Interview conducted by her son, Bob Piros in November of 2002.

My first memory of Cherry Tree was in 1919 when I was 7 years old. My father, Gabor and 1 walked down from Mona Hill to visit with my Uncle John Tarkany who lived with his family in the two story wood house almost across the street from Pilgrim Holiness Church. The roads were unpaved and there were few houses and buildings in Cherry Tree. My Uncle John had a grocery store in Cherry Tree in the white house that later became the home of the Nagy’s. The entrance to the store was in the rear near the railroad tracks. There was a plank one had to walk down to the entrance.

I remember inside the store there was a big dark brown piano that my Aunt Anna (Stercz) Tarkany played. The store was well stocked with everything—lunch meats, canned goods, eggs ,flour and fresh produce. My Uncle John would go from house to house taking orders and then he would deliver to them once a week with his truck.

Helen Piros/LHS Cafeteria

1 think the Cherry Tree School was already there in 1919. I think my Uncle John’s children went there. I think John Bush Sr. had his gas station then. The family lived in a long wooden house next to the gas station. My family moved from the area in 1924 and then moved back in 1935. At that time the store that Steve Tarkany purchased was owned by a Mr. Shoemaker. He lived there with his wife and a daughter who had diabetes. He made, repaired and sold shoes for a living. Next to the store was an alley, then a long white wooden house where Excel Browning lived with her husband and three girls. She was a member of the Pilgrim Holiness Church. Oscar Sansom and his family lived next door to the Brownings.

In 1937,the John Tarkany store was gone and a Mr. Ernest Seagraves and his family lived there as it was made into a house, not sure if it was rebuilt. Alex Nagy Jr. moved into it until the new addition was added to the store, but Doris had problems with the stairs so he moved the family back into the white house. That new addition was built about1948. Also the Hearld’s house was built about 1945

Across the street from Nagy’s store lived a Mr. Aldredge and his family. He worked with Joe Piros in his business there in Cherry Tree. Also in 1937, Mr. Nagy Sr. helped Helen Tarkany get a job at the Bakery. Mr. Farley was the supervisor. The Bakery was owned by the Belladonna family. They lived across the street from the Bakery. The Bakery had two floors. Downstairs the bread was made and upstairs the cakes and pies were made. Working hours were 8 am. to 6 pm., six days a week. Possible pay was $12 a week. There were five Italian women upstairs and a baker. The women were Mary, Rose, and Laurie from Holden, Lena from Cherry Tree and Della from downtown Logan. Helen worked there for six months. She married Joe Piros in November 1937.

Based on interview of Helen Tarkany Piros (niece of John Tarkany) conducted by her son, Bob Piros in November of 2002

John Tarkany was born on June 26,1881 in Csesznek, Hungary. He worked in the coal mines at an early age with his father George SR. and his brothers, Gabor, George JR. and Mike. The coal companies in the United States sent representatives to Hungary to sign up coal miners to come to America to work in the coal mines. John emigrated to the U.S.A. on the vessel N. Finland and he arrived at the Port of New York in the State of New York on the 9^th day of March 1903 .He started working for the Pocahontas Fuel Company in Virginia. He married Anna Stercz on July 31,1904 at the Presbyterian Hungarian Church in Pocahontas. In 1908, John moved his family to Cherry Tree West Virginia and he started working for the Island Creek Coal Company. John worked as a transportation agent going back to Hungary to hire laborers to work in the coal fields. He made good money and he purchased some land in Hungary that was used by other Tarkany members left there. John made many trips back there. He would sign the miners up and then go with them by vessel back to the U.S.A. During the two weeks it took to get to the U.S.A., John would educate the men about the goings on in America.

During the time that he lived in Cherry Tree with his family, John purchased a house and some other lots. He owned a two story house. He also either gave or sold a lot on which the Pilgrim Holiness Church was built. John also had a duplex built on the lot behind the Church. Due to the large influx of coal miners coming to work for Island Creek Coal Company, John was advised that he might be able to make more and easier money by hauling food to the coal miners. In 1918, John opened up a store in Cherry Tree and he started taking orders from the coal mines and miners. At onetime there were some 2,500 miners working for Island Creek; most of them lived in the Holden and Whitman Creek areas. Island Creek Coal Company built the houses for their workers to live in and the miners purchased most of their living items from the company store located in Holden. Communities sprang up all over Logan County. This is how Cherry Tree got started. Some people purchased acres of land and then sold them off in separate lots. As more people came into the area, there became a need for more services. Thus up went stores, gas stations, repair shops and other business enterprises.

During the Depression years, John Tarkany and his wife Anna lost everything that they owned except the two story house. They built a store on one side and Anna sold items from the store and John took orders and made house to house deliverys.

During the time John went back to Hungary he would always take boxes of clothes and other things to give to the Tarkany family members left in Hungary. John died in 1941 and his wife Anna still sent things back to the relatives. Her last letter to them was in 1947 and she told them that since none of her daughters could write in the Hungarian language and that due to her illness no more letters or packages would be sent. When we started our search for family members in 1987 and found the rest of the Tarkany family, they sent us pictures and letters that Anna Tarkany had sent them through the years. They said they had thought that all the Tarkany family members had died. They didn’t know that Anna had died in 1957.

EARLY YEARS By Eddie Atkins 3/12/2003

My Dad, Edward L. Atkins, Sr, was one of the first land owners in Cherry Tree when in about the year 1905 he, along with a land developer from Wise County Virginia named W P  Henritze ,came to Logan by way of the N&W railway to Dingess, WV, then by horses to Aracoma. This was shortly before the name of Aracoma was changed to Logan. Mr Henritze bought the sandy corn field known as Ellis Bottom from the owner—a Mr. Ellis ( ancestor of Logan attorney Glen Dial Ellis) who had a homestead at the location that was than  know  as Ellis Addition (Deskins Addition or Black Bottom). Mr Henritze  had this tract of land surveyed, lots and street laid out and had it registered at the county court house as-Henritze Addition to the town Of Logan, which is the way all property is listed in land deeds for this area. My dad bought 10 of the lots ($50.00 each). He then returned to Virginia but came back in 1910 to start building houses with  the intention of renting  them to the men that had just started the opening of the Harry S .Gay Coal company mines at Mt Gay. I am presently living in a building constructed on two of these lots.

The name "Cherry Tree Bottom" was the common name given to the upper section of Henritze Addition.   When it was being developed a man named White had a farm on the south side of island creek at the location now called "White’s Addition", and he had a orchid  of apple, peach and cherry trees at the upper end of the bottom. When Mr. Henritze had the primary street laid off on the map-- this street running from the western end of the bottom to the cherry tree section of the orchid was named Cherry Street. A early local name for the extreme lower section of the bottom was "Lower Ram Cat"—the back street running beside the creek from the junk yard of "Uncle Harve Parmer" to the foot bridge crossing the creek to Fisher Bottom was called "Ram Cat Alley."  A foot path along the creek bank on the Fisher Bottom side ended  at a colorful establishment with the name  " Linger A While". Fisher Bottom  was part of the original land areas bought by Mr. Henritze. Several early property owners of Henritze Addition joined with a company named Logan Light & Power and Cherry Tree had street lights as well as side walks before 1930  In the early years an Italian merchant named  S." Joe"
Scaramizzino" ( Namesake of  S Joe Alley ) operated a large general store in Mt Gay,. He raised goats & sheep on the hill side to feed the many coal miners—many favored sheep over beef or pork   This section named Monitor Junction was also called  "Billy Goat Junction or Mud Junction. Before 1940 the primary employers were Gay Coal Co, Monitor Coal Co, and Island Creek Coal Co. as well as several smaller coal mines that had opened on all forks of Island Creek. In the years before WW11, there were several  grocery stores in Cherry Tree: JohnTarkany Grocer, Ventry Grocery, Alex Nagy Grocery,  Joe & Jimmy Cherico Grocery (later Victory Groc.), Tony Dress Grocery, Browning Grocery, Veto Eposito Grocery and DeHaven ‘s Store. Several small stores  went out of business during the great depression that started about 1932 and lasted until 1940. Several larger businesses were operating in cherry tree before the start of WW11 such as The Logan Battery Shop, a  battery repair shop that was operated by the McCormick brothers (Okey McCormick later opened McCormick’s Store in Logan). Tom Robinson operated a large machine &repair shop. Ed Kohotek operated a shoe repair shop in the large block building (Handy Andy) that was later a used furniture store --.Leonard Scites operated  Scites Mattress Repair Shop in the building that was the first store opened by Alex Nagy Sr. before he moved to the Gore building about 1936-  Steve Rats  Sr. operated a auto paint & body repair shop for several years before he moved to Monitor. The Dee Dee Donut shop opened by Roland Belladonna Sr. was located in this building. Tennis. K. Killen opened National Cable Inc.& used this building as a storage room for mine cable The building has been torn down and now the empty lot is used as a parking area for the Applachian Powder Coat Company owned by Harry Slater. John Bush Sr. & John Bush Jr. operated an Esso service station at the upper end of Cherry Tree.  When the elder Bush died a relative , (Little Johnny "gizmo"Bush), came from Cleveland to help run the station until he went into the army.

After the war the Bush family sold the Esso Station to John Green & his wife Masil. Dante Beladonna, Patsy Ferzacci and Miller Farley opened the Logan Bakery Corp.. Their famous "Butter Crust" bread was sold & delivered throughout southern West Virginia. Toney Dress owned & operated Aracoma Beverage & Falls City  Beer Distributing Co. W. Gore opened the Logan Transfer Co. Russell Baumgardner opened & operated the R C. Bottling Co. Andy Ola & John Tira operated a Transfer & Storage Co. The DeHaven family ran DeHaven’s Transfer& Storage Co. The Browning Brothers (Ernest, Forest, Thamer, and Riley) ran a repair garage for autos and motorcycles.

Robert Samson started a Maytag sales & service  company.   Ray BarnesSr. & Ray Jr. operated Barnes Motors (Dodge , Plymouth& Desoto Automobiles). The Crutcher’s (Mrs.. Lucille Von Péchy’s family) ran a Plumbing business. John Elkins had a dealership in used cars,( Reo, Hudson,  Teroplane Automobiles and Shaack  trucks). Dixie Seamons ran "Dixie’s Hotels. "Plato Kitchen ran a boarding house for miners. The
Lovins brothers, Johny & Floyd, ran a used furniture store. Frank Carver was a mechanic who had a garage beside his home. The Egg House was a processing plant that candled & packaged cold storage eggs and was run by a man called Miklos Boche (he was a cousin to John Nagy and The title "Boche" is a hungarian title of mister.). John B. Butcher’s son Max was a major league baseball player with the Yankies during the Babe Ruth era. Betty Hatfield Caldwell (baby daughter of "Devil Anse Hatfield) lived several years with her daughter Mrs. J.B. Browning and her eight grand children in the two story house across the road from Cherico’s Store. Simeon Dingess was the county clerk in Logan and he was known to walk from his Logan office to his home in Cherry Tree and then return to Logan during his lunch hour. Rev. J. Green McNeeley was the circuit clerk in Logan and an associate of the famous preacher "Uncle Dyke Garrett.  Richard Hearld & John T. Gore were sheriff’s deputies, Posey Griffith was the dreaded truant office who always
threatened  to send us to Prunty Town if we skipped school. The Skeens boys (B.J., John and Burl ) were motor cycle riders who wore black leather jackets, rode "Harleys" and were heroes to all the alley boys Mason "Bub" White operated White Taxi Service and lived in a big house on the hill above Fisher Bottom. Johnny Davis operated a wood working shop making custom furniture.

Five bridges crossed island creek before 1940-a swinging bridge at the Whites Farm, a low water crossing at the Thompson Farm at the upper end of Cherry Tree, a swinging bridge that crossed to the hill side farms of Guy Gore and John Deskins, a foot bridge crossing from the west end of Cherry Tree to Fisher Bottom that had to be replaced after any high water and the concrete bridge on the main road that still stands. About 1940 The hill on the north side of Cherry Tree from Monitor Junction to the Monitor Coal Co. Mines was declared a State Game Reserve and the Logan County Sportsmen Club under the direction of the county game warden (Ira Carper) & Bill Neal stocked twenty deer brought in from Michigan—one was a albino (white) deer which was the start of the white deer herd that grew to five or six before most of the deer in Logan County died with the black tongue plague.

As a kid growing up in the ‘40’s, the main past times of Cherry Treeers were swimming & fishing in the creek, climbing the mountains, playing ball, shooting marbles, playing night games like "lost trail", playing Cowboys & Indians and bike riding for those few that were rich enough to own a bike and making scooters out of old roller skates . Another pastime was rolling old auto tires and wheel with hoops as well as following the ice truck in summer and getting in coal & kindling in the winter. Of course if we were lucky, we came up with a dime on Saturday in order to go to the Middleburg  theatre and visit with our cow boy heroes: Buck Jones, "Hoot" Gibson, Ray "Crash" Corrigan,  John "Mack" Brown,  Lash La Rue, Hawk Of The Wilderness, Gene Autrey,   Roy Rogers Lone Ranger and the new comic characters Mickie Mouse and Donald Duck. Saturday night was bath time and then getting to stay up until 9:00 pm listening to" The Grand Ole Oprey" and my favorite "Inter Sanctum Mistries" on the radio. Cherry Tree was the only world we knew but life was great back then—at least that’s the way I remember it.

Eddie Atkins---

NAGY'S GROCERY By Robert McCormack (16):

Alex Nagy Senior (17) seemed loved by all and a pleasure to do business with.   One time, however, my dad, C.B. McCormack, haggled with Mr. Nagy over how much fat there was on the meat and Mr. Nagy took Dad into the refrigerator and said:  "Now you see this, I have to pay for all that fat!."   Every Nagy customer got a free holiday cake at Christmas time.  Ann, from Monaville, put everyone at ease as she totaled up our purchases on the cash register.  The ingenious application of grease on the front windows at Halloween made the candle wax  (in lieu of soaping the windows) ineffective to us Halloween hoodlums.  Mr. Nagy had outsmarted us.  

Nagy’s Grocery was also our school bus stop.  It was a place that gave forum for gossip, flirting, and learning more about the birds and bees.  A popular, catchy rhyme was "Dum, de Dum Dum, PREGNANT!"   Of course this inspiration came from the popular TV series called " Dragnet."  We were all shocked to learn one morning that the ambulance at the Myrtle Herald residence (19-just two doors from the bus stop) was in response to a self inflicted gun wound.  Sometimes I would arrive just in time for the bus in order to avoid Vivian Hartman (29) who had the fortitude to call me on the phone and ask me to go on a "dutch date" to the theatre.  Vivian was certainly ahead of her time.

Buddy Linville (87) would send me to Nagy’s to get a nickels’ worth of baloney.  Using his thumb and index finger, he would show me how thick he wanted it cut.   "Ma" Linville (87) with her pipe and "Pa" Linville with his mule and sled bring back reflections of "Dogpatch" characters.  Kids loved to hang out with "Ma" Linville, if only to play with the reoccurring new litter of kittens.  Sometimes we would just sit in the porch swing with "Ma." Another treat was to ride on the mule drawn sled as "Pa" Linville drove his sled to Whites Addition to work on his garden.  We thought it was real neat when Buddy Linville hung a sheet on our garage. After it was dark, he showed a movie for the large gathering of kids. I don’t even remember what the move was about or whether it had sound.