Blosser's Blog

Doanville Foreman's Book

2009-03-27T11:55:00.001-04:00

I have a book from Doanville Mine #1 Southwest _ side dated 1930s and 40s. There is a mention of Pancake Mine. The maps are handdrawn with survey notes.We have little info on Doanville. Does anyone have stories or images to share?

Reports of the AFL 1889-92

2009-03-17T15:27:00.001-04:00

I just got the book yesterday and have begun to digest the information. Listed are trade unions such as the Saddle and Harnessmakers and the Chicago Musical Society, accounts of a state branch of the AFL ( Alabama) where the entire executive board were in jail , probably for the crime of organizing. An address in 1889 dealing with the issues between the Knights of Labor and the AFL, a resolution in 1890 to petition the government for women's suffrage.

Christopher Evans attention to detail show in the record when he requests a new set of financial books for himself to start his term as secretary. a request is made to hire an office boy at a salary not to exceed $5 a week.

This is a great look back in time.

William H. Bailey and employment

2009-03-10T12:15:00.002-04:00

I just purchased a book called Picturesque Sketches of American Progress published in 1889. It had a section on the Knights of Labor including Bill Bailey of Shawnee. It clears up several confusions about his birth year.(1846) One thing it mentions is that as he was a union organizer he became blacklisted and could not get work here. He was getting ready to leave Ohio when the village of Shawnee hired him as chief of police. I know in Rendville, the same thing happened. Richard L. Davis could no longer work in the mines as he was also blacklisted and he became a town marshall.

So was this a way of keeping a good man here? Did the villagers go out of their way to hire men who could not work because of the union labor strife?

So this answers a few questions and leave some more for us to think about.

I still can't find when and where William H. Bailey died and I have been searching for some time. It is such a common name and he apparently went to California. He did a lot for the union movement but I have not found any mention of his death. Was he just forgotten so his death never made the newspapers or am I just looking in the wrong places?

I will continue the search.

Anticipation

2009-03-09T10:02:00.001-04:00

I just bought an interesting piece of history on Ebay, The Proceedings of the American Federation of Labor from 1889-1892. At the time the booklet was written, the secretary keeping the minutes was Christopher Evans of New Straitsville. So this booklet will be in the NSHG archives. It hasn't even been shipped yet and I just want to see whose names are at the meetings, nationally, and from Ohio. The records might be boring but that was a dynamic time in labor history in this country so I hope to glean a little knowledge.

Patience is supposed to be a virtue.

Photo of Olive Lanning

2009-03-04T12:35:00.002-05:00

This photo of Olive Lanning was taken in 1950 outside a mine at Pittsburg Hollow. The family brought her equipment and took this picture when they were celebrating a birthday.

Women coalminers

2009-03-03T20:29:00.001-05:00

I recently had conversations with two different families about women miners in their family. I am waiting to hear back from one family but I have information on Ollie Lanning from Murray City. Olive Sweet Lanning was born in Illinois in 1862 or 63. She lived to be 100 years and six months old. Family lore says that she once as a child saw Mr. Lincoln.
Somehow Olive moved to OHio and her husband was Zeph Lanning. Olive mined coal from the family mine to keep her home and worked as a midwife, traveling by horse and buggy to New Straitsville , Shawnee and Murray City families. Like most miners, she chewed tobacco.

In Great Britain, women were forced into the mines since they were smaller and could crawl out dragging bushel baskets of coal. For that reason, miners in Ohio. who were mostly from Great Britain had a law passed to make it illegal for women to mine coal as well as boys under the age of 12. I would like to gather names of women miners if anyone knows of one in their family or acquaintance.

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2009-02-17T14:15:00.001-05:00

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