Interview with Alva Childers, August 22, 1987

Partial Transcript: Well, I was gonna stop up and see Pidge.

Segment Synopsis: Alva Childers talks about a bear that has been seen around Elkhorn around the time of this interview.

Keywords: Apple trees; Bears

Subjects: Elkhorn City (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Well, Alva, um, now tell me when you and Lawrence got married.

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks about when she married her husband, Lawrence. She talks about his work in the mines. She describes their house and their life in the coal camps, specifically at Edgewater.

Keywords: Accidents; Bosses; Cars; Childbirth; Children; Cleaning; Coal camps; Company stores; Company towns; Driving; Edgewater Camp; Edgewater Mine; Family; Floods; Guns; Hogs; Housekeeping; Houses; Husbands; Lawrence Childers; Motorman; Murder; Paint; Pool rooms; Poor; Poverty; Prizes; Restaurants; Roasted pigs; Scrip; Stoves

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Economic conditions; Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Coal miners' spouses; Coal miners--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Country life; Families.; Marriage; Married life; Mining camps; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: And, uh, Lawrence he worked--oh, I didn't like that old long hairs.

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks about her husband's work in the mines and how it was dangerous work. She talks about her father's work as a farmer and how she peddled goods to make money. She talks about meeting her husband for the first time.

Keywords: Apples; Dangerous; Dating; Farmers; Fathers; Grant Hawkins; Hard work; Husbands; Income; Jobs; Lawrence Childers; Meeting; Money; Peddling; Selling; Sons; Wages

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Economic conditions; Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Coal miners' spouses; Coal miners--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Safety measures.; Country life; Employment--Kentucky; Families.; Marriage; Married life; Mining camps; Occupations.; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: Now where was Lawrence from?

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks about her husband's family. His mother died in childbirth very young. She talks about her husband's father and his step-mother.

Keywords: Ashamed; Deaths; Eating; Edgewater Camp; Edgewater Mine; Fathers; Fires; George's Creek; Husbands; Lawrence Childers; Mothers; Reputations; Shyness; Step mothers

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Coal miners' spouses; Coal miners--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Country life; Families.; Marriage; Married life; Mining camps; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: Well, what about at home, did, did your mother--I mean everybody at home ate together right?

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks about eating meals with her family. She says her mother only received three days of education at a school but successfully kept the family's finances. She tells a story about her and her siblings sneaking brown sugar from her mother's safe.

Keywords: Blessings; Brown sugar; Counting; Eating; Family; Meals; Money; Mothers; Prayers; Safes

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Economic conditions; Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Country life; Education--Kentucky; Families.; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: What did you charge for your apples when you'd peddle?

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks more about peddling goods to make money. She talks about a situation regarding the sale of some land her family owned. She talks about her grandparents.

Keywords: Apples; Cellars; Chickens; Deaths; Deeds; Eggs; Family; Grandfathers; Grandmothers; Graves; Hawkins family; Hens; Income; Land; Liens; Money; Ownership; Peddlers; Peddling; Selling; Sheds; Signing; Wages

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Economic conditions; Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Country life; Employment--Kentucky; Families.; Occupations.; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: Well, now, um, my grandfather, John, he did work in the mines just briefly didn't he?

Segment Synopsis: Childers recounts her experiences during a large flood in the area and the deaths that occurred due to the flood.

Keywords: African Americans; Cloudburst; Deaths; Mining accidents; Premonitions

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Coal mine accidents; Coal miners' spouses; Coal miners--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Safety measures.; Country life; Employment--Kentucky; Families.; Floods--Kentucky; Mining camps; Occupations.; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: What did Mommy Door do?

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks about her worry for her husband's safety when he worked in the mines. She talks about moving to and from West Virginia.

Keywords: African Americans; Allegheny Camp; Children; Deaths; Fighting; Fights; Husbands; Income; Lawrence Childers; Money; Moving; Wages; West Virginia; Worried; Worrying

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Economic conditions; Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Coal mine accidents; Coal miners' spouses; Coal miners--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Safety measures.; Country life; Employment--Kentucky; Families.; Marriage; Married life; Mining camps; Occupations.; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: And I remember when Pidge was born I lived there in Ms., uh, uh, um, Reese's house.

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks about how her husband was away working when one of her children was born. She tells the story of the childbirth, during which the doctor also left and the baby was born while he was gone. She talks about how religion helps her through hard times.

Keywords: African Americans; Afterbirth; Allegheny Camp; Attitudes; Away; Chickens; Child delivery; Children; Daughters; Doctors; Gloria Elizabeth “Pidge” Childers Stapleton; Hogs; Jobs; Lawrence Childers; Leaving; Midwife; Midwives; Mothers; Neighbors; Prayers; Pregnancy; Pregnant; Scared; Washing; West Virginia; Work

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Childbirth; Coal miners' spouses; Coal miners--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Country life; Employment--Kentucky; Families.; Marriage; Married life; Mining camps; Occupations.; Physicians--Kentucky; Religion; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: Really, truly.

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks more about how religion helps her through hard times, including the time her son was a prisoner of war and she did not hear from him for months.

Keywords: Afraid; Airplanes; Captured; Children; Fears; Letters; Missing in action (MIA); Mothers; Prayers; Prisoner of war (POW); Romania; Safety; Sons

Subjects: Families.; Religion; United States. Army--Military life

Partial Transcript: So now was one of your brothers killed in the mine?

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks about her twin brother, Alvin. She talks about his death in a mine. She talks more about a situation regarding the sale of some land her family owned.

Keywords: Alvin Hawkins; Brothers; Deaths; Debts; Edgewater Camp; Fathers; Grandfathers; Grant Hawkins; Hawkins family; John Hawkins; Land; Mining accidents; Selling; Sold; Twins

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Economic conditions; Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Coal mine accidents; Coal miners--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Safety measures.; Country life; Employment--Kentucky; Families.; Mining camps; Occupations.; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: Lawrence he made pretty good but Poppy always brought me stuff from home.

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks about her enjoyment of canning food. She talks about her husband's various jobs, and growing a garden to get them through hard times. She tells several stories about interactions with neighbors regarding farm animals.

Keywords: Allegheny Camp; Animals; Blood; Chickens; Children; Coal camps; Company towns; Construction; Corn; Courthouses; Cows; Eggs; Family; Gardens; Hard times; Help; Husbands; Income; Jelly; Jobs; Lawrence Childers; Milk; Money; Neighbors; Prayer; Roads; Survival; Wages; Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Economic conditions; Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Canning and preserving; Coal miners' spouses; Coal miners--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Communities.; Country life; Employment--Kentucky; Families.; Farm life.; Food--Preservation--Kentucky; Marriage; Married life; Mining camps; Occupations.; Religion; Rural conditions; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: Was Lawrence--how long did Lawrence work in the mines?

Segment Synopsis: Childers tells the story of how her husband passed away from a heart attack after returning to work in the mines. She talks about how she survived financially after her husband's death.

Keywords: Army; Boys; Cellars; Checks; Children; Churches; Deaths; Food; Gardens; Heart attacks; Help; Husbands; Illness; Income; Lawrence Childers; Money; Pensions; Rocks; Sickness; Social Security; Sunday schools; Survival

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Economic conditions; Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Coal miners' spouses; Coal miners--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Country life; Employment--Kentucky; Families.; Marriage; Married life; Mining camps; Occupations.; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: Let me ask you something Alva.

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks about whether domestic abuse was common in the area. She talks about her sister's relationship with her husband. She talks about women's duties in the mining camps. She talks more about meeting and dating her husband.

Keywords: Accidents; Bidding; Box suppers; Child loss; Chores; Cleaning; Cooking; Dating; Domestic abuse; Domestic violence; Duties; Eliza Hawkins; Fighting; Fights; Hard work; Housekeeping; Husbands; Income; Killed; Land; Lawrence Childers; Letters; Lizzie Hawkins; Murder; Omer Keeton; Porches; Relationships; Sisters; Spouses; Stillbirths; Treatment; Twins; Uncles; Visiting; Wages; Wives; Work

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Economic conditions; Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Country life; Employment--Kentucky; Families.; Marriage; Married life; Mining camps; Occupations.; Recreation; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: Well, Alva tell me about he union.

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks about what she remembers about the unions in the area and the shooting that occurred. She talks about her fear during this time.

Keywords: Afraid; Allegheny Mine; Doctors; Edgewater Mine; Fears; Greenough Mine; Henry Clay Mine; Husbands; Jobs; Killed; Lawrence Childers; Murders; Perry Adkins; Roads; Scared; Shootings; Violence; Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Economic conditions; Coal miners' spouses; Coal miners--Kentucky; Coal miners--Labor unions--Organizing; Coal miners--Labor unions.; Coal miners.; Coal mines and mining; Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Collective bargaining--Coal mining industry; Communities.; Country life; Employment--Kentucky; Mining camps; Occupations.; Protest movements.; Rural conditions; Strikes and lockouts--Coal mining; Strikes and lockouts--Miners

Partial Transcript: Did most people in the camps have a garden?

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks more about growing gardens in mining camps. She talks more about relations with neighbors, including a neighbor who often borrowed from others. She talks about the shut down of the Edgewater mine.

Keywords: Borrowing; Bosses; Closing; Coal camps; Coal miners--Labor unions.; Company towns; Crops; Edgewater Camp; Gardens; Hellier; Henry Clay Mine; Husbands; Lawrence Childers; Lending; Loans; Money; Neighbors; Shows; Shut down

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Economic conditions; Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Coal miners' spouses; Coal miners--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Safety measures.; Country life; Employment--Kentucky; Families.; Marriage; Married life; Mining camps; Occupations.; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: So did the, did the black--

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks about segregation and race relations in the Elkhorn area. She talks about her experiences at local black churches and with local African Americans.

Keywords: Chickens; Children; Churches; Dancing; Fights; Holy Ghost; Holy Rollers; Loans; Preachers; Schools; Selling; Singing; Speaking in tongues; Stores

Subjects: African Americans--Religion.; African Americans--Segregation; African Americans--Social conditions.; Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Country life; Mining camps; Race discrimination.; Race relations--Kentucky; Rural conditions; Segregation in education--Kentucky

Partial Transcript: So what about--did the children, um, like the bosses' children and stuff, did they play with the miners' kids?

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks about relations between bosses' children and miners' children. She talks about her awareness of immigrants in the area. She talks about police and mine guards, especially during the strike.

Keywords: "Honey"; Bosses; Children; English (language); Henry Clay Mine; James Childers; Mine guards; Night watchmen; Owners; Police; Relationships; Scrip; Shootings; Stores; Strikes; Trouble

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Economic conditions; Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Coal miners--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Country life; Employment--Kentucky; Immigrants--Kentucky; Mining camps; Occupations.; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: Did Lawrence ever talk to you about the conditions in the mines?

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks about her husband's injury in the mines which resulted in the loss of several of his fingers. She talks about her efforts to save the money her husband earned and later buying a house.

Keywords: Braking; Cars; Conditions; Equipment; Fingers; Greenough Mine; Hands; Hogs; Houses; Hurt; Income; Injuries; Lawrence Childers; Mining accidents; Money; Motorman; Moving; Prayers; Savings; Wages

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Economic conditions; Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Coal mine accidents; Coal miners' spouses; Coal miners--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Safety measures.; Country life; Employment--Kentucky; Families.; Marriage; Married life; Mining camps; Occupations.; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: And, uh, Lawrence had to come back.

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks about her husband being put on bed-rest. She talks more about her childbirth experiences.

Keywords: "Granny women"; Bedrest; Deaths; Husbands; Lawrence Childers; Leave; Mean; Midwife; Midwives

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Childbirth; Coal miners' spouses; Coal miners--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Kentucky; Country life; Employment--Kentucky; Families.; Married life; Mining camps; Occupations.; Physicians--Kentucky; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: What is this store down here in Hellier, it--you can still see where it says, "You know Harry."

Segment Synopsis: Childers talks about a local store, movie theater, and traveling salesmen. The interview is concluded.

Keywords: Children; Coats; Dresses; Harry Cohen; Movie theaters; Silk hose; Stores; Traveling salesman; Visiting; Women

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Economic conditions; Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Company stores; Country life; Mining camps; Rural conditions