By Dolores Riggs Davis
I am a coal miner’s daughter from the mining town of Dehue in Logan County, West Virginia. The town of my birth is only a ghost of the past. Like all the underground coal mines when they were worked out the towns were torn down.
My name is Dolores Davis, and I married Donald Davis who is also from Dehue. I am an author of two books, and many articles. Loving Dehue like I do most of what I write is about our once thriving town. I also research our family history.
My parent’s were Rev. Emmett B. Riggs, Sr. & Gladys Marie Brickey-Riggs. I have one brother, Emmett B. Riggs, Jr. who lives near me. Dad’s favorite flower was a dogwood, and that’s why Mom and I had a spray of dogwood etched on dad’s headstone. It brings a smile to my face every time I go there to visit. Now mom lies beside dad, and the praying hands on the headstone are for her. I think of them often, and still miss them.
Dolores and Donald Davis – 1994
Above: Ben, Danny, Sam, and Heather Watson after Danny’s promotion to Major ceremony on November 1, 2010. Major Watson is a JAG attorney in the Air Force.
MEMORIES OF WEST VIRGINIA
Memories of West Virginia,
I miss the old homeplace.
Memories of West Virginia,
Where a true friend is to be found.
I’m going back to West Virginia,
Where the mountains meet the sky.
I’m going back to West Virginia,
Let me stay there till I die.
From a song by: Mayo Spence
Alphabetical Listing of My Posts
Hello;
I remember one of the miners listed as being dead in the McBeth explosion. His name was George McCormick. His parents were Mr. & Mrs. Asa McCormick, of Ottawa, Boone co. WV. His siblings were: Mike, Shelby. Eloise
Dolores:
Grew up in Holden, W.V. and knew a Kristin Brickey, related to Horseys in Central City and Eros matriarch in Mitchel Heights. Kris hailed from Chalotte, N.C. and her father, Mr. Brickey was froom Saltville, Va. I noticed the name Gladys Marie Brickey Riggs and wondered if she might have been related and what ever became of Kris Brickey.
My mother, Gladys Marie Brickey was from Elliott County, KY which is near Sandy Hook. She married Emmett Riggs from nearby Lawrence County, KY. Some of the Brickey’s and Riggs families migrated from Virginia to KY durning the Civil War. We are at our condo in Titusville, FL for the winter, but when we get back to Ohio in the Spring I can see if their is a connection. I have a lot of information on the Brickey’s. Several of the Brickey’s published books and I have one of them. My cell is 440 667-2710 if you should have questions before we return home sometime in May. Dolores Davis