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mountain people in a at land
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I s, ten dollars bought a bus ticket from Appalachia to a better job and the a
promise of prosperity in the flatlands of northeast Ohio. A mountaineer with a strong back a ti
and will to work could find a job within twenty-four hours of arrival in Ashtabula. But the o
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cost of the bus ticket went beyond a week’s wages in a lumber camp or coal mine—the moun- l
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taineer paid dearly in loss of kin, culture, homeplace, and freedom. a o
Regardless, this migration brought more than one million mountaineers to Ohio alone. t
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Mountain People in a Flat Land is an illustrated popular history of Appalachian migration to
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one particular community—Ashtabula County, an industrial center in the fabled “Best Loca- a r
tion in the Nation.” n t
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They came from West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and southern Ohio, bring- d e
ing their stories of moonshine, colorful family members, home remedies harvested from the a
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wild, and life in coal company towns and lumber camps. The mountaineers explain why, de- t
spite the beauty of the mountains and generations of kin, they had to leave home to secure a o
future that would have been impossible in the sagging postwar economy of Appalachia. These h
stories of their hardships, cultural clashes, assimilation, and ultimate successes in the flatlands i
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provide a moving look at an often stereotyped people. ,
Carl E. Featheris a freelance writer, photographer, and newspaper lifestyles editor who lives
with his wife and son in Kingsville, Ohio, where his parents settled when they migrated from
West Virginia in .
–
ohio university press
ISBN 0-8214-1230-2
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,!7IA8C1-ebcdaf! h
Cover photos by Carl E. Feather io Carl E. Feather
Cover design by Chiquita Babb
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mountain people in a at land
fl
mountain people in a at land
a popular history of appalachian migration
to northeast ohio, –
Carl E. Feather
Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio
©by Carl E. Feather
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved
Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper Ī
Portions of the text have appeared in different form in the Ashtabula Star Beacon and in
The Best Newspaper Stories of the Year/(Thomson Newspapers, ).
Frontispiece:John Fetters. Photo by Carl E. Feather
Front cover: David Alley harvesting ginseng in the floodplains of the
Ashtabula River. Photo by Carl E. Feather
Back cover: Arvin Rumer. Photo by Carl E. Feather
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Feather, Carl E.
Mountain people in a flat land : a popular history of Appalachian migration to
northeast Ohio, –/ by Carl E. Feather.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
---(cloth : alk. paper). — ---(paper : alk. paper)
. Appalachian Region, Southern—Biography. . Mountain whites (Southern
States)—Appalachian Region, Southern—Biography. . Mountain whites
(Southern States)—Ohio—Ashtabula County—Biography. . Rural-urban
migration—Ohio—Ashtabula County—History—th century. I. Title.
.
.'—dc -
To my parents,
Carl Junior and Cossette Feather,
who left their mountain homes in
to come to Ashtabula County and create
a better life—and, in the process, history.
This book is dedicated to them in appreciation
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for all the sacri ces they made
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in building that life in the at land.
contents
List of Illustrations ix
Foreword by Stuart D. Hobbs xiii
Acknowledgments xxv
Introduction
Looking for Work
. The Best Location in the Nation
Ashtabula County and Appalachian Migration, –
. Coal Miner’s Daughter
West Virginia—A Synonym for Hard Times
. Strong Stock for Legends
The Ross Boggs Family in Ashtabula County
. The Gillespie Beachhead
Harry and Ruby’s Migrant Welcome Center
. Nothin’ but Hard Times
Novel Forinash: Thumbing to Ohio
. Kin from Kedron
The Snyder Home
. Ten Mile’s Contributions
A Small West Virginia Crossroads
. The Virginians
National Carbide: A Link for Virginia Migrant Workers
vii
viii contents
. A Singin’ Man’s Family
Kentucky’s Gift of Mountain Music
. Death of a Mining Town
From Kempton, Maryland, to a New Life in Conneaut
. The Boys from Belva
Backwoods Culture
. Farmer’s Boy
Hayward Ball: From the Farm to Lake County Industry
. A Coal Miner’s Life
Darald Spangler’s Life and Car Get a Push in Ashtabula County
. Reading, Writing, and Ohio
Teachers and Migration
. Children of Thomas
Mining Town Migrants
. Montani Semper Liberi
Daniel Gillespie: Trading Freedom for Work
. Going Home for Good
Mountain Retirement Home
. “God Love You”
Bittersweet Homecoming
References
Index
illustrations
Map
A few of the many Appalachian communities that provided Ashtabula County
industries with workers xxviii
Photographs
John Fetters, one of hundreds of Appalachian migrants who found work at
Union Carbide and Carbon’s Electro Metallurgical (Electromet) plant in
Ashtabula Township, Ohio Frontispiece
Dave Bennear from Thomas, West Virginia, at the former Lake City
Malleable plant in Ashtabula County
Maurice Osburn and his sister Jean Hornbeck with the model Maurice made
of the family’s home in Kedron, West Virginia
Union Carbide and Carbon’s Electro Metallurgical Company (Electromet)
plant on Lake Road in Ashtabula Township in the late s
Glenn Gatrell in his Kingsville Township garden
Berdell Seibert, Conneaut, Ohio
The West Virginia farm that belonged to the grandparents of
Ross Boggs Sr.
Ross Boggs Sr. and his wife Ruth at their Dorset Township, Ohio, farm
Harry Gillespie in his backyard garden
Ralph Ware and Alice Ware Herpy, migrants to Ashtabula from the
White Sulphur Springs area
CliffCasto and Della Forinash
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