Mining for More in Ancestry's "U.S., Mining Accidents, 1839-2006" Collection

Much to my delight, we get lots of genealogy questions in Special Collections and Archives. We often hear from people around the country who’ve come across an ancestor’s name in Ancestry’s “U.S., Mining Accidents, 1839-2006” collection. Ancestry cites data from that collection as being published by our library, and so many genealogists, in their quest for reasonably exhaustive research, get in contact with us to find out what the library has on their ancestors. 

Ancestry is citing a set of spreadsheets created by local Historian Gerald E. Sherard that were previously available as a resource tool on our website, but now live with the Arthur Lakes Library at the Colorado School of Mines. Sherard has been compiling data and indexing mining accidents and other record sets for many years. His mining accident spreadsheets can be found at this link: https://libguides.mines.edu/MiningHistoryArchive/A0176-sherard

Many of Sherard’s spreadsheets include a source key at the top of the page that relates to the resource where Sherard found the individual’s name mentioned. The majority of the resources Sherard examined are available online as free digital eBooks on websites such as HathiTrust, Internet Archive, or through a state’s specific website for mining resources. 

Let’s walk through an example: 

Alexander Koproski is in the “U.S., Mining Accidents, 1839-2006” collection (see figure 1). We can find him either by searching Ancestry or Ancestry Library Edition generally for his name and browsing through the results, or by searching this collection of mining accidents specifically. 

There is very little information provided about Alexander, however, we do get some key pieces of information from this index: he suffered a fatal accident at age 28 on 24 June 1909, and he was employed at Nottingham in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. We see an approximate birth year of 1881 for Alexander that is based on his provided age of 28.¹ 

Figure 1. Alexander Koproski in Ancestry/Ancestry Library’s Edition “U.S., Mining Accidents, 1839-2006” collection.

After we find someone in the “U.S., Mining Accidents, 1839-2006” collection, our next step is to go to the index from which their information was pulled from. To check the mine accident spreadsheets, we’ll go to the Colorado School of Mines’ site for A0176 Gerald E. Sherard Collection -- Mine Accident Index. At that webpage, we find spreadsheets arranged first by state and then internationally. Since we’re looking for Alexander Koproski of Pennsylvania, we’ll check the spreadsheet titled, “Pennsylvania (F-Li).” The spreadsheets can be large files and can be searched by last name using a web browser’s finding tool (control+F or command+F,  depending on your device). 

Alexander Koproski has two entries on the spreadsheet. See figure 2 below. We can extract the following data from the spreadsheet: 

Entry 1:

Date of accident: 1909 June 24

Name: Koproski, Alexander

Age: 28

Mine (Town): Nottingham

County: Luzerne

F/N [Fatal or nonfatal]: fatal

Page: 305

Source: 60a

Entry 2:

Date of accident: 1909 June 24

Name: Koproski, Alexander

Age: [left blank]

Mine (Town): Nottingham Number 3

County: Luzerne

F/N [Fatal or nonfatal]: fatal

Page: 311

Source: 60a²

Figure 2. Alexander Koproski in the “Pennsylvania (F-Li)” index.

Sherard listed his sources at the top of the spreadsheet, and he used many different resources for his Pennsylvania indexes. Source 60a represents “Annual Report of the Department of Mines of Pennsylvania--Anthracite Part I, vols. 1903-1920” as shown below in figure 3.³

Figure 3. A look at the sources at the top of the “Pennsylvania (F-Li)” spreadsheet.

Typically, the information on the index came from mining reports and other books that can be found digitized online. Try doing a Google search for the report or book title and the report year, if provided. To find the digitized book where Alexander Koproski’s information came from, I did a Google search for, “Annual Report of the Department of Mines of Pennsylvania--Anthracite Part I.” The first result of my Google search brought me to a digital resource guide by PennState University Libraries, and on that site, I was able to find the 1909 report for the anthracite mines. Clicking on the link for that report brings us to a digitized book on the Internet Archive where we can locate the page numbers provided by Sherard’s spreadsheet. 

If the indexed data doesn’t include a report year, use the accident date from the spreadsheet to make an informed guess as to which report to view. Alexander Koproski’s accident date was recorded as 1909 June 24, so we would look for him in a report published in 1909 or 1910. If you’re having trouble locating the correct report, ask a librarian for help.

Figure 4. Alexander Koproski is listed in the last line of the table on page 305.

The table on page 305 tells us that on June 23, Alexander Koproski, a Polish miner, aged 28, married, leaving one widow and one orphan, was involved in a fatal accident at Nottingham in Luzerne County. The description of his accident is, “fatally burned by an explosion of gas in old airway. Died June 24.” Note that at the top of the page, the ninth anthracite district is indicated.⁴

Figure 5 shows a short report of the accident where Alexander Koproski and his colleague, Jacob Dramanski, were killed.⁵ 

Figure 5. A narrative report of Alexander Koproski’s accident is on page 311.

Not every person who suffered a mining accident has a narrative report; many people are listed only in a table, like we saw for Alexander Koproski in figure 4. The narrative provides a greater understanding of what happened to Alexander and his colleague, and the experience of mining in 1909.

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Digging Deeper: 

There are many other record sets that might help you tell the story of your ancestor’s life in the mines. This is not an exhaustive list, but just some ideas of where to take your research next. 

Newspapers often reported on mine accidents and fatalities, and can include additional details regarding the injuries, why the accident happened, any investigations, and background information on the mine. Some articles were picked up by other newspapers, and coverage of a particular accident might be found in newspapers across the nation. To get started with your newspaper research, check out the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection and DPL’s subscription of Newspapers.com (DPL card required). Search digital newspapers not only for the name of the miner, but also the name of the mine and the mining company to capture any articles reporting on the accident more generally.  

Figure 6. An article from The Wilkes-Barre Times Leader on 25 June 1909.

This small article shown in figure 6 from The Wilkes-Barre Times Leader announced Alexander Koprowski’s death to the community. A researcher can gather several important pieces of information from this article: the likely correct spelling of Koprowski, that his injuries were more critical than originally thought, that Alexander was well-liked in his community, that he leaves behind a wife and a child, that his family attended St. Mary’s Polish Church, and that he will be buried at St. Mary’s cemetery.⁶ 

Registers of accidents and injuries exist for some states. The registers for Pennsylvania are available online, for anthracite and bituminous districts, as digitized images. The table and short report from the Report of the Department of Mines of Pennsylvania: Part 1 - Anthracite: 1909 provided the information that Alexander Koprowski worked in the ninth district; Pennsylvania’s accident registers are arranged by district and year. See figure 7 for the pages that Alexander Koprowski was recorded in.

Figure 7. The ledger shows Alexander Koprowski on line 46.

Alexander Koprowski is the last person listed on the page on line 46. The register confirms much of the information we’ve already learned about Alexander, and includes columns for the name of the mine, the date of the accident, the name of the person, their age, if the injury was fatal or nonfatal, if the injury occurred inside or outside of the mine, the person’s occupation, their nationality, their citizenship status, their marital status, if they are leaving a child under the age of 13, the cause of the accident, if the injury was because of carelessness of the person who was injured or carelessness of another person, if the accident was unavoidable, and a spot for any other remarks. Other contextual and societal information can be gained from reviewing the ledgers to study the demographic data; for example, in 1909, there were 11 accidents at Nottingham mines: four Polish fatalities, one American fatality, two Polish non-fatalities, two American non-fatalities, one Russian non-fatality, and one Welsh non-fatality.⁷ 

Some vital records are available on the genealogy databases, and we can find a death certificate for Alexander Koprowski in the “Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1972” on Ancestry Library Edition. 

Figure 8. Alexander Koprowkski’s 1909 death certificate from Ancestry/Ancestry Library Edition.
 

With regards to his work as a miner, Alexander Koprowski’s death certificate (figure 8) indicates that he died at 5:35 p.m. on 24 June 1909, and that he was attended to by his doctor since 23 June 1909. His cause of death was internal and external burns contributed by a mine accident. In the section for special information, it was reported that Alexander had been at the hospital for 1 ½ days after being injured in the mines.⁸

Maps play an important role in genealogical research as they can help us visualize the places where our ancestors spent their time and what their surroundings were like. A map that shows Plymouth, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, illustrates where the Nottingham Colliery was in relation to the town. If we were to uncover a house address for Alexander Koprowski close to his date of death, we could use a map to determine factors such as proximity of his home to the mines in consideration of aspects such as pollution or noise, what his commute would have been like, and how near family (such as cousins or siblings) lived to him; all things that speak to quality of life. A Sanborn Fire Insurance map published in October 1907 shows the location of the Nottingham Colliery and the Polish Catholic Church. 

For mines across the country, underground mine maps and plans can be found. Many maps for Nottingham can be found with a sheet search on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's PHUMMIS (Pennsylvania Historic Underground Mine Map Inventory System) website. 

Another map shown in figure 9, although predating when Alexander Koprowski would have worked in the mine, shows an interesting three-dimensional look at Plymouth, Pennsylvania, in 1884; this aerial style of map helps us to understand how the town was nestled around the Nottingham Colliery. 

Figure 9. Map of Plymouth, PA. Note the Nottingham Breaker left of center.

Records from mining companies can sometimes be found in archival collections. Depending on what was kept over the years, the documentation for mines and company records can vary. However, collections might include union records, company account books, correspondence, scrapbooks, company histories, maps, deeds, photographs, oral histories, payroll, and other employee information. 

Our library does not have the records for the mining company that Alexander Koprowski worked for, however, we do have collections for other mining companies. Search our archival catalog by either the name of the mine or the mining company to see if we have records that would benefit your research. Use ArchiveGrid to check for mining records that other institutions might hold. 

For more online research tools regarding mining in Colorado, check out our resource guide titled “Mines, Mining and Miners.”

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1 Ancestry Library Edition, " U.S., Mining Accidents, 1839-2006," database (https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/search/collections/62003 : accessed 28 April 2025), entry for Alexander Koproski [Koprowski], 24 June 1909; citing Western History/Genealogy Central Library [Denver Public Library], Colorado.

2 Gerald E. Sherard, Pennsylvania (F-Li), online images, unpaginated [digital page 781 of 948], entry for Alexander Koproski [Koprowski], 24 June 1909, Colorado School of Mines, Russell L. & Lyn Wood Mining History Archive (https://libguides.mines.edu/MiningHistoryArchive/A0176-sherard : accessed 28 April 2025).

3 Gerald E. Sherard, Pennsylvania (F-Li), online images, unpaginated [digital page 1 of 948], Colorado School of Mines, Russell L. & Lyn Wood Mining History Archive (https://libguides.mines.edu/MiningHistoryArchive/A0176-sherard : accessed 28 April 2025).

4 Pennsylvania, Report of the Department of Mines of Pennsylvania: Part 1 - Anthracite: 1909 (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: C.E. Aughinbaugh, 1910), page 305; Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/reportofdepartme190901penn/page/304/mode/2up : accessed 28 April 2025).

5 Pennsylvania, Report of the Department of Mines of Pennsylvania: Part 1 - Anthracite: 1909 (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: C.E. Aughinbaugh, 1910), page 311; Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/reportofdepartme190901penn/page/304/mode/2up : accessed 28 April 2025).

6 "Second Victim of Mine Explosion Died Last Evening at City Hospital," Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, 25 June 1909, page 18, column 2; digital images, Newspapers.com [Library edition] (https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/395205247/ : accessed 28 April 2025).

7 Pennsylvania, Register of Mine Accidents for the Anthracite Districts, roll 3586 (1899-1908), page 240, ninth district, line 46, Alexander Koprosky [Koprowski], 23 June 1909; Pennsylvania State Archives, Power Library (https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/psa/islandora/object/psa%3Armaad_1126 : accessed 29 April 2025).

8 “Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1972,” database with images, Ancestry Library Edition (https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/search/collections/5164/records/1612247 : accessed 29 April 2025), certificate image, Aleksander Koprowski, 24 June 1909, no. 57641; citing Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, P.A.