Coke Oven Definition: Oven for roasting coal to drive off chemical constituents and reduce it to almost pure carbon, ie. coke.

To go one step on this coke was used in making steel. In about 1870 to 1890 my husbands great grandfather Peter Jerome Adams, a brick mason, had a path he followed from one town to the other reworking the coke ovens.. At that time they were built of brick and would burn out and need to be rebuilt. He went from Pa to VA, TN, KY and other states in the south where a steel mill might be working. Steel was made in the area where used as it was not easy to move the heavy metal. I understand there were several such ovens in Tennessee and Kentucky. Peter Jerome ended his days in Middlesboro, KY which at its start was thought to be on the road to becoming the Pittsburgh of the south. Iron Ore was needed to make this steel and the deposits were not as great here as first thought. I do know that P. Jerome lived in Campbell CO. His son Vincent Jerome Adams married into the Brown / Dossett family of that area by way of Kitty Brown daughter of George Washington Brown and Nancy Jane Dossett Brown. Hope this has been some help and that it is all right as it was from memory. Kay Goforth Adams Middlesboro, ----- Original Message ----- From: <Ctrptrkdm@aol.com> To: <TNCAMPBE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, June 07, 2004 2:23 PM Subject: Re: [TNCAMPBE-L] Coke ovens > Coke Oven Definition: > Oven for roasting coal to drive off chemical constituents and reduce it to almost pure carbon, ie. coke. > >