1930 Census – Dad living in Bonny Blue, Virginia
At first I was upset when I saw that dad had been in Bonny Blue (Rocky Station District), Virginia for the 1930 Census. If his half brothers were both born in Virginia and were 5 1/2 and 3 on that census, that meant dad’s formative years of ages 4 – 10 were probably in Virginia and not Tennessee. The family had moved all the way to Virginia and dad never mentioned it?
Trulene, the genealogy expert at Campbell County Historical Society, had told me the miners back then would have to move to follow where there was work. Mines would be shut down for periods of time and the workers had no choice. The mines pretty much owned the miners’ entire existence. Often the miners lived in mine housing and were paid in mine company tokens that could only be spent on the mine company store.
So I looked at a map to find Bonny Blue, VA. The tiny town is in the far western part of Virginia that wedges between Tennessee and Kentucky right up on the Virginia/Kentucky border. Bonny Blue is 110 miles from Elk Valley via La Follette. Now it made sense.
Map showing route from Elk Valley, TN to Bonny Blue, VA
Bonny Blue, for those of us not from that part of the country, refers to the bonny blue Confederate flag.
Mar 09, 2013 @ 05:43:31
I was born in bonny blue and my mother was a thompson. Dr. Gaberail was the doctor that live at the end of the rd. and he and is wife had two son . any information would be helpful. Thank You Jim Styer