This stately white marble Woodmen of the World tombstone for Vandy West is the tallest tombstone in this area the cemetery by far.
His tombstone reads as follows:
[WoW medallion]
"VANDY M. WEST
May 5, 1855
Dec. 25, 1919
Gone but not forgotten"
We have been able to find several mentions of Vandy West in free websites and in multiple censuses on ancestry.com.
From the book Birth of a Texas Ghost Town: Thurber, 1886-1933
By Mary Jane Gentry, on chapter 4 on page 80 she reprints part of a newspaper article about Mr. West's actions the day the General Store in Thurber burned down:
"In the early morning of February 25, 1902, ... Vandy West discovered the general store to be on fire. after firing his revolver, Mr. West ran to the mine office yard and sounded the big triangle of the Thurber fire department. Mr. far RAND notify the firemen at the ice plant who soon turned loose to great fire alarm whistle whose multi-tones screech might awaken the seven sleepers. By this time the hardware and drugstores looked as if they were doomed. To the south, a similar struggle was going on to save the mine office, and general office – while the big store and bakery buildings had fallen in."
From the Texas Genealogy website: (
visit link)
"The Strawn Enterprise, July 15, 1905:
VANDY WEST, popular check weighman of Thurber, was over on business."
Note -- The check weighman was responsible for sizing and weighing the coal the miners dug out of the mines. They were paid only for chunks of coal over a certain size.
In the 1910 US census we found Vandy West with his wife Mattie and daughter Gladys living in Thurber. He was a white male aged 54 married one time, married 30 years, born in Al, father born AL, mother born MS, working as a Night Watchman in a railroad yard and renting his home in Thurber. His wife Mattie is a white female aged 46, married one time, married 30 years, mother of 5 children of whom 4 are living, she is born in TN, as are both her parents. Gladys is aged 13 and was born in Texas.
Note -- Thurber was a "company town" of the Texas and Pacific Coal Company, so no one owned their homes. EVERYTHING in town was owned by the company, and everyone was paid in scrip good only at the company store.
In the 1900 census we found this family again, under the name Andy West. They are living in in a rented him in Thurber, where Vandy is working as a coal miner. He is listed as a white male born in May 1855, age 45 years, married 21 years, born AL, father born Ireland, mother born AL. He is with his wife Mattie, age 44, married 21 years, mother of 4 children of whom 4 are living, she is born in TN, as are both her parents. Children in the home: Son Clarence, born October 1887, age 12, born in TX, daughter Chloe, born June 1891, age 7, born in TX, and daughter Gladis, age 3, born Nov 1896, born in Texas.
Note -- Coal mining in Thurber was AWFUL. The seams were very thin, and the men would work in tiny spaces cut into the rock, on their elbows and even bellies, picking the hard coal out of the rock with pickaxes. The shafts were never large enough for a man to stand and in most of them a men could not even kneel.
Continuing to go backwards: In 1880 Vandy M. West, age 25, born AL, is listed as a boarder working as a farmer on the S. Brinklum farm in Williamson County Texas.
In 1870 Vandy West is 15 years old, born AL, cannot write but can read, working as a farm laborer on the farm of Peter Cloud and his family in Flint River, Decatur Co. GA. One of the farm laborers is a 13 year old black child named Handy Cloud, born in GA, and who cannot read or write. Blasterz are betting Handy Cloud was a former Cloud family slave.
We did not find Vandy West in the 1860 AL census.
We did find Vandy Marion West's death certificate. He was married, born in AL, and died in Desdemona Texas (not far from Thurber) on 24 Dec 1919 of heart trouble. He had been working as a fireman. Blasterz are not sure if he was a fireman on a locomotive or a fireman with a Fire Department. Vandy M. West was buried in Thurber on 29 Dec 1919.
In the 1923 Fort Worth City Directory, Mattie is listed as the Widow of Vandy M residing at 805 Broadway. She would have been 67.