Barthell Coal Mining Camp

Dating back to 1902, Barthell was the first of 18 mining camps belonging to the Stearns Coal and Lumber Co.

With love and hard work, we have reconstructed the Barthell Coal Mining Camp from old photographs along with oral and written history.

Located just 7 miles west of Stearns, KY off Highway 742, Barthell Coal Camp offers personal guided tours, good country cooking, and cozy Company Houses with modern amenities and old-fashioned charm for overnight stays. The camp also includes facilities for family reunions, meetings, and other special occasions.

For more information: Click Here.

Bell County, Kentucky Coal Camp

These pictures were all taken towards the end of 1945 in Bell County Kentucky. They show a brief view of life in a Coal Camp. There were literally hundreds of camps just like these spread out through out the Kentucky Highlands. Life was hard, short and difficult for the families that retrieved millions of dollars worth of coal from the mountains. Unfortunately, for the families of the miners and for the region as a whole, the profits went to interests outside the region. Large mining concerns stole the coal from the hills and gave almost nothing in return.

To view the pictures: Click Here.

The Blue Fugates of Troublesome Creek, Kentucky

Six generations after a French orphan named Martin Fugate settled on the banks of eastern Kentucky's Troublesome Creek with his redheaded American bride, his great-great-great great grandson was born in a modern hospital not far from where the creek still runs.

The boy inherited his father's lankiness and his mother's slightly nasal way of speaking.

What he got from Martin Fugate was dark blue skin. "It was almost purple," his father recalls.

Doctors were so astonished by the color of Benjamin "Benjy" Stacy's skin that they raced him by ambulance from the maternity ward in the hospital near Hazard to a medical clinic in Lexington.

Two days of tests produced no explanation for skin the color of a bruised plum.

A transfusion was being prepared when Benjamin's grandmother spoke up. "Have you ever heard of the blue Fugates of Troublesome Creek?" she asked the doctors.

To continue reading: Click Here.

Passports of Southeastern Pioneers, 1770-1823

Indian, Spanish and Other Land Passports for Tennessee, Kentucky

Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, North and South Carolin

By Dorothy W. Potter

The southern states east of the Mississippi were in a territory that was for a long time under Spanish or Indian jurisdiction. By law, only persons issued passports were allowed to enter the southeastern territories, and so the passport records have the largest body of data relating to the pioneers to the Southeastern United States. Dorothy W. Potter spent eight years doing research in the records of the War Department, the State Department, the archives of the individual states, as well as records of the Spanish and the British in West Florida. So she has assembled a complete collection of the passports and travel documents issued to individuals and families going to the Mississippi Valley area from Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

A limited but fully searchable preview of this work is available from Googgle Books.

To access: Click Here.

Gaia Family Tree

Gaia Family Tree was conceived with the intention of creating innovative, easy-to-use and fun genealogy software that is accessible to consumers who are looking to build their family tree. The goal is to simplify the process of managing a family tree by offering a complete tool; one that best utilizes established industry standards and formats. From starting your family tree to enriching it, the process has never been as fun and as easy as Gaia Family Tree makes it. And best of all, the product is free of charge.

To have a look: Click Here.

At Great Expense, Railroad Bypassed First Black-founded Town in the US

Ignoring topography, efficiency, expense and even their own surveyors' recommendations, regional railroad officials in the mid-19th century diverted a new rail line around New Philadelphia, Ill., "the first town in the United States planned, platted and legally registered by an African American," a University of Illinois researcher reports. The bypass pushed what would have been a fairly straight, even run of railroad tracks from Griggsville, Ill. to Hannibal, Mo., in a wide, hilly arc around New Philadelphia.

The findings, reported in Historical Archaeology, are the result of an exhaustive review of railroad company records, maps, government orders, land deeds, surveys, engineering reports and newspaper accounts from the period.

Founded in 1836, New Philadelphia began as an audacious experiment that tested the limits of racial tolerance in a country divided by slavery. Decades before the Civil War, black and white families lived and worked together in New Philadelphia. Frank McWorter, a Kentucky slave who had managed to buy his wife's freedom and then his own in the early 1800s, bartered for land in Illinois and later expanded his holdings to build the town. Over the years, McWorter rescued several other slaves, bringing them north to Illinois.

To continue reading this summary: Click Here.

To read the entire paper, in PDF format: Click Here.

Virginia Records, 1606-1737

Now Online at the Library of Congress

The Virginia Records volumes were part of Jefferson's personal library. These volumes were very fragile when Jefferson first collected them, can only be handled with the greatest care today, and are generally not made available for researchers except in microfilm format. Their presentation here, online, makes this unacknowledged treasure widely available to the public for the first time in an easily accessible format.

To consult the collection: Click Here.

Even if you're not up to delving into these primary records, the accompanying early Virginia timeline is of interest.

To see it: Click Here.