Surviving the Century: The life and times of my great grandfather Hartsel “Doc” Findley

by Tommy Oakley

for Advanced Composition, ETSU, Spring 2011

Tommy Oakley is the Great Grandson of Hartsel “Doc” Findley. He spent many of his summers as a child visiting his Great Grandparents in Belington, West Virginia with his Grandmother, Jeanette Booth. Mr. Oakley, as an English major at East Tennessee State University, wanted to learn more about his Great-Grandfather and construct a profile that expresses the admiration that Tommy has for his Grandpa “Doc”. With the assistance of Tommy’s grandmother, Jeanette Booth, and her sisters, and speaking directly with Hartsel “Doc” Findley, this is the first official profile about Hartsel “Doc” Findley of Belington, West Virginia, who is now the oldest surviving resident of Barbour County, West Virginia.

Hartsel Strother Findley, age 95, nicknamed “Doc”, is now one of the oldest surviving citizens of Barbour County, West Virginia. He now belongs to a few group of individuals who have survived the Great Depression, can reflect about World War II, explain how the United States has changed throughout his lifetime, raised four daughters on a minimal budget, and most importantly, at his age, he can still coherently reflect upon his past and tell his life’s story to his many grandchildren.

Hartsel “Doc” Findley, age 95, taken on November 6, 2010.

Born on November 8, 1915 to Charles Lowrey Findley and Maude Stalnaker Findley in the outskirts of Belington, West Virginia in a small mining community known as Point Pleasant, Doc Findley lived through the Great Depression, worked in steel factory in Ohio that construction I-beams for bridges, was drafted into the Army during World War II, raised four daughters with his wife Violetta Goss Findley, worked temporarily in the coal mines in Northern West Virginia, earned money operating a sawmill, and before retiring at age 72, worked for the Barbour County Parks and Recreation department maintaining the fairgrounds for five years. Unlike many Americans today, Hartsel “Doc” Findley, is a unique man, because he has accomplished much and has never bought anything on credit; moreover, he has worked, saved money, and paid cash for everything he owns.

On January 11, 1937, at the age of 21, “Doc” married Violetta Goss. According to “Doc”, he met Violetta on the streets of Belington and asked her out on a date even though he was already dating another girl at the time, but Violetta was also dating another young man as well, so the story goes; however, the two eloped and feel in love and eventually got married. According to the couple’s second daughter, Louise McCauley, Violetta’s father, Daniel Goss, was an immigrant from Germany, who arrived on Ellis Island, New York in the late 19^th century and then later traveled to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; however, before arriving to America, Violetta’s father, Daniel, changed his last name from Ghost to Goss. Because of the name change, little is known about the Goss family, but Violetta’s father apparently walked from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania to Philippi, West Virginia carrying only his personal belongings and a

Aerial View of Belington, West Virginia taken in the late 1930’s- early 1940’s. Today, the Tigris River still flows through the city, as it did then.

handcrafted clock from Germany, which is now a family heirloom, along with his other personal belongings. He settled with his wife in an area known as Bigfield located between Belington and Grafton, West Virginia.

Shortly after being married, “Doc” and his pregnant wife Violetta moved from West Virginia to Massillon, Ohio in search of employment in the steel industry. “Doc” got a job at the Massillon Bridge Company constructing I-beams for bridges. Upon arriving in Ohio, Violetta gave birth to their first child; sadly, the baby boy died at birth. This was devastating to the young couple, but on December 7, 1938, Violetta gave birth to Jeanette Findley, the oldest of four daughters. According to “Doc”, the Massillon Bridge Company closed in 1940, forcing his family to return back to Belington. With very little money, the young couple routed a greyhound bus from Ohio to Barbour County, West Virginia to start a new life.

Upon arriving, “Doc” and Violetta rented a house from “Doc’s” brother Guy for $7 a month in a small mining community outside of Belington, West Virginia known as Knob Town. There, “Doc” got a temporary job making ten cents an hour working in the coal mines as a coal miner. While in Knob Town, Violetta gave birth to her second child Louise in 1941. According to my grandmother, Jeanette Booth, “Daddy got a job in the mine, but he only worked there about a week because he was drafted into the Army for World War II”. Moreover, “Doc’s” brother’s house that he and Violetta rented was small, consisting of two bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. When “Doc” and Violetta first moved in, the house did not have electricity or running water. Light came from coal oil lamps, and water was drawn from the well. Food was cooked on a wood burning cast-iron stove.

The couple’s oldest daughter, Jeanette Booth, upon speaking with her, reflects how as a young girl, living in in Knob Town, her parents had little, but gained much from living a “simple life”. She goes on to tell how when she was a young girl, her parents never bought anything on credit, but paid for with cash earned from working. Tending to a growing family was not easy, but “Doc” and Violetta managed. In Knob Town, the Findley’s maintained a small garden that provided most of the food for the family. According to Jeanette, “Mom and Dad owned a cow, which we got fresh milk from. We had chickens, and Daddy raised two pigs a year that he would slaughter to eat in the fall; the meat was either smoked or sugar cured because we did not have a refrigerator, and meat would not last like it does today.” Moreover, fresh meat, from recently slaughtered stock, would have to be preserved by smoking or sugaring curing it because due to the lack of a refrigerator or freezer, meat would spoil in a matter of hours if not eaten immediately.

Behind the small farm house, there was a spring house that the family used to keep milk, butter, cream, and other perishables cool in. “Doc” tells how he remembers that the cold spring water would run over the rocks, which made them cold, and food could be put in the water, next to the cold rocks, to keep food from spoiling. Saturdays, however, “Doc”, Violetta, Jeanette, and Louise would pile into “Doc’s” old, rusty, 1935 Plymouth, which was the first car that he bought used in order to drive to the General Store in Belington to purchase various supplies needed for the week, and to get fresh meat that would be cooked that night for dinner.

Hartsel “Doc” Findley, age 27, Army photograph. (1942)

While living in Knob Town, renting Guy Findley’s house, “Doc” begin working in the local coal mines while Violetta, pregnant with her third daughter Eleanor, stayed home to take care of the family. As Jeanette noted, her father did not work long in the coal mine because in the early 1940’s, World War II was raging and able men all over the country were drafted. “Doc”, being an able man, was drafted in 1942 and sent to Lincoln, Nebraska to train. While in the service, he never left the United States to actually fight in the war, but he was being trained on various military sites in the States as an airplane mechanic. While talking to “Doc”, he remembered how he was sent to Texas and Denver, Colorado, stating, “I did not like Texas, because it was too hot down there, but Denver was a nice place”.

While “Doc” was away training to become a military airplane mechanic, Violetta gave birth to her third daughter. Raising three girls, cooking and cleaning, mending and sewing, tending to the house, working in the garden, and not being able to drive became too much for her to handle, so Violetta petitioned to the U.S. Army to have her husband dismissed on basis of family hardship. While waiting for his dismissal, Violetta moved back in with her parents, Daniel and Nellie Goss, in the small community of Bigfield along with her two youngest daughters Louise and Eleanor, and Jeanette was sent to stay with “Doc’s” mother and father, Charles and Melvina Findley, and his oldest sister, Texie.

Violetta Goss Findley, in her late 80’s, holding her Great, Great Grandson. (2003)

Right before the war ended in 1945, “Doc” was released from the Army to tend to his family back home in West Virginia. Upon returning, he immediately got a job at Gordon Poston’s sawmill in Belington. He worked several years for Gordon; however, the exact time is unknown, but in the 1969, “Doc” was hired as a grounds keeper and general maintenance personal by the Barbour County Parks and Recreation to maintain the Barbour County fairgrounds. In other words, he managed the fairground’s landscaping, did small plumbing and electrical repairs, and some carpentry when needed until. He retired at the age of 72. Because of scrimping and saving money and only buying what was necessary to survive throughout the years, in 1969, when “Doc” began working at the Barbour County Fairgrounds, Jeanette Booth and her late husband, Maynard Roland Booth bought the Findley Family Farm from “Doc’s” brother Alva Findley and then “Doc” bought only the farmhouse and one acre of land from his daughter and son-in-law leaving the rest to his daughter..

The Barbour County Courthouse still standing strong …

Today, the house remains almost unchanged; except that a bathroom was added on in 1996 that the children and their family’s got together to build for “Doc” and Violetta. Walking up the front walkway to the house, up to the front porch, a tin roof shimmers from the sun, and old handmade curtains sway in the windows, while an old wooden porch swing rocks back and forth in the wind. An old skeleton key is needed to unlock the front door. When the key is turned and the old door opens, you walk inside the living room which the paneled walls are lined with new and old pictures of children, grand-children, great grand-children, and great-great-great grand-children. To the right, you can see the now empty chair that Grandma “Doc” used to sit in before her death in 2006. To the left, Grandpa “Doc” sits in his recliner reading the local newspaper or watching some program being aired on one of the three channels available on the television. As you go into the kitchen, the gas range bought in 1956 to replace the old wood stove, as a gift from Jeanette and Maynard, keeps a kettle of water hot because there is no running hot water on tap. Looking out the back window into the fields behind the house, the barns are slowly deteriorating and the old two-seater outhouse is caving in. Moreover, visiting the Findley home is indeed stepping back in time, but it is a symbol of a century well spent.