Joel Renfro Childress was a skilled carpenter for the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad line. He worked on the Coal River railroad line building trestles, bridges, and lining tunnels.
Childress relatives remember him as a man who loved children. When he came home to Alum Creek from working on the railroad, he would have his pockets full of pennies for the children who all ran to meet him. In those days you could buy a nice piece of candy for a penny.
Joel's father, Henry Childress, died in 1859 when Joel was only five years old. His mother was left with seven young children to raise. In 1863 she remarried.
Joel married Maria Tyler in 1877 and they had seven children of their own. In 1902 Maria died when her youngest child, Hazel, was only about three years old.
Joel never remarried. He retired from the Chesapeake and Ohio and died in 1937. He and Maria are buried together at the Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery in Alum Creek, West Virginia.
