Daddy got paid half in scrip in the forties and fifties. I have some old scrip in a drawer here and in the fifties as a kid I found a 50-cent scrip coin someone had dropped. I felt like a King because at ten years old I had never had that much money. My parents asked everyone in the Big Rock area if they had lost it, but nobody claimed it. I treated my friends to a milk shake at the old Big Rock company store. Thanks for the talk.
My husband family were Benham’s from Benham, Ky. I don’t know much about their history though. I believe one of his kin was in politics. But it’s nice to hear that name.😊 You mentioned Rand McNally. They were in Harrisonburg and became Donnelly. I believe, Rand McNally did commercial printing along with road maps. Donnelly printed phone books and other retail type books, I remember a big book sale every year. I did some Christmas shopping there every year. Thank you so much, for teaching us about the history of Appalachia. Love to Melody and the babies!❤
Thank you so much for the well wishes to Melody and the babies, I will let her know you asked about them. I wondered whatever happened to Rand McNally so I’m glad to see you put that info.
I worked with a lady from West Virginia. Her family were miners, daddy, granddaddy, etc. She brought a couple of scrip coins to show us. Very fascinating. She had 2 and her brother had 2. They were saving them to pass down with some of the rest of their family artifacts. She had her dad's helmet with the head lamp, too.❤🇺🇸
There so much pride and sentimentality associated with working in the profession. It is a real badge of honor to know how much our ancestors sacrificed to give us a better life.
I knew about Scrip from your previous videos but it was really interesting to see it! I'm going to be on the lookout for it at all the flea markets I go to here in VA on the WVA border!
Thanks so much for showing and telling younger generations what the scrip system was all about! The City of Toledo, Ohio used a scrip system during the Great Depression (My parents used to have some of the "tokens" they used, but unfortunately they were thrown out in someone's cleaning frenzy) I agree -- a fascinating story! Do you happen to know, Shane, could you buy alcohol and tobacco at the company store? (I know a lot of folks could brew their own alcohol and grow their own tobacco, but just curious about whether the scrip system could channel wages in the direction of "healthier" purchases?)
I was wondering that too, if the store was a one-stop for anything you could ask the attendant would/could get ? I had a great grandpa who worked for beer, literally
Thank you for watching, commenting and the questions. Company stores primarily sold what they considered to be necessities - clothing, food, etc. Tobacco is something that was considered essential back then in a lot of places so they normally did sell tobacco products - cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, etc. Alcohol, on the other hand, was strongly discouraged by coal companies because it was considered a vice and it obviously wasn’t beneficial for production to have potentially drunk miners. Many of the counties, if not the towns themselves, had liquor stores unaffiliated with the coal companies that did sell alcohol. Saloons were aplenty across the early coal towns such as Pocahontas, Virginia…Keystone, West Virginia, etc. I have a great picture I just posted today on our Real Appalachia Facebook page that shows a long line of purchasers at the liquor store on payday in Welch, West Virginia. Of course, Prohibition put a stop to the legal sale during that time so the illegal whisky trade boomed. Great questions.
Very interesting topic today. I knew some of this, but a lot I didn’t know. I've learned quite a bit today. I look forward to these videos, and yes, you may have to do a second video. I've checked for script before but I didn’t buy any it's still in the back of my mind, but now it's forefront again. Be well. Enjoy the cd. Maybe Melody will be a convert. My wife likes it.
Yes, Melody has given some of it a listen and likes it very much so we have won her over to Merle lol. Thank you again. I got addicted for a while to buying the coins but I’ve finally reined myself in lol. I still buy it but more focused nowadays on which ones.
Very interesting, thanks for showing us that stuff. Got any pics of these stores, aside from that shot you had at the end of this one ? Could a miner place an order for something currently not IN the store, say something Sears or Montgomery Wards had advertised in their catalogs ?
Thank you, I have tons of pics and it might be a good idea to just have a video showcasing those to give a better idea of the types of stores. As for ordering things, it was theoretically possible to order through the company store’s vendors for something that wasn’t on hand but I don’t recall Sears or Montgomery Ward being affiliated with them.
Such an interesting and important piece of American 🇺🇸 history!! Although, i do feel like it was unfair how they kept the miners in so much debt many of them and their families. And made them shop at their own stores- like recycling the money instead of real wages. My great grandfather was a coal miner in Wilkes Barre, PA until the Knox mining disaster. I think Rand McNally also had published many of the text books that i used in school! Definitely makes me wonder if maybe there was some kind of monetary incentive on both sides? In my own humble opinion i feel like an apology is owed to and reparations should be made to so many of the miners and their families whose lives were directly impacted by unfair treatment. And loss of jobs and misrepresentation in the media, etc. Just my own thoughts. Really love watching all of your videos on both channels with my family! We watched them on our tv yesterday so we could all watch together. Thank you, Shane!!
That’s awesome, thank you so much. I forgot about Rand McNally doing textbooks, that might be where I’m familiar with it too. Thanks for watching and the comment, it’s a complicated piece of American history for sure.
@@shaneandmelody Me too, I left almost 40 years ago but go back quite often. RHS CLASS OF 79. Thanks for taking the time to inform people about our history.
Great video people need to know about this. My grandfather and great grandfather got paid in script in McDowell WV before the Union came in. Had to live in a company house and shop at the company store. Rent deducted from pay. They were slaves to the coal company's. That's why I will never visit the coal baron's Houses in Bramwell built by the blood sweat tears and death of miners from McDowell county WV.
Daddy got paid half in scrip in the forties and fifties. I have some old scrip in a drawer here and in the fifties as a kid I found a 50-cent scrip coin someone had dropped. I felt like a King because at ten years old I had never had that much money. My parents asked everyone in the Big Rock area if they had lost it, but nobody claimed it. I treated my friends to a milk shake at the old Big Rock company store. Thanks for the talk.
now that sounds like a good memory
My husband family were Benham’s from Benham, Ky. I don’t know much about their history though. I believe one of his kin was in politics. But it’s nice to hear that name.😊 You mentioned Rand McNally. They were in Harrisonburg and became Donnelly. I believe, Rand McNally did commercial printing along with road maps. Donnelly printed phone books and other retail type books, I remember a big book sale every year. I did some Christmas shopping there every year. Thank you so much, for teaching us about the history of Appalachia. Love to Melody and the babies!❤
Thank you so much for the well wishes to Melody and the babies, I will let her know you asked about them. I wondered whatever happened to Rand McNally so I’m glad to see you put that info.
I worked with a lady from West Virginia. Her family were miners, daddy, granddaddy, etc. She brought a couple of scrip coins to show us. Very fascinating. She had 2 and her brother had 2. They were saving them to pass down with some of the rest of their family artifacts. She had her dad's helmet with the head lamp, too.❤🇺🇸
There so much pride and sentimentality associated with working in the profession. It is a real badge of honor to know how much our ancestors sacrificed to give us a better life.
I knew about Scrip from your previous videos but it was really interesting to see it! I'm going to be on the lookout for it at all the flea markets I go to here in VA on the WVA border!
A lot of these local antique malls might have them too. I love stumbling up on them.
I have my Grand Father's coal currency. And grocery receipts from late 30's
Those are priceless I’m sure
Very informative video!
Thank you 🙏
Thanks so much for showing and telling younger generations what the scrip system was all about! The City of Toledo, Ohio used a scrip system during the Great Depression (My parents used to have some of the "tokens" they used, but unfortunately they were thrown out in someone's cleaning frenzy) I agree -- a fascinating story! Do you happen to know, Shane, could you buy alcohol and tobacco at the company store? (I know a lot of folks could brew their own alcohol and grow their own tobacco, but just curious about whether the scrip system could channel wages in the direction of "healthier" purchases?)
I was wondering that too, if the store was a one-stop for anything you could ask the attendant would/could get ? I had a great grandpa who worked for beer, literally
Thank you for watching, commenting and the questions. Company stores primarily sold what they considered to be necessities - clothing, food, etc. Tobacco is something that was considered essential back then in a lot of places so they normally did sell tobacco products - cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, etc. Alcohol, on the other hand, was strongly discouraged by coal companies because it was considered a vice and it obviously wasn’t beneficial for production to have potentially drunk miners. Many of the counties, if not the towns themselves, had liquor stores unaffiliated with the coal companies that did sell alcohol. Saloons were aplenty across the early coal towns such as Pocahontas, Virginia…Keystone, West Virginia, etc. I have a great picture I just posted today on our Real Appalachia Facebook page that shows a long line of purchasers at the liquor store on payday in Welch, West Virginia. Of course, Prohibition put a stop to the legal sale during that time so the illegal whisky trade boomed. Great questions.
@@shaneandmelody Thanks for those great answers, Shane!
Very interesting topic today. I knew some of this, but a lot I didn’t know. I've learned quite a bit today. I look forward to these videos, and yes, you may have to do a second video. I've checked for script before but I didn’t buy any it's still in the back of my mind, but now it's forefront again. Be well. Enjoy the cd. Maybe Melody will be a convert. My wife likes it.
Yes, Melody has given some of it a listen and likes it very much so we have won her over to Merle lol. Thank you again. I got addicted for a while to buying the coins but I’ve finally reined myself in lol. I still buy it but more focused nowadays on which ones.
Very interesting, thanks for showing us that stuff. Got any pics of these stores, aside from that shot you had at the end of this one ? Could a miner place an order for something currently not IN the store, say something Sears or Montgomery Wards had advertised in their catalogs ?
Thank you, I have tons of pics and it might be a good idea to just have a video showcasing those to give a better idea of the types of stores. As for ordering things, it was theoretically possible to order through the company store’s vendors for something that wasn’t on hand but I don’t recall Sears or Montgomery Ward being affiliated with them.
Such an interesting and important piece of American 🇺🇸 history!! Although, i do feel like it was unfair how they kept the miners in so much debt many of them and their families. And made them shop at their own stores- like recycling the money instead of real wages.
My great grandfather was a coal miner in Wilkes Barre, PA until the Knox mining disaster.
I think Rand McNally also had published many of the text books that i used in school! Definitely makes me wonder if maybe there was some kind of monetary incentive on both sides?
In my own humble opinion i feel like an apology is owed to and reparations should be made to so many of the miners and their families whose lives were directly impacted by unfair treatment. And loss of jobs and misrepresentation in the media, etc. Just my own thoughts.
Really love watching all of your videos on both channels with my family! We watched them on our tv yesterday so we could all watch together. Thank you, Shane!!
That’s awesome, thank you so much. I forgot about Rand McNally doing textbooks, that might be where I’m familiar with it too. Thanks for watching and the comment, it’s a complicated piece of American history for sure.
Are you in the Richlands area?
That’s where I’m originally from
@@shaneandmelody Me too, I left almost 40 years ago but go back quite often. RHS CLASS OF 79. Thanks for taking the time to inform people about our history.
I graduated from RHS in 1988 so not too far behind you, thank you so much
You loaded 16 tons , what did you get , another day older and deeper in debt
❤
Great video people need to know about this. My grandfather and great grandfather got paid in script in McDowell WV before the Union came in. Had to live in a company house and shop at the company store. Rent deducted from pay. They were slaves to the coal company's. That's why I will never visit the coal baron's Houses in Bramwell built by the blood sweat tears and death of miners from McDowell county WV.
Thank you, a tough way of life to be sure. Those were some determined and strong folks who worked in the mines.