Editing Monongah, West Virginia (section)

==History==
The [[Adena culture|Adena]] and [[Hopewell tradition|Hopewell]] peoples dwelt in what is now northern West Virginia 1,500–2,000+ years ago. By the time of the early European traders and settlers, the native population is thought to have been nil, decimated by the [[Beaver Wars]].{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}

Monongah was known as '''Briar Town''' and was part of the [[Grant Magisterial District]] in 1886.<ref>[http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/171363/Grant+Magisterial+District+++Marion+County++Briar+Town++Eldora+P+O+++Bootesville++Worthington/Marion+and+Monongalia+Counties+1886/West+Virginia Marion and Monongahela Counties, 1886: D J Lake Company] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924030504/http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/171363/Grant+Magisterial+District+++Marion+County++Briar+Town++Eldora+P+O+++Bootesville++Worthington/Marion+and+Monongalia+Counties+1886/West+Virginia/ |date=September 24, 2015 }}, historicmapworks.com; accessed June 18, 2017.</ref><ref name="wvgenweb.org">[http://www.wvgenweb.org/marion/towns/monongahhis.html Marion County GenWeb] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206051306/http://www.wvgenweb.org/marion/towns/monongahhis.html |date=December 6, 2022 }}, wvgenweb.org; accessed June 18, 2017.</ref>

It was later known as '''Camdensburg''', named after [[Johnson N. Camden]], [[United States Senator]] from West Virginia (1881–1887).<ref name="wvgenweb.org"/> The Protestant Episcopal Church at Camdensburg described Camdensburg in 1889 as "a new mining and coking town which promises to be a place of some importance in a few years."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wvgenweb.org/marion/towns/monongahhis.html |title=Thirteenth Annual Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of West Virginia, held in St John's Church, Charleston, June 4, 5, 6 and 7, 1890, Appendix B, pg 104 (628/672) |access-date=June 16, 2014 |archive-date=December 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206051306/http://www.wvgenweb.org/marion/towns/monongahhis.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Monongah was chartered in 1891 under Chapter 47 of West Virginia code, Of Cities, Towns, and Villages, Incorporation of Without Special Charter; Amending Charter Where Population Less Than Two Thousand.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qsk_AQAAMAAJ&q=monongah+1891+circuit+court+established&pg=PA254 |title=West Virginia Blue Book |date=June 19, 2017 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fmtKAAAAYAAJ&dq=west+virginia+code+chapter+47+chartered+municipality&pg=PA431 ''Hogg's West Virginia Code, Annotated, 1918''], books.google.com; accessed June 18, 2017.</ref>

===Monongah mining disaster===
{{Main|Monongah mining disaster}}
Monongah suffered the loss of all 358 miners underground and an engineer on the surface when [[Fairmont Coal Company]] Mines No 6 and No 8 exploded at 10:30 am on December 6, 1907. The dead consisted of 171 Italians, 85 Americans, 52 Hungarians, 31 Russians, 15 Austrians, and 5 Turks. Three more people died in the aftermath, yielding a total of 361 victims. This [[mining accident]] left approximately 250 widows and 500 fatherless children.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}

Mayor W.H. Moore, along with D.F. Morris, William Gaskins, and John Boydoh served on the Monongah Relief Committee, formed soon after to help manage the aid effort. Mayor Moore headed the Monongah Mines Relief Committee after Monongah and Fairmont decided to merge their committees into a joint effort.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ma1IAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22consolidated+coal%22+monongah&pg=PA136 History of the Monongah Mines Relief Fund, pp 9–10], books.google.com; accessed June 18, 2017.</ref>

Memorials were erected in the center of town to recognize the centennial of the mining disaster on December 7, 2007. One memorial, titled ''Monongah Heroine'', consists of a statue of a mother holding a baby with a young child beside her. It is dedicated to the widows and mothers of the miners who died. The inspiration for the statue is reported to have come from Catarina Davia, a woman widowed by the disaster.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} Feeling betrayed by the coal company for lack of compensation after her husband's death she vowed to make the 1.3 mile trek from her home to the mine to steal a satchel of coal every day until she died. She didn't only do this once every day but she did it twice. Her house was still standing until an accidental fire burned the house down on September 10, 2010. A second memorial, consisting of an engraved metal bell and plaque, was placed by the Italians to recognize the many victims from [[Molise]] in southern Italy.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}

Father [[Everett Francis Briggs]], a Roman Catholic missionary of the  [[Maryknoll]] order, oversaw the memorial project and died just a few days after its completion. On February 21, 2002, the West Virginia Legislature (House Concurrent Resolution no. 40) resolved "to name the bridge which traverses the West Fork River in Marion County, located .12 miles west of county route 27/2, the ''Father [[Everett Francis Briggs]] Bridge''", in honor of Briggs' dedication to the forgotten victims of the 1907 tragedy and the mine widows.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}