Barbara Elliott Yeager - Black Star Photos
Barbara Elliott Yeager is an attorney and lives at Barbourville, Kentucky. She presented the following Black Star pictures for our website. Barbara did a synopsis of her family so we would have a better idea who the people in the pictures are. I, Barbara Elliott Yeager, was born at Black Star in the late thirties. My parents were Colson David Elliott and Bonnie Thomas Elliott. My brothers and sister were Tom, Lorene, Colson Junior "Jack," Max, and Bill. Both Tom and Lorene graduated from Black Star High School, and Warren and Jack attended Black Star Elementary School. I, along with my brother Max, was born at Black Star, and we both were delivered by old Doctor Hodges. My sister Lorene later married W. F. "Buck" Hughes. Buck worked for the Wheelwright Mines. Buck was killed in an automobile accident in 1964. Buck was a twin brother to Freelan "Warpy" Hughes. Their father was Crip Hughes. Crip was at one time superintendent of the Black Star Coal Mines. My brother, Tom Elliott, went to work for the Black Star Coal Mines in 1936. Tom continued to work for the Peabody Coal Company after Peabody purchased the Black Star Coal Company. Tom worked for Peabody Coal Company until he retired in 1986. I married James Edward Yeager who was born at Black Star in 1925 and was delivered by old Doctor Hodges. James weighed less than two pounds at birth. Old Doctor Hodges would come and check on James at least four times a day. At birth James was so small that his bed was a shoebox. Upon growing his bed was then moved to a dresser drawer. James' parents were Wade and Pearl Parker Yeager. Wade was a carpenter, and he helped construct the camp houses at Black Star. After the coal camp was constructed, Wade continued to work for Black Star as a carpenter until 1950. My father, Colson David Elliott, was born at Wilton in 1895. Colson first married Jenny Reeves, who died at an early age. Colson then married my mother, Bonnie Thomas, who was born in Harlan County in 1913. My mother's sister, Lela, married Archie Walters. My father Colson went to work at the Black Star Coal Mines in 1925 and worked there until 1939. My mother's father, William Parks Thomas, also worked at the Black Star Coal Mines from the early years until his death in 1946. My father also worked at the Wilton and Kay Jay Coal Mines before coming to Black Star. At the age of twenty years old my father lost his left leg in a mining accident at the Kay Jay Mines. My father died at the age of ninety-two years old. He never let losing his leg at an early age handicap him, and he continued to work. On one occasion my father and his brother, Troy Wells, were coon hunting at Black Star. He almost fell over a cliff, and he broke his wooden leg. My father had to be carried out of the mountains. Colson's brothers, Roosevelt Elliott, Ben Elliott, and Troy Wells, also worked at the Black Star Coal Mines.
