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A short Bio on my Grandmother Elsie Butcher
Elsie Butcher was born in 1895 in Dille, Clay County. She was my maternal grandmother. She was the daughter of George Stinson Butcher and Rosetta Candace Coulter. She was the granddaughter of John Mc Butcher and Mary Jane Fulks.
On May 13, 1918 she married John Gordon Goff born 1898, the son of Marshall B. Goff and Eliza Jane Barnett. He was descended from John Turton Goff and Modica Carrico.
Elsie and Gordon moved from Dille where she was born to Widen in Clay County where Gordon went to work at the mines for the Elk River Coal and Lumber Company. After a few years underground Gordon got a comparatively safe job as Dumper at the main tipple. His job was to dump the full cars of coal coming out of the mine onto the main conveyor going to the tipple.
Between 1920 and 1926 they had four daughters Roma first born 1920, then Ivy Alice born in 1922, then my mother Carmen born 23 March 1924 and Phoebe born in 1926.
On Sept. 19, 1927 while dumping coal Gordon was "instantly killed when caught in the machinery of the main coal conveyor" as his death certificate states. The next day he was buried in Butcher Cemetery, Dille, Clay Co. He was 29 years old. There was no undertaker.
Nine months and 1 day later on June 18, 1928, Elsie gave birth to there only son and fifth child Johnny Burl. He died 14 days later on July 2, 1928 of Bronchitis. He was buried with his father in Butcher Cemetery.
With no income and 4 little girls to raise Elsie married Oscar Dodrill later that year on December 4, 1928. I don't know what happened to Oscar yet but she later married Emory Given and even later a man named McCrady.
About Elsie's daughters:
Roma, I can't find any info on.
Ivy Alice eventually moved to Huntington and married Berkley Holly, a railroad conductor. She died relatively young at age 43. They had no children.
My mother, Carmen, married Lloyd Johnson a coal miner who worked at the same mine where her father was killed. He eventually quit the mines and became a minister in the Nazarene Church. They had 5 boys and 2 girls. She outlived all her sisters but died suddenly of a heart attack April 8, 1996.
Phoebe also went to Huntington and married a DeLaney. They had 2 girls and a boy. She died in her 30's of Lukemia.
The last time I saw Grandma Elsie was in 1958 She was living in Huntington in a little house by the floodwall with her fifth husband Beau Thompson. To support themselves, Elsie did ironing for people and Beau built Adarondike chairs and sold them. Their yard was full of chairs. She died in 1959 after a very hard life.
I remember her as a sweet lady who treated me nicely.
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