Interview with Bessie Funich, July 25, 1986

Interview Summary

Bessie Funich talks extensively about her life in various coal camps in Appalachia. Born into a Hungarian family living in a coal camp at Clinchco, Virginia, Funich left on her own to seek employment in various boarding houses in several coal camps. She finally settled in Lynch, Kentucky, where she worked from dawn to dusk in a boarding house and the company store. It was while working in Lynch that she met her future husband, Tony Funich, a Yugoslavian immigrant who had come to Lynch to work in the coal mines.

Funich does not recall any discrimination against the immigrant miners. She does remember alcohol abuse and rowdiness being rampant in the coal camps. She states that when her father was drunk, he would beat or threaten his wife and children. Funich also recalls that the company police in Lynch were "bad men" who beat people senseless and threw decent miners out of their homes.

Interview Keyword

alcoholism Appalachian Immigrant Community Appalachian Region boarding houses Clinchco Virginia Coal Mining company police company store Cumberland Kentucky discrimination domestic violence Hungary Immigrant Coal Miners Immigrants Lynch Kentucky marriage wine-making

Interview LC Subject

Appalachian Region Appalachian Region--Social conditions Coal miners Coal mines and mining--Appalachian Region Funich, Bessie Funich, Bessie--Interviews Immigrants

Interview Rights

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Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.