Thank you for replying with a possibility.
According to my mother, she thinks he was from either Indiana or Illinois. If he was from the family line that we believe him to be from, he WAS probably Irish. I am not sure about the coal mining, though. The hired hand does also fit in to the family legend that we have as well. We are unsure of the exact time from of course, but we think it was before the Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana.
We think that Jack or "John" was his name and we know that he helped to bury Custer's men after the battle. He had supposedly come West to avoid getting arrested. Also, he may have rescued a little boy from a wagon train massacre and raised him as his son. Does any of this fit with yours? Please let me know. Thank you so much. Lori