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McArthur Democrat- Enquirer; February 28, 1963: This is the 297th in a series about Vinton County's living citizens.
65 Years Ago It Was Cold In Vinton Co. Recalls George R. Chilcott of Hawk Area
" I can remember the winter of 1898 when it was below 40 degrees below zero three mornings in a row".
George Roscoe Chilcott, 81, who presently lives as a caretaker at the home of Alva Delaney on the Hawk Station Road (Ewington,Rt. 1) has a vivid memory for events of the past.
"Sixty-five years ago this winter it was 41 below, 42 below and 43 below on Feb. 9, 10, and 11 respectively. I was living near Ratcliff and had to walk the railroad tracks every morning to the Outwaite coal mine at Oreton with my brother, and we froze our hands, feet and ears walking to work, and everytime it gets extremely cold now my hands and feet hurt," George says.
George Chilcott was born in Jackson County, at old Buckeye Furnace where his father was a teamster, but moved to Vinton County to a farm a mile from Radcliff when he was three years old.
"My father was born in Pennsylvania, my mother was a McManaway, of Irish stock. Father worked in the ore furnaces", George says.
He was born Sept. 28,1881, the son of James and Lillian McManaway Chilcott, one of four children, is the last surviving member of his family. A half brother, David Bartoe, lived to be 91 and two sisters and a brother are deceased.
Tall and spare, George Chilcott never married. He recalls the old days at Buckeye Furnace and the families living there included Manrings, Copas, Jenkins and Poore.
A coal miner most of his life he started in the mines when he was a little boy, standing by the dynamite box to operate a hand drill as his first job.
He started regularly in the mines when he was 16, and retired at 61.
"My father was a mule skinner for the Northern Forces in the Civil War and I can remember my mother telling of his experiences."
" I attended the Old Ratcliff common school with Tom Sharp, Luther Cooper and his wife, Margaret, and Leslie Calvin as my teachers. The only classmates still living are Charles and John Lowe," he recalls.
He started working in the drift ore mines and later working in coal mines including the Lawler mine, the mines at Minerton where he walked to work about six miles daily, returning home on the train; working at mines at Elk Fork, north of McArthur; at Berlin Cross Roads, south of Wellston; and in mines in Lincoln Hollow, and at the Alma mine at Oreton.
" I never had a narrow escape in a mine, as I believed in having my area well posted, with plenty of timber up, and my posting always passed mine inspections. Once though I saved a fellow worker's life in a mine by asking him what time it was, and when he came to answer me, his area was the scene of a slate fall.
" I have worked very hard all of my life,... harder than any should have had to work," and I guess I have been spared because there must still be work for me to do," he says.
Now retirement and caretaker of the Delaney house between Ratcliff and Wilkesville, he does chores, does minor repairing, walks to Wilkesville or Ratcliff to do his shopping, and says his health is good, wears glasses only to read.
Written as it was printed in the McArthur Democrat-Enquirer.
McArthur Democrat-Enquirer; March 18, 1965.
Funeral Friday For George Chilcott
Funeral services were held on Friday at the Ratcliff EUB Church for George Roscoe Chilcott, age 83, Wilkesville resident who died Tuesday night in a Hamden rest home.
Last rites were held at 2 p.m. Rev. Jack Stutler officiating, burial following in Ratcliff Cemetery under the direction of the Vernon McCoy Funeral Home, Vinton, Ohio.
He was born at Buckeye Furnace, Jackson County, September 28, 1881, son of the late James and Lydia Ann McManaway Chilcott. He was the last of his family, and had spent his entire lifetime in the Wilkesville and Radcliff communities.