Inbred Family - The Whitakers

Michelle Cole

So I love to do ancestry work. I dug in to the family tree. There are 15 total siblings in this family, though several have passed. Their parents were not siblings but first cousins. There grandparents were not closely related. First cousin relationships don’t typically cause this much damage in the genes. It actually isn’t much worse than the general Population. This has likely been caused by a chromosomal issue not necessarily made worse by the fact that they are children of cousins. I will say though that the Whittakers (who actually hail from Va) have married cousins further back but that was typical in that time period for rural areas. I think this family is doing the best they can and have been dealt a rough genetic hand. Oh and Timmy is their nephew and not a cousin. Which adds to the proof this is a genetic issue bc his parents were not related.

Double-Dukes
I am from West Virginia, there are parts certainly that are like this, but need to clarify: Time did not forget these people, other humans did.

Appalachians in these communities — Odd, where this was, was a company town once — had their ancestors give everything to mine coal. While in other places people were working building fortunes and family wealth, West Virginians and other Appalachians gave any wealth away. And everyone, everywhere was okay with it because their mining quite literally kept the lights on.

Then the companies went bankrupt and left and took all the resources with them — everything from people to run the water systems to means of transport and food. People were left to fend for themselves in isolated areas with nothing. There are pockets of the state that still suffer from this, but the type of reaction that writes this place and its people off as “things time forgot” is harmful.

It gives people an excuse not to connect with us. They don’t want to understand Appalachian struggles because unless you’re here, you don’t understand them. Its easier to write us off as hillbilly Trump folk with nothing to contribute, even though that’s incredibly untrue. I have worked in grassroots organizing for a long time and some of the most progressive people I know are in West Virginia.

Labor movements started here and so much more that modern culture outside the mountains like to forget.

It hurts sometimes, it really does.

greyzzz333
My grandparents owned the house that Odd Post Office is in for years and years. My Granny was the Post Master there and loved their little family. They used to have a little grocery store in the same area as the post office and my Dad would deliver groceries to the Whittaker's. They are loved by the community. The story was that John Whittaker, the father, and the mother, I cannot remember her name were double first cousins. I can't verify that as it was only talk. But, it makes sense. My Dad said the mother always kept a neat home, but was of simple mind. The father, was a coal miner who walked to work no matter what the weather. My grandfather used to pass his tracks on the road and offer him rides. After a few days of not seeing his tracks, my Granny asked his wife in the post office if her husband was OK. She said, "No, he had another one of them old heart attacks." Up until my kids were trick or treating in my Granny's neighborhood, she bought the Whittaker's big candy bars because she knew they loved them in their trick-or-treat bag. She had been giving them the same candy for years and years. These folks have suffered so much agony and torment at the hands of arrogant and mean spirited people. Yes, they are different. Yes, you might not have met anyone like that before. But, by the grace of God you are not in their situation. My sincere hope is that they will be left alone to live in peace in a community that loves and protects them.