After reading hayden's very interesting diary about the note left by a grandfather, I had the thought that publishing bits of text written by or about one of one's ancestors could be very interesting as a sort of ongoing sub-theme. I don't have much along those lines, but I've always thought that the following newspaper article about the death of my great-grandfather was pretty interesting.
The first note I found about this was very brief, published in the Ironton (OH) Register on Dec 22, 1882:
Died oct 15, 1882 in Little Texas when slate fell on him. Leaves wife and three children.
Some time later, I found the following, more detailed article, which I believe might be interesting to others:
Fatal Accident -- Wm. Shinant was an ore-digger at the Iron & Steel mines, in Little Texas. Last Wednesday night, he went into the drift after supper, with his partner, a brother-in-law. They sat down a moment before beginning work, but were hardly seated, when a big chunk of slate weighing two or three tons settled down on Shinant's head and shoulders, as he sat in a stooping posture. He never spoke afterward, but died in a few minutes. The other man was not hurt at all. He saw the slate coming and sprang out of the way, but hadn't time to warn Shinant, who was directly under it. The dead man's light in his cap was not put out by the accident, nor was he disfigured. With the heavy mass resting on him, he sat in nearly the same position as before the slate fell. He was extricated after a half hour's work. Mr Shinant was a sober, industrious man and an excellent workman. He leaves a wife and three children.
I've read a little about what an “ore-digger” did in that region (Lawrence County, OH, the “Hanging Rock” iron region). When they found a vein of iron, they basically dug a trench or drift into the vein. In some cases, the iron was close to the surface, in others, they might have to dig down as much as 12 feet. The ox cart would go into the drift or alongside, and the ore-diggers would dig out the iron ore out and the teamsters would carry it away (usually no more than 3-5 miles to the nearest furnace). So they weren't really going underground, but in the deeper drifts, the sides could obviously sometimes be unstable and create a hazard.
Well, I personally would be interested in reading other interesting pieces of old writing about peoples' ancestors. What do you think?
Greg Shenaut