James Travis Hyatt 1899-1969 (110)

Eastern Coal Company Miracle Run Mine, Monongalia 
County, WV where James Hyatt worked.

James Travis Hyatt was born to Jonathan E. Hyatt and Matilda J. (Hawkins) Hyatt on 16 July 1899 in Bath County, Kentucky. James was the youngest of seven children. He appeared with his parents and siblings in the 1900 Federal Census for Owingsville Township, Bath County, Kentucky, as an eleven month old baby.

In the 1910 Census, "James T. Hiatt" is found in his parents' home in Wyoming, Bath County, Kentucky, as a nine year old.

Early records have his middle name as Travis (marriage license and WWI registration), while later records have it as Charles (Social Security Application & Death record). It is not possible that this is a different man, because these also identify spouse and parents as well as birth date to confirm that it is the same person. Since he would have been the one to fill out some of this contradictory information, I can only assume that he decided to change his middle name at some point. 

As they got to be old enough to live on their own, James and his brothers found that it was difficult finding a well paid job in Kentucky. They heard that there was plenty of demand for workers in the coal mines in West Virginia. So, he and his brothers moved to Harrison County, West Virginia.

That is where he met his wife Letha "Leafy" Fortney. They were married on 20 August 1918 in Shinnston, Harrison County, West Virginia. They had the following children:

1) Esther Mae Hyatt 16 Oct 1919 Carolina, Marion County, WV m. Claus Heins

2) James Travis Hyatt 17 Oct 1921 Carolina, Marion County, WV (stillborn)

3) Opel Belle Hyatt  19 Dec 1922 Carolina, Marion County, WV m. James Bell

4) Allene Pearl Hyatt 31 Dec 1925 Carolina, Marion County, WV m. Royce Sumrow

James was registered in the army for WWI on September 12, 1918. The registration papers list his occupation as "driver in coal mine," Rosedale Coal Company, Van Voorhis (this is a tiny town in Monongalia County), West Virginia. It also says that he was married to "Leafy" Hyatt. They were married less than a month before he registered for the draft. I don't believe he ever served, since the war ended just two months later.

In the 1920 Census, James and Letha Hyatt are living in Clay, Harrison County WV with their three month old daughter Esther, and three year old Ruth Campbell (Letha's illegitimate daughter).

Coal miners in West Virginia, heading down into the
bowels of the earth for their daily shift.

In 1927, two years after their youngest daughter was born, the mines at which James worked had a strike. James honored the strike by staying out of work for many months. In those days this was a dangerous thing to do, because all of the family's food and fuel came from the company store. If you didn't work, there was no food or fuel for your family.

Things got uncomfortable for the family very quickly. Tempers flared, and Letha threatened to leave James if he didn't go back to work. He refused. Things grew violent. Letha ended up calling the police to arrest James. Since police in that day were reluctant to become involved in a case of domestic violence, Letha instead told the police about the still that James had in the home. As this was during the prohibition, that was a more reliable way to be sure that he would be arrested. While he was being held in jail, she left to look for work. She had the children taken to her parents home before he could return to claim them. Then she divorced him and eventually moved with the children to California.

The strike went on for so long that James eventually had to look for work elsewhere. By 1930, he moved to Pennsylvania, where his brother had found work at a mine in Allegheny County.

James would end up moving several times in the hard years ahead. One of his daughters remembered that at one point James had to travel as far as Carlsbad, New Mexico to find a job in a potash mine. In the 1930 Federal Census, James is found staying with his older brother, George, in Elizabeth, Alegheny County, Pennsylvania where both were working as miners.

The youngest of his daughters still cherished a few precious memories left of him by the time that he died. She remembered that he had brought her a dress and shoes from New Mexico while he was visiting from there. She remembered that, when she was a toddler, he would hold her in his lap and sing to her. She also remembered that he had lamented the loss of her curls when her hair was cut short. His occasional kindness, however, could not make up for the fact that he had been abusive to both his wife and children. Those bitter memories outweighed the tender ones.

When James returned from jail, he reclaimed his children from his in-laws' home. It was the law in the 1930s that a father had a right to take his children, even over the objections of the mother. James kept his girls for several years, though they lived in such horrendous poverty and such miserable conditions that the state finally took them from him. Some of the fault for their suffering can be attributed to the Great Depression; however, it does not entirely excuse James' neglect. There were avenues available for help that he did not use, including the grandparents whose home he had taken the children from earlier.

The state finally intervened, returning the children to their grandparents, the Fortneys, to regain their health. The middle daughter was so ill with rickets that she was kept in a hospital for several months recovering. Indeed, the reason the youngest daughter had her curls cut off was because James had neglected to brush her hair for the several years that she had lived with him. The girls were malnourished, filthy and sickly. Very little of this was the direct result of the depression. In addition to neglecting his children, James was abusive to his daughters in ways that are better left unmentioned. 

Letha moved to California in the late 1930s, taking her daughters with her, so that they never saw James again. He never remarried, or had any more children that we know about. It is hoped that his long, lonely life gave him time to reflect and repent of the harm he had done to his family.

There were two obituaries published for him in local papers. The first is from the Dominion News 27 June 1969: "Hyatt, James C., 69, of Rt. 1 Maidsville, died Wednesday in St. Vincent Pallotti Hospital. Friends may call at the Allamong Funeral Home after 3 p.m. today and until time for the services at 1 p.m. Friday, with Capt. Omer G. McKinney of the Salvation Army officiating. Burial will follow in Bethel Cemetery."

The second is from the Morgantown Post 26 June 1969: "James C. Hyatt, 69, of Rt. 1, Maidsville, died Wednesday in St. Vincent Pallotti Hospital. He was born in Scranton, KY., a son of the late Jonathan and Matilda Hawkins Hyatt. Surviving are three daughters, Mrs. Esther Hines of Long Beach, Calif., and Mrs. Opel [sic] Bell and Mrs. Allene Sumrow, both of Huntington Beach, Calif., and six grandchildren."

It is a sad fact that he is listed as only having had six grandchildren, when he actually had ten. However, any family who lived near him in West Virginia were probably not aware of all of them. Due to the estrangement caused by the divorce and abuse, and the fact that James did not stay in touch with his children, little news was shared across the miles.