Krypton

Shared by Mary Johnson on Feb. 20th, 2017. 

"My grandfather's WWI registration says he was a miner working at Jameson Coal Company in Krypton. This was June 5, 1917. His name was Randolf Jackson Brandenburgh. He died after a knee wound from the mine became gangrenous. He died at the age of 36 leaving a wife & 3 small children. His death certificate was actually falsified as to the reason for his death & whether it was work related. I do not know which mine he worked at before he passed. My grandmother, Ida Mae Neal Brandenburgh, always maintained that he died of blood poisoning after he was wounded in the mine. I have no other proof as she was uneducated & I'm sure didn't understand anything about the death certificate if she had even seen it."" 

"People should know what went on back then in these coal camps. I believe the doctor, Dr. Hurst, who signed his death certificate, or the funeral director that fills it out, was in collusion with the mine. The diagnosis of dying from rheumatism at 36 years old after less than a week in the hospital is utterly unbelievable. There was no autopsy & it says by the line of tests performed to prove diagnosis "usual". This really bothers me to have found such a blatant lie on his death certificate. I have found there is nothing I can do about it at this late date with no proof other than my grandmother's word. My grandmother had to give her daughter, my mom, to her sister & my Uncle Roger to her brother after Randolf died. She was destitute. She kept her youngest, Paul, somehow. She wasn't able to get them back until 5 years later when she remarried. It was truly tragic. My mom, June, lived with that her whole life. She was put on a train by herself at 5 years old & sent to live with her aunt. She never got over it. She could recall her daddy, Randolf, walking her to church every Sunday though before he died. I wish I knew which church they had gone to but she was too little to remember. I have enclosed the only photo that I have of him. He is with his wife & children."

"It shows where he lived on the 1930 census. You wouldn't know which mine he would have worked at would you? I can't tell if it says Dolar or Dolan town at the top. He is on line 18 through 22 with his family. This census was about 5 months before his death. Please feel free to share the documents & the photo though."