Mom and Dad

By George Hughes

A father and Mother’ journey from poverty.
The love that they shared for each other, and their eight children was unconditional… a love that have continued to grow, eternally, even after their deaths. The gut decision Mom and Dad toiled over, for many sleepless nights, to find a way, to relocate the family from a destitute environment, it was courageous and profound.
The sacrifices they had to endure, each day, for the family, was inconceivable dire, residing in a small poverty laden coal mining camp in the State of W.VA, before, during, and after the United States Government’ 1930s economic depression. It was devastating and unrelenting, living without the basic essentials of food, clothing, and household necessities the whole family had to endure
But their faith and belief in God, and their will to survive, the family overcame the torments of poverty, and begin to live a better and decent life, eventually relocating the family North, to the State of Ohio, in 1953… (All praise To God, Mom and Dad)

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665559676

George Hughes

George Jasper Hughes Jr. the six of eight children birth by George Hughes Sr., and Cora Hughes, born in a coal mining camp in West Virginia, JULY 20, 1938. He enjoyed his young life as child growing up in the coal camp, especially, with other neighborhood kids, looking for adventures traversing the hilly woods surrounding the community. He was too young to comprehend the conditions living in poverty. He was a teenager when his parents relocated the family to Ohio, where he had difficulties with acclamation changes to big city life… resulting in sociological disorders, he became a quiet, shy, bashful teenager…contrarily, though, physically, he became a star athlete, and, participated and excelled in all of Jessup W. Scott’s high school’ sports, in Toledo, Ohio. At nineteen, he was introduced to alcohol for the first time …he begin to like the feeling of confidence and the feelings of mental euphoria the alcohol affected upon his mentality, eventually, resulting in alcoholism. His three marriages ended in divorce….four biological and three step children by first marriage. George has been in sobriety for over forty years and has established a successful life as a writer, and author of his second book, and an established artist in oil painting. His second book;” Mom and Dad”, contains chapters expressing his opinions and beliefs about Family unity, social and political issues.

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Mom

and

Dad

George Hughes

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© 2022 George Hughes. 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  05/10/2022

ISBN: 978-1-6655-5968-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-5967-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022909111

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A fter

writing, and publishing my Autobiography, I was compelled to write about my Parents, George Jasper, and Cora Caroline Hughes. My Father died in 1979, from a disease that he contacted after working in the Coal Mines for more than 40 years, known as the "Black Lung disease. My Mother, after years of mourning my Father’s Death, was so heartbroken, having little will to carry on without Her Husband of more than 55 years of marriage, succumbed to an illness associated with Hypertension in 1986.

My Parents gave their unconditional love and devotion to each other, and to their children, and gave their radiant character, sincere care, and friendliness to others. Among my Parents Spiritual life was to have Faith, and Trust in God, to live simply, to love generously, to care deeply, and to speak kindly.

I wanted to express my love, gratitude, and appreciation for all their sacrifices over many years for the Family. The 1920s, and the devastating years of the Great Depression, (1929- 1941) and the Family’s ever struggling years after, to survive, was a journey that was unbelievable, extremely harsh, and unrelenting for them.

Although during the tail end of the Depression, the latter 1930s, the United State Government declared the diminishing of the Depression, and issued a statement to the Nation, stating, that the economy is gradually returning to normalcy;

But for the Families living in Coal Camps throughout the States of Virginia, West Virginia, and other regions of the U.S. where mining for bituminous coal was the livelihood for many thousands of families, the situation with the economy, before, or after the Great Depression, did not help the poverty conditions of their lives.

It was a never ending struggle to raise a family during these deplorable and terrifying years, especially living in a Coal Camp where the only employment was to work in the Coal Mine. My Father began to work in the Coal Mine before the age of 15, being the older of his Brothers and Sisters, his Education had to be put on the back burner, so as to help supplement the family’s meager incomes.

My Father had to become a man before his time.

My Father was born August 6, 1898, in Blacksburg, Virginia, where his Family lived for several years. Dad was a very good athlete, participating with the community Baseball team at the catcher’s position, during baseball season, mostly, on Sundays, his team would play opposing teams from other Coal Camp Communities throughout the southeastern sections of the State of W.VA.

Because Dad having to work in the Coal Mine, but so did all of his teammates, they could only practice with the team late in the evenings, after work, and depending on what work shift, some of the players hardly ever practice. There were many times the team had to play a game missing one or two main players, which meant they would have to play anyone that was available.

(After settling down and marrying my Mother, the family quickly expanded to eight children. My Father had many stories, tales, and experiences he would entertain the family with over the years, sometimes one on one, or sometimes with the whole Family sitting around in a room at home.)

(I remember him talking about his playing Baseball back in the day, says he was fourteen years of age, the youngest player on the team. He would tell us, that we had to understand, for instance, other reasons why, sometimes his team was short of players come game time; some player’s work assignments became a factor, as mention, but you also have to consider that some were teenagers, none no more than twenty one or twenty two years of age, and come payday on Friday, lining up outside the Pay Shack after a back breaking Week deep down in the tunnels of the mines, breathing microscopic coal dust and other chemicals into their lungs, they felt relieve to have survived another week free of injury, or being killed… Tired, and near exhaustion, they wanted to relax with maybe a pint of moonshine on the way home, some made it home, some didn’t. Some went home reluctantly, taking care of family responsibilities, others whose first priority was the Family’s welfare, went directly home.

And on Saturdays, every young man’s day, or night, was to take a once a week bath, in a # 2 tub, put on clean clothes for the first time during the Week, maybe go dancing Saturday evening with his wife, or girlfriend at the local dancing shack up the road on Epperly Hill. Some players made it to the scheduled game on Sunday, some didn’t, summarizing my Father’s point why the team was short of players on game day.

(I believe my Dad probably missed a few games himself)

My Father’s Parents, (Grand Dad and Grand Ma) Thomas and Caroline Hughes had five children; three Sons, and two Daughters, respectfully. My Grandparents and family eventually left Blacksburg, Virginia, and relocated in the State of West, Virginia, in the small Coal mining town of Lester, located in the Southern region of the State, and as a Family, lived there for many years.

Grandfather also worked in the Coal mines for many years, although he died several years after relocating in Lester. In the year 1918, my Father, Twenty years old, and still working to help support the Family, had to make a very difficult decision.

The Coal Company in Lester had cut back on the production of mining Coal, due to the COAL-SEAM in the region’s boundaries that was running low, consequently laying-off workers, my Father was included in the lay-off.

Since there was no other means of employment there In Lester, Dad had to seek employment at other Coal Companies located in the Southern regions of the State; His Brothers and Sisters were now young adults, eventually began to leave Home for a life of their own, leaving only my Dad home to support Grandmother, who was alone with no income to support herself, since the passing of Grandfather.

With no other alternative, my Father had to leave home himself to find employment, before he left though, he promise his Mother that when he found employment he assured her that he would bring her money for food, household items and medication.

My Dad always have being a Man of his word.

(I was too young to remember, but as I grew older, I have overheard Family members discussing how my Father had supported his Mother for many years, even buying Groceries and other household items, delivering them himself, or paying someone with a vehicle to take him and the Goods to his Mother.)

Not long after my Dad left Home he found a job at The Coal Company of Winding Gulf Collieries, a Coal Mine and Tipple, located at Winding Gulf, W.Va., no.2 Holler, a small Coal Camp 30 miles Southeast of Lester, W.Va. For the next forty plus years my dad’s only employment was to work in the coal mines.

My Father was, and still is my Hero, a man of his word, a quiet man, with a clear and peaceful mind.

Winding Gulf is where it all began, where My Father First met my Mother. The Birthplace Place of me, my four Brothers, and three Sisters, respectively.

All the children were born two years apart, except for the youngest, my Brother, Thomas William, who was the eighth, and the last, born six years after the seventh child. Years later, after all the children had grew into adults, some with families of their own, there were revealing discussions about the family members that some of us, as children of my Parents did not know; discussions were about my Mother being pregnant with twins, but she miscarried… and that if Mom would have had a successful pregnancy, the Twins would have been the oldest siblings in the Family… There has been uncertainty concerning the revelations among Family for decades.

I do not know the exact date my Parents first met each other, but what I was told, that my Mother’s first birth, a girl, named Louise, was born in 1924, by a different Father. My biological Parents were married on Thanksgiving Day, 1927, Louise was then three years of age.

Winding Gulf Coal Mining Camp No.2, was a very small Holler, with an African American population of about 30 Families, give or take. Just about all Males living in the Holler, work in the Coal Mines, including some young males who was still in School, depending on each family’s needs for more wage earners in the household.

Young looking- males seeking work, had to prove that they met the United States Child Labor Agreement. Under The Federal Tax Law, a person seeking employment under the age of sixteen was not allowed to work for a pay check.

(Although during these years Child Labor Laws were left to each individual State Government to enact.)

My Father, in 1912, at fourteen, went to work in the Coal mines, as did many other children his age during those hardship years. Employers in those years would only ask a potential worker once, how old you were, if in reality you were thirteen, and looked big enough, and told the Employers you were sixteen, you were hired.

(Coal Companies did not care how old you were, as long as you was productive.)

In 1938 The United States Child Labor Committee sent a petition to Congress opposing child labor in the U.S.; stating that a child under sixteen years of age should not be employed for wages, it was legislated, passed, made a Federal law, and signed by then President, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The United States Census Bureau was brought into legislation in 1790, and it began to count the U.S. Population of its residents under Thomas Jefferson, U.S. third President. There were several hundred thousand uncounted residents, including Slaves Born in the U.S., and those who were captured, chained and shipped over the Ocean from Africa, who were literally not counted during the 16th and 17th Century. The Government’s approval of slavery was a legal, written law, prorogated by U.S. Congress.

Anyone that is aware of the History of the Slave System in America, know that there were no documentation of Births by slaves, meaning that slaves were not considered U.S. Citizens, no Birth Certificates, no way to keep track of their age, so it was very difficult for Black Slaves to remember over the years how old they were, they were not permitted to read or write… so they had to depend on their slave owner’s recollection of their date of Birth, and in many cases the slave’s owner was just as illiterate, if not more so, as the slave.

The reason why I am inserting this narrative at this point, is to let the reader understand, that because of Slavery, and that it was a constitutional law in the U.S., it had a traumatic effect on the innocence of generations of Black people for many Decades after President Abraham Lincoln’s Declaration Proclamation of Independents in 1863.

My Father’s Birth was only 35years subsequent of the Proclamation; My Grandparents and their Generation and the Generation preceding them, unfortunately, lived in those years, if not as Slaves themselves, they would live as Sharecroppers.

…So when My Father and his Generation went to seek employment in the Coal Mines as Children, and gave their Aged in 1912, and years preceding his Generation, probably 75% of them did not truly know their exact age, due to the residual of Slavery.

I was born July 20, 1938. I was the six child out of eight living in our Home in Winding Gulf holler #2, my elder siblings, my three sisters, were old enough to help my mother with certain household chores, and they tried to keep the youngest ones out of mischief, well, like I said, they tried!

When I reached the age of five, my two older Brothers, seven and nine years, were already hard to keep track of and out of mischief, and me being the youngest, but not the innocence, was said to be the so call ‘Denis the menace.’ My two younger Brothers were born, 1941, and 1946, respectively, completed the Family.

As I grew older, entering primary school at six years of age was an exciting time, for a short period, anyway. Less than a month after School started in the Fall Season, I began to dislike learning, and started to skip the entire school day, instead, I would hide and