Son of a West Virginia Coal Miner
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
A coal miner and his wife and their eight children, living in a backwoods coal camp, surrounded by steep hills and mountains, where the only employment for men to provide for their families was working for the coal company. The coal company controlled the life and lifestyles of the families, and the entire camp itself. The company's weekly pay-off to coal miners was in script money. The coal companies manufactured their own coins, which the workers could only spend at coal company owned stores for food, clothes, household items, furniture, toys, etc., at inflated prices that families could not afford. So they had to purchase items on credit, owing the coal company. On payday the company would deduct from ones pay a percentage of how much a worker would owe and of course the credit would never be a zero balance. It was a vicious circle. A percentage was also deducted from the miners pay for the rent of the shot-gun built houses their families lived in. The coal miners were dedicated workers, they had to be, in order to feed and housed their families. Generation after generation for many decades struggled to survive. My father was one of these unfortunate coal miners, with only a fourth grade school learning. My mother had a grade ten school learning. After almost forty years working the coal mines he would come home from work coughing, at times he would cough up clogs of blood. In 1951, he was examined and diagnosed as having the coal miners disease "Black Lung" which resulted from inhaling coal dust and other chemicals that existed deep in the shafts of the coal mines. These tough times for families left devastating consequences on many children growing up back then. I was one of those children affected as you will find out when reading this book.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Born in 1938 at the tail end of the great depression in a small coal mining village in West Virginia, he tells how his parents struggled to provide for the family. His father, was a coal miner for forty years and his mother a house maid for the local doctor. How he and his seven siblings only had one pair of shoes each, during spring and summer they had to put them away so that they would not wear them out for the next school term. So during this time they went around playing in their bare feet. At the age of seven he disliked going to school. There were many school days he did not show up for class, because of his profound fantasy for being in the woods alone, contented with the sounds of mother nature, he would sit and dream. At fourteen, in 1953, the family with their meager possessions, moved north to a city in Ohio and within five years was the beginning trends of him becoming an alcoholic.
About the Author
He hope that his book will be an inspiration to others who may need some encouragement or motivation; individuals who are, or have been affected psychologically or physically by negative experiences in their lives. He has over come his fears of phobias, feelings of anxiety, and low self esteem, by believing and having faith in God, being sincerely honest with himself and accepting who he is today. With the encouragement and help of family members, friends and a lot of self soul searching. He began to read books, magazines and any novel he could find. He renewed his interest in oil painting. He began to think clearly and positively to set reachable goals and successfully accomplish them. He was a down and out alcoholic at the age of twenty one; married with two biological children and two step children his wife had before they were married. He knew that his marriage was a mistake, but tried to make the marriage work anyway, it did not. Today, the man that finished the writing of this book, he can say is a successful individual, with many goals and accomplishments fulfilled, but still striving each day to be even a more better person. He is a retiree, enjoys traveling with his wife, hobbies and his grandchildren.