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Nancy Catherine (Kennedy) Mayle was born on June 29, 1891 in the Webster community of Taylor County, WV, the son of Josiah and Ruth Ann (Minerd) Kennedy Sr.

Nancy married farmer Charles Elihu Mayle (1890-1964) in about 1910, when he was age 21, and she 19. He was the son of Reese M. and Anna J. (Keenan) Mayle.

They had 10 children -- Gilson G. Mayle, Frena Mayle, Stelsa ("Stelsie") Fash, Hartsel Lee Mayle, Elihu "Brooks" Mayle, Clara Rine, Josephine Mayle, Calvin Mayle, Charles Drexel Mayle and Mathias Mayle.

When the federal census was taken in 1920 and 1930, the Mayleses lived on a farm in the Knottsville District of Taylor County, WV. They resided in Grafton in 1953 and in Knottsville in 1963. 

Said the Barbour Democrat, Charles "was a retired farmer and had formerly been employed by the State Road Commission... [He] was a member of the Knottsville Wesleyan Methodist Church."

Charles died unexpectedly of "failing composition of [the] heart" -- a heart attack -- on April 14, 1964, at the age of 76, at the Philippi home of his daughter and son in law Frena and Bernard Mayle. 

He was laid to rest at Mt. View, following a funeral at the West Hill Wesleyan Methodist Church led by Rev. Murray Maley. His obituary was printed in a local newspaper.

Nancy outlived her husband by almost a year. 

She passed away at the age of 74 on March 11, 1965, at Broaddus Hospital in Philippi. After the funeral at West Hill Wesleyan Methodist Church, led by Rev. Winfield Mayle, she was laid to rest beside her husband Mt. View Cemetery. 

Her obituary in the Grafton Sentinel reported that she "had been seriously ill for three weeks and in ill health five years." The Sentinel also said that she was survived by 39 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

~ Son Gilson G. Mayle ~

He suffered from acute kidney disease, and died at the age of 18 on May 10, 1930. He was buried at the Male Cemetery (later renamed Mt. View).

~ Daughter Frena (Mayle) Mayle ~

Daughter Frena Mayle (1914- ? ) married Bernard Mayle. 

They lived at Route 1, Grafton, circa 1965.

~ Daughter Stella "Stelsie" (Mayle) Fash ~

Daughter Stella ("Stelsie") Mayle (1914-2000) was born on Sept. 1, 1914. She married Lewis Fash. 

She moved to Arizona, and made her home circa 1964-1965 in Tucson. 

Stelsie died three days after Christmas in 2000 in Pella, Iowa. 

~ Son Hartsel Lee Mayle ~

Son Hartsel Lee Mayle (1917-1968) was born on Feb. 3, 1917 in Moatsville, Barbour County. He married Ara "Juanita" Dalton (1922-1994 ), the daughter of Clint and Freda (Stevens) Dalton. 

They had 17 children -- Ramona Sianne Keener (born in 1943 in Galloway), Dayton Lee Mayle (1944, Galloway), Albert Woodrow Mayle (1948, Moatsville), Charles Mayle, Sandra Joy Mayle, Freda Mayle, Clinton Mayle, Donna Mae Mayle, Clarence Mayle, Ellihue Mayle, John Mayle, Teresa Ann Reid, Genell Sines, Richard Mayle, twins Cindy Sue Stollar Serier and Linda Lue Walker, and Doris Myrena Mayle. 

Sadly, daughter Doris (1941-1957), who was born with a brain injury, died at age 15 of bronchial pneumonia and the Asian flu. She was buried in the Pritchard Cemetery in Barbour County.

They resided in the Knottsville community of Grafton. They were members of the Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church, and Juanita was active with the Paradise Cove Community Association.

Hartsel was a coal miner for 29 years, beginning when he was age 22. He was employed by Consolidation Coal Company, and commuted 40 miles every day to labor at the Consol No. 9 Mine in Farmington, north of Fairmont, Marion County, WV. He also maintained a family farm to supplement his income. 

Tragedy struck, along with the unexpected glare of national publicity, just before Thanksgiving 1968. In the early morning on Nov. 20, 1968, in an instant, the Consol No. 9 mine exploded, trapping 99 miners deep inside its bowels. Time Magazine reported to the nation: "Suddenly, deep in the earth, an explosion thundered through the eight-mile-long labyrinth of shafts and tunnels. Shock waves rippled outward for miles, jolting the Marion County mining community into frightened wakefulness. At daybreak, thick clouds of greasy black smoke billowed 150 ft. into the grey morning air." While 21 miners found their way to escape, 78 did not, with 51-year-old Hartsel among them. While explosions and fires continued for days, the family visited the mine entrance in the fading hope of seeing Hartsel emerge alive. Adding to the family's woes, four-year-old daughter Linda Lue, while at the site, fell and broke her leg, requiring hospitalization.

The raging mine fire kept rescuer parties from gaining access, and the mine had to be sealed nine days later to seal off the fire's supply of oxygen. (A Wayne R. Minor, connection unknown, also perished in the disaster.) Click to see NBC-TV's coverage at the time. 

Juanita, age 47, thus unexpectedly was assigned life's cruel fate as a widow with 16 fatherless children. It was such a deeply moving story that she allowed Time Magazine, Life Magazine and the Associated Press to report her story to national and international readers. She was pictured in Life's issue of Dec. 6, 1968, shown singing in the choir of the Wesley Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church. Reported Life's correspondent John Neary: 

There, as rain fell on the tin roof, Juanita stood straight, her eyes wet and dull with grief, and told the congregation, "I feel as my faith going down the floor. I think he's coming out and I'll have somebody to come to church with me next Sunday." They san together, in voices so strong that the backs of the hymnbooks vibrated, the words on the pages blurred through the tears on the lenses of one man's rimless spectacles, and they prayed for Hartsel Mayle, a miner for 29 of his 53 years, Juanita's husband. (Link to full story.)

Ten months after the tragedy, on Sept. 11, 1969, with the mine still sealed, the Associated Press distributed a wire photograph coast to coast. The image, seen here, shows Juanita in the backyard of her home with some of her younger children. The caption read that "Operations to recover the bodies begins Friday." A related story was filed by Niles Jackson.

Two years following the accident, with the bodies still missing, Time revisited the scene, noting that "There is a tradition in mining communities as old as grief, but layered over with the special stresses of men who go into the mines: the dead must have a decent burial; the bodies must be recovered... As recovery operations stretched to 15 months -- the longest and costliest in mining history -- some of the widows sought an end to the strain of wondering 'when the phone will ring to say they've found him'." 

Juanita and other widows eventually accepted the fact that their loves ones' bodies would not be recovered. They signed an agreement with Consol to permanently seal off those mine sections which contained human remains, receiving $10,000 each in return. She was quoted in Time saying "Tears rolled down my cheeks all the time I was signing the agreement. It was like putting a price tag on our husbands' bodies." Click for full text on Time's website. 

Donations poured in from as far away as Texas and Kansas. In nearby Pennsylvania, the town of Ellwood City rallied to donate $3,000 for the family, the only community-wide contribution the Mayles received. (The Ellwood City Ledger published a retrospective article, with a photo of Juanita and her children, in its edition of April 9, 2010.)

Juanita outlived her husband by 26 years. She died at the age of 72 on Dec. 2, 1994, with her obituary published in the Barbour Democrat. She rests at Pritchard Cemetery. 

Son Dayton Lee Mayle lived in Detroit, MI circa 1968 and in Weaversville, NC in 1994. 

Son DeWayne Mayle made his home in Canton, OH.

Son Albert Woodrow Mayle was stationed in 1968 at Fort Knox.

Daughter Cindy Sue Mayle married (?) Siever and Bob Stoller, and had five children. Circa 2009, she was a first-grade teacher at the Tunnelton-Denver Elementary School in Preston County, WV. She was featured in the Times West Virginian newspaper in January 2009 for her battle against leukemia.

~ Son Elihu "Brooks" Mayle ~

Son Elihu "Brooks" Mayle (1919-1985?) resided in Knottsville in the mid 1960s and may later have moved to Grafton. 

He is thought to have died in Grafton in May 1985, at the age of 66.

~ Daughter Clara (Mayle) Rine ~

Daughter Clara Mayle (1919?- ? ) wed Elwood Junior Rine ( ? - ? ). 

Their home in the mid-1960s was in Mingo Junction, Jefferson County, OH. 

~ Daughter Donna "Josephine" (Mayle) Smythe ~

Daughter Donna "Josephine" Mayle (1922-1960) was born in Grafton. She married Wilfred Smythe (1921-2006) in or near Wellsburg, Brooke County, WV on March 25, 1939. Josephine was age 21 at the time of marriage, and Wilfred, a native of Brilliant, Jefferson County, OH, was 22. 

They had several daughters, one of whom is Tamara Barrick.

Josephine passed away on June 28, 1960, at the age of 38. 

Wilfred outlived his wife by 46 years. He passed away on June 26, 2006. They are buried together in New Alexandria, Jefferson County.

~ Son Calvin Mayle ~

Son Calvin Mayle (1924- ? ) lived in New Brunswick, Middlesex County, NJ in 1964-1965.

~ Son Charles Drexel Mayle ~

Son Charles Drexel Mayle (1932- ? ) was born on May 11, 1932, in Taylor County. On April 24, 1954, he married Betty Joan Corns (1931- ? ), daughter of Dean and Rose Corns of Moatsville, Barbour County. Charles was age 21, and Betty 22, at the time. Rev. Fred Decost, a Methodist minister, led the nuptials at his home in Simpson, Taylor County.

He resided in 1964 in Canton, Stark County, OH. 

He may have died in Zanesville, Muskingum County, OH no Nov. 25, 1992, but this needs to be confirmed.

~ Son Mathias Mayle ~

Son Mathias Mayle ( ? - ? ) may also have been known as "Almond" Mayle. If so, he was named for his father's brother who died as a toddler. 

Mathias/Almond is said to have died as a baby, during a horse and buggy ride with his family to visit grandparents.

Copyright © 2005-2010 Mark A. Miner