Saturday, September 26, 2009

2nd. half Logan Banner article: Hatfields Settled WV -Ky

I had to cut this article up and enlarge it to make it legible. 1st. is the original article, followed by the enlarged version.

Logan Banner June 18, 1963

I had to cut the article up to make it legible. Picture 1 is the entire article followed in order (I hope) by the article enlarged.

More Billfold Contents

1.newspaper notice about burn injury in the number 15 mine.

2.PTA membership Card

3.newspaper notice about union organizing meeting as well as the wives of the young democrats meeting.

4.Knights of Pythias membership card (hmmm...always wondered what in the world that was)

5.Boy Scout Leader Card

6.receipt from Junior Order of American Mechanics

7.Insurance Card

Contents of a Billfold in the 40's

1. Young Democratic Clubs Membership Card

2. WVa Drivers License - printed on stiff paper like a business card of today.

3 and 4 - Perry Como Collector's Card and the back of the card with a fortune like a crackerjack prize.

5 and 6 - Junior Mercantile Card and back of card. The Junior Mercantile Store was a top of the line store in Logan WV. You would be surprised by the availability of upscale, fashionable clothes. When I was growing up the Mercantile was still there as well as stores such as McCormicks and Peerys. All those store (except McCormicks which has scaled back) closed in the 80's when the coal companies pulled out saying there was no more mineable coal in WV.

Actually it was just a move to bust the unions (which they did) and also to force the state of WV to forgive 100's of millions of dollars worth of fines and back taxes which were never paid so that the mines would open again. Thereby bringing back jobs and mountaintop mining which makes strip mining look like childsplay. A move that will be repeated if coal companies are not allowed to run mountaintop mines because they don't want the added expense of underground mining.

My Favorite Picture

Deputy Farley on a horse. Note the badge on his chest and the rifle slung across his lap. There is no saddle on that horse - just a blanket. That must be a pretty big horse because Pepaw was 6'4".

More pictures

That house is at the end of the circle where my grandparents lived at Maysburg WV. I remember when they remodled it in the early 70's. They also restored that car that you see to the right in the picture. Looks like Uncle Bud has "Farley Ears" to me!

What a cool picture!

1. Look at the sunbonnet on the babies head. They used to take skin cancer precautions years ago...i.e. sunbonnets, parasols and long sleeves in the summer time.

2. What a cool picture!

3. From the looks of that house I would say that picture was taken in the 60's.

Spelling Bee Champ of West Virginia

Picture number 3 is my Uncle Bud (Lloyd Farley) - I think. He won the state spelling bee when he was in the 9th. grade. A great source of pride for the family for years.

Picture number 2 - who knew they had trailers back then. If you look at the enlarged picture you can see lunch buckets hanging from the window. The trailer is setting up on railroad ties and the front step is a railroad tie. There is also an antennae on the back of the trailer. It used to be my Uncle Bud's job to run the line. (If the antennae went out he had to follow the line to the top of the mountain and fix whatever was messing up the reception.) I guarantee you that was a sucky job to have!

Picture 1 is my mom playing at a washtub. It looks like she has a push broom in her hands to me. There is a sledge hammer by the steps and corn shucks are scattered around the trash barrel that is full of ashes.

hmmm...looks like I need to go back and enlarge a few pictures. I have just figured out how to do that and the details you can see are pretty cool from a historical perspective.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Logan Banner "Moonshine Still Found Home of Slain Man"

Logan Banner "Clubhouse Wrecked on Payday at the Mines"

The last picture is the actual article in the Logan Banner. I enlarged the other pictures to maake it legible.

1948 Campaign Flier

My mom said she got in trouble once because she went into the walk-in closet off the living room once. She said it was piled to the ceiling with cigar boxes and liqueur.

That's a true Logan County Election for ya!

2 pictures

1. Paul Farley is the man on the right. He is my great grandfather. The man on the left is the spittin' image of my Pepaw Farley except he doesn't have any hair. I would love to know who he is.

2. The baby is my Aunt Mary Ann. I am almost positive.

The Boardinghouse and the Tricycle

My mom still remembers that tricycle. She has many fond memories of riding around the boardinghouse on a porch that extended around 3 sides of the house. It was a grand place to play. She even remembers the squeaky wheel. I have heard the story many times.

My Granny used to cook 3 square meals a day for the miners. She also made their beds and provided clean sheets and she kept the showers sparkling clean too. In addition to running the boardinghouse and keeping it immaculate, she also had 4 small children to care for. When she was finished with that she would work on the garden and tend the animals (cows must be milked twice a day) and of course there was canning and churning to be done because the only thing they bought at the store was sugar.

Pepaw and my Great Aunt Edna (picture 1)

Floyd and Anna Farley

1. Floyd Farley (Pepaw) 14 years old (1920)

2. Anna Farley (Granny), her sister Edna - they were orphans from the time granny was 5 and Edna was 3 during the depression. They used to wander around living wherever someone would take them in.

3. I don't know who those people are.