The Miners

#30 Coal – The Miners

Anyone who has spent any time in the Hazleton area after 1830 would know one industry has stood above all others for the impact it has had on the lives of all who’ve lived here, even unto today – the Coal Industry.

If you have ever been in a coal mine, then you know what I’m about to describe. The temperature swiftly drops 20 – 40 degrees as you move further from the entrance into the mine until it reaches a constant, cool level. The operators of the Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour say the temperature in that mine is 53°F year round. Each sound, every sound, echoes all around you. Shadows move and jump with each movement of the source of light and should that light be turned off, one is engulfed in a darkness that can only be described as “perfect”. You cannot see your hand in front of your face even if it is touching your nose. A drop of cold water may fall on your nose from the roof above you only to remind you of just what is above you as you stand in this tunnel deep inside, under, a mountain.

A brochure from the 1970’s. 

The Miner is Coney Lazis 

as depicted by George Harvin.

All the stories you have heard in the past about mines run through your mind – pockets of poisonous gas, rock falls, cave-ins, explosions, floods!!  Suddenly, all you want to do is run out of this place! But you are a tourist, you paid to make this short trip into the Earth. You can leave. Others before you not only had to stay for a full shift of work – 10 hours or more of hammering, drilling, blasting – but then had to return to do it all again the next day and each day thereafter or they didn’t get paid. It was their job.

Coal was a known quantity long before it was found in northeastern Pennsylvania, it just wasn’t known to be in northeastern Pennsylvania. It wasn’t until 1791, according to a story published in the Harper’s Weekly in 1857, when it was found by a man named Philip Ginter, that people became aware of its presence. The story goes that Ginter came upon a lump of it while he was running through the woods on Summit Hill along the Lehigh River.[1]  

However, that was only just when coal was discovered along the Lehigh River, and even THAT fact as a “first” is apparently a “first” of uncertainty. It seems coal was well-known to be in the Lackawanna/Luzerne/Carbon Counties area for a very long time, probably from the first presence of “white” men in the area. The presence of coal in these parts was well known as early as 1766, 1760 in Bucks County. It was being strip-mined in the Wyoming Valley and shipped south via river barge down the Susquehanna River throughout the Revolutionary War.[2]

This coal was not the “usual”, soft Bituminous Coal found in other places. This stuff, called Anthracite Coal, was harder – both in texture and to burn. They should have asked Obadiah Gore, Jr. how to burn it. He was a blacksmith who lived in the Wyoming Valley in 1768. He knew how to burn the stuff. Indeed, the Anthracite Coal Industry of northeastern Pennsylvania marks its beginning by the date when Obadiah, after leaving for a short time, returned from Connecticut; making 2018 the industry’s 250^th anniversary.[3] However, it wasn’t until 1817 that a workable burning system was perfected allowing the industry to advance.[4]

Closer to Hazleton, coal was found in 1826, the year after John Drum ^{(Philip, George, Jacob, Philip)} was born. According to local legend, John Charles went out one day to dig out a groundhog in the area of present-day Hazleton and found coal[5] The rest, as they say, is history!

I’m told by his Great, Great, Great Grandson, life-long Drums resident Bob Ray,[8] that not only did he find coal, he got the groundhog, too! Charles was a blacksmith in Conyngham so certainly knew what coal was and what to do with it. He was born April 2, 1778 in Moore, PA. He served in both the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War. Because of his service, he was granted land in Sugarloaf where he set up his blacksmith shop. He died at the age of 95, January 16, 1874.

Needless to say, the discovery of coal in this area started a coal mining industry which provided employment for a great many area residents. The first of Philip’s descendants of whom we are aware of finding employment in the coal mines was John A. Drum^{(John, Philip, George, Jacob, Philip)}. He was 20-years-old in 1880 when he was listed in that year’s Census as a “Laborer in Coal Mine.” He must have found the work agreeable, or at least sustainable, because his brother, Nathan A., is listed as being a miner in the 1900 Census. John, however, is apparently no longer a miner by 1900. His place of residence changed by then, as well. When these changes occurred is uncertain, however, due to the lack of census data for 1890. He appears in the 1900 census as living in Schuylkill Haven, a town about 40 miles south of Drums in Schuylkill County, earning his living as a “House Carpenter”. [6] Two of his sons, however, are contributing to the household income via employment with the mines; William (age 15) and Calvin (age 11); are both listed as “Slate Pickers”.

Nathan A. Drum
From the family portrait
taken in the early 1900’s

Nathan A. Drum, age 32 in 1900, probably was a miner even by 1890 when he was 22, however, Census or other records are lacking that can verify this as the case. Living with Nathan in 1900 was his wife’s brother, John C. Balliett, and he, too, had found employment in the mines. John Balliett was only 16 but both he and Nathan are listed as “Mine Laborers”. 

On May 30, 1893, Nathan took Mary Ann Balliett to be his wife. By 1895, they had welcomed their first son into the world and named him Elmer Alonzo. Two years later, Elmer’s sister, Christie Alice, was born. Then in 1901, Nathan and Mary became the parents of a third child and named him Walter.  

This lamb was displayed in a 
Drum home for many years;
in our house for as long
as I can remember.
Nathan and Mary
had this marble lamb carved
in memory of little Walter.

Walter gave the family great joy for almost a year but just a few weeks before his first birthday, Walter contracted pneumonia. He died on June 7, 1902. Had he lived, he would have celebrated his first birthday on June 14. Heartbroken after Walter died, Mary declared she would never have another child. She was true to her word. 

Christie Drum Yoch.
Photo taken approximately 1930.

Christie married a 24-year-old coal miner named Paul Yoch on June 10, 1922. She was 25-years-old. They had two sons, Marvin and Gordon. Christie died nineteen years later, in 1941, while her son, Gordon, was overseas; an Army Sargent, fighting in the second world war. Shortly thereafter, Marvin left to fight as well; a member of the U.S. Army Air Corps. Gordon passed away in 1993 and Marvin followed in 2015. Photos of Gordon and Marvin were included in a previous post entitled “and World War II, too, for some of us.”

Although mining was the livelihood of many families, many people found issues with the industry. They pointed out the dangers and stressed the apparent lack of health and safety measures employed by the mine owners. They said mine owners took advantage of the miners by forcing them to buy the supplies they needed for work and home from the company store and “renting” them the shacks they lived in at rates far too high, deducting the rent from the miners’ pay. In the song  “Sixteen Tons” made famous by Tennessee Ernie Ford in 1955, we hear the lyrics,

You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt

Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store.

In the following cartoon, clipped from the September 21, 1896 issue of New York Thrice-A-Week World, we see a Coal Baron counting his money as poor people suffer. This clipping was found among the many clippings included in “The Hat Box Collection” (see the post Faith – In God for information about, and a look into, this box of family papers reaching back to 1800). Ella Santee Drum’s uncle, Jacob Santee, clipped many of the clippings from the 1920’s that are included in this box. Was it “Uncle Jake”, as Ella called him, who clipped this one as well or could it have been Nathan A. who did the honors?

So, it is not surprising that Unions began to form in the Coal Fields of Pennsylvania. Nathan A. was a miner just when the United Mine Workers (UMW) came into existence. How involved was he in this movement? Other than his having paid union dues, we are left to wonder what he thought of the Union. What was his opinion of John Mitchell and did he see Mitchell when he first came to Hazleton in 1899? Was Nathan one of the 112,000 men who refused to work during the strike of 1900? Surely, he was involved in the walkout of 1902 when 357 collieries went idle after 147,000 miners walked off the job.^[7]

He paid dues to the United Mine Workers of America for at least 13.5 years, 1916 – 1930. Dues books he carried show payments to Local Union #2168 of McAdoo 1916-1925 and Local Union #250 Lattimer Mines 1926 – 1930.

Nathan’s primary income, like so many in this area, came from the mines, but he also “made ends meet” financially through his carpentry and blacksmith skills. His backyard garden and farm (chickens, cows, etc) helped to provide food, as well.

Shown below is what appears to be a pay slip of Nathan’s. It was found on the bottom of his carpenter tool chest. Eaten by silver fish, mildewed, dirty, stained; it is still mostly legible. It is dated October 31. The year was partially removed by a hungry silverfish but appears to be in the 1920’s which matches with his Lattimer Mines Due Books.

One wishes the fellow who wrote it had spent more time in school studying penmanship but it seems to show a “Total Earnings” of $39.20 arrived at by adding an Allowance advance of $5.58 to wages earned entered according to number of hours worked.

If I am reading these chicken scratches correctly, the line for “Hours” says 124 @ .2711 = $33.62. At 8 hours a day, 124 hours is approximately 15 days so, I hope this slip is for half a month and not all of October.

Debits include $2.15 for the Lattimer Store and 50 cents for what looks like “Coll”. It is things such as these that makes one wish an ancestor was still around to ask! Perhaps this says “Call” and is a charge for using the company telephone. Whatever it is, the total debits are $2.65 for a balance of $36.55 due Nathan. In 2018 dollars that would be $538.61.

Census data indicates his role in the mines changed over time: 1900 = Mine Laborer; 1910 = Coal Miner, Foreman; 1920 = Coal Mine, Carpenter; and 1930 = Coal Mine, Laborer.

Mining, of course, was, and still is, a highly dangerous occupation. I suppose it was more so in the beginning although I haven’t checked statistics on that to know if true or not. However, the list of mine disasters for the Anthracite Region is long, too long any way you slice it.

The Avondale Fire, Twin Shaft in Pittston, Milnesville Mine blast, Baltimore Tunnel in Wilkes-Barre, Pittston’s Knox Mine Disaster; to name just a few; all too well known.  One’s heart fell when the Breaker Whistle blew. It meant death had come to visit one of the mines yet again.

A miner’s first aid kit
probably carried
by Nathan.
For a story
about this kit
and a danger it
presented for today,
read the post entitled
 “No Boom is
good BOOM!”
 

Thankfully, to my knowledge, at least, Nathan was spared living through an occurrence such as the Tomhicken Disaster. His was not a sudden death, his was a more drawn out process. Perhaps he would rather have had the sudden end vs. the one he got but we don’t get to make that choice. In any case, we’ll never know.

The fact remains that Nathan spent much of his life working in the mines, so it is reasonable to assume his death was most likely the result of his occupation. His death certificate lists his cause of death as “chronic pulmonary tuberculosis (fibroid type)”. Today this condition is one of the conditions that is collectively called “Black Lung”. Nathan died on July 27, 1934. He was 66 years old. 

Nathan A. Drum.
A detail from
a group picture taken in 1923.
He was only 55 at this time
but, to me, looks much older!

He was not a miner when he died, according to the information provided by his son, Elmer, for the death certificate. Elmer listed his father’s occupation as “carpenter.” Nathan A. Drum is buried in the St Johns Cemetery beside Mary Ann and Walter.

John C. Balliett may have started in the mines, but he did not continue with the mines long. By 1910 we find him still living with his sister and Nathan, but now he is listed as a “laborer, odd jobs.” Elmer also appears to have found employment for a short time in the mines. He is listed in the 1920 census as a “Blacksmith Helper in Mines”.

To my knowledge, there was only one more “connection” to the mines of Pennsylvania from the extended part of “the tree”. My mom’s father, Elton Shearer, worked in the mines as an electrician. He appears to have begun this work at age 18 in the Pittsburgh area before he met my Grandmother, Bertha Zboray. In fact, he would drive his motorcycle from Pittsburgh to Milnesville every weekend to see her. He moved back here when they got married in 1921. She was 18. He was 23. He went to work then in the anthracite mines. Elton died in 1949 a week shy of his 51st birthday; of a heart attack.

Elton took both photos on the left making the one on top a “selfie!” On the lower left is a dog named Mr. Danby. Mr. Danby was a special friend because he not only wagged his tail, he sniffed out dangerous gasses. The photo on the right of Elton is an enlargement of the top left photo. Mom said he took these photos when he was 19 making the year 1917.

That coal, and all the industries that surrounded the mining of it, kept many a family alive cannot be denied. That it changed everything it touched cannot be denied either. Fortunes were made because of it and many a life was lost along the way. Even the environment was changed because man dug in the ground for the stone that burns.

Return to Drums of Drums, PA on August 12, 2019 when we’ll take a walk in the woods to get a closer look at coal mining’s environmental impact on the Drums area as seen through The Mouth of Evil.

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[1] “Buried Treasure: Hunter Philip Ginter credited with finding anthracite coal at Summit Hill in 1791”, Pages From the Past Special Edition, Hazleton Standard-Speaker, Friday, Sept. 6, 1991, p B 2.

[2] Bradsby, H.C., ed, History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: S.B. Nelson & Co., 1893). Chapter XI Coal. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/luzerne/1893hist/ accessed 8/6/2018.

[3] Allabaugh, Denise, “Mining Milestone: 250 years after its discovery, anthracite still heating homes” Hazleton Standard-Speaker, February 11, 2018, p C 1

[4] Buried Treasure

[5] Jackson, Kent, “Mining a rich vein: Old-timers remember life and death in deep mines”, Pages From the Past Special Edition, Hazleton Standard-Speaker, Friday, Sept. 6, 1991, p B 6.

[6] One wonders if “House Carpenter” was a title used in that area for a Mine Carpenter. It just seems odd that a person’s two young boys would be employed in the mining industry but the father, who once was so employed, is no longer.

[7] “Workers’ rights: UMW roots date to 1880s”, Pages From the Past Special Edition, Hazleton Standard-Speaker, Friday, Sept. 6, 1991, p B 12.
[8] Conversation with Bob Ray, July 15, 2019, at Butler Active Adult Center in Drums.

The Blacksmith

Contemporary History #9 – The Blacksmith

He was part of the fabric of society. Every village had a Village Blacksmith and if your village didn’t have one, well, let’s leave it at that your village had one! Door hinges, wagon hitches, cooking utensils, gate latches, ice tongs, meat hooks, butcher knives, fences, chains, nails, carpentry tools, belt buckles, and, of course, some blacksmiths even made horseshoes. And that’s just a few of the things your village blacksmith could and would craft for you out of red-hot metal!

A blacksmith named Jethro Wood invented an iron plow with replaceable parts. It changed the way agriculture was “done” in the early 1800’s. He held two patents for his plow, one issued in 1814 and one issued in 1819. A blacksmith named John Deere thought he could do better. So, he invented the steel plow in 1837. His plow was so popular it helped found his business, Deere & Company.

The village blacksmith was so important to a community that he (and he was usually a “he”, but not always) became legend. So much so that he even made it into poetry! In 1840, the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned the famous poem, “The Village Blacksmith” which begins, “Under the spreading chestnut tree the village smithy stands….” In 1977, the U. S. Postal Service issued a commemorative postage stamp honoring the Village Blacksmith. The image to the right is a detail from the Fleetwood Stamp Company’s First Day of Issue Cover for that stamp, seen below.

We know the first settler of the Drums area, John Balliett, arrived in the valley in 1784. After him, families drifted in until by 1790 or so, there was a small but functioning community of six or seven families surrounding John. Sometime in the early to mid-1790’s (probably 1794 or 1795) the blacksmith, Philip Woodring, arrived with his family. We surmise that part of his family group was Philip’s daughter, George Drum’s wife, Anna Margret Woodring Drum and her first three children (Philip, Jacob, and George); George, Sr. joining them in the valley in late 1796. Philip Woodring is noted as the village’s first blacksmith, opening his shop in 1800.^[1]

My assumption is that most of these early valley residents had some experience and ability blacksmithing. So, although George was not a blacksmith by trade, it seems likely that he could do some blacksmithing if he needed to. I’m guessing that this is true of the four generations of Drums after George first made it into the valley (Philip, John, Nathan, Elmer and their brothers [and perhaps wives and sisters!]). They probably (some more than others) could fashion small things they needed, but when a big need arose, one that was beyond their skill level, they turned to the “professional”, probably someone like Philip Woodring.

If that is correct, it is not surprising that my Great Grandfather, Nathan A. Drum^{(John, Philip, George, Jacob, Philip)} was known to have done some blacksmithing on his Drums farm. We have a number of items family legend says he made.

Nails we believe Nathan made.

A Gate lock we believe
was made by Nathan.

Some of his tools may have been made by him, as well. There are some that do not appear to have been made in a factory but, rather, to be “handmade” or perhaps altered for a specific purpose. With my limited knowledge of what can or can’t be made by a blacksmith, I’m uncertain if something as big as the wrenches that appear in the below photo could be fashioned by a blacksmith but, if so, perhaps these were hand-made by Nathan. 

Note the initials “ND” hammered into two of them.

What I had not been told by family, but learned from reading the 1920 U.S. Census, was that my Grandfather, Elmer, had some blacksmithing skills and experience as well. We find him listed there as “Blacksmith Assistant in Mines”. So, it is clear that blacksmithing was part of my heritage. Therefore, Blacksmithing piqued my interest. It was something I’ve “always wanted to try.”

However, my only exposure to the occupation up to now had been through activities such as reading history, watching movies, and seeing it done at fairs and so forth. You can easily, then, imagine my reaction when I saw a notice in the Community Section of the July 5, 2019 Hazleton Standard-Speaker announcing that the Sophia Coxe Memorial Foundation and Education Center in Drifton, PA was offering an introductory class in BLACKSMITHING! “No previous experience is needed, only heart and desire to learn”, it said. “Well,” I thought, “that’s ME!” The notice continued, “To register…call Bryan Dunnigan at…”. I didn’t actually call right away. I waited the whole weekend, until Monday, to call. I didn’t want to seem TOO anxious, but that Monday I left my statement of interest on their answering machine.

Am I glad I did! The day of the class I walked in a true novice, or worse, and went home with hands-on knowledge (actually more like a glimpse, but still) of what it was like to be the Village Blacksmith; or just some of the effort my Great Grandfather put in to keep his farm on track.

When I arrived at the historic Coxe Mansion in Drifton, just south of Freeland on Route 940, I wondered where about this beautiful home could they be blacksmithing. I was soon directed to the back of the property where I saw a small building marked “Blacksmith Shop”.

Sophia Coxe, the original owner of the Coxe Mansion and for whom the Center is named, was the wife of Eckley Brinton Coxe. Eckley Coxe was, according to the Sophia Coxe Memorial Foundation and Education Center website, a “brilliant engineer who came to Northeastern Pennsylvania to run the family coal mining business, which he not only ran successfully, but also was the holder of over a hundred engineering mining patents.” Because of her care of, and concern for, the Anthracite Coal Miners of this area, she became known as the “Angel of the Anthracite”.

All too often, history focuses on the impacts and work of the MEN of history. It is interesting to note that in the writing of this post, I searched the web for some background information on both Sophia and Eckley. I found many pages about Eckley, so many in fact, that I was left with the task of choosing which one I would direct my readers to for more information. I found none for Sophia. Yet her impact on the area was so great that her home now stands as an historic landmark, that offers tours to the interested, where her story is told and where, a few of us at least, in the back of the property, learned the basics of being a blacksmith.

Sunday, July 21, 2019 turned out to be a beautiful, blue-sky day! It did seem like a rather warm day to be standing over a coal fire working red-hot metal, but the weather could certainly have been worse! And, in fact, once the learning process began, I failed to notice the temperature of the day or even the passage of time. The full force of the moment became the drawing out of the metal and the shaping of it into a hook with a rat’s tail! If Bryan had not stopped us for lunch, mine would have gone uneaten and even unnoticed. I was, as they say, “into it”.

After being headed in the right direction that morning, I came upon the Blacksmith Shop and met Mr. and Mrs. Dunnigan. She was taking care of business, getting the paperwork completed and such. HE was making the history come alive. Bryan was a great instructor. One of the first tasks he had us tackle was to make the fire come alive. That’s where the hands-on process started.

This is a detail from
one of the fliers Bryan gave us.

Prior to the hand-on experience, he sat us down and gave us a bit of blacksmith history, Next he covered some blacksmith basics. He explained the difference between hard Anthracite coal, softer Bituminous coal, coke, and charcoal and how they are, or can be, each used in the process. He introduced us to the various types of hammers and their uses, the anvil, and various other tools we’d soon come to know as “best friends”.  

Then he took us in hand and showed us what he expected us to do and how to do it. After that, he turned us loose to do as we’d been told; but standing near-by to coach us through the various “twists” and “turns” of the process. When you see what I made, shown below, you’ll realize there are a few bad puns in that previous sentence.

Looking back on it, the whole process was quite simple and really didn’t change for any of the various projects one might want to do. One heats a piece of steel in the fire until it is red to yellow hot…

then pounds the heck out of it with a hammer until it has taken the shape you wish it to take.

This student could have been a better student but Bryan worked me like he did the metal until I took shape!

Simple, right? Of course, there are various techniques one can use to make things happen quicker, easier, and work better. And there are pitfalls to be careful of, such as being wary of grabbing a piece of metal that is still hot (ouch!) or blowing too much air into the fire causing it to sort of pop, or “blowout” as Bryan put it when I did that, which is rather surprising when it happens!

Now don’t tell Bryan this but, he showed me a technique for making a hook shape, even coached me through it, and it did help. However, when I made my second project, I got a great hook-shape doing it “my way” while he wasn’t looking. However, that’s all part of why this is an “art”. The idea is to get the correct end result and the best way to achieve that goal is to do what works. That was an interesting lesson to learn from a blacksmithing class!

Taking this class was the most fun I’d had in a long time, and I’m one to find fun in most things I do! It was one of the most educational as well! However, it was not only educational and fun, it was a challenge, too! So, it turned out to be an esteem builder as well! It was not easy to do, yet I was getting the hang of things so well, Bryan thought I’d be able to squeeze in a third project in the final half-hour of the class. And I probably could have. I just wasn’t sure the energy level was going to hold out as long as it took to finish the project! I decided to end while I was still looking great so called it a day (the old “quit while you are ahead” standard!).

I made two things that day, a hanging-plant hook (the longer thing in the below photo) and a 17^th Century Turn Screw (what we’d call today a “screwdriver” and I’m not talking about the drink you can get at a bar!). That little curl at the tip of the hook is the “rat’s tail”. The one on the lower, well-made hook, of the longer piece was accomplished by Bryan as he showed me how to make hooks and rat’s tails. The hook on the top of that piece is my hook and my rat’s tail. The hook is not bad but that rat’s tail is not the greatest rat’s tail ever seen. Bryan said my error was in grabbing the tip of the hook with my needle-nose pliers too far back resulting in the flat tail seen in the photo. I could have re-heated it and tried again but it was my first try so I wanted it as it was.

I thought the twisting went quite well, as well!

As you can see, I did learn from my first try. Check out the rat’s tail on my Turn Screw! Practice helps and this was just my second attempt.

That afternoon I went home not only with two objects I had actually crafted out of metal with my own hands, but with the experience of having hammered out and twisted red-hot steel into something that made me agree with what my fellow student kept saying all day: “THAT’S BEAUTIFUL!”

He was right. The things we made were beautiful. The experience we had was beautiful. The knowledge we gained is something beautiful, too.

The first line of the last stanza of “The Village Blacksmith” perfectly sums up this wonderful day for me. It reads: “Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend, For the lesson thou hast taught!”  

For more photos of the day, visit: https://www.facebook.com/pg/SophiaCoxeHouse/photos/?ref=page_internal

For more information visit:

https://www.facebook.com/SophiaCoxeHouse

http://sophiacoxefoundation.com/

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[1] Butler Township History, Butler Township website, http://www.butlertownship.org/about-us/history/Print.html accessed 6/14/2016

Some of us never went to war.

#29 War – Some of us never went to war.

In the previous post we looked at Drum Family Tree members who served during WWII. We also touched on the fact that some of us Drums never served in the military. Who can know all the why’s of that happening? In recent years we were just born in years that fell “between” wars so were never drafted and didn’t enlist. Some never entered military service due to illness. I’m sure the circumstances were similar in earlier generations, as well.

As I have so often done in previous posts, I again lament the lack of journals, letters, news reports, or even oral history to give us a hint about these ancestors of ours. I suppose it is possible Progenitor Philip had some military experience in the old country before he came to this continent. If so, those records have not yet been located. It is highly doubtful Philip’s son, Jacob, ever served in any military capacity. He traveled with his father to Pennsylvania when he was eight-years-old in 1738 and died at the hands of Native Americans in 1774 at age 44.

Jacob’s son, George, of course, did, but George’s son Philip (1787-1858) apparently did not, missing his chance to be in the War of 1812 at age 25. Philip’s son John (1826-1881) apparently did not serve either. His chance would have been the Civil War, when he was 34. There is apparently no military service for John’s son, Nathan A. (1868-1934) either. At age 30 he might have been eligible for service in the Spanish American War but at 50, was far too old for WW1. Of course, that was the war Nathan’s son, Elmer, marched off to fight.  

Elmer’s son, Harry Nathan Drum, however, could have enlisted or been drafted during WWII. He turned 20 in 1943. Circumstances, however, dictated that he join the line of Drums who did not go to war. During his childhood he struggled with a number of illnesses, one of which, Rheumatic Fever, forced him to miss at least the last two months of his 5^th grade year of school.  

Harry’s 5^th Grade Report Card showing the word “Quarantined” in the May column.
Grading was different in 1933 than in today’s system. An “A” was “Admirable” (95-100) [a clear A today], E was Excellent (85-95) [generally a B today], F = Fair (75-85) [generally a C today], P = Poor (60 -75) [generally a D today], and M = Very Poor (less than 60) [generally an E or F, depending on the system, today].

The word “quarantined” is written in the May column in his 5^th grade report card. A report card for his 6^th grade year is missing. It may have been that he was schooled at home for that year and a record was not kept. However, he did have a report card for the 7^th grade so he must have been able to show satisfactory progress enough to attain that achievement.

His grades in the first grade started out with average “C’s” but improve to “B’s” and a few “A’s” by the end of that year. He achieved mostly “B’s” his second through fourth grades. His 5^th grade marks return to the more dismal “C’s” and even a few “D’s” as he apparently struggled with his illness until May when he is removed from school and quarantined. This report also noted that in October this 10-year-old was “inclined to mischief” and “capable of doing better”. In December he was “showing improvement” and in January the teacher marked his progress as “very commendable”.

Things really changed when he reached the 7^th grade, however. One day, half-way through the year, a year that shows he earned the most “C’s” and “D’s” of any during his schooling, he refused to return to school. Very little was ever said about this when I was growing up except that he refused to return because he was, according to my mom, “being mistreated by a teacher.” His 7^th grade teacher wrote on the back of the report, “Not eligible for promotion.”

He would have been of draft-able age beginning in August of 1943 when he’d have reached age 20. However, to my knowledge he was never drafted, nor did he enlist, during WWII. When the draft was re-established by President Truman in 1948, he was either not drafted or, given the following letter from his doctor, he received a deferment.

November 5, 1948

To Whom it may concern:

Mr. Harry Drum was examined by me this date. His past history reveals that he was sickly till the age of 18 months with a skin condition. After this he gives a history of contracting Rheumatic Fever and was sickly for many years. At the present time he complains of headaches, periods of nausea, marked perspiration of the hands, axilla, and feet. He has been unable to do any hard work because he gets a marked palpation of the heart. He has not been associating with people. It is noted that he kept busy by working, going home and working about the house. Occasionally he works with one other man who he helps about a garage.

It is my feeling that this boy has a severe psychoneurosis, associated with a schizoid personality. His entrance into the military service would be a great mistake. He is unable to make an adjustment to this type of living.

Very truly

(signed)

John T. Delehanty, M.D.

Markle Bank Bldg.

Hazleton, PA

Some of
Harry’s lapel pins.

When I first saw this letter, glued into one of Mom’s scrapbooks, it came as a bit of a shock. My dad never exhibited such conditions and symptoms when I knew him; in fact, just the opposite! The man I knew enjoyed people and worked long hours doing strenuous work! He enjoyed camping, vegetable farming, beekeeping, being a Barbershopper, and being a 32˚ Mason; holding elected offices in both of those organizations.  One of his fellow Masons still today almost always mentions how they were Masons together, every time he sees me!

Dad looked forward to attending meetings of various church clubs and activities; sang in the church choir; served on the church consistory; and taught Sunday School classes for the adult men.  He served on, and was elected President of the Luzerne County 4-H Leaders’ Association, was the Beekeeping 4-H Project Leader for the local 4-H club, enjoyed volunteering for and attending various 4-H events, enjoyed attending Luzerne County Beekeeper Association meetings and never shied away from an opportunity to chat and kibitz with neighbors, friends and whomever might drop by for a visit.  

It must have been Eleanor who made the difference. She often told the story of how one Sunday morning in 1949, Harry, who was sitting beside his mother in church at the time, elbowed Ella for attention, pointed toward Eleanor in the choir and said, unbeknownst to Eleanor, “That’s the girl I am going to marry.”

This is my favorite picture of “us kids”.

On September 17, 1950 (age 27) he did marry 23-year-old Eleanor Esther Shearer in the St. John’s German Reformed Church, Rev. Theodore C. Hesson, officiating. 

Together Harry and Eleanor had two sons, Nathan Harry Drum and Ronald Clayton Drum. 

Harry spent most of his career as a shipping and sales clerk at Wagner Bros. Hardware Store in Hazleton, PA.  He spent the last years of his life driving Hazleton City bus.  On a cold, snowy February morning in 1986, Harry was preparing his bus for that day’s run. He climbed onto the back bumper so he could reach the top sign in order to change it. His foot slipped off the bumper and he landed with his full weight on his left leg, shattering his knee.  Although doctors were successful in rebuilding the knee, complications from the surgery resulted in the formation of blood clots in his lungs and he passed away on April 3^rd, just six weeks from the date of his accident. He was 62-years-old. Eleanor lived 28 more years, dying from a stroke on January 17, 2014, just 20 days shy of her 87^th birthday.

Neither of Harry’s sons ever served in the military, either. Nathan came the closest to being drafted, by far, between the two of us. Nathan was born February 2, 1954 and I followed October 8, 1957. Being born in the ‘50’s made us both draft-age beginning in the ‘70’s, right on the tail end of the Vietnam War.

At that time, the draft was being conducted through a lottery system. One barrel held capsules with numbers in them, 1 through 365. Another barrel held capsules containing a date, one for each day of the year. First a date was drawn and then a number was drawn to be matched with it. The lower the number, the greater the chance people born that day would be drafted. The lottery for the birth year 1954 was held March 8, 1973. Number 1 was assigned to June 27, number 6 was assigned to August 11, number 111 fell to November 5, and February 2 matched up with number 54. Numbers over 100 probably would not be called. Numbers 20 and lower were almost guaranteed to be called. The chances that 54 would be called seemed fairly likely.[1]

“On the morning of my birthday I woke up in my dorm room at Penn State when my clock radio announced that Nixon had put a moratorium on the call-up,” recalled Nathan in 2018. Even though the lottery continued through 1975, the draft was officially ended on January 27, 1973.[2]

The last lottery was held March 12, 1975. It covered men born in 1956.[3] I was born in 1957.

The closest I came to the military (which is not really very close at all) was my involvement in a program which had the goal of building sustainable models for 4‑H Youth Development programs on Air Force installations. The 4-H program is a youth development education program conducted by each of the states’ Land-grant Universities under guidelines provided by 4‑H National Headquarters, NIFA, USDA. The Air Force was very interested in having 4-H programs available for the children of Air Force personnel but were concerned about the sustainability of such programs given the high turnover of adult volunteer leadership on Air Force installations due to deployments.

Col. John Nelson, USAF Family Advocacy Program Division Chief, wondered if it might be possible to develop 4-H programs through a collaboration between military and civilian youth serving agencies, something many, both military and civilian, felt was not possible. Believing this could be done, and therefore an answer to the problem, he decided to test the theory. Teaming up with 4‑H national leaders from USDA and administrators from the USAF Family Member Program, they created a 3.5-years program to test the theory. This program asked FAP and FMP staff from nine Air Force bases around the country to work with the 4-H staff of the counties in which the bases were located to find ways to establish sustainable 4-H Programs on their installations. I was given the role of national coordinator for the project.

The project proved Col. Nelson was right!

The project began in 1999 and ended in 2002. Working with military installations and military procedures was a new world for me. Just when I thought I had the hang of it, however, everything changed. The United States was attacked on the morning of September 11, 2001 by members of a terrorist group called Al‑Qaeda. As it happened, I had agreed to discuss some aspect of the program by telephone that morning with Janet Seachris, who was at that time the Youth Center Director for Fairchild Air Force Base, Spokane, Washington. We agreed we’d connect “sometime after” we were both in the office that morning. The last message she sent to me on September 10 ended saying, “I’m in by 6:45am my time, Tues., 11 Sept. 01” I marked that in my calendar noting that was 9:45am eastern time. I replied saying I’d send her a message when I was in my office. I arrived that morning at 7:30am but waited to send her anything knowing she still had a number of hours before she would be in her office. The following are my notes written that evening about that morning.

8:48am American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the WTC* North Tower.

8:55am Drum sent the requested message to Seachris.

9:00am Drum learned of the “accident” in New York.

9:05am United Airlines Flight 175 hit the WTC South Tower.

9:10am Drum learned of the second plane and told the secretary who brought him the news, “My God! This is terrorism!”

9:43am American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.

9:45am (approximately) Seachris arrived at her office on Fairchild AFB (6:45am pacific time)

9:59am the WTC South Tower collapsed.

10:00am United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

10:28am the WTC North Tower collapsed.

10:30am the Northern Virginia Center was closed and all personnel sent home.

*World Trade Center

My employer at the time was Virginia Tech, administrators of the USDA/USAF grant, and my office was at their “northern campus”; a suite of offices in an office building known as the Northern Virginia Center, Falls Church, Virginia. By 10:30am much of the D.C. area was in traffic gridlock. Almost all telephone service, regular and cell, was jammed/overloaded. I was unable to contact my wife, Phyllis, so I decided it would be better to be at our Alexandria apartment then in Falls Church when she got home. I decided to head home, a 10 – 15 mile trip depending on the route taken. One of my colleagues said “you might as well just stay here for a while. You’ll never get to Alexandria now.” “I’m going to try,” I replied. “Good luck!” he said as I left.

As it turned out, most of the traffic was trying to move west, away from the city. I was trying to go south. I actually made it back to the apartment faster than my normal commute time! Phyllis worked in an office beside Union Station, which is across the city from Virginia, near the Capitol. From her office she could see the smoke rising from the Pentagon.

The streets were in gridlock. Busses, metro trains, all unavailable. Phyllis, and a colleague also from Virginia, decided to walk home. Reaching the Potomac River, they were able to then catch a cab and she finally made it back to the apartment sometime late that afternoon/early evening.

What I did not know was that by then colleagues from the various bases and 4-H offices across the country involved in the program were sending me messages expressing their concern for me and our fellow national level colleagues. The next morning, I replied.

When I got up this morning, I looked out the window and the sun was shining brightly. I even heard a bird chirping. It was then that I knew that the world was still there, that we had to go forward no matter what. So here I am at my desk in Falls Church ready to continue our efforts to improve the lives of our children.

After reassuring everyone that all of our military colleagues at the national level were safe, I added that for them, since their offices were not in the Pentagon but in an office building in Crystal City, as far as working conditions were concerned,

…the worst of it is the heavy smoke that still hangs in the air throughout the area. Indeed, my wife and I could pick up the odor at our apartment, which is some distance [approximately 5-6 miles] from the Pentagon area, this morning.

Among the many thankful responses that message brought, was this one from Donna Shock, who was, at that time, the Family and Work Life Consultant at Eielson AFB, Fairbanks, Alaska.

I am glad to hear you and yours are well. Believe it or not, the tragedy of yesterday has affected us here in Alaska greatly. On a personal note, I have two extended family members that are missing in NYC today, one a Long Island firefighter and one a Manhattan police officer. My mom is keeping me posted but it does not look good.

It was a difficult time for so many. It still is.

Harry’s grandson, Philip, was born August 10, 1995, in Bangor, Maine.  When he reached his 18^th birthday anniversary, his uncle Nathan gave him the Pennsylvania Long Rifle, leather pouch, and powder horn reputed to have once been George Drum’s, carried by him during his service in the American Revolutionary War.

  

Approximately 5’ long. They don’t call ‘em “long” for nothing!

Return to the Drums of Drums, PA on July 29, 2019 to discover Coal. Our next post is entitled: The Miners.

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[1] Rosenbaum, David E., “Draft Numbers Chosen for 1973,” The New York Times, Feb. 3, 1972

[2] Glass, Andrew, “U.S. Military Draft Ends, Jan. 27, 1973”, Politico, Jan. 27, 2012 https://www.politico.com/story/2012/01/us-military-draft-ends-jan-27-1973-072085 accessed 3/9/2018

[3] The Vietnam Lotteries, Selective Service System, https://www.sss.gov/About/History-And-Records/lotter1 accessed 3/9/2018

And World War II, too, for some of us.

#28 War – And World War II, too, for some of us.

The two previous posts discussed Drums who went to war, whether across the Escout River or in the Battle of Cedar Creek. However, some of us never even left the banks of the Little Nescopeck!

As we shall see in the next post, a number of the Drum Tree members never saw military service or, thank goodness, battle. Elmer’s son, Harry, although of age to be drafted during WWII, was one who never was in the military, not during WWII or the Korea Conflict.  That is not to say that no members of the Drum Family Tree served during WWII or other wars/actions/engagements over the years.

Two Drums who went and, thank Goodness, returned, were brothers Edward and Joseph Drum^{(Raymond, Milton, Jacob, George, Jacob, Philip)}. Until quite recently, I was unaware these brothers were in the war but it pays to go to the cemetery right after the cemetery guys mow to find things out. The flags still there from Memorial Day helped as well. Wondering over whose graves these two flags at the edge of the cemetery flew over, I approached to find these markers placed in the ground. Of course, the cemetery in question is the St. Johns Cemetery so it figures that I’d find Drums from Drums WWII soldiers there. It made me wonder who else from the tree served that I’m not aware of. Stay tuned. There may yet be more to come on this front (pun sort of intended).

However, most of the folks I am aware of from “our” family tree who served during WWII are members of the “Extended” Drum Family Tree. Following are some photos of these “extended family folks”. Most of the WWII vintage photos below are glued into one of my mom’s scrapbooks. That explains why one has a part of another photo on top of it. Mom. SMH.

Sgt. George Balliett stood proudly in his uniform for these photographs, probably taken in the back yard of Elmer’s house. I THINK George was Harry’s First Cousin Twice Removed but maybe not. Honestly, this whole cousin-designation-thing has me just bamboozled. So, to put it as my mom would have put it, “He was some relation.” 

Two of Harry’s cousins, Gordon and Marvin Yoch, also served. This time I’m sure “cousins” is the correct term because they were the children of Harry’s aunt, Christine Drum Yoch.

Here is a photo of Gordon. He was a Sargent. 

And here is one of Marvin. 

Both of my mom’s brothers, Nelson and Clayton Shearer, also served during WWII, both in the Pacific. Nelson was an Army Sargent and Clayton served with the “SEABEES”.

Clayton was my namesake. I believe the “MME 3/C” written below his photo means “Machinist’s Mate (Engineman) 3^rd Class Petty Officer”; a Navy designation that I believe is equivalent to an Army Corporal. The E in his name stands for Elton, named after his father.

“Clayton” is written on the bottom of the smaller photo in the upper right of shirtless Clayton. Under it, in her scrapbook, Mom wrote, “bed behind bench”. Apparently, she was pointing out where Clayton’s bed is in the photo! The name “Clayton” written below that identifies who is in the photo under it.

So, yes, that is Clayton in for a swim.

Next is a photo of Nelson. This was one of my mom’s favorite photos.

Across the bottom of this photo Nelson wrote:

“With Love

to Sis

Sgt. Nelson W. Shearer”

Below that, in pencil, is written:

Cpl. Nelson W. Shearer.

I think Nelson wrote that as well.

I’m not sure when the photo was taken but it may have been taken around the time when he got himself into a bit of trouble. He wrote about this “trouble” in a short, unpublished memoir he produced in 1989 about his WWII Army experiences. He says it was June of 1944 when the trouble began, but I’m sure he meant to type 1945. He and a buddy, Larry Woodall, went on a two-day pass to Dagupan and surrounding towns in the Philippians, “drinking and seeing the sights”. They probably should have seen more sights and drank a tad less because they drank too much and, in his words, “When we woke up we found out that President Roosevelt had died[1] and we had been AWOL for a couple of days.” They caught a ride on a truck and did some walking but managed to get back to their camp, walking in around 5am or 6am. When their Sargent saw them, he told them he “didn’t know whether to kiss us or kick our backsides.” While they were gone, the Japanese had attacked their camp and two men had been killed, but not identified. Apparently, according to Nelson, they were “pretty badly mauled and one had glasses. The authorities checked all units in the area and they found we were the only ones missing. They were about to send telegrams to our homes…”  Of course, Nelson and Larry were arrested.

According to regulations, at least what the Warrant Officer who passed judgement on them told them the regulations stated, soldiers going AWOL in a war zone could be imprisoned or shot. Nelson writes, “Unfortunately, we were in a warzone.”

However, since it was a first offense, they suffered nothing so drastic. Larry was reduced in rank from Private First Class to Private, fined $10, and restricted to Camp for a month. Nelson was fined $25.00, restricted to camp for a month, and “reduced in rank from a corporal to a private.” After a month had passed, “I got a T4 rating (SGT. 4^th)”.

His memoir mostly tells stories of manual labor such as loading and unloading ships and trucks as well as drinking, focusing their attention on girls, playing pranks, and similar such hijinks; just what you’d expect from a late-teens/early 20’s kid away from home for the first time trying to remain sane in a war. The memoir, however, also speaks to the war; talks of combat (“You could still hear the big projectiles going over your head there was no doubt about it”). In one story he tripped over “…a leg with a sneaker on the foot” as he ran to help secure one of the guns during a night battle. It must have been a terrible fight. When lights finally came on “you could see the damaged guns and the body parts laying around.” Later they learned a Japanese suicide squadron had been the cause of the trouble. The Japanese soldiers had wrapped themselves in explosives and then detonated the explosives when close enough to the guns to damage or destroy them.

I imagine the others; Ed, Joe, George, Gordon, Marvin, Clayton; each had stories much the same.

Of course, when it was over, the joy these families, the country, the world, felt was all encompassing. If Nathan and Mary hugged at the end of World War 1, the whole world hugged at the end of World War 2. My wife's parents, who both served in the war as well, certainly felt that joy. They saved the newspapers to prove it. Since the war was fought in two main fronts, Europe and the Pacific, it required two newspapers to cover the whole story. Germany surrendered first. In the following photo we see how the newspaper Stars and Stripes announced the news in their May 8, 1945 London Edition.

Then it was Japan's turn. The New York Sun chose "War Over" for their August 14, 1945 edition. The popular magazine Yank celebrated by putting a civilian suit on the front cover of their September 7, 1945 "V-J Issue". The soldiers were coming home.

Happily, joyfully, Nelson, Ed, Joe, George, Gordon, Marvin, Clayton all came home safely. They all lived at least into the 1990’s with Marvin being the last to die on April 20, 2015 at the age of 90.

Both of my wife’s parents, Joseph and Mary Dupuis, also both made it home safely although I suppose that goes without saying. However, Joe did carry bits of shrapnel in his shoulder for the rest of his life, an injury that also robbed him of full use of his left hand, almost the hand itself, but introduced him to his future wife.

On June 1, 2017, Joseph Warren Dupuis, Jr., passed away at age 92. He had lived most of his life in West Springfield, MA. On April 7, 1948 he married Mary Brause, that Army Nurse he met during WWII. Joe served as a member of CO A, 5th Medical Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division. He saw action from Normandy to Germany, including the Battle of the Bulge. As a combat medic, he received a Bronze Star Medal with Oak Leaf Clusters, a Purple Heart, and a Combat Medic Badge. He was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery on July 31, 2017.

On February 7, 2019, Mary followed Joseph. She was 98 years old when she died. Mary attained the rank of Captain during WWII serving with the 122 General Hospital in England, at Camp Atterbury (IN), Halloran Hospital (NY), and Fitzsimmons General Hospital (CO). She was laid to rest beside her husband on April 9, 2019. 

April 9, 2019. Arlington National Cemetery. Note the bugler on the left side of the photo, standing among the headstones, saluting Mary.

We salute them all.

At the start of this post, it was mentioned that my dad, Harry Drum, never went to war. In our next post we learn more about why this was the case, about the Draft of the 1970’s, and of a successful 4-H collaboration with the U. S. Air Force at the turn of the century. Its goal was to learn how to establish sustainable 4-H programs on Air Force installations. While that effort was rolling forward, the United States experienced one of its worst days in its history, September 11, 2001.

Return to the Drums of Drums, PA on July 15, 2019 for this next chapter entitled, Some of us never went to war.

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[1] FDR died April 12, 1945 in Warm Springs, GA. I suppose it may be possible that word had not reached these solders fighting in the Philippians until two months later. It is, however, what Nelson wrote.