Benjamin Franklin Keller was the second child born to Samuel Wesley and Margaret Frances Hudnall Keller. At the time of his birth, his parents were living in Cedar Grove, the small mining community that today straddles WV State Rt. 60. Typical of many West Virginia families in that area of the county, the family followed the jobs in the vast network of coal mines that riddled the hills and hollows of the state and pretty much controlled the lives of vast numbers of its residents.
Any amount of formal schooling was indeed a luxury, and, like many of his playmates, "Benny", as he was called throughout his life, was able to complete only the third grade. But what an education that was! Unlike today's children, that generation really learned "the 3Rs". School was the grand prize sandwiched between the plowing, planting, and harvesting of the crops that formed the simple, but strong nutritional backbone for the miners' families, often the means of survival throughout the long, cold winters when steady work in the mines was by no means certain.
When he was thirteen, Benny began doing a man's work in the coalmines. He suffered neither self-pity nor frustrated ambition. This was what life had decreed for him, and he accepted it without question. His boyhood was ended, his classroom education was finished.
Ahead of him stretched a lifetime of dirty, backbreaking, dangerous work. As the years of mining life went by, he often was obliged to inch forward on his abdomen through à passageway so narrow he had to push his lunch bucket ahead of him, with neither room to rise to a crawling position nor space in which to turn himself around. Cave-ins were common, accidents the order of the day, coal dust and evaporating sweat filled the air he breathed. Sometimes his job would be to drive the mules and horses that pulled the coalcars deep into the mine shaft to be loaded and returned to the entrance. Other days he was obliged to crawl, scrape, and dig.
And so it was that he eventually found himself living and working in the Putney mines, occupying a small "comp'ney" house, owned, of course, by his employer, in the company town at the head of Campbell's Creek, just west of West Virginia's capital city, Charleston. The approaching year would be 1918.
It so happened that a young lady named Martha Mace had come over the mountain from her parents' farm on Dutch Ridge to serve as a "hired girl" for the wife of another miner. A few days before, Benny's mother, who was the town midwife, had attended the birth of the miner's baby, and she arranged for her son to meet the gentle, kind young Martha.
Courtships in their time were business-like affairs. As was the custom, Benny paid his young bride's few modest debts and purchased her wedding clothes.
Then he bought tickets for the coal company-operated train ride and jitney into Charleston and back. There was a pastor in the city, the Rev. T. C. Johnson, who arranged to conduct marriages in the Montgomery Ward Dept. Store there. They were both 21 years old the day they were married: June 18, 1919.
The Charleston Gazette obituary, with biographical additions:
Sun. April 3, 1988
Benjamin F. Keller, 90, of Box 235, Rensford Star Route, died April 2, 1988, at home after a long illness. He spent most of his life on Campbells Creek, and was a retired miner with 50 years' service. He last worked for Warner Collieries at Mammoth. He was a UMW member.
He attended Liberty Methodist Church at Cinco.
Surviving are his daughters: Mrs. Margaret F. Collins and Mrs. Sabina A. Walker, both of Charleston; sons and daughters-in-law Dwight S. and Lucille, of Denver; Carroll F. and Alberta, of Charleston; John W. and Margaret "Midge", of Nitro; Lloyd and Wanda of Hackensack, N.J.; and daughter-in-law, Nancy Keller, of Houston, Texas; 21 grandchildren, and 17 great-grandchildren; brothers: Andrew W. and Raymond L.; sister and brother-in-law, Lucy and Ray Strickland; sister, Charlotte Strickland; many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Martha Lee Mace Keller; his son and daughter-in-law, Samuel W. and Drexel Keller; grandson, Samuel, Jr.; son-in-law, Archie Walker; sister, Nelle Cantrell; brothers, Samuel W. and Joseph H; and brother-in-law, Hollie Strickland.
Charleston Gazette
Mon. April 4, 1988
Keller, Benjamin F. - Service will be 2 p.m. Tuesday at Stevens and Grass Funeral Home, Malden. The Rev. Harold Runyan will officiate. Burial will be in Spring Hill Cemetery.
Friends may call after 7 p.m. today at the funeral home.
Mr. Keller, 90, of Box 235, Rensford Star Route, died April 2, 1988 at home after a long illness.
Any amount of formal schooling was indeed a luxury, and, like many of his playmates, "Benny", as he was called throughout his life, was able to complete only the third grade. But what an education that was! Unlike today's children, that generation really learned "the 3Rs". School was the grand prize sandwiched between the plowing, planting, and harvesting of the crops that formed the simple, but strong nutritional backbone for the miners' families, often the means of survival throughout the long, cold winters when steady work in the mines was by no means certain.
When he was thirteen, Benny began doing a man's work in the coalmines. He suffered neither self-pity nor frustrated ambition. This was what life had decreed for him, and he accepted it without question. His boyhood was ended, his classroom education was finished.
Ahead of him stretched a lifetime of dirty, backbreaking, dangerous work. As the years of mining life went by, he often was obliged to inch forward on his abdomen through à passageway so narrow he had to push his lunch bucket ahead of him, with neither room to rise to a crawling position nor space in which to turn himself around. Cave-ins were common, accidents the order of the day, coal dust and evaporating sweat filled the air he breathed. Sometimes his job would be to drive the mules and horses that pulled the coalcars deep into the mine shaft to be loaded and returned to the entrance. Other days he was obliged to crawl, scrape, and dig.
And so it was that he eventually found himself living and working in the Putney mines, occupying a small "comp'ney" house, owned, of course, by his employer, in the company town at the head of Campbell's Creek, just west of West Virginia's capital city, Charleston. The approaching year would be 1918.
It so happened that a young lady named Martha Mace had come over the mountain from her parents' farm on Dutch Ridge to serve as a "hired girl" for the wife of another miner. A few days before, Benny's mother, who was the town midwife, had attended the birth of the miner's baby, and she arranged for her son to meet the gentle, kind young Martha.
Courtships in their time were business-like affairs. As was the custom, Benny paid his young bride's few modest debts and purchased her wedding clothes.
Then he bought tickets for the coal company-operated train ride and jitney into Charleston and back. There was a pastor in the city, the Rev. T. C. Johnson, who arranged to conduct marriages in the Montgomery Ward Dept. Store there. They were both 21 years old the day they were married: June 18, 1919.
The Charleston Gazette obituary, with biographical additions:
Sun. April 3, 1988
Benjamin F. Keller, 90, of Box 235, Rensford Star Route, died April 2, 1988, at home after a long illness. He spent most of his life on Campbells Creek, and was a retired miner with 50 years' service. He last worked for Warner Collieries at Mammoth. He was a UMW member.
He attended Liberty Methodist Church at Cinco.
Surviving are his daughters: Mrs. Margaret F. Collins and Mrs. Sabina A. Walker, both of Charleston; sons and daughters-in-law Dwight S. and Lucille, of Denver; Carroll F. and Alberta, of Charleston; John W. and Margaret "Midge", of Nitro; Lloyd and Wanda of Hackensack, N.J.; and daughter-in-law, Nancy Keller, of Houston, Texas; 21 grandchildren, and 17 great-grandchildren; brothers: Andrew W. and Raymond L.; sister and brother-in-law, Lucy and Ray Strickland; sister, Charlotte Strickland; many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Martha Lee Mace Keller; his son and daughter-in-law, Samuel W. and Drexel Keller; grandson, Samuel, Jr.; son-in-law, Archie Walker; sister, Nelle Cantrell; brothers, Samuel W. and Joseph H; and brother-in-law, Hollie Strickland.
Charleston Gazette
Mon. April 4, 1988
Keller, Benjamin F. - Service will be 2 p.m. Tuesday at Stevens and Grass Funeral Home, Malden. The Rev. Harold Runyan will officiate. Burial will be in Spring Hill Cemetery.
Friends may call after 7 p.m. today at the funeral home.
Mr. Keller, 90, of Box 235, Rensford Star Route, died April 2, 1988 at home after a long illness.
Benjamin Franklin Keller was the second child born to Samuel Wesley and Margaret Frances Hudnall Keller. At the time of his birth, his parents were living in Cedar Grove, the small mining community that today straddles WV State Rt. 60. Typical of many West Virginia families in that area of the county, the family followed the jobs in the vast network of coal mines that riddled the hills and hollows of the state and pretty much controlled the lives of vast numbers of its residents.
Any amount of formal schooling was indeed a luxury, and, like many of his playmates, "Benny", as he was called throughout his life, was able to complete only the third grade. But what an education that was! Unlike today's children, that generation really learned "the 3Rs". School was the grand prize sandwiched between the plowing, planting, and harvesting of the crops that formed the simple, but strong nutritional backbone for the miners' families, often the means of survival throughout the long, cold winters when steady work in the mines was by no means certain.
When he was thirteen, Benny began doing a man's work in the coalmines. He suffered neither self-pity nor frustrated ambition. This was what life had decreed for him, and he accepted it without question. His boyhood was ended, his classroom education was finished.
Ahead of him stretched a lifetime of dirty, backbreaking, dangerous work. As the years of mining life went by, he often was obliged to inch forward on his abdomen through à passageway so narrow he had to push his lunch bucket ahead of him, with neither room to rise to a crawling position nor space in which to turn himself around. Cave-ins were common, accidents the order of the day, coal dust and evaporating sweat filled the air he breathed. Sometimes his job would be to drive the mules and horses that pulled the coalcars deep into the mine shaft to be loaded and returned to the entrance. Other days he was obliged to crawl, scrape, and dig.
And so it was that he eventually found himself living and working in the Putney mines, occupying a small "comp'ney" house, owned, of course, by his employer, in the company town at the head of Campbell's Creek, just west of West Virginia's capital city, Charleston. The approaching year would be 1918.
It so happened that a young lady named Martha Mace had come over the mountain from her parents' farm on Dutch Ridge to serve as a "hired girl" for the wife of another miner. A few days before, Benny's mother, who was the town midwife, had attended the birth of the miner's baby, and she arranged for her son to meet the gentle, kind young Martha.
Courtships in their time were business-like affairs. As was the custom, Benny paid his young bride's few modest debts and purchased her wedding clothes.
Then he bought tickets for the coal company-operated train ride and jitney into Charleston and back. There was a pastor in the city, the Rev. T. C. Johnson, who arranged to conduct marriages in the Montgomery Ward Dept. Store there. They were both 21 years old the day they were married: June 18, 1919.
The Charleston Gazette obituary, with biographical additions:
Sun. April 3, 1988
Benjamin F. Keller, 90, of Box 235, Rensford Star Route, died April 2, 1988, at home after a long illness. He spent most of his life on Campbells Creek, and was a retired miner with 50 years' service. He last worked for Warner Collieries at Mammoth. He was a UMW member.
He attended Liberty Methodist Church at Cinco.
Surviving are his daughters: Mrs. Margaret F. Collins and Mrs. Sabina A. Walker, both of Charleston; sons and daughters-in-law Dwight S. and Lucille, of Denver; Carroll F. and Alberta, of Charleston; John W. and Margaret "Midge", of Nitro; Lloyd and Wanda of Hackensack, N.J.; and daughter-in-law, Nancy Keller, of Houston, Texas; 21 grandchildren, and 17 great-grandchildren; brothers: Andrew W. and Raymond L.; sister and brother-in-law, Lucy and Ray Strickland; sister, Charlotte Strickland; many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Martha Lee Mace Keller; his son and daughter-in-law, Samuel W. and Drexel Keller; grandson, Samuel, Jr.; son-in-law, Archie Walker; sister, Nelle Cantrell; brothers, Samuel W. and Joseph H; and brother-in-law, Hollie Strickland.
Charleston Gazette
Mon. April 4, 1988
Keller, Benjamin F. - Service will be 2 p.m. Tuesday at Stevens and Grass Funeral Home, Malden. The Rev. Harold Runyan will officiate. Burial will be in Spring Hill Cemetery.
Friends may call after 7 p.m. today at the funeral home.
Mr. Keller, 90, of Box 235, Rensford Star Route, died April 2, 1988 at home after a long illness.
Any amount of formal schooling was indeed a luxury, and, like many of his playmates, "Benny", as he was called throughout his life, was able to complete only the third grade. But what an education that was! Unlike today's children, that generation really learned "the 3Rs". School was the grand prize sandwiched between the plowing, planting, and harvesting of the crops that formed the simple, but strong nutritional backbone for the miners' families, often the means of survival throughout the long, cold winters when steady work in the mines was by no means certain.
When he was thirteen, Benny began doing a man's work in the coalmines. He suffered neither self-pity nor frustrated ambition. This was what life had decreed for him, and he accepted it without question. His boyhood was ended, his classroom education was finished.
Ahead of him stretched a lifetime of dirty, backbreaking, dangerous work. As the years of mining life went by, he often was obliged to inch forward on his abdomen through à passageway so narrow he had to push his lunch bucket ahead of him, with neither room to rise to a crawling position nor space in which to turn himself around. Cave-ins were common, accidents the order of the day, coal dust and evaporating sweat filled the air he breathed. Sometimes his job would be to drive the mules and horses that pulled the coalcars deep into the mine shaft to be loaded and returned to the entrance. Other days he was obliged to crawl, scrape, and dig.
And so it was that he eventually found himself living and working in the Putney mines, occupying a small "comp'ney" house, owned, of course, by his employer, in the company town at the head of Campbell's Creek, just west of West Virginia's capital city, Charleston. The approaching year would be 1918.
It so happened that a young lady named Martha Mace had come over the mountain from her parents' farm on Dutch Ridge to serve as a "hired girl" for the wife of another miner. A few days before, Benny's mother, who was the town midwife, had attended the birth of the miner's baby, and she arranged for her son to meet the gentle, kind young Martha.
Courtships in their time were business-like affairs. As was the custom, Benny paid his young bride's few modest debts and purchased her wedding clothes.
Then he bought tickets for the coal company-operated train ride and jitney into Charleston and back. There was a pastor in the city, the Rev. T. C. Johnson, who arranged to conduct marriages in the Montgomery Ward Dept. Store there. They were both 21 years old the day they were married: June 18, 1919.
The Charleston Gazette obituary, with biographical additions:
Sun. April 3, 1988
Benjamin F. Keller, 90, of Box 235, Rensford Star Route, died April 2, 1988, at home after a long illness. He spent most of his life on Campbells Creek, and was a retired miner with 50 years' service. He last worked for Warner Collieries at Mammoth. He was a UMW member.
He attended Liberty Methodist Church at Cinco.
Surviving are his daughters: Mrs. Margaret F. Collins and Mrs. Sabina A. Walker, both of Charleston; sons and daughters-in-law Dwight S. and Lucille, of Denver; Carroll F. and Alberta, of Charleston; John W. and Margaret "Midge", of Nitro; Lloyd and Wanda of Hackensack, N.J.; and daughter-in-law, Nancy Keller, of Houston, Texas; 21 grandchildren, and 17 great-grandchildren; brothers: Andrew W. and Raymond L.; sister and brother-in-law, Lucy and Ray Strickland; sister, Charlotte Strickland; many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Martha Lee Mace Keller; his son and daughter-in-law, Samuel W. and Drexel Keller; grandson, Samuel, Jr.; son-in-law, Archie Walker; sister, Nelle Cantrell; brothers, Samuel W. and Joseph H; and brother-in-law, Hollie Strickland.
Charleston Gazette
Mon. April 4, 1988
Keller, Benjamin F. - Service will be 2 p.m. Tuesday at Stevens and Grass Funeral Home, Malden. The Rev. Harold Runyan will officiate. Burial will be in Spring Hill Cemetery.
Friends may call after 7 p.m. today at the funeral home.
Mr. Keller, 90, of Box 235, Rensford Star Route, died April 2, 1988 at home after a long illness.
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