Tags
Callohill McCloud, Ed Haley, Frank Adams, George Adams, Grover Adams, Harts Creek, history, J.P. Douglas, Lincoln Republican, Lindsey Blair, moonshining, Perris Hensley, Peter Jonas, Peter Mullins, Reece Dalton, Sol Adams, Sol Riddell, W.J. Bachtel, West Virginia, Whirlwind, William Farley, William Tomblin, writing
In that same year, 1912, according to a state business directory, there were a variety of folks with business interests in Whirlwind, West Virginia. Sol Riddell was the postmaster, a lawyer, and part owner of a general store named Mullins & Riddell. Peter Mullins was a carpenter, D. Adams was an apiarist, Grover Adams dealt in ginseng, Sol Adams was a miller and lumber dealer, W.J. Bachtel was a teacher, Reece Dalton dealt in livestock and M. Tomblin was a teamster. Reverend Perris Hensley and Reverend William Tomblin were area preachers.
Between 1916-1918, roughly the time Ed Haley left Harts Creek for Ashland, Kentucky, many of these same folks were listed in business directories for Whirlwind. James Mullins was postmaster in 1916, as well as the local general store operator and photographer. William Farley was a mail dealer. In 1918, Frank Adams was a mail carrier. Sol Adams operated a saw mill. Lindsey Blair was a watchmaker. Callahill McCloud dealt in poultry. C.M. Mullins dealt in ginseng. J.M. Mullins operated a flour mill.
By that time, Peter Mullins served as a sort of surrogate father to Ed Haley. It was Uncle Peter who had given Ed a cornstalk fiddle when he was a young boy and who kept him for years. As Ed became a young man who frequently left Harts with his music, Uncle Peter toiled on Trace Fork as a farmer and occasional timberman. He was perhaps best known for his moonshining, an art form with a long history in his pedigree. In January of 1919, he appeared in The Lincoln Republican in an article titled “Four Moonshiners Caught in Raid.”
A constable and owner of a general store was one of the four men arrested Saturday night in Harts Creek district and taken to Huntington Sunday for arraignment before United States Commissioner J.P. Douglas on a charge of illegally manufacturing liquor. The men were found on Trace Fork of Harts creek.
Peter Mullins is the constable and owns a general store on Harts creek. He is known as ‘Shooting Pete’ and is now in the Cabell county jail in default of bond. In his store were found 900 pounds of meal and 209 pounds of flour. Sol Adams, Peter Jonas and George Adams, the other three arrested, gave bond. All are held to the grand jury at the April term of federal court. At the home of Geo. Adams, were found 200 pounds of meal, 100 pounds of light brown sugar, 200 pounds of bran or ships stuff and one barrel of mash, made up, which Adams said was for his hogs. He had one hog, according to the men on the raid. The arrests were made on Saturday by G.C. Rutheford and Hartley Ferguson, deputy marshals; H.D. Sims and G.L. Hannan, of the internal revenue department; M.E. Ketchem, Frank Adkins and W.F. Porter of the state prohibition commissioner’s force.
Brandon Ray Kirk 
For those of us interested in the history of the actual fiddles that Ed Haley played, this blog is the only place I’ve read that Ed Haley was given a cornstalk fiddle by his uncle Peter Mullins. In another blog I read that a 2-string instrument was given to young Ed. The Brumfields eventually gave Milt Haley’s fiddle to Ed (when?). Is this the first and only fiddle from his father that Ed was given? It seems I also read that Ed found one of his father’s fiddles as a youngster.
Thanks for any clarification you may be able to provide.
According to the old Mullins people on Harts Creek, as well as one or more of the Haley children, Peter Mullins gave young Ed Haley a cornstalk fiddle. (I have never heard anything about a two-stringed instrument.) According to a WLW radio program, Ed (who was shown in a program photo) had his father’s fiddle. I don’t know if this was in fact true, nor do I know what happened to it. Ed was known to swap fiddles with other players, especially when he visited Laury Hicks in Calhoun County, WV. Ed gave a fiddle to his good friend, Doc Holbrook, who lived in Greenup, KY. He had one fiddle for the final twenty or so years of his life; this is the fiddle remembered by his son Lawrence Haley, the fiddle used to make the recordings, and the fiddle now owned by Steve Haley (Lawrence’s son). We know that Ed destroyed at least one fiddle in a tavern fight on Harts Creek (hopefully not Milt’s fiddle!). John and I heard that he borrowed a fiddle once from Cecil Brumfield and pawned it off in Logan for money. We were only able to locate one “Ed Haley fiddle” on Harts Creek. Ed had given the fiddle to his friend Bernie Adams.
The two-stringed fiddle (or instrument) was mentioned in one of your blogs, but unfortunately I wasn’t yet taking notes. It may have been referring to the cornstalk fiddle but was spoken of in a different blog than the one with the explicit reference to the cornstalk fiddle (#233). It takes hours to go through your blogs to find it again, but after 25 years of research I’m not surprised!
Today I posted a Banjo Hangout discussion thread on Haley’s recording of Brushy Run for the old-time Tune of the Week, mentioning this blog and your book: http://www.banjohangout.org/topic/308506. Many of us old-time aficionados are eagerly awaiting your book on Ed Haley. Will it be given John Hartford’s chosen title, In Search of Ed Haley, Vol. 1? Is there an expected release date?
Hi, Janet. I’m going back through the Haley blog every day to provide a more detailed index and thus facilitate better searching, so I’ll be watching for the two-stringed fiddle reference. I don’t recall it. It will be fun to see who told us that information. Thank you for plugging the Haley material at Banjo Hangout. I hope folks will find their way here to the blog and will enjoy the story. The expected release date for the book is 2016. I’m collaborating with Steve Haley and folks at MTSU to push it across the finish line. I think we are going to use an academic press. I hope to keep as much of the book true to John’s wishes, but I am realize that may not be entirely possible.
Hi Brandon. I found the reference to the 2-stringed fiddle. It’s in blog #338 where Ugee is describing a story Ed told about his childhood.
Thank you, Janet!
I’ll look for the reference to the two-stringed fiddle, too, and post it here if I find it before you.