A Miner’s Family Life: Memories of Minden, West Virginia

By Billy Ray Bibb

Dare we compare mining to slavery? In a way, yes. Although miners were not physically owned, they were mentally owned by their work. Livelihoods were owned by the company store—which was detrimental both emotionally and psychologically—making life difficult for not just the miners but their families, too.

Many immigrants who came to America were forced to leave their homelands, seeking a means to survive in the new world. The American Dream promised a life of freedom—but was that really true for immigrants who became miners? Mining was different from the work they were accustomed to, but immigrants thought it had to be better than what they left behind.

Economically, though, they were blind. Immigrants were paid little for dangerous work, but they endured. In A Miner’s Family Life, author Billy Ray Bibb tells the story of his life and his family history. He comes from a long line of West Virginian coal miners so he knows the true story. This is dedicated to all miners, including the souls of those who suffered in body, mind, and spirit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Feb 27, 2019
• ISBN: 9781728300832

Billy Ray Bibb

Billy Ray Bibb served in the United States Navy and has always had a desire to tell his life’s story. From the book’s proceeds, he plans to raise money for the Minden Community Center in an effort to preserve the small West Virgina town’s history. Bibb currently lives in Scottsville, Virginia.

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© 2018 Billy Ray Bibb. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 02/26/2019

ISBN: 978-1-7283-0084-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-0082-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-0083-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019901954

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Beginning

Chapter 2 Exciting and Challenging Times

Chapter 3 A Miner at Rest and a Lump of Coal

Chapter 4 Fun and Family

Chapter 5 Growing Up

Chapter 6 School Days

Chapter 7 Life Goes On

Chapter 8 Hindsight Is 20/20

Chapter 9 Pet Peeves

Chapter 10 Where’s That Coal Bucket?

Chapter 11 Making Do

Chapter 12 Surviving the Rains

Chapter 13 Determination and Compassion

Chapter 14 What’s Important?

I

dedicate this book and all the memories it contains to my family and the friends I had growing up in Minden, West Virginia.

I would like to pay tribute to my sister Sharon K. Barker for her time and assistance in preparation of the manuscript for this book. Many thanks, Sis.

I dedicate it as well to all the miners and their families who experienced life in coal-mining towns; I include every soul lost due to the primitive coal-mining processes they worked under that caused them to suffer in mind, body, and soul.

INTRODUCTION

The stories I present here are not based on substantial facts or published records; they are my memories of a lifetime as a son of a coal miner and what I had heard from parents, neighbors, and friends in Minden, West Virginia.

CHAPTER 1

THE BEGINNING

When my mother was young, she would take her daddy’s dinner bucket to the Rock Lick mine at lunchtime. Her dad was responsible for the mules and ponies that pulled coal cars out of the mine. She walked from her family’s home in Concho, West Virginia, through the woods to get to the mine.

One day, she had trouble and lost her way, which made lunch late. The experience weakened her, and she contracted rheumatic fever, which left her with a heart murmur. She was not aware of this until she was nearly forty-seven, when regulating her blood pressure became a problem. She eventually died of it.

Mom and Dad married in 1935. Their first home was just a washhouse they rented from a miner who was able to rent a house. Because not all miners could rent homes, some had to rent rooms in boarding houses the coal company owned. When those rooms were all rented, people would have to get on a waiting list.

Dad went to school through third grade, when he was about the age and size to start his mining career. I think he started out in the mine on the coal belt sorting coal and slate. Many young boys got their start in that manner. He was one of seven sons, and his dad was a miner too; it was a family custom. Dad was able to read and write.