Oliverius, Dixie

Frank Hefferly was born in Austria on May 24, 1878. His father had immigrated to the United States ahead of his family and found a job in the coal mines of Gallup, New Mexico. Frank Hefferly joined his father in the mines at age 11. He joined the United Mine Workers of America in 1898. Following an unsuccessful conclusion to a long strike to organize the coal miners of Gallup, Frank Hefferly was compelled to leave New Mexico and search for employment elsewhere.

He found work in Colorado and northern New Mexico, but due to management hostility, Hefferly could not hold a job long in any one location. Frank Hefferly received organizer's credentials from District 15 of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) in 1902 and succeeded in organizing southern Colorado and northern New Mexico coal miners with whom he had worked. He had considerable trouble with Colorado, Fuel, and Iron Company (C.F. & I.) "detectives" and Pinkertons who were hired to prevent the unionization of the coal mines. In 1903, after losing employment in the C.F. & I. mines, Hefferly made his way to Illinois where he worked as a miner and held various positions in the UMWA local in Collinsville. In 1911, he was elected to the State Executive Board for the northern part of the Belleville Sub-District of District 12, UMWA. While in this capacity, he was allocated disputes to settle between union miners and operators. He held this position until 1914, during which time his expertise allowed him to build support within District 14.

...