walk into the low-hanging tunnels. He probably looked much like the child in the photo below, which was found on the internet at http://kycoal.homestead.com/workingconditions.html. The pictured child is not related. There once was a photo of my husband's grandfather at about this age, but it was unfortunately destroyed by bugs a number of years ago.
Life in a mining community was hard. Wages were low, and one of the primary reasons that boys went into the mines with their relatives at such a young age was because the money they earned was desperately needed to help support their family. Accidents were frequent in the mining industry, and coal mines were the worst. Each day workers were faced with the possibilities of cave-ins, explosions, fires, or problems with methane gas. If you managed to avoid all those things, you came out of the mines with your body and your clothes caked in coal dust. And because of the enclosed working environment, you could almost guarantee a miner would eventually end up with black lung, because his lungs were coated day after day in the same dust that his body was.
Everett was not the first miner in his family. His father, Otis Legate, is listed as a miner at age 14 on the 1900 census, despite the fact that Otis' father was listed as a farmer. What made Otis decide to choose mining over farming, I wonder?
Otis was born on July 29, 1884 (or 1885, depending on the record), in Kentucky. He was one of six children born to his parents, and probably had at least a rudimentary education, since at least most of the census records he is listed on say that he was able to read and write. In April 1906, he married Claudie Silene Hamilton. The marriage record for the couple states that it was Claudie's second marriage, but so far I have not been able to find any record of another marriage. Whether it was a mistake in recording, or whether Claudie was divorced or widowed remains to be seen. Otis was 21 years old when they married, and Claudie is listed as 23. Other sources suggest she was also 21 years old. Another puzzle to try and work out. Six months after their marriage, in October 1906, their daughter Vera May was born.
We don't have a lot of information about the family beyond census records to try and create a picture of their lives between 1906 and 1930. Otis' WWI draft registration card, dated September 12, 1918, says Otis was of medium height and medium build with blue eyes and dark hair. The family that he and Claudie had started gradually grew to include seven children: Vera May, born in 1906, Everett, born in 1909, a stillborn son in 1912, Thomas, born in 1914, Mary, born in 1916, Alma, born in 1919, and Charles, born in 1921. They lived in a rented home as their family grew, quite possibly unable to afford a home of their own. Otis is listed as a coal miner throughout these years, until the 1930 census, when he is listed as a machinist. Perhaps the change in jobs offered him a change from the back-breaking labor of mining. Perhaps the pay was better. Either way, it was likely a step up for the man who had spent at least most of the last 30 years in the blackness of the mines. At least part of the time that he worked, he worked for the Gibraltar Coal Company, which was in operation from 1915 to 1937.
Otis' change from "coal miner" to "machinist" took place sometime between 1920 and 1930. I suspect it may have felt like the family's fortunes might be changing for the better. Somehow, things didn't quite go as well as they might have hoped. According to a website called "Digital History" (www.digitalhistory.uh.edu) economists considered the minimum yearly wage needed to support a family to be about $2500. And yet, "Hourly wages in coal mines sagged from 84.5 cents in 1923 to just 62.5 cents in 1929." When the stock market crashed in October of 1929, things went from bad to worse for many families across the country. There had been no way to create a budgetary safety net before the crash, and now the bottom had fallen out from under thousands of people in every walk of life. I don't have any solid information about how this affected Otis and his family personally, but it was the beginning of what must have seemed like a long, long stretch of misfortune.
Otis and Claudie's daughter, Vera, had been married twice. The first marriage, for one reason or another, was short-lived. In 1924, she married Everett Lee, and they began a family, giving Otis and Claudie three grandchildren by 1931. Otis and Claudie's son Everett had married in 1929, and had a son in 1930. Things were going pretty well, until 1932. In March of that year, Vera's 4-month old daughter came down with bronchial pneumonia and died.
And then in 1933, 26-year old Vera was stricken with what was a scourge in poorer communities of that time: tuberculosis. She died on October 24, 1933, barely a week after her 27th birthday. I'm sure that if Otis' family was like most families, folks were trying to help care for Vera, and for her remaining young children who were both under the age of 6. It was something that would prove to be both a blessing and a curse.
In January 1934, Otis' wife Claudie was sick. She may have been sick the end of 1933, but at the very least the record indicates that a doctor saw her on January 1st. She had contracted tuberculosis ... the same disease that had killed her oldest daughter only 3 months before. Had she contracted it during the time Vera was ill? It was quite possible. About 8 pm on January 28th, Claudie finally succumbed to the dreaded disease. She was only 48. I can only imagine the heartbreak Otis was feeling.
By gleaning pieces of family stories and information from the records available, we know that on October 23, 1934 two of Otis' boys, Everett and Thomas, apparently got together with friends to drink. Perhaps they were "relaxing" after a long day of work in the mines. Perhaps it was habit developed early by young men used to living a hard life. We'll never know the exact details, but there are some things we do know. Like many folks in poorer communities who drank alcohol during that time, theirs was a homemade concoction. And this particular batch probably had an unusual kick to it, because it is said to have been "cut" with embalming fluid. I have no idea who came up with the idea, or how they even got their hands on it, but the results were disastrous. Each of the men drank it, but young Thomas, only 20 years old, had the worst reaction to it. The doctor was called in at some point during the night, but nothing could be done. Thomas died about 6 am on the morning of October 24th. It was exactly a year after the death of his sister, Vera. His death certificate lists "cause not known" under the reason for his death, but from the family stories it may have been some form of alcohol poisoning ... either from the amount that was consumed, the additive used, or some combination of the two. According to Everett's son, Mitch, Everett was not immune to the effects of the brew, either ... he ended up spending several weeks in bed.
Perhaps the family hoped and prayed that the misfortune was finally at an end. Certainly, there were no more major losses (that we know of) for at least a few years. Otis went to work for the W.P.A., which had been created in 1935. In October of 1937 he was working at a W.P.A. quarry "near Carey's bridge" in Muhlenberg County when there was an accident. The 20th of October was a Tuesday. About 9 am that morning a rock slide came crashing down, and Otis was caught underneath the falling rock. He was rushed to the hospital, where he was treated until about 7 pm on Wednesday evening, when he died. His death certificate says that he suffered "crushing internal injuries to pelvis, lower abdomen & chest from falling stone (quarry)."
Otis was buried in the New Salem Cemetery, in Hopkins County, Kentucky. His wife Claudie and son Thomas had also been buried there. I don't know that his wife and son ever had markers on their graves. Perhaps there was just no money to afford them. Otis once had a marker on his grave, because his name is listed in a reading of the cemetery that was published in 1971. Today, his stone cannot be found, and it is unknown whether it has been lost, moved, or simply settled beneath the soil. Except for a few stories passed along by family members, and a single photo of his wife Claudie, there is little to mark his life or his passing. His heritage continues in his children's families ... his grandchildren, his great-grandchildren, and beyond.
His misfortune finally ended its run.
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