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Subject: Fraterville Mine Disaster-Are you a descendant?
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2005 08:32:45 EDT

This article was posted on the Morgan Co List by Jan. Thought you may be
interested if you are a descendant.

From the Knoxville News Sentinal - Sept 30, 2005--
Are you a descendant of the 300 miners who died in Anderson County mine
accidents?
----
Group searching for miners' descendents

Foundation to sponsor tour of disaster site

By BOB FOWLER,
September 30, 2005

BRICEVILLE - A national search is under way for the descendants of 300
coal miners killed in two Anderson County mining disasters early last
century.

Those ancestors can fill in gaps in the rich history of the area and
perhaps help reunite long-lost relatives, said Carol Moore, spokeswoman
for the Coal Creek Watershed Foundation.

That nonprofit group seeks to improve living conditions in the isolated,
impoverished area and is sponsoring a tour of one mine disaster site
next month, Moore said.

The Fraterville coal mine exploded in May 1902, and 216 bodies were
recovered. The Cross Mountain mine disaster of December 1911 killed 84,
Moore said. Five miners survived in one of the U.S. Bureau of Mines'
first successful rescue operations.

"Between the two disasters, well over 1,000 children were left
fatherless,'' she said. "There are probably thousands of descendants out
there.''

Moore said word of the search has gone out on the Internet and has been
relayed to coal-mining associations and media in other parts of
Appalachia, where many survivors migrated.

Past tours of the Fraterville Mine site "have brought together many
family members who never knew each other,'' Moore said.

In response to requests from descendants and history buffs, a first-ever
tour of the Cross Mountain Mine site will be held Oct. 15, she said.

The free walking tour from Briceville Elementary to the mine site and
two cemeteries where Cross Mountain miners are interred will begin at 9
a.m. Bus shuttles also will be available.

That afternoon, a free concert will be held from 2 to 4 at Briceville
Church to raise funds for the restoration of that historic building,
Moore said.

For additional information about the tour, concert or national search,
contact Moore at 865-584-0344 or
<mailto:>.

Bob Fowler, News Sentinel Anderson County editor, may be reached at
865-481-3625.




Milly Piros*Garfield Heights

I have been to the end of the Earth.
I have been to the end of the Waters.
I have been to the end of the Sky.
I have been to the end of the Mountains.
I have found NONE that are not my Friends.
>>>>>Navajo Proverb<<<<<

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