Life in Appalachia, 1920's

Leaving Weston in 1920, Albert took his family south, heading for the coal country in Johnson County, Kentucky, in the far southeast portion of the state. The family left Weston in an old Model A Ford. Now Ford actually produced two Model A's. One, the one most people recognize, was produced in the years 1927-1931. However, Ford also made another, earlier, Model A in 1903 and 1904. This was a hand-built, non-production-line automobile. For Albert Nicholas to still have one in 1920 was testimony to his mechanical skills and to his lack of monetary level.

Piled into the small vehicle were Albert, his wife, Lillian, Flora, and Clifford, along with all their worldly possessions. The trip, on good roads, had there been many, would have taken three days. Most roads in 1920 were not that good, being dirt and mismanaged. Likely the driving portion of the trip took closer to a week, with stops and nights spent in or around the automobile.

When the family arrived within about twenty miles of Offut, Kentucky, their final destination, the roads ended. From that point on, there were only footpaths in the hills. The Model A was abandoned and the family traveled on by foot, walking the path, carrying their belongings. Gorges and rivers were crossed using rope bridges. This last portion of the journey took the family another five to seven days to complete.

It must be recalled that Flora, the eldest offspring, now 31 years old, was a completely disabled individual, having spent her life in a wheelchair as a paraplegic. To transport her, along with the others and their belongings, meant carrying her and her chair the entire twenty miles. One can only image the difficulty of the task, let alone the horrible experience for Flora to have to undergo this.

Offut was a company-owned set of houses built into the side of a hill just a few miles northeast of Paintsville, Kentucky, the county seat of Johnson County. Miners working for the Northeast Mining Company lived in the 12 shacks in Offut and worked in mines near Whitehouse, farther to the north. Travel between Offut and Paintsville and Whitehouse, company headquarters, were either by train or by walk paths.

Al and his Uncle Clifford were sent into Paintsville to attend school daily. Flora, Lillian and the mother stayed in Offut and took care of the home. Albert was employed as a superintendent in the mine by the Northeast Mining Company. Northeast rarely hired outsiders, having a strong policy of hiring locals. This would eventually be a problem.

All shopping, as with any mining family was done at the company stores. In this case, Albert and his people did their shopping in Whitehouse. The children went to school in Paintsville. Al and Clifford rode the train each day to school and back again, a distance of some 12 miles. they ate their lunch in town at the restaurant on the main street. That in itself was an education. Every day, as they sat eating, they watched the coming and going of the people in Paintsville.

One day, while eating lunch, they watched two men come up the street from opposite ends of the street. They stopped in the middle of the street, right in front of the restaurant's windows. The two exchanged words, stepped back from each other, drew pistols from their belts, and then they proceeded to shot each other. Al and Clifford watched as the two men killed each other right in front of them as they ate. After they fell and died, other townspeople resumed their business in the street, as if nothing had happened. Eventually men came along and picked up the remains and cleaned up after the fight, and life went on as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

For six years, the Nicholas family lived in southeast Kentucky, while Albert worked in the mines. Life may not have been good, but the family was together, Albert was providing for his own, they had a home, and things were going alright. As Al would find out in the first half of his life, these were not the times to get content. Something was lurking in the shadows again.