The Thurber, Texas Story

I remember hearing my grandmother (Mama Kelley) talking about living in Texas when she was a young girl. Oh how I wish I could remember the stories. I asked Donna (the Newby cousin I found) if she knew where they lived in Texas. She send me some information and a link on Thurber, Texas. www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/print/TT/hnt21.html

Thurber, Texas is a ghost town now but at one time was a thriving town. A company town, a coal mining town with a fascinating story. I found they had a cemetery and looked it up on findagrave.com. There is a memorial for the unmarked graves there. I e-mailed a man from the Thurber, Texas site and asked if there was a list on line of the names on the memorial. I gave him last names from the family that might have been in Thurber, Newby and Woodley or Woodlee ( Lydia Newby's maiden name was Woodley or Woodlee) she had a brother in Texas. The man e-mail me back with some Woodley's that were buried there. I don't really know much about the Woodley's but will file this information away.

To me this is interesting. What was Thurber like during the late 1800's when my grandmother lived there as a young girl. Her father David Henry Newby was a coal miner and that is probably what took them to Thurber. Why did they move back to north Georgia? David H. Newby's father was also a coal miner. Who knows maybe K. H. Newby died in a coal mining accident.
Coal mining was a very important part of our country's history as well as our family history.

I was so interested I asked for a book about Thurber, Tx. for Christmas. Ok I ordered it for my husband to give me. I promise I haven't read it yet.