Another interesting point of Corbin and the RR is that Col. Sanders of KFC fame worked for the RR before he started into the hotel and restrauant business. -eddie Date forwarded: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 15:17:12 -0800 (PST) From: "Pat Oneal" <peon@icx.net> Subject: RE: Coal Mines (scabs) Date sent: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 18:21:26 -0500 To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com Forwarded by: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com The stories of the coal miners about 1920 remind me of the time my parents had moved from VA to Corbin, KY. Corbin was a railroad center in 1920 and employed many men. My dad worked at the Roundhouse when the strike began. The L & N Railroad brought officials in from Georgia to fill the positions of men on strike. Out of necessity, there were still many men who continued to work. I can recall when I was a teenager many years later, those men were still referred to as "scabs." Once you scabbed, you were a scab for life. During the strike, men carried guns for protection, women were afraid to walk to town during the day, and families did not leave their homes after dark for fear of being shot. My parents lived in a house at the foot of a hill. My older brother was the new baby born in the house, numbering 3 children. One night my parents were awakened suddenly by a bright light from the window that filled their bedroom. When my dad looked out, he saw a burning cross at the top of the hill. He and my mother became very frightened. The blazing cross could be seen for miles. Shortly after that, my dad took the family and returned to Middlesboro, KY, where he had worked before moving to Corbin. About 1924, they returned to Corbin and he built the house our family lived in and my mother occupied until her death in 1998. (There's another story I'm sure many people have heard about Corbin, Ky. It concerns a Halloween night, 1919, when the black people were run out of town. [I grew up in an all-white community.] A bad time in Corbin history. A video documentary was done several years ago that is a very poor depiction of the town, the people, and the incidents that took place that Halloween night. When I saw the film, I was angered and embarrassed.) Pat O'Neal ==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== #9 As of 2/27/1999 we have 485 members. Traffic can get heavy so check your mailbox often. We should regulate traffic so it don't get out of hand. There is an average of ten members coming and going each week. -sysop "Toto, I don't think we are in NH any more."

Anybody heard of these: "He could make a living on a Flat Rock" (person who was resourceful or could do well no matter what) "He wouldn't Hit a Lick at a Snake" (lazy person) " He couldn't get a Job in a Pie Factory..tastin' pies" (also a slug) "Tight as Bark on a Hickory" ( cheap or very frugal person) "Skin-Flint" (same as a cheap skate) " Barkin Up the Wrong Tree" ( you are mistaken) "Like a Hen on a Hot Rock" (hyper..can't sit still) ..or my brother Bill..we always say this to him "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (someone going in all directions at once)....or ME "Sweep It Under the Rug" (your trying to cover up something wrong) "High as A Georgia Pine" (intoxicated..or Drunker Than Cootie Brown) "Drunker than Cootie Brown" (plastered) "Knee-High to a Grasshopper" (short person) "Living High on the Hog" ( doing very well.. financially) "Poor As Job's Turkey (Job as in biblical Job..not JOB as employment...either way YOUR BROKE) "Crazy As a Bess Bug" (nuts..off your rocker) don't ask me what a Bess Bug Is..I have no idea.. "Like Pulling Hen's Teeth" ( an impossibility..think about it..) "Take It on the Chin" ( or go with the flow..except whatever's not going to good) "We Better Go to Bed Honey..These People Might Wanna Go Home" (does this need an explanation..nah) (I Love this one) "Two Heads Are Better Than One..Even If One Is A Cabbage Head" (This Old Expression finally backfired on my Mom, she said it alot when my husband and I first married and my boys were little..well she said it so much that my husband nicknamed her "Grandma Cabbage."..and it stuck..my boys are now grown and they still call her Grandma Cabbage and even sign cards they give to her this way) ... Hope you enjoyed this...My Mom, Sister and I have laughed all afternoon remembering these... Pam Researching the following surnames: BURKE, CARTER, PATRICK, WINGO, McGRADY, WIMBERLEY, WITT/WHITT, HENSLEY, ROBERTSON.

Today proved a great day for history in genealogy. I am so glad someone has finally exposing the life that coal miners really lived and their families. Thanks so much, I am really enjoying these articles. Delilah

Sue, I can't believe it..I bought this book about 10 years ago at a local library for 10 cents...it is a very good read....I bought it because of my particular interest in the Civil War period....small world ...huh Pam Researching the following surnames: BURKE, CARTER, PATRICK, WINGO, McGRADY, WIMBERLEY, WITT/WHITT, HENSLEY, ROBERTSON. -----Original Message----- From: Bill and Sue McNaught [SMTP:pp02570@email.kcc.edu] Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 1999 1:48 AM To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com Subject: "Cold Mountain" The one bright spot to being downed by the flu was the opportunity to read this book. I will attempt a brief review as I feel it is one this list would definitely enjoy. For more reviews, check out Amazon.com. "Cold Mountain" by Charles Frazier The author's first novel is based on stories passed down from his great grandfather. The time is near the end of the Civil War, and the setting is Tennessee and North Carolina. It is two stories running parallel and meeting at the end. It starts with the story of Inman, a wounded Confederate, who decides to walk home to Cold Mountain to claim his true love. The chapters alternate between Inman's journey including adventures with Home Guards, gypsies, deserters, wild animals and other perils and the story of Ada, his love. Ada was a naive Charleston lass whose minister father had brought her to Cold Mountain and shortly thereafter died. She was alone on the isolated farm with no survival skills. They had always purchased what they needed, but the War had reduced her father's investments to a trickle. She was starving on tomato and cucumbers when a homeless woman appears. Their story is just as fascinating as Inman's. The book has won a national writers award, but I can't remember which one. I was reading a loaner which I've returned. I couldn't put it down.......a wonderful read. Sue McN. ==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== #7 "Roll Calls" or such by other names are to be called by the SYSOP ONLY. NO WARNINGS!! Each member is free to post their SURNAMES anytime they please.

The stories of the coal miners about 1920 remind me of the time my parents had moved from VA to Corbin, KY. Corbin was a railroad center in 1920 and employed many men. My dad worked at the Roundhouse when the strike began. The L & N Railroad brought officials in from Georgia to fill the positions of men on strike. Out of necessity, there were still many men who continued to work. I can recall when I was a teenager many years later, those men were still referred to as "scabs." Once you scabbed, you were a scab for life. During the strike, men carried guns for protection, women were afraid to walk to town during the day, and families did not leave their homes after dark for fear of being shot. My parents lived in a house at the foot of a hill. My older brother was the new baby born in the house, numbering 3 children. One night my parents were awakened suddenly by a bright light from the window that filled their bedroom. When my dad looked out, he saw a burning cross at the top of the hill. He and my mother became very frightened. The blazing cross could be seen for miles. Shortly after that, my dad took the family and returned to Middlesboro, KY, where he had worked before moving to Corbin. About 1924, they returned to Corbin and he built the house our family lived in and my mother occupied until her death in 1998. (There's another story I'm sure many people have heard about Corbin, Ky. It concerns a Halloween night, 1919, when the black people were run out of town. [I grew up in an all-white community.] A bad time in Corbin history. A video documentary was done several years ago that is a very poor depiction of the town, the people, and the incidents that took place that Halloween night. When I saw the film, I was angered and embarrassed.) Pat O'Neal

RE: Movie, "October Sky." According to the author, the book was entitled "Rocket Boys." By substitution, you'll find both titles contain the same letters. (I didn't figure that one out!!! The author revealed it on David Letterman Show.) Pat

Pam, Thanks for that post. I really enjoyed it. What a valuable member you are. From the internet Movie Database: "Mingo County, West Virginia, 1920. Coal miners, struggling to form a union, are up against company operators and gun thugs; Black and Italian miners, brought in by the company to break the strike, are caught between the two forces. Union activist and ex- Wobbly Joe Kenehan, sent to help organize the union, determines to bring the local, Black, and Italian groups together. Drawn from an actual incident; the characters of Sid Hatfield, Cabell Testerman, C. E. Lively, and Few Clothes Johnson were based on real people. " There are documents in the Russell Co. courthouse showing Italians and eastern Europeans miners coming to SW VA to work. Seems the date was the 1920. I have them somewhere. Where did this happen. Can someone tell me where it happened?? Was it only ONE mine or county?? Looks like a great movie. Amazon.com has it for $12.99 + s/h probably $4. Maybe someone could buy it and charge everyone a $ + postage that wanted to see it. Take about a Chinese firedrill, that would be a mess. <lol> -sysop -sysop Hi All, My mother was a part of this Mingo County War or " The Miners' Strike of 1921" as she calls it..Her mother, Ida Hensley Patrick, had passed away in May of 1920, leaving behind William and his 5 children...my mom was 10 years old and in the 3rd. grade at the time and had to quit school to take care of her Father and siblings.. one still in diapers..they lived in a nice house on the Tug River.. and things got very bad then.."scabs" were brought in to try and help break up the strike and that's when alot of the shootings began...Mom's brother, Claude and her Uncle were standing in the two doorways that were in the front part of the house...someone shot at them from across the river..one of the bullets missed her Uncle..missed her brother and went through the bestpost and imbedded in the wall...William and a neighbor tried their best to make a dugout out of sandbags out behind the house..so when the shooting got to rough they could take the kids and run..but things got even worse..and at the time the government was handing out tents to the miners and their families...William was alloted two tents because of the size of his family and he took the children and went back farther into the "Holler" away from the riverfront and placed the tents in a friend's garden....he did his best to make the tents as much like a home as he could..he got a friend to help him build a "grate" (fireplace and chimney) in the middle of one tent..that was the kitchen area..the other tent was for sleeping... It had wooden floors and wooden walls about 3 or 4 feet high all around and that's what he attatched the tents too..this kept out "critters" and snakes..Mom said she had to be very careful with the fire so she didn't burn a whole in the roof... Others in the area didn't fair quite as well as William and his family.. at some of the tent sites farther down the river women were being attacked and their breasts were cut off and they were left for dead....Another women named Grandma Jones, had a husband and son who were all for setting up the Union.. and some of those that opposed the Union killed her husband and son and decapitated them and hung their heads outside her house on the fencepost..(I have a photo of Grandma Jones with other Union men seated in front of the Union headquarters).....there's alot more to tell about this awful time period and it's hard to believe some of the barbaric things that were done..alot of lives were never the same after it was over.. I've tried my best to get a copy of the movie "Matewan" because my folks are from there..but haven't been able to locate it.. Pam Researching the following surnames: BURKE, CARTER, PATRICK, WINGO, McGRADY, WIMBERLEY, WITT/WHITT, HENSLEY, ROBERTSON. -----Original Message----- From: Robert Crabtree [SMTP:crabtree@speedlink.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 1999 12:00 PM To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com Subject: RE: COAL MINES OF W VA The film October Sky was filmed in TN for weather reasons but the story is based on actual fact about 5 high school boys interested in Rocketry in McDowell County. They were inspired by Russia's sputnik in the 50s. I understand it is a good representation of growing up in a coal mining community. Matewun is a wonderful movie, It is about the organization of coal miners during the hard times in the 20s which led up to what is known as the Mingo County War. ==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== #2 A large database of SURNAMES and the researcher's email address can be found at http://www.fortunecity.com/millennium/quarrybank/194/swabc.htm You may have your SURNAMES included by posting them and your address to the LIST and NOT to the sysop/owner. ==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== #3 Support the fight against unrequested junk e-mail (SPAM). Visit the webpage at: http://www.cauce.org/ -sysop "Toto, I don't think we are in NH any more."

Hi All, My mother was a part of this Mingo County War or " The Miners' Strike of 1921" as she calls it..Her mother, Ida Hensley Patrick, had passed away in May of 1920, leaving behind William and his 5 children...my mom was 10 years old and in the 3rd. grade at the time and had to quit school to take care of her Father and siblings..one still in diapers..they lived in a nice house on the Tug River.. and things got very bad then.."scabs" were brought in to try and help break up the strike and that's when alot of the shootings began...Mom's brother, Claude and her Uncle were standing in the two doorways that were in the front part of the house...someone shot at them from across the river..one of the bullets missed her Uncle..missed her brother and went through the bestpost and imbedded in the wall...William and a neighbor tried their best to make a dugout out of sandbags out behind the house..so when the shooting got to rough they could take the kids and run..but things got even worse..and at the time the government was handing out tents to the miners and their families...William was alloted two tents because of the size of his family and he took the children and went back farther into the "Holler" away from the riverfront and placed the tents in a friend's garden....he did his best to make the tents as much like a home as he could..he got a friend to help him build a "grate" (fireplace and chimney) in the middle of one tent..that was the kitchen area..the other tent was for sleeping... It had wooden floors and wooden walls about 3 or 4 feet high all around and that's what he attatched the tents too..this kept out "critters" and snakes..Mom said she had to be very careful with the fire so she didn't burn a whole in the roof... Others in the area didn't fair quite as well as William and his family..at some of the tent sites farther down the river women were being attacked and their breasts were cut off and they were left for dead....Another women named Grandma Jones, had a husband and son who were all for setting up the Union.. and some of those that opposed the Union killed her husband and son and decapitated them and hung their heads outside her house on the fencepost..(I have a photo of Grandma Jones with other Union men seated in front of the Union headquarters).....there's alot more to tell about this awful time period and it's hard to believe some of the barbaric things that were done..alot of lives were never the same after it was over.. I've tried my best to get a copy of the movie "Matewan" because my folks are from there..but haven't been able to locate it.. Pam Researching the following surnames: BURKE, CARTER, PATRICK, WINGO, McGRADY, WIMBERLEY, WITT/WHITT, HENSLEY, ROBERTSON. -----Original Message----- From: Robert Crabtree [SMTP:crabtree@speedlink.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 1999 12:00 PM To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com Subject: RE: COAL MINES OF W VA The film October Sky was filmed in TN for weather reasons but the story is based on actual fact about 5 high school boys interested in Rocketry in McDowell County. They were inspired by Russia's sputnik in the 50s. I understand it is a good representation of growing up in a coal mining community. Matewun is a wonderful movie, It is about the organization of coal miners during the hard times in the 20s which led up to what is known as the Mingo County War. ==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== #2 A large database of SURNAMES and the researcher's email address can be found at http://www.fortunecity.com/millennium/quarrybank/194/swabc.htm You may have your SURNAMES included by posting them and your address to the LIST and NOT to the sysop/owner.

If you go in and search by putting in the term "Rocket Boys" a sight with Big Creek High School is on the net, for the school this tells all about it. I am sorry I don't have the URL handy.

According to Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide, the movie "Matewan" was filmed in 1987. "Compelling and compassionate drama about labor troubles in the heart of coalmining country, Matewan, West Virginia, in the 1920s. As usual, writer-director Sayles (who appears briefly as a preacher) makes every note ring true in this meticulous period piece; he even co-wrote some phony labor songs! Beautifully photographed by Haskell Wexler." ***1/2 stars. Looks like my word for the day "absquatulate" caused a few people to dig out their dictionaries!!!! Thanks for your responses. Remember when Hazel (old tv series) used to learn a new word each day??? Guess "absquatulate" is my word today. Now, I must go see how many conversations I can conjure up, and use the word! Pat O'Neal

<<Matewun Is this a current movie. I have not heard of it. Early coal miner labor movements have always been interesting to me. One never gets more of a one sided stories than in labor issues. It makes it very dramatic. -eddie "Toto, I don't think we are in NH any more."

The film October Sky was filmed in TN for weather reasons but the story is based on actual fact about 5 high school boys interested in Rocketry in McDowell County. They were inspired by Russia's sputnik in the 50s. I understand it is a good representation of growing up in a coal mining community. Matewun is a wonderful movie, It is about the organization of coal miners during the hard times in the 20s which led up to what is known as the Mingo County War.

Go to this web site, they have a bunch of information. I have seen the family Musick all throughout their information. George M. Crabtree and Lydia Musick, dau of Alvah Musick was married, died and was buried in Russell County. The cemetery site below is only one of the many pages they have at this address: http://www.rootsweb.com/~varussel/ Russell Co., VA, George & Lydia "Musick" Crabtree Cemetery The George M. Crabtree Cemetery located on RT. 621, Sandy Ridge, Russell County, Virginia, near the home of Cecil and Irene Crabtree Musick. You may want to try the New River site also. They have a lot of information, especially the early land surveys of that area. Also search in Washington, parent county for Russell County. http://www.ls.net/~newriver/nrv.htm Good luck Robert

I am beginning to think that I am blessed with a daughter who never enjoyed reading and one year for Christmas (because her mother has everything!) she bought me a HUGE dictionary - an unabridged edition no less - one with every imagineable word it it - and I mean that !! -- anyhow with all this ABSQUATULATE stuff going around I thought for the heck of it I would check this dictionary and here is what it states::: ab.squat.u.late /slang/ -- to flee, abscond: The old prospector absquatulated with our picks and shovel. Hope this helps somewhat. I know the meaning is most definitely not what I thought it might be from just the word itself. Antoinette waughtel@oz.net Bill and Sue McNaught wrote: > Sounds like a word to use when one takes the last seat and tells those > left standing to "sit on your fist and rair (rare?) back on your thumb". > > Sue McN > > ==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== > #2 A large database of SURNAMES and the researcher's email address can be found at > http://www.fortunecity.com/millennium/quarrybank/194/swabc.htm > You may have your SURNAMES included by posting them and your address to the > LIST and NOT to the sysop/owner.

Pat I just sent the meaning of the work Absquatulate. It is very interesting. Delilah

Date forwarded: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 09:04:25 -0800 (PST) From: "Pat Oneal" <peon@icx.net> Subject: Absquatulate Date sent: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 12:09:18 -0500 To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com Forwarded by: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com absquatulate: >From the New Oxford Dict: absquatulate-- v.i. joc. Orig. US. m19. [After abscond, squattle (depart), perambulate, etc.] Depart, decamp. absquatu'lation n. m19. m19 = Middle 19th century originin U.S. "Toto, I don't think we are in NH any more."

Mr. & Mrs. Webster (there is a good woman behind every man, customary saying) Ab-squat-u-late v.intr. ab-squat-u-late d ab-squat-u-lat-ing ab-squat-u-late s 1.a. To depart in a hurry; abscond: "Your horse has absquatulated!" (Robert M. Bird) b. To argue. {Mock-Latinate formation, purporting to mean "to go off and squat elsewhere"} Notes: The vibrant energy of American English sometimes appears in the use of Latin affixes to create jocular pseudo-Latin "learned" words. Midland absquatulate has a prefix ab-, "away from," and a suffix -ate, "to act upon in a specified manner," affixed to a none existent base from-squatul-,probably suggested by squat. Hence the whimsical absquatulate, "to squat away from." Another such coinage is Northern busticate, which joins bust with-icate by analogy with verbs like medicate. Southern argufy joins argue to a redundant-fy, "to make; cause to become." These creations are largely confined to regions of the United States where change is slow, and where the 19th century love for Latinate words and expression is till manifest. For example, Appalachian speech is characterized by the frequent use of recollect, aggravate, oblige, and other such works.

Thanks Frieda for the definition to "absquatulate." I like that word. Think I'll throw it out once in awhile, although I don't think I'll be doing much absquatulating nowadays. I may not get up again!!!!! Pat

In response to my remark about the The Curiosity Shop, I am forwarding the entire message. It may be of interest to many of you involved in researching clothing worn during the Civil War. And, too, it gives a little insight re fabrics used for clothing. At the end of the message is a website for the Curiosity Shop. You will find the "expressions" in an article entitled "By the Jumping Moses!" Also, observe the article "Weeping Sad and Lonely" Mourning in America. That too, will give you insight to Mourning Customs during the Civil War period. This website appears to have lots of material concerning reenactments of battles during Civil War, and is one worth exploring. See below: Dennis Brubaker wrote: I have been asked to make a dress for a Civil War reenactor. She wants it to look authentic but not drab. Response: I recommend either Homespun Patterns or Past Patterns for the most accurate patterns available. Feel free to e-mail me with specific questions. As for fabrics and colors, they had some amazingly bright colors at the time. Depending on where a person lived and their social class they had access to and could afford the new aniline dyes that were amazingly bright. Natural dyes, professionally done are also very bright. Depending on the age of the woman she may have been wearing lighter bright colors (young) or deeper rich colors, (married or older) Solid color silks and very fine wools were very common, as were modest plaids and small checks for silk, fine wool or cotton dresses. Unless you are very familiar with the type of prints available at the time (a study in itself) I would recommend a simple check or plaid. Naturally, avoid neon type colors, but most any blue or brown, most reds, subdued greens are all safe choices. An added note, before cutting the dress material, make a muslin of the bodice and do very careful fittings until it fits snug at the waist and midriff and smooth every where else. Also, make it at least 1"-2" short waisted. The skirt will pull it down to where it should be, at least 1/2" or more above the natural waist line. Remember she will be wearing a hoop and a short petticoat under the hoop and at least one or maybe two petticoats over her hoops to hide the bones. If she's wearing a work dress, she will still need a couple petticoats under it, preferably at least one that is corded and well starched. Again, feel free to contact me off the list for more details as you may want them. >Glenna Jo "Obsessive Reenactor" Christen >gwjchris@rust.net >Visit our web site, "The Curiosity Shop" >http://www.rust.net/~gwjchris/ > > >

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now I know a better word to use for it...but, break the word up and what do you get??! Ab "squat" u late ........ Diana Kinzer Heath -----Original Message----- From: Frieda Davison <fdavison@sunmuw1.MUW.Edu> To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com <SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Wednesday, March 17, 1999 9:24 AM Subject: Absquatulate >Pat Oneal wrote: > > 8. "Absquatulate", (I have no idea what that means!!) > >One of our old Webster International Dictionaries says this means "to squat" as >in "No, you take the chair, I'll absquatulate." > > >Frieda > > >==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== >#7 "Roll Calls" or such by other names are to be called >by the SYSOP ONLY. NO WARNINGS!! Each member is free to post their >SURNAMES anytime they please. >