The genealogy research is getting to me. Sometimes it's very exciting, reading stories about ancestors in other countries, and ones right out of history books. But some of it makes me sad, and I'm not sure why. I had a lot of relatives born and raised in coal mining camps, and I've grown up hearing stories about life there. Pardee, Virginia was a coal camp, a mining town. Now, it's been buried by the coal companies, the mountain has been moved on top of it.
I've heard a lot of good stories, and they have a lot of good memories. I guess I don't understand why it makes me sad. Looking from the outside, it sounds like a hard way of life. And a lot of those places are so far back in the mountains, I don't know how they ever got out. The sun rises over the mountains half way through the morning, and it's going down way before the top of the mountain runs out of light, that's for sure. It didn't matter to the miners, it was dark when they went in, dark all day, dark when they came out.
But, anyway, I have access to ancestry.com for 6 weeks, and then I'll move on to researching something else.
So...are you kin to Jack Pardee?
ReplyDeleteCoal mines do sound depressing. But that is cool that you are finding out this info. Its hard for me to track my ancestory, the last name is Wilson. Very common. My uncle has traced it back into the 1800\'s in Scotland.
ReplyDeleteI\'m beginning to take my journey into genealogy as I am the last one standing that can put together part of the family tree. Some is easy (other people\'s work, mostly) and some is difficult (trying to sort out exactly what relationship a Ryan had to a younger generation Nolan when neither were ever married, etc.) Is ancestry.com a good place to start, or is there somewhere "easier" to start with basic information?Peace, Doc
ReplyDeleteI had relatives in West Virginia that worked in the coal mines and have heard stories about their lives. It was a hard life but none of them seemed to have minded. I remember as I was reading your blog about how the sun comes over the mountains later in the morning and night creeps up on you quickly. Up here where it\'s flat it\'s so much different.
ReplyDeleteI was born in Pardee Virginia. My father and grandfathers were coal miners in that camp. The only thing that still exists is a cemetery on the top of the hill. It is green and fenced and seemed to be well taken care of. I have an old picture of my mother , father , and me in front of the commissary store. I would recommend ancestry.com to anyone interested in searching their family tree. I have suscribed to it for several years.
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