Jobs, Ohio
The coal mine camp of Jobs (pronounced with a long o vowel sound to local people) is located between Nelsonville and Murray City on New Pittsburgh township road just off state route 78. There are a few trailers dotting the landscape and the Jobs Methodist Church is still standing which can be seen on the left in the Birdseye View photo of Jobs. These photos are from the Ohio University Archives library, Richard Welch and Jody Cullison. Some examples of the surnames of the families in Jobs in 1900 were Mitchell, Lanning, Spencer, Fearns, Vasko, VanHorn, Lantz, Burnard, Alexander, Winchell, Harden and Burton. . At one time Jobs coal mine and miners could mine more tons of coal in one day than any of it's local competitors. Four trains a day would come to take the coal away.
William Job Former Local Operator Dies
(Obituary as recorded in the Athens Messenger)
William Job, Who once owned Coal Mines in the Hocking Valley Dies, Dead in the East
April 16-1931
Word reached Columbus Wednesday of the death at Roxbury, Mass. of William Job, formerly one of the largest coal operators in the Hocking Valley. He was 88 years of age and a native of England, where he learned coal mining methods as a young man. He came to the United States in his early twenties and after a brief period in Eastern coal fields, opened mines in the Ohio fields where 10 years ago he was a leading operator.
For years the name of William Job was one of the best known in the Hocking Valley Coal field. One town is that district, Jobs, was named after him.
He made his home at the Southern Hotel, in Columbus, for a number of years and also resided in Chicago. He had been retired for the past ten years and made his home with a daughter Miss Sarah Job, 54, Dearborn Street, Roxbury, Mass. His death occurred only three days after that of John Furniss, 1341 Dennison Avenue, who was associated with him in a number of different coal operations. Miss Fannie Furniss, widow of John Furniss, was a sister in law of Mr. Job.
Paragraph from the "Coal Barons" thesis by Dr. Ivan Tribe
"While the mine and company town condition at Congo furnished a source for one type of pride in the coal industry, the size and production statistics at the Jobs mine supplied another. The company town of Jobs, while one of the valley's larger corporate communities, had no particularly distinguishing characteristics although by 1888 the town ranked second to Nelsonville as a coal depot on the Hocking Valley Railroad. The Morris Coal Company miners at Jobs made their greatest claim to fame on May 13, 1892, when they set a daily world record for coal production--4,888 tons in 243 railroad cars. A month earlier, the miners at New Pittsburgh, another company town of similar size about a mile up the hollow had loaded a record 3,333 tons in 168 cars. The Jobs miners did not want their New Pittsburgh rivals to gain the upper hand, even in work efficiency. Both mine crews had worked eleven hour days in setting their records, although the Jobs miners actually surpassed the New Pittsburgh total in less than eight hours. The Jobs and New Pittsburgh miners also displayed a sense of community pride during the depression years later in the decade. The proportion of home owners in those two coal camps ranked among the lowest in the entire Hocking Valley, yet an above average number of distressed families raised gardens. In both prosperous and hard times, the miners and their families in Jobs and New Pittsburgh displayed a sense of pride and community that company town dwellers are sometimes said to possess." From Dr. Ivan Tribes thesis.
Perhaps you recognized someone in the photo below?
Photo submitted by Richard Welch (his Winchell family members in the photo)
Click here to see a partial listing from the 1900 Census of Jobs
Click here to see a partial listing from the 1910 Census of Jobs
Click here to see a partial listing from the 1930 Census of Jobs transcribed by Eldon Sowers
The photos below are copies from the file of Jody Cullison.
Click here to see photo of Jobs Church
Click here to see 1970's photo of the Bauer's family house
The photos below are copies from the file of Richard Welch whose Jobs ancestor surnames were Winchell and Harden, some of these photo's he got from the Hanna family.
Click here to see photo of Jobs Company Store Exterior and Interior
Click here to see photo of Jobs Coal Mine
Click here to see photo of Jobs Tracks by mine and company houses, depot
Click here to see photo of Jobs Residences
Click here to see photo of Jobs School and school children
Won't you please help Richard, he needs a postmarked envelope from the Job's post office, contact the webmaster!
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