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May 1939. Coal miner's son in Kempton, West Virginia. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon, Farm Security Administration.
My Great Grandfather was an Engineer at at the mine (or so I'm told). He lived in Kempton. His name was (Irvin?) Nine. My Grandmother was raised there. Her name was Jessie Fay Nine. She married William Paul Hinebaugh. I think the company store was on the WVA side as Maryland had outlawed Company Stores.
Kempton straddles the state line between West Virginia and Maryland. The company store was in Maryland, but the post office was in West Virginia, making it a West Virginia town. My dad was a fire boss in the Kempton mine in the mid 1940's.
Interesting. I did not know there was a Kempton in WV. There is a Kempton, in Garrett County, MD, just over the WV line. Small mining town, where my Dad was born.
Not much left there these days, although a lot of the miner's families get together every year for the Kempton Reunion.
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