My Roots In Logan County

Pictured on this page are several old photos of places that mean a lot to me. They are frozen memories of some places that I remember well from my childhood days in Logan County, West Virginia - where I was born, and where my grandparents lived until 1969. Pictured at right is Holden Hospital, where I "discovered America" on October 20, 1950. The old building had sat empty for several years when it finally was ravaged by fire and razed sometime back in the mid to late 80's. Although I don't remember being born there, I do have many memories of sitting in the lobby while my dad, a minister, visited a number of friends and family members there over the years. Pictures below also include a shot of downtown Logan in the late 40's or early 50's and a photo of the old Logan County Courthouse, which was replaced by a new one sometime in the late 60's.



For those who are not familiar with Logan County, it is located in the south western part of West Virginia, 69 crooked miles down State Route 10, south of Huntington. It is rugged, mountainous territory, covering 456 square miles, traversed by the Guyandotte River which runs northward to it's confluence with the Ohio in the Guyandotte section of Huntington. I don't know whether the river derives its name from the town or vice versa, but Guyandotte is an American Indian name which is very appropriate for Logan County. The county, and it's county seat derive their name from Chief Logan, a native American chieftain of the Mingo Tribe that was indigenous to the area before the first white settlers came. The Chief, who lived from 1725 - 1780 is best known for leading a party of 13 Shawnee and Mingo warriors on a raid in revenge for the brutal killing of his family members by American frontiersmen. This raid helped spark the 1774 conflict known as "Lord Dunmore's War" which folks around Point Pleasant, WV call the first battle of the American Revolution. Chief Logan and his daughter, Aracoma, are immortalized in "The Aracoma Story" which is depicted each summer at Chief Logan State Park in Logan County.





So much for the history lesson. My maternal grandparents, Mary and Jerry Stidham, were long time residents of the Holden area in Logan County. Papaw Stidham first worked in the Island Creek Number One Mine at Holden, and later became an official with the United Mine Workers of America labor union. He serve three terms in the West Virginia House of Delegates in the late 40's and early 50's and was a fellow legislator with future West Virginia Governors, Wally Barron and Arch Moore as well as future U.S. Senator Robert Byrd.







Island Creek Coal company had huge land holdings in Logan County, and had at least 22 coal mines operating at one time, and each mine was identified by it's number. The Number One mine was located at what the locals called "Main Holden". Holden was a model community as coal camps go. It included a large "Company Store" (pictured at left), the aforementioned hospital, a theater, barber shop, a Community Church, a post office, and several other enterprises, all owned by (or housed in buildings owned by) the company. Most of the miners and their families lived in small neat, well maintained houses, which they rented from the company. The mine superintendent lived in a large stately home on the hill just across the narrow valley from the hill where the hospital was located.



As each mine was opened, smaller coal camps sprung up around the mines, populated by the families of the men who worked in the pits. Many of the camps had a branch location of the company store and some had clubhouses or community centers. One even had a nice public swimming pool owned and operated by the coal company. Most of the homes were small, two bedroom cottages but there were some camps where the houses were duplex models. The company employed carpenters who built and maintained the company houses. The individual coal camps were identified by the mines which they supported. The camp where my grandparents lived grew up around the two mines in the area known as Number 5 and Number 6. Thus, they lived at "5&6 Holden". It sounds a little strange now, but when I was growing up it was a commonly understood what was meant when someone said that an individual lived at "Number 7", or at "21."



Although not Italian, my grandparents lived on Kimball Street which was known as "Little Italy" in the 5&6 community. One side of Kimball Street was made up completely of Italian Americans and many of the homes on the other side also housed "Tally's" (an ethnic term, like "Hunky" for European immigrants, which - believe me - was NOT used in a derogatory manner in Logan County). The coal camps were full of Italian, Scotch, Irish, Hungarian, Serbian, and African Americans who had come for the income and perceived job security offered by the booming coal mines in the 40's and 50's.



I remember well, the Brazila and Caruso families who were neighbors of my grandparents. They were large families who had a couple of generations occupying several of the company houses. Old Mr. Caruso (who lived with his coal miner son, Sam) was an Italian immigrant and a cobbler by trade. But you didn't call him a cobbler. "I am a shoemaker!" he would say firmly. In fact, since there were several Caruso households there at 5&6, he was referred to by the neighbors as "Mr. Shoemake" and his wife was (of course) "Mrs. Shoemake". The Carusos and Brazilas both had stone ovens in their back yards. The smell of fresh bread baking was aways prevalent on Kimball Street. I can almost smell it now!


Another favorite memory is that of two produce vendors who worked the coal camps hawking their goods from the backs of old bread trucks. John Garrido and Dominic (I never knew his last name) had quite a competition going. Mamaw just referred to them as "Dominic and John". Their routes brought them to Kimball Street a couple of times per week. As they drove slowly down the street, they would ring their bells loudly, bringing many of the housewives out to peruse their fruits and veggies. Mamaw would allow me to buy an apple or peach from the produce vendors, but the big treat was to listen to Mrs. Brazila or one of the other Italian ladies haggling over prices and the quality of the goods in their native language. Boy, were those conversations animated! I can't help but feel that those who missed living in the coal camps in the early 50's really missed out on something special in American life.



Most of the black families at 5&6 lived in a part of the camp known as "Price's Bottom", across the creek from Kimball Street. In those days of racial segregation there were separate schools for the whites and blacks, and they went to separate churches. Even though there was much inequality in the treatment of blacks in those days, there was a genuine mutual respect that seemed to exist among the races in the coal camps. My grandfather was "Mr. Stidham" to his neighbors (white and black) and they were "Mr. Brazila" or "Mr. Wynn" to him. Sure there were prejudices and stereotypes, but these people all had something in common. They worked together in a dangerous occupation in the underground coal mines - and as Tennessee Ernie Ford sang in "16 Tons" they all "owed their souls to the company store!"


That's all for now on Logan County.
Perhaps I'll write more about it later.