MEMORIES -- BROOKE COUNTY COAL MINES
(from Brooke Review July 7, 2005)
By Eddie Jackfert of Wellsburg, from his
New autobiography "Service to my Country".
My parents emigrated to the United States during the period 1909-1910 from Poland. At the time, Poland was a part of the Austrian-Hungarian empire. The area my parents came from was overwhelming agricultural. They identified themselves as farm laborers on the ship's manifest that transported them to America. As thousands of other Europeans at the time, they sought a better economic future, and with the doors wide open in our great nation for immigration, they came to America. They brought a few personal belongings and hardly any other resources to sustain their pursuit of a better life. Traveling in steerage, the cost of their voyage to America was only $25.00, however, this amounted to two to three weeks' wags at that time and it took as long as fifty weeks to save sufficient funds for the voyage.
As many other ethnic groups arriving from Europe, my parents' destination became the coal mining areas of western Pennsylvania and made their residence at Elizabeth, Pennsylvania. Here my brothers Frank, Joe, Melvin and John were born. They lived in this area until the year 1918. My parents then moved to a small coal mining community named Shinntown, Pennsylvania where once again the coal mines proved to be the mode of employment. At the coal mining community of Shinntown, brother Martin was born in the year 1920 and I in the year 1921.
Soon thereafter, with declining employment at Shinntown we moved to an area south of Wellsburg, West Virginia, where my dad was employed at a coal mine known as Number Four. In the year 1923, we moved to McKinleyville, a small coal mining community owned by the Standard Mining Co. where my father worked until the year 1937. At McKinleyville, my sisters Helen and Margaret, and brother Pete were born. We lived in a community where the housing was constructed just for the employees of the Standard Mining Co..
The housing was sufficient but not very luxurious. There was no electricity, running water or indoor sanitation facilities. There was a company store that everyone could purchase food and other goods on credit. The coal mining company even used its own type of currency called scrip. Our financial resources were not great, however we seemed to survive. This was due to the resourcefulness of our parents. Having been raised in a farming community in Poland, they had knowledge as to how to provide additional food resources by maintaining a small garden, a cow for milk products and chickens to supplement our daily food needs. New shoes were not purchased very often, they were repaired by my dad. Pants that developed holes on their knees were patched by our Mother. No one seemed to mind, it was just they was we all lived at that time. There were no recreation facilities available. In the summer there was swimming in Buffalo Creek which bordered the community, fishing and a few sports. On Sundays we looked forward to the local baseball team in competition with other teams in the Ohio Valley. It was a difficult place to grow up in.
I attended McKinleyville primary school from grades one through six. For grades seven through nine, I was transported by a school bus to Bethany, WV. In the year 1937, we moved to WV, where I attended Wellsburg High School for the next three years.
I was an average student, inasmuch as I was never motivated by my parents in the field of education in order to prepare myself for any type of career in this world. After graduating from in the year 1939, I began to seek some sort of employment. Since my brothers were laboring at the Crescent Glass Factory in Wellsburg, I did receive a few days of work at the local glad industry there. Employment conditions in the Ohio Valley where I lived were rather dismal in the year 1939 and 1940, therefore I began to think about enlisting in the armed forces.
New autobiography "Service to my Country".
My parents emigrated to the United States during the period 1909-1910 from Poland. At the time, Poland was a part of the Austrian-Hungarian empire. The area my parents came from was overwhelming agricultural. They identified themselves as farm laborers on the ship's manifest that transported them to America. As thousands of other Europeans at the time, they sought a better economic future, and with the doors wide open in our great nation for immigration, they came to America. They brought a few personal belongings and hardly any other resources to sustain their pursuit of a better life. Traveling in steerage, the cost of their voyage to America was only $25.00, however, this amounted to two to three weeks' wags at that time and it took as long as fifty weeks to save sufficient funds for the voyage.
As many other ethnic groups arriving from Europe, my parents' destination became the coal mining areas of western Pennsylvania and made their residence at Elizabeth, Pennsylvania. Here my brothers Frank, Joe, Melvin and John were born. They lived in this area until the year 1918. My parents then moved to a small coal mining community named Shinntown, Pennsylvania where once again the coal mines proved to be the mode of employment. At the coal mining community of Shinntown, brother Martin was born in the year 1920 and I in the year 1921.
Soon thereafter, with declining employment at Shinntown we moved to an area south of Wellsburg, West Virginia, where my dad was employed at a coal mine known as Number Four. In the year 1923, we moved to McKinleyville, a small coal mining community owned by the Standard Mining Co. where my father worked until the year 1937. At McKinleyville, my sisters Helen and Margaret, and brother Pete were born. We lived in a community where the housing was constructed just for the employees of the Standard Mining Co..
The housing was sufficient but not very luxurious. There was no electricity, running water or indoor sanitation facilities. There was a company store that everyone could purchase food and other goods on credit. The coal mining company even used its own type of currency called scrip. Our financial resources were not great, however we seemed to survive. This was due to the resourcefulness of our parents. Having been raised in a farming community in Poland, they had knowledge as to how to provide additional food resources by maintaining a small garden, a cow for milk products and chickens to supplement our daily food needs. New shoes were not purchased very often, they were repaired by my dad. Pants that developed holes on their knees were patched by our Mother. No one seemed to mind, it was just they was we all lived at that time. There were no recreation facilities available. In the summer there was swimming in Buffalo Creek which bordered the community, fishing and a few sports. On Sundays we looked forward to the local baseball team in competition with other teams in the Ohio Valley. It was a difficult place to grow up in.
I attended McKinleyville primary school from grades one through six. For grades seven through nine, I was transported by a school bus to Bethany, WV. In the year 1937, we moved to WV, where I attended Wellsburg High School for the next three years.
I was an average student, inasmuch as I was never motivated by my parents in the field of education in order to prepare myself for any type of career in this world. After graduating from in the year 1939, I began to seek some sort of employment. Since my brothers were laboring at the Crescent Glass Factory in Wellsburg, I did receive a few days of work at the local glad industry there. Employment conditions in the Ohio Valley where I lived were rather dismal in the year 1939 and 1940, therefore I began to think about enlisting in the armed forces.