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INVITATION TO ATTEND
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| WHO: | Descendants of Coal Creek miners and those interested in preserving Tennessee mining history |
| WHAT: | Participate in a donation ceremony where descendants of Powell Harmon and David Dezern will donate artifacts to the Museum of East Tennessee History, which were carried by those miners when the Great Fraterville Mine exploded on May 19, 1902. |
| WHEN: | 10:00 am until 11:00 am on Friday, 8 September 2017 |
| WHERE: | Museum of East Tennessee History at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 S Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902 |
| HOW: | Reserve a seat in the auditorium by contacting Carol Moore at (865) 660-2620 or cmoore@schnabel-eng.com. It’s free, provided you RSVP in advance. |
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Life was good after Coal Creek miners fought the Tennessee National Guard during the Coal Creek War to abolish convict leasing in Tennessee. Miners built new schools, churches, roads, and even an opera house. Monday, May 19, 1902, started out like most days since the Coal Creek War had ended a decade earlier. Miner’s wives such as Josie Harmon, Nancy Camp, and the Webb sisters—Ellen Webb Vowell and Mary Webb Woods—fixed breakfast to get their husbands off to work and their children off to school or work. It took an army to feed the Dezern clan that morning. Catherine Dezern’s husband had died in a logging accident a decade earlier, but she fixed a hot breakfast for her three unmarried sons, while her daughters-in-law Minnie and Lula did likewise for her married sons and grandkids. Catherine’s daughters, Martha Dezern Wallace and Mary Dezern Allen had families of their own and fixed breakfast for their husbands and children. Dezern gatherings must have been hectic in those days. |
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All those lives changed at 7:20 that morning, when the Great Fraterville Mine exploded. Mine rescue crews led by Philip Francis, David R. Thomas, and George Camp searched valiantly for survivors, but none were found in what became the worst disaster in the history of mining in the South where 216 men and boys died. The disaster left only three adult males alive in the town of Fraterville. Catherine Dezern lost five sons and two sons-in-law. Twenty-six of the miners did not die from the explosion, but from lack of oxygen after they built a barricade to block poisonous gases that had formed as a result of the explosion. Ten of them left farewell letters to their families. The subject of all ten letters is the same—God and family—which tells you all you need to know about life’s priorities in 1902. Powell Harmon’s farewell letter tells his boys, Henry and Condy, to never work in the coal mines. But, as the eldest son, Briceville-student Condy Harmon chose to disobey his father’s last wish and instead support his father’s family. Condy never married or had any children and died in the 1911 Cross Mountain Mine explosion in Briceville. |
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Jacob Vowell’s farewell letter says that Powell Harmon’s watch is in Andy Woods’ hands, but that watch will soon be on display at the museum, thanks to Powell’s great-granddaughter Barb Titus. David Dezern's wife, Lula, remained in Coal Creek with her 11-month old daughter Eva after David died in the explosion. Lula remarried in 1905. When Eva Dezern was 12, her mother died and she was sent on a train to live with relatives in Illiniois. One of the few possessions she took with her on the train was her father's oil lamp recovered from his body after the explosion. Eva passed on that precious keepsake to her daughters, Louise Nelson and Marie Morts, who will be donating it to the museum. Students from Briceville Elementary School will be participating in the donation ceremony. This will be a wonderful opportunity for them to gather research for a future National History Day Project when they get to Lake City Middle School and Anderson County High School. |
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For questions about the
ceremony,
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Creek Watershed Foundation, Inc. 2000 through 2021
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