Aug 9, 2005 By Joyce Koballa 7 min read

As Charles Guy Hood IV started walking down the B&O railroad along the Monongahela River in Lowsville, W.Va., on a cold, crisp February morning, the true meaning behind a three-year journey to uncover his family’s genealogy dawned on his brother. It was in 2004 that Charles and Christopher Hood set out to learn more about four lineages of the Hood, Haymond, Miller and Tormay families that forged their way through parts of West Virginia and Pennsylvania more than 200 years ago while also finding each other again in the process.

“As I saw him walking away I said to myself this is strictly what the journey is all about,” said Christopher Hood.

The Hoods’ travels also took them to parts of Waynesburg, Uniontown, Dunbar and Connellsville where they were able to trace forgotten names and places of their ancestors and translate their discoveries into a book they said was written to portray more than just a family tree.

“We didn’t want a boring history, so we took a major figure from each of the four sides,” said Christopher Hood.

In “Journey into Yesteryear: Returning to Our Roots,” Charles Hood is featured on the cover walking along the railroad adjoining property once owned by his ancestors in a candid photo coincidently taken by his brother’s wife, Rosemary Hood.

“That’s what it was all about…we were walking back in time and the picture fit,” said Charles Hood – a time that Hood said also enabled him to rediscover his brother, Christopher, and learn more about what they had in common after growing up 13 years apart.

For the Hoods, the journey into yesteryear began when Charles Hood, a physician from West Columbia, S.C., wanted to learn more about his family and their role in the coal industry after the death of his mother in 1999.

Hood shared his curiosity with his brother in Kansas in an email five years ago on the anniversary of their mother’s death to tell him how sad it was that he knew nothing about his family now that their parents were deceased.

That’s when Christopher Hood suggested they write a book to find out.

“Everybody has a family tree, but that doesn’t always tell the story,” said Hood.

As the youngest of four brothers and one sister, Charles Hood said he never received the opportunity to know his father since he was only nine years old in 1972 when William S. Hood, a World War II medic, died.

According to Christopher Hood, their father never talked about the war. “We knew nothing about where he was or anything,” Hood said.

At the time of their father’s death, Hood said he was serving overseas during the Vietnam War as a Navy medic and wasn’t permitted to return home for the funeral. However when he was released three months later he had to explain their father’s death to his younger brother Charles.

After sifting through a box of supposed war memorabilia their father had tucked away, Christopher Hood said he and his brother were disappointed when the only item they found was a 1950s photograph from a West Virginia newspaper that featured a reunion of the 132nd Infantry Hospital Corps their father served in that listed the soldiers only by first initial and last name and city.

To make matters worse, Charles Hood said the veterans’ facility that housed their father’s military records burned down. “We didn’t have much to go on but a few pictures and other recollections from my brother,” Hood added.

Using the only picture they had the Hoods were able to locate four soldiers on the Internet and interviewed them to get a better understanding of their father’s time in the service.

One of those soldiers was from Fairmont, W.Va., where the Hoods began the initial search of their roots and discovered the city was originally surveyed by their maternal great grandfather, William Stanley Haymond.

Charles Hood said Haymond was instrumental in his efforts to have the B&O Railroad pass through Fairmont, which enabled it to flourish as a renowned coal Mecca.

The brothers also found that Haymond, a respected attorney and judge, was friends with their paternal great-grandfather, Smith Hood, for who Christopher Smith Hood is named after.

Smith Hood was also known to hit the switch that turned on the first electric light in the town in 1890.

Less than a mile from the Mon, the Hoods found themselves at the cemetery where just about every marker was engraved with the family name, including that of their grandfather, Charles Hood’s namesake.

“When you walk through a cemetery where just about every marker has your last name it’s spooky, but sacred,” said Charles Hood.

As the Hoods followed the Mon to Greene County, Charles Hood said they learned that Archibald Hood was the first generation to own property in Waynesburg in the early 19th century.

Their journey also led them to the Titlow Hotel in Uniontown where they saw the original registers signed to their surprise by all of their relatives that worked in the coal industry in the early 1900s.

“It was amazing to see who’s who in the coal industry back then and where they came from to stay there,” said Christopher Hood.

From there, the Hoods embarked on a three-day visit to Connellsville where they received a guided tour of the remaining beehive coke ovens in Adelaide along the Youghiogheny River from local author Ceane O’Hanlon-Lincoln, who was referred to them by the Greater Connellsville Chamber of Commerce.

Coincidentally, O’Hanlon-Lincoln mentions the Hoods’ maternal great-grandfather, Patrick J. Tormay, in the “Guardians of History” chapter of her book, “County Chronicles.”

According to Christopher Hood, he and his brother knew little about the Tormay family until O’Hanlon-Lincoln led them in the right direction.

Tormay was the grandfather of their mother, Cyrilla (Anne) Miller Hood, who died in 1999.

“This was a critical element when we started the book to get as many people involved as we could,” said Christopher Hood.

The Hoods also spoke with Connellsville icon and Olympic gold medallist John Woodruff after learning he had some family members that worked with Tormay and an elderly relative who knew the family.

“We’re not experts, but have a knack to find things,” said Christopher Hood.

What the Hoods found was that Tormay labored for many years at various coke manufacturing sites, including in Trotter where he was a mine superintendent and a coal inspector for H.C. Frick Coke Co.

Tormay was also an honorary grand marshal for Connellsville’s 1906 centennial celebration and helped to construct the arch for the event along with C.B. Franks of Leisenring and R.C. Beerbower of Davidson.

But, it was the Tormay oiler that he was most noted for patented in 1896 and lauded as one of the best oil cans for lubricating mine car axles.

Tormay also invented a door out of concern for his employees designed for the front of the coke oven that could be opened independent of the lower portion minimizing the risk of burns.

He died in 1937 and is buried in St. Joseph Cemetery located off Breakneck Road in Connellsville.

A similar working model of his invention is on display at the Coal and Coke Heritage Center at Penn-State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, designed by the Covington Machine Co.

While they just scratched the surface of the coal and coke industry in the area the Hoods found their descendants were linked to that line of work in one way or another.

“All the blood, sweat and tears that went into building that area crosses everyone’s ancestry at some time,” said Charles Hood.

Now, said Christopher Hood, “we’re the next generation.”

Looking back on their experience, the Hoods said writing a book about their family was like living another life. “We would always read about it, but never knew where or how (our relatives) lived,” said Christopher Hood.

When Charles Hood finally sat down to read the chapter that depicted his father, he said it was as if he was there in person citing it word for word.

“You have to take the walk and we took it a lot further than we expected,” said Christopher Hood.

A copy of the book can be obtained at www.xlibris.com/returningtoourroots.html.