252 – Jobs at Cole’s

Garnett Journal – Friday, February 6, 1897

Jesse Cole was born in 1875 in Fort Scott, Kansas. His father William, 27, was a bartender and mother Mary, 22, was a homemaker. Jesse grew up with an older sister and four younger brothers.

In 1897, at age 22, he was a partner in The Cyclone, a dry goods store in nearby Garnett, Kansas. The partners were Glaze, Lewis, and Cole.

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245 – West to Missouri

During the Civil War, anthracite coal was crucial to the Union. Many of the mine workers didn’t serve in the military, as coal was a critical industry to support the war effort.  The owners pressured the workers for increased production.

The Gallaghers and Larges and Kellys labored on.

Miners at work in the Coal Region, ca. 1865 – Harper’s Weekly
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