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| - Born and raised in Elisie, an unincorporated town located in the Eastern coal field region in rural, Appalachian Kentucky. Dean's family was primarily coal miners, his father and uncles working in the mines just as their fathers and their fathers before them had done. He grew up poor, though he would not realize how poor until much later in life, but never wanted for much. The Harpers were a close-knit group and the community around them even moreso; people helped each other in Elsie. The plan, of course, under went a drastic change.
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| abstract
| - Born and raised in Elisie, an unincorporated town located in the Eastern coal field region in rural, Appalachian Kentucky. Dean's family was primarily coal miners, his father and uncles working in the mines just as their fathers and their fathers before them had done. He grew up poor, though he would not realize how poor until much later in life, but never wanted for much. The Harpers were a close-knit group and the community around them even moreso; people helped each other in Elsie. This was a good thing for the Harper clan was no stranger to trouble or worries. Those who did not go down to the coal mines (and even some who did) ran afoul of the law. Fights, theft, moonshine making and running, even a murder or two, all these acts colored the name and the people. So it was seen a good thing, a blessing, when Samuel Harper (the man who would become Dean's father) caught the eye and heart of Katie Mae Dame, the daughter of the local preacher. Surely if anyone could bring a Harper to heel, it would be a woman of the church and this seemed to be the case. Oh, there was still the occaisional bar fight but Samuel knuckled down and put his family above all else. Married at 18, parents before either was legal to drink, the young family was happy by all accounts. The eldest son, Harlow, was followed five years later by Dean, Wade and Amaryllis, the only girl. These blessings were tempered with hard times, however. Following the birth of Amaryllis, Katie Mae seemed to come down with a particularly long-lingering flu. No remedy store-bought or home-brewed could shake the illness consuming the young mother. A doctor and hospital were needed but both weren't to be found in Elsie and even if there were, there was no money for either. On the verge of doing something criminal and truly regrettable, Samuel caught wind of a job opportunity in a far-off city. The pay was more than he would ever dream of seeing in the mines and, more than that, there was the promise of doctors and specialists and hospitals. He discussed it with his wife and though the decision did not come easy - both dearly loved Kentucky and their kin - they agreed that moving would be for the best for their family. Harlow was the first to go with his parents, packing up what little he possessed and boarding a plane for the first time in his life. This was in X082. Dean followed two years later, in X084 at the age of 8, and the plan was to have Wade and Amaryllis come out occumpanied by an aunt another year or so after that. The plan, of course, under went a drastic change. Katie Mae died during the chaos of V-Day and her family fell to pieces. Samuel Harper lost himself in the bottle and her sons turned to the skills that had seen their forefathers' survival through dark times. Harlow Harper was killed in a bar fight in X091. Dean lives on, carrying the memory of his family and his home.
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