Since 1998 - Historical and Genealogical
Resources
for the Upper New River Valley of North Carolina and Virginia
A Paper Presented to the Historical Society of Southwest Virginia 1987
In 1884, as the signs of spring multiplied in the Pocahontas coalfields of Southwest Virginia, Harriet Eliza Lathrop could look back over the preceding thirty months with a great deal of satisfaction. Just before Thanksgiving in 1881, she had left her native New York with her husband, William, a twenty-six year old mining engineer, to come to a wilderness where she faced snakes in her kitchen and people who were afraid of kerosene lamps. Now, thanks to her husband's leadership, the mines which he opened and the town which he built were both thriving. Pocahontas boasted a company store, a bowling alley, an ice house, and an Episcopal congregation. (1)
At 1:30 in the morning of March 13, 1884, a loud explosion rocked the Lathrops in their bed. Young Lathrop soon learned that a blast in the Laurel mine had knocked houses off their foundations three-hundred feet from the driftmouth, and heavy mine cars had been hurled from the mine. Inside were mangled bodies, some without heads and some with missing limbs. A fire necessitated sealing and flooding the mine with 114 bodies still inside. (2)
When the fire was out, the water in the mine was pumped into a creek running through the town. Two carloads of disinfectant were dumped in the creek and on the streets, and men were brought in to build coffins. Lathrop finally became ill under the strain, which threats against his life did not help. He and his wife were glad to move to another job when an opportunity arose. (3)
The Laurel mine was regarded as non-gassy so that there was no apparent reason to use safety lamps. This supposition also left the miners free to "shoot from the solid" - to get coal down from the face by substituting massive amounts of explosives for the tedious and time-consuming job of undercutting. There was almost certainly a quantity of methane present in the Laurel mine which was ignited by the blasting. This in turn touched off suspended coal dust which provided the chief explosive. (4) The initial blast created a wind of hurricane force which picked up more coal dust, ignited it, and produced a raging, all-consuming, and self-perpetuating horror.
The explosion at the Laurel mine was shocking to the people of Southwest Virginia because it was their first. Before it, mine explosions in the Richmond area had assured that Virginia would lead the nation in this category of mining casualty until 1890.
Each day a working miner enters an area where no human being has ever been before. In the process, he sometimes releases methane gas which has been trapped in the ground for 280 million years of more. How to keep this gas from exploding was a problem that miners in England had been wrestling with for several hundred years.
During one period, methane was burned off by the fireman, a heroic figure swathed in wet sackcloth, who crawled about the mines, thrusting a candle ahead of him on the end of a ten-foot pole. It was also discovered that moving air in the mines lessened the chances of explosion. Circulation was increased by lowering iron baskets filled with fire into the shafts to create convection currents. Larger mines created drafts with furnaces, a method used in the United States until well into the twentieth century. There was also a system of partitions, wooden doors manned by boys called trappers, and brattices consisting of tarred or creosoted strips, all of which were designed to direct the air currents to the desired spots. Air pumps were designed with huge wooden pistons and fans came in in 1850.
There were also efforts made to deny methane a means of ignition. It was thought for a while that the phosphorescent glow given off by decaying fish could be used as a source of light, but this created another problem. Some tried to direct sunlight into the shaft with a system of mirrors. John Spedding attempted to provide a safe light by rotating a steel wheel against a piece of flint to give off a shower of sparks. Sir Humphrey Davy discovered that methane exploded only in concentrations of between 5.4% and 13.5%, which answered the question of why air circulation inhibited explosions. Using this and other information, together with the heat-conducting properties of wire mesh, he invented a safety lamp in 1815. (5)
It was 1846 before Americans mined as much coal in a year as the English produced in 1660. Although we took advantage of their technological advances, there were certain things which Americans had to learn by experience. The lessons for Southwest Virginia began at Laurel mine in 1884, and continued through the tragedy at McClure almost a century later.
The second fatal mine explosion in Southwest Virginia occurred at another Pocahontas mine on October 3, 1906. Investigators concluded that it was caused by "shooting from the solid," which provided both a large quantity of dust and a source of ignition. Thirty-five men were killed, including two members of a rescue party who were overcome by afterdamp, by the carbon monoxide which washed back over an explosion site. (6)
There was a movement in the legislature to pass mine safety laws after the Laurel tragedy, but two more fatal explosions would have to occur before this was done. Both of these were at the Greeno mine in Tacoma. The first one, which took place on March 16, 1907, resulted in the death of six men including two sets of brothers. Since it took place as the morning shift entered the mine, it may be assumed that the miners' lard oil lamps ignited a pocket of methane which had collected overnight. (7) The second Greeno explosion occurred on December 14, 1910. Eight men, including the superintendent who had led the rescue work in the first explosion, perished in this one. Four miners who knocked a hole in an air pipe managed to survive. A sad note was added by the arrival in Southwest Virginia of the superintendent's wife on the day he died. She had come from Minnesota to spend Christmas with him. (8)
After the second Greeno explosion, twenty-two years would elapse before there would be another fatal one in Southwest Virginia. During this period, many advances were made in the field of mine safety. In 1912, Virginia became the last coal-producing state to pass a mine safety act. This provided for periodic inspections, site mapping, minimum ventilation standards, and the prohibition of dust accumulation. (9) ON the federal level, the newly-created Bureau of Mines carried out experiments in 1910 in the use of rock dust to quench and limit explosions. A layer of rock dust on the floor, ribs, and ceiling would be taken up by any explosion so that particles of limestone would insulate particles of coal dust from each other. By 1925, a quarter of the mines int he country were using rock dust to some degree. Electric cap lamps were developed in 1910 and, within two decades, forty percent of the miners had traded their oil and carbide lamps for them. (10)
As if to show contempt for these efforts and to make up for a statistical lapse, there were three serious explosions in the first half of 1932.
Smoking had been a problem at the Parrott mine, just a few miles west of Blacksburg. Two men had been fired recently for trying to smuggle cigarettes in, one in a biscuit and another in a shoe. On the afternoon of January 18, 1932, there was a terrific explosion three thousand feet under the ground which left six men dead. Fans had pulled a lethal concentration of methane from some inactive workings. Two cigarette butts were found at the point of ignition. (11)
Just over a month later, thirty-eight men died two miles underground in the Pocahontas field at Boissevain. The Bureau of Mines inspector found the cause in the simultaneous blasting of four holes. The large number of casualties can be attributed to the fact that no rock-dusting had been done. (12)
The third disaster of this terrible year occurred at Splashdam in Dickenson County. The ventilator fan had been turned off the night before and was not restarted until ninety minutes before miners entered the mine. Their open lights encountered a large pocket of firedamp. Since rock dusting had been neglected, the explosion did not stop until it had boiled out of the mouth of the mine, scorching wet foliage on trees three-hundred feet across the river. Ten men died in this disaster, including three who were killed by afterdamp. (13)
In 1934, the year which marked the fiftieth anniversary of the first Pocahontas explosion, a tragedy occurred at a Stonega mine at Derby. The mine had been idle the day before and accumulated gasses were ignited either by smoking or an electrical arc. Since there had been no previous signs of gas, rock dust was not applied. Seventeen miners lost their lives and the ground was blackened for three-hundred feet outside the mine. (14)
On April 22, 1938, an accident occurred on Keen Mountain, which killed more men than would die in Virginia mine explosions over the next forty-five years. Two men were decapitated outside the mine when the blast overturned an eight-ton mine motor. A passing state trooper said that "it looked as if the whole mountain top was coming off." (15)
Inspectors believed that an adobe shot, one not contained in a bore hole but rather plastered to the surface with clay, had touched off the explosion. Rock-dusting was reported to have been inadequate which permitted the explosion to spread over an area of three-million square feet, killing forty-five miners. (16) After this explosion, the governor of the state appointed a commission to propose new mine safety laws. (17)
There was also an impetus toward federal safety regulations. In 1941, inspectors were given the right to make inspections over the opposition of the individual mine owner. Idle or abandoned sections of a mine would have to be either ventilated or sealed off. There must be no "firing on the solid," no adobe shots, and no shots where the methane concentration exceeded one percent. All bituminous mines had to be rock-dusted to within forty feet of the working face. The problem was that no power was given to inspectors to enforce these new standards. (18)
There was only one fatal mine explosion in Virginia during the Second World War. This occurred near Norton when two machine operators were killed on December 11, 1944. (19) Another man died in Bartlick on November 19, 1945.
During the following year, tragedy returned to the semi-anthracite operation on the New River. In order to get to the coal at McCoy, it was necessary for miners to descend a thirty-five degree incline to a point of half-mile below the bed of the New River. On April 18, 1946, an explosion was ignited apparently by an arc from a battery- powered motor. The force of the explosion blew a fourteen-ton train 150 feet up the incline and killed twelve men. (20) Another miner lost his life in the same mine later in the year.
Some impetus toward federal regulation of mining was gained in the spring of 1946, when bituminous mines were placed under a federal administrator during a prolonged strike. It was not until 1952, however, that Congress passed a law incorporating the provisions of the 1942 act, providing this time for a means of enforcement. Considerable attention was paid to rock-dusting and minimum ventilation standards. Rules against smoking were tightened and black powder was completely outlawed underground. (21)
A dozen years elapsed between the McCoy incident and the rather curious blast at Moss No. 2 Mine on April 8, 1958. A roof fall disrupted a bleeder system which permitted an accumulation of gas. The probable source of ignition was the "frictional contact of two or more mine rocks" during a pillar fall which had been predicted earlier by the fire boss. That only two men were killed was due in part to a very careful rock-dusting program. (22)
It had been thirty seven years since this many miners had died in Virginia in a single mine explosion. The media played up the fact that Virginia's safety record was not a good one. This situation led the governor to appoint a commission to study mine safety in Virginia.
In its report, the commission found that Virginia's mine fatality rate was indeed about twice that of the nation. Its geology was conducive to roof falls, but there were also other factors. Virginia had the lowest ratio of inspectors to mines as well as the lowest pay scale. Training programs for inspectors and certification for miners were being neglected. (27)
During the first century of coal mining in Southwest Virginia, sixteen fatal explosions killed 314 miners. This is only a fraction of those who have lost their lives through mishaps such as roof falls and electrocution. During the past twenty five years, explosions have accounted for less than three percent of the total mine fatalities in Virginia. The explosions have, however, attracted more than their share of public attention. They have been to mine mishaps what airplane crashes are to vehicular accidents. They receive the headlines and the attention of state officials, who must be diligent in assuring that the most recent tragedy will not be repeated.
Mining coal will never be a safe occupation. The best that can be hoped for is a lowering of the odds on fatal accidents - a proportion of the laws of averages through improved safety regulations, education, and enforcement. Because of their dramatic impact, some progress in this respect has been made every time public sensibilities have been shocked by a mine explosion.
Footnotes: (1) Memoirs of Harriet Eliza Lathrop, 1881-1890, manuscript collection, Alderman Library, University of Virginia. (2) Richmond Dispatch, March 14, 1884. (3) Lathrop Memoir. (4) H. B. Humphrey, Historical Summary of Coal-Mine Explosions in the United States, 1810-1858. Bureau of Mines Bulletin 586 (United States Government Printing Office, 1960), p. 7. (5) Most of this information and that in the preceding paragraphs is from various parts of J. U. Nef, The Rise of the British Coal Industry (London, 1932). (6) Roanoke Times, October 5, 1906; Humphrey, Historical Summary, p. 26. (7) Big Stone Gap Post, March 21, 1907. Humphrey gives the total dead as eleven. See Historical Summary, table 4, p. 22. (8) Big Stone Gap Post, December 21, 1910; Roanoke Times, December 15, 1910. J. J. Rutledge, "The Greeno Mine Explosion." A report dated August 11, 1911. (9) Code of Virginia of 1916, "Chapter 178 of Acts of 1912." (10) Humphrey, Historical Summary, p. 32, 159, 163, 227, 257. (11) Roanoke Times, January 19, 1932, J. F. Davies, Bureau of Mines Report summarized in Humphrey, Historical Summary, p. 133. (12) Roanoke Times, February 28-29, 1932. J. F. Davies, Bureau of Mines Report summarized in Humphrey, Historical Summary, p. 133. (13) ibid. (14) Roanoke Times, August 7, 1934; Humphrey, Historical Summary, p. 137. (15) Roanoke Times, April 24-25, 1938. (16) G. W. Groves, Bureau of Mines Report summarized in Humphrey, Historical Summary, p. 144. (17) Roanoke Times, April 26, 1938. (18) 77th Congress, Public Law in Humphrey, Historical Summary, p. 230. (19) Coalfield Progress, December 14, 1944; Roanoke Times, December 13, 1944. (20) Roanoke Times, April 19, 1946; Humphrey, Historical Summary, p. 209. (21) Humphrey, Historical Summary, p. 230. (22) George L. Mears, W. R. Stewart, and Frank L. Gaddy, "Preliminary Report of Mine Explosion, Moss No. 2 Mine, Clinchfield, April 8, 1958." (Bureau of Mines, 19__) and "Supplementary Report" by the same investigators. (23) United States Code, Title 30, Section 863 ff. (24) M. L. West and Elmer Simmons, "Official Report of Coal-Mine Explosion, No. 4 Mine, Oakwood Red Ash Corporation, September 25, 1973." (Mine Enforcement and Safety Administration, 197__). (25) James D. Michael, Elmer Simmons, and Wayland Jessee, "Report of Investigation, Underground Coal Explosion, P & P Coal Company, Inc. July 7, 1977," (Department of Labor), Mine Safety and Health Administration, 1977). (26) Roanoke Times, June 24-25, 1983. (27) Report of Governor's Commission on Mine Safety, 1983). Pages 1 to 8
The word Easter is derived from the Greek Ostern, and was changed to Eostore Monath by the Anglo- Saxons, corresponding to April, the month in which Easter most often occurs. Eastore was the name of an old Teutonic goddess of Spring and Light. Her festival was celebrated on the day of the Vernal (Spring) equinox. Although Easter is celebrated as a Christian festival and the resurrection of Christ, it embodies traditions of an ancient time antedating the rise of Christianity.
The early church was divided as to the nature and time of the celebration. Some communions were influenced by the coincidence of Christ's death with the Jewish Passover; others placed Easter always on the Twenty-fifth of March, others on the first Sunday after the first Saturday in April. Uniformity for the celebration of Easter was established by the first Nicent Council, A. D. 325, which fixed Easter as the first Sunday after the first full moon, on or next after the Vernal (Spring) equinox. If the full moon falls on Sunday, Easter is observed one week later. The earliest possible date of Easter is March 22nd, while the latest is April 25th. This is why Easter is called a movable feast.
Easter was once called (white week) because of the garments worn by those baptized at Easter, and signifying light, purity and joy.
Many Easter customs have come down to us from the distant past, some of which are: the Easter lamb, Easter egg, baby chickens, Easter rabbit, Easter bells and Easter flowers.
The Easter lamb goes far beyond Easter to the first Passover of the Jewish people, when Moses ordered a sacrifice. Every Hebrew family was to sprinkle the blood of a young lamb over its door frame. Baked goods shaped like lambs signifies the death of Christ, and is an emblem of innocence. Christ stood as a lamb slain before the foundation of the earth, Rev. chapter 13, verse 8. Throughout the Bible the lamb has always been an emblem of innocence.
The idea of the Easter egg came to us from ancient Egypt and Persia. It goes back beyond any one religion. It is a symbol of a new life.
In early times eggs were colored with vegetable dyes made from the leaves and bark of plants and trees. Different colored dyes could be mixed to give different colors.
After Christ's crucifixion and resurrection the different colored eggs had a specific meaning. Red is a symbol of blood which Christ shed on the cross. Purple is a symbol of mourning to show sorrow over Christ's death. Blue is a symbol of heaven in which all Christians have a hope. Green is a symbol of nature and for hope of eternal life. Yellow is a symbol for sunlight and radiance, and is also the color for April, the month in which Easter most often comes, a white egg left uncolored is a symbol of light, purity and joy. Eggs were seldom colored black because black is a symbol of death.
The Easter rabbit brings the colored eggs on Easter morning to the children.
An egg hunt on Easter with colored eggs is an old custom.
The Easter rabbit brought eggs of red, some for Joe and some for Ed. He brought eggs of blue, some for Jane and some for Sue. He brought eggs of green, some for John and some for Jean. He brought eggs of yellow with pictures of toys, these were for all the girls and boys. The children put their eggs together and flock to the egg hunt like birds of a feather.
A newborn chicken meant the same thing as an egg, the beginning of a new life.
Easter bells were bells rung on Friday before Easter, to observe the anniversary of the crucifixion of Christ.
Most of the flowers that people call Easter flowers, that grow in yards and greenhouses, are introduced plants from some foreign country. However, we do have native plants that bloom at Easter or shortly thereafter. These are the dogwoods that make our hills snow white. A legend of the Dogwood tree is that it was the tree that the cross was made from when Christ was crucified.
The name, Judas tree, was given to the redbud because it is believed that Judas hung himself from the redbud after he betrayed Christ. Other flowering plants can be found in our woodlands, such as the spring beauty, white trillium, and pinxter (sometimes called wild honeysuckle). It is not a honeysuckle but an Azalea, which has yellow or orange flowers. Easter flowers stand for a new life and a new hope.
At Easter time, the long weary nights of winter have come to an end. The long warm days of spring, with gentle rains and sunshine, have pushed aside the snow and ice of a dreary, cold winter. The grass has turned green and is beginning to grow, and the early flowering plants are blooming. The trees are putting forth new leaves and flowers that will bear fruit for the living.
The birds have returned from their winter home and are singing their mating song. The honeybee is on the wing collecting nectar from the spring flowers. Children are out playing softball, marbles and other games. Adults are playing golf, sunbathing, making gardens and fishing.
The Easter season is really a joyful time of the year.
Pages 9 to 11
However, lest we forget, we also had brave women pioneers who opened new paths of progress, and made the spirit of America richer and better for us who came after them; women who followed their men into danger and were at their side in establishing homes in a vast wilderness; women who plodded beside the covered wagons, ox carts, and pack animals, mile after mile in scorching heat, rain and snow.
It was not until about the turn of the century that women were called upon by the business world as bookkeepers, stenographers, teachers, and other professional work, work that was done primarily by the male prior to that time.
Upon graduation, the colleges would secure employment for these young ladies in remote areas and rural sections. Rarely would a girl be given employment in her home area.
The ladies who pioneered the teaching profession were usually sent to the little one or two-room schools in the out- of-way places. The pay was small and most of it was used to pay board. In most cases, the teacher had to buy her own chalk, water bucket and dipper, coal shovel and poker, erasers, etc.
I well remember many of the rural schools near my hometown of Coeburn, to name a few: Crab Orchard, Sandy Ridge, Dwina, and Cordertown. Some of the larger outlying schools were: Riverview, Cranesnest, Tom's Creek, and Banner. There were others I cannot recall. Teachers for these schools were about evenly divided between men and women, however, it is our aim to pay homage to the young ladies who so graciously accepted these jobs, and at the time accepted the many inconveniences that went along with the job. Most of the teachers were from other areas, and distance made it necessary to board in, or near Coeburn, during the school year. A large part of these teachers walked to and from their respective schools, some as far as five or six miles one way, a round trip of approximately ten or twelve miles per day. When the weather was too bad for walking the teachers would find living quarters with a family near the school. We would not, however, fail to recognize the young men who taught our schools under the same adverse conditions. However, we must assume that a man could walk five or six miles, teach a class, then walk the same distance home with a lot less effort than a young lady. It is these young ladies we "Salute."
From the Masonic Herald of fifteen years ago a dear friend of mine wrote, in part, the following: (Quote) Perhaps it takes a matter of age to get things in proper perspective. As the school bells ring, symbolically at least, and we see the youth of all ages making their ways to our schools a bit of nostalgia arises in all of us, and a thousand thoughts and pictures of those school days of ours in yesteryear descend upon us. Each of us will see visions of some saintly man or woman, who helped mold our characters and equip our mind and hearts with the necessities for living during these turbulent times. Maybe in our youth we thought them severe and 'even mean', but now we realize what their mission was, and how well it was fulfilled in our lives.
Most of our teachers were and are dedicated, self-sacrificing folks whose great aim in life is to prepare the minds and lives of their students to face whatever problems lay ahead. They pass up higher wages, and many times better working conditions in industry and other professions "To Teach School." May God Bless Them. Maybe the following will help explain why (End quote).
Author Unknown
Copied from National Sojourner
We now explore some of the hardships of our ladies who pioneered the business and professional world.
About fifteen years ago I corresponded with a dear lady, who at the time was nearing her 86th birthday, and was confined to a wheelchair at McVitty House Nursing Home in Salem, VA. She had spent a number of years as a young lady in Wise County. I asked her if she would set forth some of her Wise County experiences, and allow me to use them in an article which I planned to do later. Some way, somehow, her letter got misplaced and I just recently found it. This article you are reading I should have done some twelve or fifteen years ago. For this I am truly sorry. I have been unable to find out if this wonderful person is still living or not, she was anxious for me to use her experiences in my article. Her name is Miss Mattie Brown. I am sure once her story is read folks will feel as I do, that surely there is a niche somewhere in our archives for ladies such as Miss Brown, who was certainly a pioneer in her own time, and in her chosen field.
(Quoting from her letter or letters)
I was in Wise from 1910 to 1913 working for the law firm of Bond and Bruce (These men were later Judge William H. Bond and Senator Robert P. Bruce). I was first sent to St. Paul by the National Business College, of Roanoke, after graduation in 1910, to work for Clinch Valley Lumber Company. The company soon became bankrupt. I then went to St. Paul National Bank as a substitute teller until Bruce and Bond called me. I made many friends in St. Paul. I distinctly remember an up and coming young lawyer by the name of M. M. Long (I wonder if he is the senator and is still living?). (Note: Most of Miss Brown's letters were written to me from 1970-73. RLS. Back to Miss Brown) I boarded at the Blue Sulphur Hotel, and later at a smaller one. I remember seeing hogs rooting in the streets of St. Paul, and also a cow or two nearby. I recall the Hyltons very well, the Dickenson, Duff and Handy Store. There was in St. Paul at the time an Italian grocer by the name of G. L. Molinary.
I went with Bruce and Bond in the fall or winter of 1910 as court reporter, stenographer, and office assistant, leaving some dear friends in St. Paul, the Cleeks, Dickensons, Stevensons, Phipps and many others. I was homesick for a long time, because in those days Vinton (my home and mother) were a long ways away. However, after making so many friends in St. Paul, I became a little lonely in Wise. There was also much lawlessness and some frightening experiences.
I first went to board at the Wise Hotel, operated by a Mrs. McElroy. It was here I made friends with Misses Ora and Jean Harris, of Prospect, VA, who were teachers in the Elementary School. In the Town of Wise at the time, killings were frequent and we three ladies were not allowed out at night. Sometimes, while at the hotel, a note was thrown through the transom of my room. It was signed "Sturgill." I was young, 20 or 21, and scared to death, so, of course I destroyed the note and forgot about it. I wonder who it was? I was in a strange land, among strangers! I believe it was signed "William Sturgill."
(Note: Several years ago, while doing family genealogy, Aunt Cynthia Powers of Coeburn, who was 99 at the time, told me of a William Sturgill, no relation, of Wise, who married Mattie Beverly. She said he was a quite a ladies man, and was known amongst the girls as "Sweet William." Also, Mattie later took her children, by a former marriage, and left him high and dry in Wise. Years afterwards William died and was buried in Smyth County. This Sturgill bit has no bearing on our 'Forgotten Pioneers' story, RLS. Miss Brown now continues.)
I made many friends in the nearly three years I was in Wise, but had many frightening experiences. My next best friend became Miss Carrie Hamilton, daughter of Wade Hamilton, who was court clerk. I later went to board with Mr. & Mrs. Charles Renfro, who had a young daughter by the name of Lottie. She has since married a Taylor. I then went to the Bond's home for a few months, as Bruce and Bond were supposed to be insolvent, and my salary was slow in coming.
In the summer of 1911, Miss Carrie Hamilton and myself, with two gentlemen, rode livery horseback over the mountains to Pound, VA for a day. We had a wonderful ride and a good meal at Pound. I might add that Bruce and Bond were kind enough to let me stand up and type for a few days. We were supposed to have crossed "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine." While with Bruce and Bond, I did some typing for John Fox, Jr., and also for Senator George C. Peery, who lived in Wise and later became Governor of our fair State of Virginia. I have heard that L. F. Addington now lives in Wise. I think I have a snapshot of him somewhere among my things.
I had a correspondence with a Mr. Hendricks Gilmer of Lebanon, and he asked me to meet him at the home of Miss Addie Cleek, in St. Paul, for a weekend. I agreed, because I really wanted to meet the guy, so with my best attire I ran that Saturday, A. M., from the Renfro home to get the short train to Norton (The line was only five-miles long and the train ran twice each day). As I came across the road from the Renfro's, I hung my foot on the plank sidewalk; my new hat, gloves, and purse all went through a barbwire fence. I missed the train and lost my first beau, I wrote to him, but never heard from him again. Then I begin going with a boy by the name of Elbert Price from Norton, who later became interested in the local paper, WISE COUNTY NEWS. He came to Vinton to see me several times, but a short time later passed away.
At National Business College I had a friend by the name of Jezebel Goad of Hillsville, VA. She was a daughter of Dexter Goad, and I understand she still lives in Hillsville. I corresponded with her while in St. Paul and Wise. While in Wise I read about the tragedy in the courthouse, at Hillsville, and the Allen clan. She wrote me all about it, and the letter she wrote led my lawyers, Bruce and Bond, to get implicated in the case as defendants for one of the Allens, Sidna, I believe. I was asked to go and report the trial by Bruce and Bond, but begged off on account of my friend Miss Goad. That was a traumatic experience.
Note: Dexter Goad was Carroll County Court Clerk, and the tragedy, mentioned in the paragraph above, occurred in the courtroom of Carroll County, March 14, 1912, in the form of a shootout between members of the Allen family and court officials. Killed in the melee were Judge Thornton L. Massie, Sheriff Lewis F. Webb, and Carroll County Commonwealth's Attorney William M. Foster. Also killed were Augustus C. Fowler, a juror, and Miss Bettie Ayres, a witness in another case, which was to be tried the same day. Dexter Goad was wounded in the face but recovered. His daughter, Jezebel, was in the Clerk's office when the shooting started. It was reported she rushed to her father's side as he attempted to return the fire of the Allens. Two of the Allens, a father and son, were electrocuted. The others involved received long prison sentences. Sidna, mentioned earlier, was sentenced to thirty- five years. After serving about thirteen years, Sidna was pardoned on April 29, 1926, by Governor Harry F. Byrd. As a youngster in Coeburn I recall Sidna Allen displaying, in a vacant store building on Main Street, inlaid furniture items he had made while in prison. I have added the above concerning the Allens and Goads to acquaint the reader (especially the younger ones) as to who Jezebel Goad and Sidna Allen were, RLS, end of note.
Now, back to our story and Miss Brown's letter.
While with Bruce and Bond I was a Notary Public, and my work was getting signatures on deeds, etc...so I had to ride Mr. Bruce's horse out in the Hurricane section a great number of times, as well as other outlying districts. Roads, of course, were very muddy or dusty at times, but being a country girl that was a pleasure.
On one occasion I was requested to go with Bruce and Bond to Dungannon, to the home of a very old man by the name of Pat Hagan. He, being very old, wanted to draw up his last will and testament. I shall never forget that old gentleman. It was such a wonderful week spent in his home, where he had many friends at his side always. He was purported to be very wealthy, and took a week to make up his mind. I had very little typing to do and a week to do it in.
In Wise, my office was on the opposite side of the street from the courthouse, next door to the office of Oscar M. Vicars. I distinctly remember seeing the scaffold in back of the old courthouse where so many criminals were executed. I was told many stories of the infamous Talt Hall, Doc "Red Fox" Taylor, and many others.
I well recall the McLemore brothers who bought the first automobile in the Town of Wise. I believe they also owned a store at the time.
While in the hotel one evening I saw an old friend from Vinton, who had come to Wise to report a murder case there. He and I had graduated from National Business College at the same time. He said he was working for John W. Hancock, of the Roanoke Railway and Electric Company, as his secretary, and the treasurer of the company, H. D. Vickers, needed a bookkeeper and stenographer, and of course I jumped at the chance to be so close to home. So in January, 1913, I made my way back home a very happy girl. My train ride to my first job in St. Paul was so long, at twenty miles an hour on the Clinch Valley train, I thought I would never get to my destination, but three years later on my way home, the train seemed to just fly over the many trestles and through the tunnels. I was going home.
In conclusion: I repeat, my correspondence with Miss Brown was during the period of 1970-73. At that time she told me she was born in Bedford Co., VA on October 11, 1889. She married Lester P. Cundiff on September 12, 1915. They had two children, a boy and girl. Mr. Cundiff passed away on May 6, 1949.
She lived at home alone for a long while, but age and an arthritic condition made it impossible for her to remain alone. She was a charter member of the American War Mothers, and a charter member and organizer of the Major William F. Graves Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. I feel as others do, that this fine lady along with our teachers, exemplifies all the young ladies who braved the teaching, business, and professional worlds, far from home and friends, among the unknown in order to take rightful places in their vocations, and can most assuredly be called Our Forgotten Pioneers.
Pages 11 to 19.
The family name, Porter, is derived from the Latin verb "portarious" (to carry). Portarious goes back to the time when the Roman legions invaded Britain. They were the ones who carried supplies and equipment and were gate keepers. When the verb portarious was made to conform to English usage, it became Porter.
After the decline of the Roman Empire, some of the Porters moved from Britain to Ireland.
A historical note states that the Porters moved from County Down, in Ireland, to Pennsylvania about 1726. Benjamin and Ann Campbell Porter were among the immigrants that came to Pennsylvania. Their son, Patrick, the early pioneer on the Clinch, was born in Pennsylvania on May 1, 1737. The HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY states he was born in Ireland, but we now know that he was never in Ireland.
The Porters moved to the upper Yadkin Valley in North Carolina. There they met the Walkers. Patrick married Susanna Walker in 1756. He was living in Orange Co., NC, when he and others petitioned that a new county be formed to be called Guilford. He must have lived in Guilford County for some time. His prayer book lists his children as being born in Guilford Co., NC.
Patrick and some of the Walkers visited Castlewood (Moore's Fort) and part of the Clinch River Valley in 1769. He was looking for free land, and plenty of game and water. He returned to North Carolina to get his family. He had been given a land grant of 214 acres by old Fincastle Co., VA. He and his family moved to the Clinch in October, 1772.
He built his forthouse on Fall Creek (then called Falling Creek) near the present site of Dungannon. Just below the falls of the creek he built his grist mill in 1774. Permission to do so was granted by the court of old Fincastle County, bearing the date of March 2, 1774. The court order to build the mill is as follows: "On motion of Patrick Porter, leave is given him to build a mill on Falling Creek, the waters of the Clinch."
The mill house was a two-story log building with a chimney. Many stories have come down to us concerning this mill.
The story is told that the first Masonic Lodge held west of the Blue Ridge Mountains was held in the loft of Porter's Mill, and that they got the charter from Ireland. The Grand Lodge of Ireland tells us that no charter was ever granted for a Masonic Lodge to Patrick Porter, or any other person on the Clinch. Porter and his three brothers-in- law may have been Master Masons and formed a lodge without a charter, wishing to enjoy the rights and benefits of Masonry on the frontier.
Why was a grist mill so important on the Virginia frontier to the pioneers? It was because corn was the main food of the pioneers. Cornmeal in some form was used at every meal as mush, hoecake, Johnnycake, or cornbread. All these were made with cornmeal, salt (if salt was available) and water. It was the way they were cooked that made them different. The only dish that may have contained anything, besides these basic ingredients, was compone, which had small pieces of sliced bacon or rinds of meat in it, and was baked in the hot ashes of the fireplace. Hoecake was cooked on a hot griddle, and was sometimes made from a flat stone. The pioneers probably learned this method from the Indians. When the dough was baked on a smooth board before the fire it was called Johnnycake.
At the time that Patrick Porter came to the Clinch, there was neither law nor gospel on the frontier. He and a few other settlers were alone in the wilderness, over a hundred miles from the court at the lead mines, in the county seat of old Fincastle County. It was only natural that they take the law into their own hands now and then, when they had to deal with horse thieves, Indians and renegade whites. Unfortunately, punishments were not always mild.
Most of the pioneers were reverent. They believed as Daniel Boone did. He said, "All the religion I have is to love and fear God, do all the good to my neighbors and myself that I can, and do as little harm as I can, help and trust God's mercy for the rest."
While living on the Clinch, Patrick Porter lived in the counties of Fincastle, Washington and Russell, without ever moving from his original home. According to court records he was very active in the affairs of all three counties. He is liste don the roster of troops at Moore's Fort as a sergeant in 1777, when all the frontier of Southwest Virginia was under attack by the Cherokee and Shawnee Indians.
When Patrick and Susanna Walker Porter came from North Carolina and settled on Fall Creek, the waters of the Clinch, they brought with them eight children, namely:
Samuel, who was born in Guilford Co., NC, in 1757. He died in what is now Scott County around 1800. His wife's name was Mary. Some think her maiden name was Alley and that she was a sister to John Alley, who married Patrick's daughter, Mary. If the wife of Samuel Porter was Mary Alley, then she was the Polly Alley who was captured by the Indians in 1777. The Indians, on their way northward, also captured Jane Whittaker near Moore's Fort, and took them as prisoners to their town at the present site of Sandusky, Ohio. Their escape and arduous journey back home has become on of the classic stories of Virginia's last frontier.
A court order in Russell County dated February, 1803, reads:
"Ordered that the overseer of the poor bind Elizabeth, Jane, Samuel, Jr., Joseph and Alexander Porter, infant orphans of Samuel Porter, Sr., deceased." There were two other children who were not minors, James and Susanna.
John Walker Porter was born in Guilford Co., NC, April 19, 1759. He married Martha (Patsy) Hutchenson. They moved to Floyd Co., KY, where they lived and died. He served on the Virginia frontier as an Indian fighter and scout.
Jane Porter was born in Guilford Co., NC, September 7, 1761. She first married James Green in 1781. James was killed by the Indians while on a hunting trip near the mouth of Indian Creek, in what is now Wise Co., December 31, 1782. Jane married again in 1785 to Robert Kilgore, who in 1786 build the Kilgore Fort House.
Patrick Porter, Jr., was born in Guilford Co., NC, February 1766. He married Elizabeth Pendleton on April 3, 1814. He moved to Floyd Co., KY.
Katherine Porter was born in Guilford Co., NC, June 9, 1768. She married Dale Carter, the son of Norris Carter, who with his two brothers. Thomas and Joseph, built the Rye Cove Fort. Dale and Katherine lived and died in the Rye Cove section of Scott County. Both are buried in the Carter cemetery.
Mary Porter was born in Guilford Co., NC, February 25, 1771. She married John Alley. They were married by Bishop Whatcoat, a traveling companion of Bishop Asbury, the noted circuit riding Methodist, on their first visit to Southwest Virginia.
Ann Porter's birth date was not listed in Patrick Porter's prayer book as the other children are, and her date of death is not know. She married Samuel Ritchie. Ritchie was a very prominent man in his day. He was one of the commissioners selected to determine a site for the courthouse, when the act to form Scott County was passed November 14, 1814. He was also the first presiding justice of the Scott County court.
Ann and Samuel separated and he asked the Russell County Court to annul the marriage. The annulment was not granted, so he took a common law wife, Frances Kendrick.
Ann and Samuel had no children. Samuel died sometime in 1818. No one knows what became of Ann. Patrick Porter and his wife, Susanna, are known to have more than sixty grandchildren.
Pages 20 to 23
(Quotations are from THE POST in Big Stone Gap, and are used with the kind permission of the publisher.)
You cannot question Big Stone Gap's credentials as a coal town. It is where a restless, embittered Civil War general named John Daniel Imboden launched, in 1880, his enterprise, which would link coal forever with the economic course of Southwest Virginia. By early February of that year, he had, after an exhausting horseback ride of 183 miles, "secured control of 47,000 acres of mineral lands." It was Imboden who had gone north to seek the needed capital, and it was he who went to North Carolina in the spring of 1881 in an effort to get railroad access to the sea through that state. It was in Raleigh that he enjoyed promenading with young ladies "draped in silks, satins and velvets." But, he wrote to his wife, he did not think he "enjoyed it more than he would a corn-shucking, a log-rolling, or a quilting frolic at Flannery's, Joe Kilburne's, or John Kelly's at Big Stone Gap." His descriptions of life in the Gap seemed to enthrall the young ladies in Raleigh, causing one of them to remark that "it must be delightful to see and mingle with such primitive people."
Because of Imboden's work, this is where the wealthy Pennsylvanians, Blue Grass Kentuckians, and Piedmont Virginians came to live and invest their money in coal. This included the Bullitts, the Berryman's the Goodloes, the Taggarts, and a whole social register of other names. They would see to it that Big Stone Gap as no longer primitive. The "silks, satins, and velvets," along with sidewalks, public schools, electricity, and running water were on the way.
It was to Big Stone Gap that the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough came to visit their money in 1890. They arrived in the private railroad car of the vice-president of the New York Central, and were accompanied by the Duke's valet, the duchess' French maid, and a black cook. The duchess made certain to invite one of the young ladies of Big Stone Gap to visit her at Blenheim. The duke suggested that the name of the town be changed to Wolverhampton. Had the visiting couple been taken seriously, we would have a town called Wolverhampton today, and one of our young ladies might have seen an unruly teenager named Winston Churchill at his uncle's house.
Most of the town's blessings can be attributed to the early development of a strong and responsible social structure. There were certain things that would not be tolerated. The town acted swiftly to remove hog pens and other social nuisances. It forced the Intermont Hotel to get from Dr. Kunkel a certificate testifying that the premises were in "as clean and healthful condition as is possible under our system of sewerage." When a case of smallpox appeared among a railroad crew in Lee County, the Big Stone Gap Town Council passed a resolution urging everyone to be vaccinated. They also authorized a payment of 35 cents for each vaccination for those who could not otherwise afford it.
The electric lights were turned on the first of September, 1890, and were "generally introduced in private homes as well as the hotels and stores." By June of the following year, the new water system, which drew its supply from Amunega Falls, had been extended "throughout the city." One of the unexpected benefits was that the water proved to be "a mild laxative" and was therefore supposed to be "valuable as a liver regulator." It was during this time that James Orark, the foreman of the water company, was arrested for driving his wagon through Squire lea's cornfield on his way to repair a pipe. Since the stream-driven generator was dependent upon a steady water supply, a burst line would prove a double disaster for the citizens of Big Stone Gap. When the water went off, so did the electricity.
Also dependent upon the water system was the Powell's River Fire Brigade, the proud possessor of a 720-pound fire bell. In a test, there was enough pressure to "throw a stream of water over the Intermont Hotel, make a rainbow, batter a man's hat in, and knock a dog over." Meanwhile, there were plans to build a telephone line between Big Stone Gap and Gladeville. Since the road between these two towns was impassable during much of the year, this would be a great contribution. On a local level, S. R. Jessee installed an Elliott non-electric, vibratory telephone over the quarter-of-a-mile distance between his house and the post office.
The people of Big Stone Gap also organized to end its unenviable position as a border town, a sort of mountain Tijuana between Wise and Lee counties. Here boys from both counties, "remote," according to one citizen, "from the civilizing influence of the railroads," would meet to fight in the streets, "fire up on moonshine, and then hold high carnival with pistol practice at each other. Comanche yells, and drunken orgies." Sometimes things got so bad that merchants locked their doors, and sneaked out the backs of their stores. The answer to this was the Big Stone Gap Police Guard, which was made up of young men who belonged "to the most famous and historical families of Kentucky and Virginia - young men of culture and high social standing." Under the command of Captain Josh Bullitt, these young men, "fresh from the University of Virginia, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton," made Big Stone Gap "safer than Boston or New York."
By 1891, it was unlawful for anyone to give an "outcry" as an auctioneer without a license.
By this time, a person could be fined $100 for giving away beer, liquor, or a combination thereof on election day. It was also unlawful to ride or drive a horse more than ten miles an hour.
In 1894, it was unlawful to make the swinging bridge vacillate, or swing from side to side. It was also against the law to lead, or to drive a bear through town.
In early 1894, Gus Lovell's hardware store was broken into, but the culprit was soon captured. He was a man of "unsavory reputation," named Greenfield, who had been "confined for various acts of meanness." His girlfriend, "a young woman of the town," had just been publicly flogged by the town sergeant a few days before.
During the following year there was a fracas between James Yeary and Sam Maberry, during which a bystander named Henry Body was shot by Yeary. The authorities ruled this to have been an accidental shooting because Yeary claimed that he was aiming at Maberry.
On another occasion, there was an assassination attempt on the Methodist minister as he stood in his living room with his wife and children. The assassin, with his hat pulled down over his eyes, stood in the yard and fired three shots through an open window, but fled when the preacher drew his own revolver an returned fire. Later, the same minister fell off the steeple of his church, but nobody suggested that he was pushed.
In spite of these occurrences, life in Big Stone Gap was marked by good order and a high degree of personal safety. It was certainly nothing like that in the vicinity of Pound where people were terrorized by desperadoes, who preyed upon those unfortunate travelers whose business took them through Pound Gap.
In this relatively peaceful atmosphere, the people of Big Stone Gap stressed culture and learning. Mr. William Beckford, with a B. A. degree from Yale, was brought in very early to teach their children and to lecture on Arnold and Ruskin on Wednesday evenings. Beckford founded the Stonega Academy, a college preparatory institution, and served as its first head. Later, Stonega became a public school where C. Bascom Slemp served as principal, and was a very popular teacher. At commencement his students, out of great respect and love, "gave him three cheers with a hearty goodwill." Learning was very much appreciated and graduates of prestigious colleges were revered. One man determined that "twenty-three leading schools of the United States had representatives" in Big Stone Gap. A bride was described as being "from the sacred precincts of the University of Virginia."
There were also formed music clubs and literary societies. A Miss Plummer, from Boston, was brought in each summer to teach voice. The Big Stone Gap brass band played at special occasions, such as the Fourth of July, when the Declaration of Independence was read in its entirety from the top of Poplar Hill. The select school on Wyandotte Avenue taught vocal and instrumental music, as well as typewriting and penmanship. During the summer of 1891, four Harvard graduates "delighted a party of ladies and gentlemen with a varied repertory of high class music" at the home of John W. Fox, Sr. At one concert, Kate Ayers and H. I. Sullivan sang "The Last Rose of Summer" and Mrs. Bullitt sang "Annie Laurie." At a Shakespeare Club meeting, Miss fox discussed Desdemona and her rank among Shakespeare's heroines.
For those of lesser tastes, there was S. R. Jessee who would entertain with his new phonograph. Admission for adults was 15 cents and it cost children a nickel. There was also John Robinson's Circus which re-enacted Solomon and his temple, with the Queen of Sheba and a hundred beautiful ladies. There were also ostrich races. In the spring of 1895, there appeared Dr. George, "the world's greatest hypnotist and mesmerist," who could make people "laugh, go fishing, or kill rats."
Adding to the cultural atmosphere of the town was a most singular barber named Martin Luther. On one occasion, he composed a poem in honor of his customers:
When you wish an easy shave
As good as barber ever gave.
Just call on me at my neatly furnished room
At morn or every busy noon.
I comb and dress the hair with grace
To suit the countenance of the face.
The newest popular song in town in the spring of 1893 was "Indian Summer Time," written by Will Thompson, who had earlier composed "Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling."
The editor of the Big Stone Gap POST lectured his readers on matters of etiquette and fashion. They were told that the lady of the house was always the last person to go in to dinner except "that if the President of the United States dines with you...he takes in the lady of the house preceding all other guests."
Those who had been out of touch with big city fashions might want to check on their weight. According to one expert, "a perfectly formed woman will stand 5 feet, 3 inches to 5 feet, 7 inches, and will weigh from 125 to 140 pounds." They were encouraged to take the plumb-line test. An authority stated that "a plumb-line dropped from a point marked by the tip of her nose will touch the floor at a point one inch in front of her great toe." The idea of the 1890's was to gain weight rather than to lose it. An article told how to bring about this desired result. You should "avoid excitement, and keep your mind in a state of repose and free from worry. Don't rush about consuming muscular tissue by unnecessary movements." One should avoid hot foods and eat lots of stale bread.
In another article, mothers were warned not to let their daughters become frail and puny. Studying too much "induces disorders and weaknesses, and blights their future happiness as wives and mothers." There also appeared an advertisement for Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery, "the greatest flesh-builder known to medical science - far surpassing filthy cod liver oil and all its nasty compounds. It makes the morbidly thin plump and rosy."
It was not difficult to stay plump in Big Stone Gap. One boarding house advertised meals at $3.50 a week. You could take the train down to Bristol, eat a full meal at Jett's hotel for a quarter, and spend the night for twenty cents. The latest drink was Peach Pulp soda, which was available at Dr. J. W. Kelley's drugstore where Coca-Cola, advertised as "the great brain food," could also be had for a nickel. Those desiring harder stuff could purchase "the very best wines and brandies" from the Family Liquor Store. They might also go to Reese's saloon which was unexcelled for customer service. When a man named Fritz overindulged there and broke his leg in a fall on the sidewalk, the proprietor agreed "to take care of him and pay all the expenses until he is restored." Christmas dinner at the Intermont Hotel in 1892 included Blue Point oysters, mock turtle soup, Wisconsin goose, lobster salad, English plum pudding, pineapple fritters, cream puffs, and pineapple ice cream.
The constant round of parties and dances made a tremendous contribution to the social structuring. In the fall of 1890, for example, a Mrs. Ferguson held a dance in the "palatial home of Major W. H. Harrington", for which she "spared no pains or expense." The ladies were all attired in elegant evening gowns," wrote the editor of THE POST, "while the gentlemen were tastefully and suitably dressed for the occasion."
Later, the Intermont Hotel was the scene of a masque ball put on by Mrs. Colonel J. H. Allen. (That's the way they did it back in those days. The wife appropriated the husband's rank as well as his name.) It was noted that Mrs. Colonel Allen "received guests in the genial and pleasant manner so characteristic of the English people." The Big Stone Gap orchestra struck up a "lively air" at nine o'clock sharp, which was the signal for those dressed as the Empress Josephine, Night, a Dairy maid, clowns, and Spanish dancers to file in. Mrs. Colonel Allen's daughter was dressed as the Big Stone Gap POST. This costume consisted of a "robe of white material, which was elaborately and tastefully covered in gold-bronze letters with sentences such as "Use Big Stone Gap pig iron."
Athletics provided another form of diversion. The first baseball team appeared in 1893 with most of the positions being filled by the Bullitts, the Taggarts, the Hardins, and others from out of town. They wore birdseye trousers and pique bibs. Practice was followed by a social hour at the home of Captain Addison, "where bottles were freely passed around." The next year, baseball games begun by blacks were joined by young white boys. This greatly upset the editor of THE POST who felt that it was time "for their parents to take them in charge and teach them pride of character." A tennis tournament was planned and croquet sets were sold cheaply. The local editor felt, however, that "football and prize fighting should be done away with. "Both," he said, "were a disgrace to civilization."
Early in 1890, the editor of THE POST called Big Stone Gap "the Seat of Empire," and said that this destiny could be prevented only by its being swallowed by an earthquake. The Appalachian Club was formed in the fall of that year to further Big Stone Gap's economic future. The county clerk could report that 1,724 deeds were recorded in 1890, most of them in the vicinity of this town. In the same year, ground was broken for a 3200 square- foot Methodist Church, and several prominent people, including H. C. Wood, James W. Fox, and Rufus Ayers, bought building lots on Poplar Hill. At the end of the year, Fox could brag that the Big Stone Gap improvement Company had built a blast furnace, put in electric lights, and built a water works. Its officers, operating in other capacities had added, during 1890, a street railway, the Interstate tunnel, a park, and a brick plant.
A year later, however, large houses could not be rented out because of "these stringent times." By March of 1892, the house belonging to E. M. Hardin, one of the mainstays of development, was being auctioned off by the Bank of Big Stone Gap. In early spring of 1893, the Big Stone Gap Improvement Company was in the hands of receivers. Before the end of the summer, the Bank of Big Stone Gap would have closed its doors when total deposits dipped below $15,000. A few days after this disaster one of the bookkeepers, H. T. Ferguson, bought two ounces of laudanum at Dr. J. W. Kelley's drug store, took it to his room and drank all but half an ounce of it. He was found dead the next morning. Two months later, Spencer Berryman was found unconscious on the stairs leading to the Appalachia Club rooms. A small abrasion was found on his chest, but Dr. Kunkel thought it not serious. Berryman was carried to his home by Jimmie Ayers and John Fox, Jr., who put him to bed. The next morning he was found to have "joined the immortal caravan" at some time during the night. He was dead of a small knife would to the heart, and Big Stone Gap was plunged into mourning.
Earlier in the year, Major W. H. Harrington, the proprietor of the Intermont Hotel, turned over in his swivel chair and drove a large pair of scissors seven-inches into his chest. It was never suggested that this was a suicide attempt, but THE POST did mention that the Major had taken out a $10,000 insurance policy two weeks before.
On June 14, 1894, the Appalachia Club disbanded which, as the editor of THE POST remarked, "wound up the remnants of the boom." In this period of depression, business failures, suicides, and blighted lives, one more catastrophe lay in store for Big Stone Gap. On October 3, 1895, a destructive fire, thought to have been started by rats carrying off matches, swept through two blocks of the town, including a new $5,100 store just opened by the Goodloe Brothers. The total damage was $24,140 - almost $350,000 in present-day money. Only one-third of this amount was covered by insurance.
Big Stone Gap would endure these three terrible yeas, would revive, and would prosper, its cultural leadership never in doubt. Because courageous men, and women, risked their lives and their fortunes in a risky business during these early years, there are to be seen fine old houses. Because of the vision of General Rufus Ayers, and the masonry skills of a stone cutter named R. L. Perry, Big Stone Gap offers the visitor a splendid museum. There is a direct line between the concerts at the Fox house, when Kate Ayers sang the "Last Rose of Summer," and the fine production of "Guys and Dolls" a few years back. There is a connection between the masqued balls of Mrs. Colonel Allen, as well as John Fox, Jr., and the marvelous and enduring outdoor drama. The appreciation which the citizens of Big Stone Gap have for education, as seen, for example, in its enthusiastic support of its fine community college goes back to a young Yale graduate named William Beckford, and to a VMI valedictorian poised at the beginning of a political career. Big Stone Gap would go on to prove that coal could mean beauty, intellectual growth, and humanitarian concern, as well as material progress. It would prove that the oft-repeated phrase, "Coal is how we make our living," can be a proud boast, and not an apology for the way things are.
Pages 23 to 31
We do not know when people of the Baptist faith first came to present day Scott County. We do know the first Baptist preacher in what is now Scott County was Squire Boone, a brother of Daniel Boone. These two brothers spent the winter of 1773-74 in the vicinity of Castlewood in present day Russell County, VA. The brothers traveled the Clinch River Valley as far west as Rye Cove. Daniel was in command of all the forts in the Clinch River Valley, while the militiamen were engaged in the Point Pleasant campaign of Dunmore's War.
The oldest Primitive Baptist Church was organized in the late 1700's on Stoney Creek north of Blackmore. We have minutes of this church, going back thirteen years before Scott County was formed in 1814.
The second oldest Primitive Baptist Church was located just east of Nickelsville, VA, on Copper Creek. We have minutes of this church going back to 1808. Robert Kilgore was pastor of this church for 40 years. At one time, he was also pastor of the Stoney Creek Church.
The Stoney Creek Primitive Baptist Church may have been built on the land grant that Captain John Blackmore got in 1773. David Cox bought the Blackmore property in 1817 when it was sold for delinquent taxes. In 1835, David Cox deeded one-half acre of land and building to William Addington and Thomas Strong, trustees of the Stoney Creek Church (Deed book No. 5 - Page 176).
Ten years after the Stoney Creek Church was organized, it became a member of the Washington Association. At the 1849 Washington Association meeting, it was suggested that the association be divided for the sake of more convenient attendance. At this meeting, the following churches requested dismission to form a new association: Big Glade, Blue Springs, Copper Creek, Cranesnest, Red Hill, Moccasin Creek, Stoney Creek, Three Fork of Powell River and Tom's Creek. They met by agreement with the Stoney Creek Church in Scott County for organizational purposes on Friday, before the fourth Saturday in October of 1851. The new body became the Regular Primitive Baptist Stoney Creek Association.
Elder Thomas Colley was elected to preach the introductory sermon, and Elder John Wallis was elected to be his alternate.
Anyone who said he had a calling to preach the Gospel in the Primitive Baptist Church was not asked what college he was graduated from, or what seminary he attended. He was allowed by the church to exhort and expound on the scripture for months, and sometimes years. Before he could be ordained, he was examined by the brethren and ministers of his faith and order. They determined his orthodox beliefs, that is they found his opinion of religious doctrine of the Primitive Baptist Church by asking him the following questions:
Elias Colier this day (June 12, 1877) produced credentials of his ordination, and also of his being in regular communion with the Primitive Baptist Church, took the oath of allegiance to this Commonwealth, and with J. S. Addington, C. C. Addington, J. M. Easterling and H. M. McConnell, his securities, entered into and acknowledged a bond in the penalty of ($1,500) fifteen hundred dollars conditioned according to law. Where upon, his motion, a testimonial is granted him in due form (Minute Book No. 18 - Page 58).
Abstract of Principle of the Stoney Creek Primitive Baptist Association are as follows:
The churches received members by relation, by letter, and experience and baptism. When the pastor gave an invitation for anyone wishing to join the church he would say, "The church door is now open for anyone wishing to join the church."
In the church minutes an invitation reads as follows: After preaching the church door being opened, Ann Kilgore come forward and was received by experience and was baptized (1850).
If a member had been excluded from the church, he could be restored to his seat int he church by coming to church and confessing his sins, asking the church to forgive him (recantation). The association was very strict on their churches and members, as evidenced int he recording of the minutes.
The following are some of the disciplinary actions taken by the churches going back one hundred and eighty years. Brother Giles Lee acknowledged his fault for drinking too much of the spiritous fluid (whiskey). David Gibson, a backslider, received on a relation of the work of God upon his soul. Henry Leath excluded for getting drunk and fighting. George Gibson excluded for a disorderly walk. Thomas Alley excluded from membership for denying the name of a Baptist and the final perseverance of the saints in grace. Sarah Flanary excommunicated for dancing. Sister Rebedy Russell excommunicated for telling lies on her sisters and not confessing her faults to the church.
Brother Hall came forward and acknowledged his fault for getting angry by hearing some news that disturbed his mind. The church forgave him. Then Brother Riggs came forward and acknowledged he had sinned in going to see a bee tree taken on Sunday. The church forgave him. Brother E. Harris came forward and acknowledged his fault for being at a frolic. The church forgave him. James Nickels and Jane, his wife, are excluded from the church for acting out of Christian character in separating from each other. The church appoints Brother Kitzer assistant pastor.
Charles Kilgore charged with keeping a distillery and selling ardent spirits. Kilgore came to church and refuses to acknowledge that he was doing wrong for distilling and selling ardent spirits. The church excludes him. R. H. Kilgore be notified to attend our next conference to answer the complaints of the church. 1. For failing to attend church meetings. 2. For hunting stock on the Sabbath. 3. For dram drinking and that to excess.
Sister Polly Salyer is excluded for imposing herself upon the church when pregnant (husband, Samuel).
Nancy Kilgore died June 13, 1839.
December 10, 1853, the church door being open. Feeby Moore came forward and was baptized. Feeby Moore was a black woman who lived in the community.
No meeting at this time on account of the smallpox (1858).
During the autumn of 1864, the people of Southwest Virginia were suffering from hunger and for the need of clothing and shoes, because the Confederate Congress had a law that people had to give a percentage of their provisions to the Confederate government to feed the army. Marauders came through the country raiding and stealing from the people. This left residents in Southwest Virginia destitute.
There was no association held in the Stoney Creek district this year (1864) on account of there are no provisions to feed the people.
The church, being grieved with Brother Dillon for drinking too much spiritous liquor, at the next meeting Brother Dillon came to the church and acknowledged his fault for drinking too much stimulus fluid. The church forgave him.
In 1865, the Stoney Creek Association sent letters to its churches which read: We advise our churches that if any of their members shall aid or assist the Federal Government in any way contrary to the laws of the Confederate States of America, that they be dealt with for disorder, unless full satisfaction be given, and that the same be excluded from the church.
The Copper Creek Church (Addington Frame) sent the following reply to the Stoney Creek Association: To be loyal to the Federal Government and the Union of the United states is just and right, that to support and defend the Federal Government against foreign enemies and domestic traitors is a moral obligation binding upon all good citizens, and it has received sanctions of the only true God of heaven and earth by bringing the so-called Southern Confederate Government to nothingness. Therefore, to be loyal to the Federal Government does not bring any member of our churches into disorder.
The Copper Creek Church passed the following resolution: that no minister of the Gospel of our faith and order be allowed to preach in this church without consent of the church who has aided in the rebellion against the United States.
The original Primitive Baptist Churches became divided over foreign missions and parted ways in 1847. The foreign mission group joined the Missionary Church.
In 1887 a new controversy arose, this time over predestination. That is, the purpose or decree of God from eternity respecting all events of man, especially the preordination of men to everlasting happiness or to everlasting misery.
In the late 1930's, another controversy arose over eternal punishment. One group said there was no eternal hell for man regardless of how wicked he had lived. This group was called the "No Hellers." Those that believed in an eternal hell and punishment of the wicked were called "Hellers."
With all the controversy, arguments and wrangling, the association became a very small and helpless congregation. The last churches of the association were two or three churches in Tennessee, and it is doubtful that they are still in existence today. The Stoney Creek Primitive Baptist Association will, in a few years, pass into history.
Pages 31 to 36