Week 43 – Dig A Little Deeper

 

With few exceptions such as clergy, merchants, and tradesmen, most of my ancestors, since landing in America, have been farmers. From Massachusetts to Rhode Island, Virginia to the Carolinas and Georgia, up through Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and on to Oklahoma, you will find records of my ancestors who made a living growing groceries and digging in the dirt.  This week’s topic might be meant to encourage you to dig a little deeper to find more documentation or details on a specific ancestor or branch of your family.  Instead, I’ve decided to write about my ancestors who literally dug a little deeper, so to speak. From the iron furnaces in Pennsylvania, to the coal mines of Kentucky and Missouri, on to the oil wells in Texas and Oklahoma, I had ancestors who took part in each of these industries.

IRON -

Iron manufacturing flourished in central Pennsylvania, specifically in the Juniata Iron region, during the latter part of the 1700s. As the United States began to expand westward, the demand for iron products rose. Shortly after the Revolutionary War, my fourth great-grandfather, Colonel John Patton, and his close friend, Colonel Samuel Miles, purchased 16,000 acres in Centre County, Pennsylvania and built the area’s first charcoal-fired iron furnace.

John Patton was born in Sligo, Ireland in 1745. As a sixteen-year-old boy, he immigrated to Philadelphia in 1761. Little is known of his early years, but he quickly made his way up the ladder of wealth and society. He became a prominent merchant and civil servant. In 1775, he was appointed to the Philadelphia Committee on Inspection and Observation, and the following March, he became a major in the 1^st Battalion of Colonel Samuel Mile’s Regiment of Pennsylvania riflemen.  He barely escaped capture at the Battle of Long Island in August 1776. He married Jane Davis in March 1777, and that same year was promoted as a Colonel to one of the sixteen new regiments authorized by the Continental Congress. His service at Valley Forge is marked by a granite marker. In 1778, he was serving as one of Washington’s bodyguards. His military career did not end with the Revolutionary War. In 1793, Governor Mifflin offered a commission to Colonel Patton to serve a seven-year appointment as Major General to command the 8^th Division of Pennsylvania militia in Bedford, Huntingdon, and Mifflin counties. There is no painting or likeness of him that exists, but a description in the Pennsylvania archives reads: “Colonel Patton was six feet in height, of noble appearance and carriage, his hair red and eyes hazel. He had a fine address and a very polished manner.”  

While Colonel Miles remained in Philadelphia (and was elected Mayor of that city), John Patton built a log house. In 1789, he brought his wife and children to Centre County where they made their home. As the ironmaster, Colonel Patton oversaw the day-to-day administration. Centre Furnace went “into blast” in 1792 and a town sprung up around it. The metal derived from the furnace was shipped to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. In 1798, Colonel Patton retired to one of his farms in the area. The lowest level of the Centre Furnace Manion still holds the kitchen of that log home built in 1789 and still stands today on East College Street just outside State College, as do the remnants of the furnace. The 16,000 acres in Centre County, purchased by Colonel’s Patton and Miles, today covers much of the area of State College and University Park, and part of the townships of Benner, College, Ferguson, Halfmoon, Harris and Patton (named after Colonel Patton).

COAL -

Most of the stories you hear about coal mining stems from West Virginia or Kentucky, but did you know that there was coal mining in Missouri as early as the 1840s?  The livelihood of most of the area of Lafayette County Missouri from the 1880’s until the 1930’s was due to the vast coal deposits in the earth.  This is where my great-grandfather, Edward Pennington, worked as a coal miner around the turn of the 20^th century.

Edward Prior Pennington was born in nearby Bethany County, Missouri in 1872 to Prior and Barbara Ann (Tetherow) Pennington. Prior was a farmer, and one might think Edward would have followed in his father’s footsteps, but by the time Edward married Amanda Hollingsworth, in 1892, Edward’s parents and their younger children had already migrated to land in Oklahoma Territory.  A coal miner’s life consisted of pushing heavy carts, most often in darkness, being covered in coal dust, and using hand tools to chip away at the veins of coal.  The air was full of dust particles and many miners developed breathing problems.  The job did provide an income for Edward and his new family, albeit a meager one. By 1900 Edward and Amanda had brought four children into the world.  Sometime around 1905, he made the decision to relocate his family. He willingly gave up this extremely hard life and took his family to be nearer to his siblings in Oklahoma.  By 1912, Edward Pennington had a threshing business in Hydro, Oklahoma, consisting of two threshing machines. From a deep, dark, musty hole in the ground, he lived the remainder of his life in the wide open, fresh air, of the Oklahoma wheat fields.

OIL -

The history of the oil industry in the United States began in 1859 with the discovery of oil near Titusville, Pennsylvania. It rapidly spread across the continent.  Around 1910, my grandfather, Robert Earl Powers, and his brother, Willard, had left home in Missouri to work in the Coalinga Oil Field, near Fresno, California, which had become active in 1890. This is where my grandfather got his start in the oil business. 

Robert was born to Francis Newlin and Lucy (Dale) Powers on 1 July 1886 in College Mound, Randolph County, Missouri. On 20 Jun 1913, he married Henrietta Anthony Patton. At the time of their marriage, Robert was working for an oil company near Keokuk, Iowa.  The life of an oil well driller was nomadic. At times, they were lucky enough to live in an actual shack, but often, they lived in tent enclosures, but always in oil camps near the well sites and they moved often.  In 1914, my aunt Dorothy was born in Moberly, Randolph County, Missouri, but by 1917, they were in Muskogee, Oklahoma where my father was born.  In 1920 they were in Strawn, Palo Pinto County, Texas; and my aunt Betty Jean was born in Newkirk, Kay County, Oklahoma in 1923. By 1928, the family was back in Texas, living in Ranger, Eastland County.  For a short time, they went back to Moberly, Randolph County, Missouri, and by 1935, they were in Shawnee, Oklahoma. In 1939, they were living in Seminole, Oklahoma and shortly thereafter they moved to Oklahoma City when my grandfather retired. Throughout his career, he worked as a Driller, Roughneck, and Toolpusher, all of which were dangerous, hard, manual labor.

Along with the nomadic lifestyle, my father was born with club feet and contracted polio at an early age. Although my grandparents were told he would never walk, my dad overcame it all. Although he walked with a limp, he followed his father into the oil industry. His upper body strength compensated for his wobbly legs, and he mastered all the same jobs held by any able-bodied oil field worker. His life continued to be itinerant, until he met my mother.  My parents married in 1948, and my mother moved to Ardmore, Carter County, Oklahoma to be nearer my father’s job.  For eight years they remained in Ardmore, until moving to Oklahoma City in 1957, where they remained.

Many of the mementos I have from my dad include things related to his work. After he left the oil fields, he became the service manager of Goodyear and I have one of his tread depth gauges; as the plant manager for a gas fire-log firm, I have bookends he made that look just like pieces of wood. Of my most treasured keepsakes from my dad is his pith helmet with his name engraved on it by a nail which he wore in the oil fields. It hands in my family room and each day it's a reminder of all my ancestors who chose to "dig a little deeper."