Coal-Miner Registry for Ohio Miners

In a feature article, the Columbus Dispatch reported that a registry of coal miners in southeastern Ohio as far back as the 1800s will be available next year. The database is being compiled now and eventually will be available to the public online, sometime next year.
The newspaper reported that the registry kicked off Oct 21 with a ribbon-cutting and a round of applause in the gym at the Southern Local school campus near Shawnee in southern Perry County, an area about 65 miles southeast of Columbus that used to be known for its bustling little coal-mining towns.
The registry is to feature coal miners from Athens, Hocking, Morgan and Perry counties, including working miners, retirees and their forebears.
It is intended to help genealogists and historians document the rich past of the region.
The database will list miners by name, provide locations of the mines where they worked and the towns in which they lived, their family immigration history, and their union, church and fraternal memberships.
To read the article, Google "Registry digs into mining history" by Mary Beth Lane in the October 22, 2007 issue of the Columbus Dispatch.
For information about the registry, write to the Little Cities of the Black Diamonds Council, P.O. Box 128, Shawnee, OH 43782; call 1-866-394-3011; or e-mail lcbd@ohiohills.com.