An Appalachin Writer
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AN APPALACHIAN WRITER
Legends come in all different shapes and sizes and from all over the world. Even people that grow up in extreme poverty, in rural Eastern Kentucky, have the power to become a legend. Jesse Stuart was an incredible writer who told the stories of his homeland. His writing made him a legend. His life also helped shape his writing. Where he was born, how he grew up, and what he was taught, had a great impact on his writing.
Jesse Stuart was born in W-Hollow, in Greenup County, on August, 8, 1906, to Mitchell and Martha Hilton Stuart. He was their first son, and the second of their seven children. His father, known as “Mick,” married Martha in Greenup County. They lived together forty-nine years before Martha died. Within those forty-nine years, they lived in six different houses, all in a one-mile stretch in W-Hollow. Jesses father worked as a coal-miner for awhile and then began share-cropping, until he earned enough money to buy fifty acres of land. This was the only land that his father ever owned. His family truly lived off the land. They never bought anything from the store except for seasonings and sugar. They survived by eating wild game, pork, beef, and mutton that they raised. When Jesse was a child, W-Hollow was his playground. He loved to explore the woods and knew all the different kinds of birds, rodents, and insects. His brother Herbert died when Jesse was young, so he had no other playmates. He had to become friends with nature. From the time he was six, Jesse helped work in the fields and crops. It was their way of life. (Jesse: The Bibliography of an American Writer)
W-Hollow was not the only place where Jesse learned valuable knowledge. His father was illiterate, and his mother had only finished second grade, so they were determined that their children would receive a proper education. He walked two miles each way every day to a one-room Plum Grove school house where he spent twenty two months learning from books. This was a whole new world for him. “I devoured and digested books as hungrily as I did the cornbread that we made from the corn we had raised and had ground into fresh, flavorsome meal. I began to catch hints that the rest of the world was not like my W-Hollow.”(Jesse Stuart, My World) Jesse wrote his first compositions at Plum Grove. A little later in his life, Jesse attended Greenup County High School. Since he had only received twenty two months of education so far, high school was challenging for him. He encountered subjects such as Latin, algebra, and plane geometry, but he worked especially hard to keep up with the rest of his class. He also was an excellent football player, and was in good shape from all the hard work that he had put in on the farm. At this point in his life, Jesse was a little over six foot and he weighed 225 pounds. He was an outstanding tackler on the team. In high school, Jesse had a wonderful English teacher named Mrs. R. E. Hatton. Jesse wrote a theme paper a week for her and one of them, “Nest Egg,” was printed in the Atlantic Monthly and has been reprinted in text books all over the world. (My World)
Jesse graduated from Greenup without any particular honors. Once done with schooling, he was anxious to try something else. He traveled to Ashland where he got a job at America Rolling Mills (now AK Steel) and became a blacksmith. He was paid well at that job, but working in the steel mills was definitely not one of his dreams. He also worked at a local carnival, but was fired for giving away free rides. When he was young, he had dreamed of going to West Point, so he pursued that dream. However, because of politics, he wasnt accepted. Later, he did military service in the Citizens Military Training Corps. He decided that this neither was what he needed to fulfill his dream. (My World)
Jesses next decision was to continue his education. He always fanaticized about attending a very prestigious college such as Harvard, or the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, which was where the Stuarts came from. However, the expenses were much too high for him to afford. He went to two small colleges and was turned down and was finally accepted at the Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee. He spent 3 years and 2 summers at this college and achieved enough to grab the attention of many of the professors and even the president. His first poem was published in the school paper and he was eventually elected editor of the paper. He never had a scholarship. He worked half of every day to pay for his expenses doing work such as working in the dining room, laying bricks for buildings, laying water lines, and cleaning out sewer lines. At Lincoln Memorial, he met an English teacher that totally inspired him to write about his homeland. Jesse worked hard for him and wrote three books that were later published and forty three stories that were later published in magazines. Jesse was on the way to finding his deep, inner self. He was expanding from his roots in W-Hollow. (Jesse: The Bibliography of an American Writer)
Jesses next step in life was experiencing teaching. He taught a one-room rural school in Warnock, which is also located in Greenup County, and was so successful there, that Stuart was next employed as the principal of Greenup County High School. That was a very successful year for the school, scholastically and in athletics. He was moving along nicely until he was told to ask for a bigger salary. He was then making $1000 dollars and year and asked for $200 more and was fired. After this happened, he decided to further his education. (Jesse Stuart, The Man and His Books)
Jesses final experience in education was at Vanderbilt University. He only attended for two semesters, and in the second, his dormitory caught on fire, destroying all his personal belongings, and his thesis. Due to financial problems, Jesse could not continue after the first two semesters. However, while at Vanderbilt, he met an amazing teacher who changed his life. He encouraged Jesse to continue writing about the mountains of Eastern Kentucky and W-Hollow. “He said that I should go back to my country and write of it as the Scots had written of Scotland and the Irish had written of Ireland.”(Jesse Stuart, My World) Stuart left Vanderbilt without a degree, but a term paper he wrote there, “Beyond Dark Hills,” became his fourth published book. (My World)
When Jesse returned to Greenup County, there was a crisis in the Greenup County school system. At this time, he was back living with his parents, farming, and eating the wonderful home-grown food. He also had the inspiration to write poems as he had never done before. One afternoon, Jesse was relaxing at home, enjoying the beautiful scenery of