Comments on: Dying Young: The Story of a Scottish Coalmining Family

By: matt thurston

matt thurston — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:32:00 +0000

Excellent piece. The distance — not just time, but experience — that separates generations is truly astounding. So is the vagaries of life experience itself — cruel, capricious, wonderful…

I sit in my air-conditioned office, sipping my Diet Coke, listening to music, and tapping on my keyboard; Bill Miller spent most of the daylight hours of his adult years sweating 300 feet below the earth’s surface. Doesn’t seem fair.

By: Sherrie Spray

Sherrie Spray — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:17:00 +0000

Dawn, you wrote from your heart and the love and respect for our
ancestors comes through. I learned details I had not previously known about our grandparents. Thank you for all
your time and research in bringing
these family members to life. I am
truly moved.
Sherrie

By: wendy

wendy — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:01:00 +0000

Thanks so much for sharing your story! My paternal grandfather and some of his sons and grandsons as well as his wife’s family, were all coal miners in Eastern Ohio about as close to Appalachia as one can get without being in the region. Life was extremely difficult and hard back then. I don’t think our generation or our children can quite understand the hardships our ancestors faced.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:30:00 +0000

Beautifully said, Miriam. I agree with you.

By: Miriam

Miriam — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:31:00 +0000

I have found that family history gives us a sense not only of who we are now, but WHY we are who we are. Your lovely narrative describes a family that probably most of us have had in our ancestry: people who worked so wretchedly hard for so very little in order to make life better for future generations: us. Our only repayment can be gratitude and honoring them to our children’s children.