Lorelei Ockenfels

Ms. Paulakis

English 101

February 2nd, 2024

John Rockett: The coal miner

I have never been interested in my family’s history until now. When I was assigned this paper

and was required to learn more about myself and my family. I am so glad that I did. This is about

my grandmother’s grandfather. In other words, he is my 3 times great grandfather. He was a coal

miner in the 1890s and his story influenced me more than I had expected.

My great-great-great-grandpa went by John Rockett. He was born in Indiana in 1870 after his

father immigrated to America from Austria. When he was a young man, he went to work in the

coal mines. The mines had horrible working conditions the people who ran it “To accommodate

workers, coal companies built towns from scratch.” (trail)All the money that was needed for the

town was taken from the workers’ paychecks. They were forced to work long hours with little

pay, even without anything for the town being taken from them. Workers would wake up in the

early morning cold and dark and walk to the mines to being there long workday. Before climbing

down, they would attach a head lamp on their head which tended to explode but it was the only

way they were able to see anything in the pitch-black mines. These lamps were a new invention

and known as the safety lamp since it didn’t cover the workers face in soot like the ones before

them and were brighter due to a reflector attached to them. But they still ran on an “its open

flame was still capable of igniting methane gas in mines.” (american history) and were a

common cause of causalities. Getting to the mine they would climb down the mines getting

darker and warmer the further down they climbed. At this point in time the detonation method of
coal mining had been replaced by electric cutting machines which did clean work until the

miners got to any delicate places which had to be carved out by hand tools. They worked “for at

least six months of the year, an eight to ten-hour day of hard labor was necessary.” (History

association) with sweat pouring down their faces covered in dust and dirt. Eventually they would

get a short lunch break which was carried down in a metal lunch box with a few compartments.

A place for a sandwich which John Rockett’s sister and mom had wrapped in a cloth covered in

beeswax to protect the sandwich while he worked along with any other food that they could

afford and a cup on top which was typically used for coffee to give the workers more energy to

get them through the workday. Then they would return to work until it was once again dark

outside. Exhausted they climbed back up through the mine to get to the surface before dragging

themselves through the long walk back to their house. And waking up again the next day still

sore from the last to do it all over again. If anyone refused to work the long hours the owners

would simply fire and hire a new worker. John Rockett was one of the few workers to go on

strike to fight for workers rights. Unfortunately, when the owners learned of the strikes, they

didn’t give them more working rights. They started bringing in more and more workers to

replace the strikers. This particular mine was surrounded by cliffs and people traveled in and out

by cable car. John Rockett was one of the men who fought to keep the new workers from coming

in and replacing those on strike. But the coal mine strikes were very violent. John Rockett and

other men cut the cable car lines to prevent more people coming to the mines, but people got

hurt. This scared and shocked him.

He did not want to live there anymore so he moved to Missouri and changed his name to John

Rockett. This was not known to any of our family until years after his death since everyone

simply knew him as John Rockett, but his real name was Charles Linford. After he changed his
name, he moved in with a kind of foster family. My grandma knew him when she was a little girl

since he died when she was about 12. She described him as tall with dark skin and hair even in

his 90s. He was a grumpy old man he was nice to my grandma but very mean to her brothers. He

would threaten her brothers with his pocketknife and told them he would cut their ears off if they

didn’t behave. Once he threw on of her brother down a well for not behaving and stayed there

until his brother rescued him. His house always smelled like burnt pancakes and chewing

tobacco because the entire house was heated by a wood fire, and he was always chewing on

some chewing tobacco. Chewing tobacco was not in tins like it is today back then it came in

plugs so he would go down to the store with my grandma buy a nickels worth of tobacco and let

my grandma get a candy of course he wouldn’t let her brothers get any candy though.

I have never been too interested in our family’s history. I know that my dad’s side of the family

has dug very deep to find our roots and where we came from. But when my great grandma died a

few months ago many family artifacts became unveiled. My grandma came over and brought

these artifacts to share their stories. Having family over to the house had always stressed me out.

We need to keep everything clean and my non-immediate family members have different

customs that change up our whole routine. So, when my grandma brought over these artifacts of

our family history, she explains some of the story behind them. At the time I was technically

listening but really, I was zoning out thinking of something random. I wish I had listened the first

time because when I went back, and I asked my grandma about them and to give me details

about the story I realized that this was actually really cool and relates to a big part of why my

family is the way they are. Older people in your life say they are from a different time. But they

never give any examples of what their life was like or what they went through so this was really

the first time I started learning about our family history in depth. I have always known that were
mutts we have blood from many different places my dad’s side of the family has had rough lives

and little things like that. It wasn’t until now until I finally got some details. That I had wish they

had told me sooner. This was also when I learned that my grandma wrote 2 books about our

family not published just a few copies for the family, but I had never known that she had written

a book let alone a book about where our family comes from. Now I am very interested in what

other stories about my distant family that are currently running through my blood stream. I am

directly related to John Rockett, but this is maybe the second time I have heard his name even

though his story is definitely worth telling his story has never been told to almost anyone. My

grandma told me that my dad has the books that she wrote about the other sides of my family. I

am going to ask him to try and find them so that I can read them and learn more about my own

culture and history.

Overall, I am very thankful that I was able to read and reiterate my great great great grandpa’s

story as a husband, father, worker, and union representatives. I enjoyed writing about his time in

the mines and researching these artifacts that I have in my home. It taught me a lot about where

I, my dad, and all our family come from. I have always been a little steadfast when I thought

something was unfair and it was very interesting to hear his story as all I could think of is when

me and my friends staged a protest when we wear kids when our parents made us go outside.

Now I know who I get it from. I am glad I was able to learn about grandpa rockett and I wish I

could have met him.

References
american history, national musem of. MIning hats and lights. n.d. Website. 12 Feburary 2024.

Hernadaz, Cindy. John Rockett Lorelei Ockenfels. 3 Feburary 2024.

History association, economic. Hours of Work in U.S. History. n.d. Website. 12 Feburary 2024.

trail, National coal heritage area and coal heritage. Company Towns. n.d. Website. 12 Feburary 2024.