Compiled by Teresa
Martin Klaiber 2023
Charley
Lucas was the son of John Dee Lucas and Dee’s second wife Hattie Gilley.
Charley’s
parents, John Dee and Hattie Gilley were married 12 May 1901 in Carter County,
Kentucky. John Dee Lucas was a coal
miner and it appears that, during the first nine years of the marriage they
moved around quite a bit. Charley’s
older sister, Louanna Lucas[i], was born in Tennessee in 1902. Charley was born 24 May 1905, once again back
in Kentucky followed by sister Bertha[ii]
who was born in 1909 in Indiana. By 1910
Charley and his family were all residing with his grandparents, Henry Kane
Lucas and wife Lucinda Sexton Lucas, on Straight Creek, in Carter County.
Making
a living at coal mining was a hard and lean way to earn a living. Many of the miners in our area moved to other
coal mining fields during their lives. John
Deed Lucas, was no exception. After 1910
John Dee Lucas took his family to Cabin Creek, Kanawha County, West Virginia to
work as a miner.
Charley
was only twenty-one when he was hurt in a mine accident. He was working for Imperial Coal while
residing at Burnwell, West Virginia. The
Imperial Colliery Company was founded at Burnwell in 1901. During the 1920’s they had opened and closed
several mines in the area. According to
Charley Lucas’ death certificate he was taken to General Hospital in Charleston
where his left leg was amputated.
