that we might live so well in the sunshine.
Unknown Author
(found on internet - please advise if you know author!)
From the information we've gathered to date, the family goes back to an agricultural background in the Wiltshire district of England. When times got tough, many family members went looking for work elsewhere and ended up following the coal mining industry. Many went to Wales and then from there to mining in New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois and the Gold Rush in California while others moved to Canada and Australia seeking better living conditions and futures for their families.
We felt it appropriate to add a page here of stories and links about the life of the coalminers and movies that might give the family a feel for the rough life our ancestors endured to carve a better life for their descendants.
Personal Stories from a Coalminer's Son and Grandson
whose relatives also came from Wales
Written by and copyright held by Robert Howells. In tribute to David Howells (father), David Howells (grandfather) and, Henry Howells (ggrandfather), all coalminers. His grandfather and ggrandfather came to the United States from South Wales in 1868.
[Bob has given permission to share his stories with the Swanborough family as they give the Swanborough descendants a feel for what life was like for our families who came before us and mined coal for a living. Thank you Bob!]
Hi: A few hours before the shift began at Susquehanna #6, the fire boss would make his rounds to determine if the work sections were safe. He checked possibilities of danger including gas. He carried with him a safety lamp (Davey lamp) which used naphtha for fuel. It was a tall (app. 10-12 inches) and about 4-5 inches in circumference. The flame was surrounded by a mesh and then a glass enclosure. When the light went out it indicated a lack of oxygen and the presence of gas. The men would pick up their battery operated lamps at the lamp shanty. Each had a designated and numbered lamp. The lampman would hand them out in the morning and collect them after the shift, put them on a rack and charge them for the next day. (Many lampmen were men who had lost a leg in the mine and couldn't go below to work.)
The men would affix them to the front of their safety helmet, put the cord over the top of the helmet and down the back to the battery pack which was connected to his belt at the waist. He wore a piece of leather between the pack and his body for protection. The lamp was turned on when it was put on the helmet and stayed on until the shift was over. Instead of going down on the cage, some of the men would walk past our patch of houses and through the woods to a slope. A slope was an entrance that went into the mine at an angle and the men would walk down instead of taking the cage. From our kitchen window, after dark, we could see the lights coming through the woods as the men returned after their shift. Watching the bobbing lights at night was an eerie sight. Some men showered and changed clothes before going home after work. Others preferred to go home in their work clothes and wash at home.
Those who "shifted" went to the shifting shanty. The shifting shanty was a large building with a shower room at the end. As I recall, the shower room was about 10 x 10 with shower heads on the walls.There were no lockers for their clothes. The ceiling was very high and there were many pulleys attached to it. Through each pulley ran a chain that came down and was able to be fastened to the back of a bench. The men fastened their clothing to the chain by means of a hook or, in some cases, a very large safety pin. They would then pull the chain taking the clothes to the ceiling, fasten the chainto the back of a bench and put a padlock through the links so nobody could steal the clothes. The shanty was very dark, smelly and dirty. There were long electric wires that hung from the ceiling and came below the clothing. There was an incandescent bulb at the end of the cord. I don't think the lights were ever turned off. They replaced the bulb when it burned out. The windows were trasnslucent but turning opaque with the dirt. The benches and floor were always dirty with coal dust. I guess someone cleaned the building once in a while but it was a never ending job.
On Saturdays, when the mine wasn't working, I would go down and get permission from the hoist engineer (Mr. Morgan, Mr. Brush or Mr.Poltrock) to take a shower. Usually, my friend, Jack Campbell, would go with me. The engineers knew we were from the mining patch and they never refused us. We had to take newspapers with us to spread on the bench and on the floor. If we forgot to bring them, we couldn't sit on the bench or walk barefoot on the dirty floor. Sitting or walking without the benefit of the newspapers meant a dirty "bottom" or dirty feet and required another shower. It sounds like a lot of trouble but it was better than the alternative which was taking a bath in a round galvanized tub in the middle of the kitchen floor and have my two older sisters teasing me by threatening to open the kitchen door and throw cold water on me.
Again, this tale is getting too long. Happy 4th.
Bob
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Updated January 15, 2005
Copyright 1998-2005, Bonnie Swansbrough
My claim of copyright extends to the original contributions that I have made to this site and to the site as a compilation of existing works.Some contributions to this site have been made by others, and they are given credit where appropriate, and they retain the copyrights to their works.