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Brandon Ray Kirk

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Brandon Ray Kirk

Monthly Archives: July 2018

Ed Brumfield, Notary Public (1938)

31 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Harts

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Appalachia, Ed Brumfield, genealogy, Harts, history, Lincoln County, Minerva Brumfield, notary public, Ward Brumfield, West Virginia

Record Oaths and Certificates 4.JPG

Record Oaths and Certificates Book 4, p. 259, Lincoln County Clerk’s Office (storage room), Hamlin, WV. Ed Brumfield was the son of Ward and Minerva (Dingess) Brumfield.

Queens Ridge News 09.03.1926

31 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Chapmanville, Harts, Logan, Queens Ridge

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Annie Dingess, Appalachia, Ashland, Bob Dingess, Bulwark School, Bunt Dingess, Burl Farley, Carey Dingess, Chapmanville, Charlie Harris, Cole Adams, David Dingess, deputy sheriff, Ed Brumfield, Enos Dial, Ewell Mullins, genealogy, Harts, Harts Creek, history, Howard Adams, Inez Barker, Inez Dingess, Isaac Marion Nelson, J.W. Renfroe, Jeff Baisden, Jonas Branch, Kate Baisden, Kentucky, Lewis Farley, Lincoln County, Liza Mullins, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Lucy Dingess, Mary Ann Farley, Maudie Adams, Mud Fork, Queens Ridge, Rachel Keyser, Roach, Rosa Workman, Sally Dingess, Sidney Mullins, Smokehouse Fork, Sol Adams, Trace Fork, Ula Adams, Ward Brumfield, West Virginia

An unknown correspondent from Queens Ridge (Harts Creek) in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on September 3, 1926:

We are having much rainy weather at this writing.

David Dingess made a business trip to Chapmanville Monday.

Miss Inez Barker of Chapmanville has been visiting Miss Ula Adams of Queen’s Ridge for the past week.

Sidney Mullins made a flying trip to Logan last week.

Edward Brumfield and Enos Dials of Harts were the guests of Misses Inez and Lucy Dingess Saturday and Sunday.

The people of this place enjoyed a fine meeting Saturday and Sunday when fine sermons were delivered by Rev. I.M. Nelson and Revs. J.W. Renfroe and Short from Ashland, Ky. There were a number of conversions.

Ward Brumfield, deputy sheriff of Lincoln county, attended church here Sunday.

Mrs. Rosa Workman of Mud Fork was the guest of her mother, Mrs. Sol Adams last week.

Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Harris of Mud Fork were visiting relatives of Smoke House Fork, Sunday.

Miss Maudie Adams and Rachel Keyser were seen out walking Sunday.

R.L. Dingess is teaching school at Bulwark this year. We wish him much success.

Mr. and Mrs. Howard Adams are raising water melons this year.

Times are very lively on Trace now since Mr. Dials made a visit up the left fork.

Born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dingess, a fine son, named J. Cary Dingess.

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Farley made a trip to Roach last week, visiting the former’s parents.

Wonder why so many boys visit Mr. Baisden’s now?

Cole Adams looks lonely these days. Cheer up, Cole. Bessie has come back again.

Wonder who the barber is on Jonas Branch nowadays?

Some combinations: Howard and his wash bowl and pitcher; Liza and her flowered dress; Ewell going to Harts; Maudie and her powder puff; Kate and her bobbed hair; Sally and Bunt packing beans.

Coal and Land Deal at Limestone Creek, WV (1917)

31 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Creek, Coal

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Appalachia, coal, Fairmont, history, James P. Cumminsky, Katherine Board, Limestone Creek, Lincoln County, Logan County, Logan Democrat, Louis R. Sweetland, Matthew Slush, Michigan, S.C. Board, West Virginia, William E. Metzger

Limestone Mining LD 03.01.1917 1.JPG

Logan (WV) Democrat, 1 March 1917.

History of the West Virginia Penitentiary (1901), Part 1

31 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in African American History, Civil War, Culture of Honor, Timber

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African-Americans, Alabama, Appalachia, Arthur I. Boreman, civil war, history, J.W. McWhorter, Moundsville, North Carolina, Ohio River, Potomac River, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, West Virginia State Penitentiary

HISTORY OF THE WEST VIRGINIA PENITENTIARY.

WRITTEN BY A PRISONER.

In 1863 the state was admitted as one of the constellation of states of the union. Virginia had seceded from the union by a majority vote. The strong and indomitable minority citizens of the Old Dominion residing in the western part of it, many of whom were Scotch and Irish descendants and natives of the adjoining states, who had taken up their homes in the valleys and on the hillsides, were loyal to the Union, loved well the flag, and reverenced with an undying affection the builders of the union of states for the greater blessing of the people, and stood firm and unyielding for an indivisible united country. By their hands and brave hearts they built a state stretching from the Potomac to the Ohio river, carved out of the Old Dominion. The war-born daughter of the historical commonwealth proved, in subsequent years, to be rich in the production of materials in active demand in the marts of commerce, and she now outstrips her mother state in the race for greatness, prosperity, and happiness.

Many regions of the state are mountainous, and the principal industries are lumbering, mining, and oil production. Many of the white people are typical mountaineers and somewhat rough and uncouth in manner, while the negroes, many of them, have drifted from North and South Carolina, Alabama, and other southern states to be employed in the development of these industries.

There are very many respectable farmers, professional and business men, and cultured ladies residing in these almost inaccessible parts; but the rough element in many places predominates, and the order of the day and night is drinking and brawling, ending as a rule in desperate encounters and murder. Most of the white and black inmates of the penitentiary have been and are now composed of the lawless men from these regions, from the time it was only a stockade of ten acres in 1866, when Hon. J.W. McWhorter of the Tenth Judicial District was appointed warden by Governor Boreman. He resigned this position after viewing it. In a letter to Warden Hawk he states it was for the reason that there was not so much as a building erected for the shelter of the inmates, and he thought he could not work the convicts to advantage under the circumstances. The penitentiary has been improved from time to time to the present, by additions, until it is a massive structure of stone and iron, with a high stone surrounding wall. It has 695 inmates at the present writing.

The center, or main building, is built after the old baronial castellated style of architecture, and with its several stories height, it makes an imposing appearance. It is flanked on the north and south by the stone and strongly-barred buildings, wherein the old and first built stone cells and the modern steel ones–900 in all–are placed. Entrance is to be had into the prison proper by means of a round turning iron-barred cage in the main hallway of the central building.

Source: E.E. Byrum, Behind the Prison Bars: A Reminder of Our Duties Toward Those Who Have Been So Unfortunate as to Be Cast Into Prison (Moundsville, WV: Gospel Trumpet Publishing Co., 1901), pp. 73-75.

Old Time Fiddlers’ Contests at the Logan Courthouse in Logan, WV (1927)

28 Saturday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan, Music

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Appalachia, Baumgardner's String Band, Belford Harvey, blind, David Miller, fiddle contest, fiddlers, fiddling, Grimes Music Shop, Guyandotte Mockingbirds, Hell Back of Maysville, history, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, music, Ohio, Paddy's on the Short Rows, Sourwood Mountain, West Virginia

Fiddlers' Contest at Logan Circuit Court Room LB 04.29.1927.JPG

Logan (WV) Banner, 29 April 1927. Belford Harvey was a multi-instrumentalist associated with David Miller and the Guyandotte Mockingbirds.

Old-Time Fiddlers' Contest at Logan Courthouse LB 09.16.1927 1

Logan (WV) Banner, 16 September 1927.

History for Boone County, WV (1927)

28 Saturday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Boone County, Civil War, Native American History

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Albert Allen, Appalachia, Ballardsville Methodist Church, Boone County, Cabell County, Charleston, civil war, Coal River, crime, Crook District, Daniel Boone, Danville, Edgar Mitchell, Frankfort, French and Indian War, genealogy, history, Jack Dotson, Johnson Copley, Kanawha County, Kanawha River, Kanawha Valley, Kentucky, Lee Sowards, Lewisburg, Logan Banner, Logan County, Madison, Missouri, Nathan Boone, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Peytona District, Point Pleasant, Pond Fork, Ruckers Branch, Scott District, Sherman District, Spruce Fork, St. Albans, Virginia Assembly, Washington District, West Virginia, West Virginia Synodical School, Yadkin Valley

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history about Boone County in a story dated December 9, 1927:

BOONE COUNTY

Boone county was created in 1847 of parts of Kanawha, Cabell and Logan counties. Its area is 06 miles, 65 miles larger than Logan, and in 1920 its population was 18,145. It is divided into five magisterial districts, as follows: Crook, Peytona, Scott, Sherman and Washington.

Boone county commemorates in West Virginia the name of Daniel Boone, the pathfinder to the west. It is an honor worthily bestowed, for who has not heard of Daniel Boone and the story of his efforts as an explorer, hunter, land-pilot and surveyor. His was a romantic life, picturesque and even pathetic. For more than a century he has he has been held as the ideal of the frontiersman, perhaps for the reason that his course in life was not marked by selfishness and self-seeking. He fought with the Indians, but was not tainted with the blood-lust that so often marred the border warrior and made him even more savage than the red man whom he sought to expel; he built and passed on to newer fields, leaving to others the fruits of his industry and his suffering. As a man needing plenty of “elbow room,” his places of residence mark the border between civilization and savagery for a period of fifty years. And there was a time, a period of nearly ten years, when his cabin home was on the banks of the Kanawha, a short distance above the present City of Charleston.

Daniel Boone was born in the Schulykill Valley, Pennsylvania, on November 2, 1734, but in 1750 removed with his parents to the Yadkin Valley, in North Carolina. Here he grew to manhood, married and reared a family, but was active as an Indian trader, frontiersman and defender of the feeble settlement. He was with Braddock’s army at its defeat on the Monongahela in 1755, and a few years later became the founder and defender of Kentucky. He strove with the red man with force and stratagem, and many are the fire-side tales recounted and retold in West Virginia homes of his prowess with the rifle; his ready plans and nimble wit that helped him out of situations that seemed almost impossible. Many, perhaps, are without foundation of fact; others contain enough of truth to leaven the story. Of his service to the western settlers, records preserved in the archives of state and nation show that he was indefatigable. At the Indian uprising in 1774, Boone was sent out to warn the settlers and surveyors, ranging from the settlement on the Holston river throughout all of what is now southern West Virginia to Lewisburg. In 1788, after he had lost his property in Kentucky through defective titles and failure to properly enter land grants, Boone and his family removed to Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the Great Kanawha, where they remained about one year. Contrary to his habit, his next move was toward the east to a site near the City of Charleston. When Kanawha county was formed in 1789 Boone was a resident and was named the first Lieutenant Colonel of the militia, and the following year, 1790, was elected a member of the lower house of the Virginia assembly. Colonel Boone left the Kanawha valley in 1799, removing to Missouri where he had been granted a thousand arpents of land by the Spanish government and had been appointed a Syndic for the Femme-Osage district–a local office combining the duties of sheriff, jury and military commandant. Colonel Boone died at the home of his youngest son, Colonel Nathan Boone, on the Femme Osage river, Missouri, September 26, 1820. His remains, with those of his wife, were some years later taken to Frankfort, Kentucky, and re-interred with pomp and ceremony. A monument erected by the state marks his last resting place.

Madison, the present county seat, is located at the junction of Pond Fork and Spruce Fork, which form Coal River, is 603 feet above sea level and in 1920 had a population of 604. It was incorporated as a town by the circuit court of that county in 1906. At the organization of the county in 1847, the seat of justice was located on the lands of Albert Allen, at the mouth of Spruce Fork, opposite the present town of Madison. The original court house was burned by Federal troops during the Civil War, and for a time thereafter the seat of justice was located at the Ballardsville Methodist Church. In 1866 the court house was re-located on the lands of Johnson Copley, opposite the old site, and the public buildings erected, which were used until 1921 when the present fine court house was erected.

The West Virginia Synodical School maintained and operated by the Presbyterian church, occupies the site of the original court house, opposite the present county seat.

Danville, another incorporated town in that county, had a population of 327 in 1920.

Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 9 December 1927.

Old Trees at Boone Courthouse, Hangings LB 03.22.1927.JPG

Logan (WV) Banner, 22 March 1927.

William R. Duty Deed to John F. Duty (1887)

28 Saturday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Ugly Creek

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Appalachia, Big Deadening Branch, Big Ugly Creek, Bill Duty, Broad Branch, C.I. Stone, Emma Duty, genealogy, Hamlin, history, Lincoln County, Middle Fork, notary public, Philip Hager, West Virginia

Bill Duty to John Duty 1

Deed Book 59, page 429, Lincoln County Clerk’s Office, Hamlin, WV.

Bill Duty to John Duty 2

Deed Book 59, page 430, Lincoln County Clerk’s Office, Hamlin, WV.

Bill Duty to John Duty 3

Deed Book 59, page 430, Lincoln County Clerk’s Office, Hamlin, WV.

Guyan Valley High School Graduates (1929-1931)

28 Saturday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Gill, Guyandotte River, West Hamlin

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Alvin Franklin Watts, Appalachia, Bessie Arix, Branchland, Clyde Okra Adkins, David Keith Smith, Dennis Nathan Roy, Dorothy Beatrice Roy, Edgar Ray Midkiff, education, Ella Mae Covey, Elva Mae Adkins, Fred B. Lambert, Freda Marie McComas, Gilbert Garmon Isaac, Gill, Gilmer Odell McClellan, Glada Ellen Cyfers, Glenna Helena Midkiff, Glenna Naoma Roy, Guidna Bates, Guyan Valley High School, Guyan Valley Middle School, Helen Mary Yost, Helena Johnson, Helena Scraggs, Hilbert Harmon Isaac, history, Hubball, Huntington, Ida Lee Adkins, Irma Holton, Jennings Orlando Midkiff, Lincoln County, Mable Virginia Chapman, Marshall University, Maude Jewel Jaynes, Midkiff, Mildred Vivian Smith, Milton, Morrow Library, Olive Maude Triplett, Pleasant View, Rhoda Irene Messinger, Ruel Dial, Ruth Dewdrops Adkins, Ruth Lucas Stowers, Sarah Nelson, Sheridan, Smith, Thern Hodge, Thomas Wondel Adkins, Virginia Catherine Scites, Virginia Louise Johnson, West Hamlin, West Virginia, William Earl Bias

Fred B. Lambert, a prominent educator in the Guyandotte Valley, compiled this list of early Guyan Valley High School graduates. Guyan Valley High School was located in Pleasant View, Lincoln County, WV.

gv 1929.jpg

Guyan Valley High School, 1929. Photo credit unknown.

List of 1929 graduates

  1. Edgar Ray Midkiff     Smith, WV
  2. Jennings Orlando Midkiff     Smith, WV
  3. Gilmer Odell McClellan     Branchland, WV
  4. Olive Maude Triplett     West Hamlin, WV
  5. Dennis Nathan Roy     Hubball, WV
  6. Glenna Naoma Roy     Hubball, WV
  7. Rhoda Irene Messinger     Branchland, WV

List of 1930 graduates

  1. Clyde Okra Adkins     West Hamlin, WV
  2. Bessie Arix     Smith, WV
  3. Ruel Dial     Branchland, WV
  4. Thern Hodge     West Hamlin, WV
  5. Virginia Louese Johnson     Branchland, WV
  6. Sarah Nelson     Gill, WV
  7. Ruth Lucas Stowers     Milton, WV
  8. Elva Mae Adkins     West Hamlin, WV
  9. Dorothy Beatrice Roy     Hubball, WV
  10. David Keith Smith     West Hamlin, WV

List of 1931 graduates

  1. Ida Lee Adkins     West Hamlin, WV
  2. Ruth Dewdrops Adkins     West Hamlin, WV
  3. Thomas Wondel Adkins     Midkiff, WV
  4. Guidna Bates     Sheridan, WV
  5. William Earl Bias     West Hamlin, WV
  6. Mable Virginia Chapman     Hubball, WV
  7. Ella Mae Covey     West Hamlin, WV
  8. Glada Ellen Cyfers     Gill, WV
  9. Irma Holton      Branchland, WV
  10. Gilbert Garmon Isaac     Smith, WV
  11. Hilbert Harmon Isaac     Smith, WV
  12. Maude Jewel Jaynes     West Hamlin, WV
  13. Helena Johnson     West Hamlin, WV
  14. Freda Marie McComas     West Hamlin, WV
  15. Glenna Helena Midkiff     West Hamlin, WV
  16. Virginia Catherine Scites     Midkiff, WV
  17. Helena Scraggs     West Hamlin, WV
  18. Mildred Vivian Smith     West Hamlin, WV
  19. Alvin Franklin Watts     Branchland, WV
  20. Helen Mary Yost     West Hamlin, WV
IMG_1194.JPG

Guyan Valley Middle School, c.2017.

Source: Fred B. Lambert Papers, Special Collections Department, James E. Morrow Library, Marshall University, Huntington, WV.

Dempsey-Sharkey Fight (1927)

24 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan, Sports

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Appalachia, boxing, genealogy, history, Jack Dempsey, Jack Sharkey, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Smoke House Restaurant, West Virginia

Dempsey-Sharkey Fight at the Smoke House Ad LB 07.19.1927

Logan (WV) Banner, 19 July 1927.

Here’s video footage of the fight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btvw6GM33II

Hugh Toney Letter to Edward Chapman (1861)

24 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Chapmanville, Civil War, Giles County

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11th Virginia Cavalry, Appalachia, Camp Narrows, Chapmanville, civil war, Confederate Army, Edward Chapman, Giles County, history, Hugh Toney, J. Green McNeely, Logan Banner, Logan Country Club, Logan County, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia

Rev. J. Green McNeely (1871-1943) located the following letter written by Hugh Toney to Edward Chapman when he razed a log cabin situated on the property that later became the Logan Country Club, near Chapmanville.

Camp Narrows, Va.

March 26, 1861

Dear Friend:

I saw the officers of the 11th Virginia Cavalry about your horses. Col. French and Maj. Smith both say that your horse shall be give up if the horse can be found.

I have not been able to find out anything about who got your horse yet. The horses were sent off to North Carolina. If I have any chance to get your horse, I will attend to the matter for you. If you know the man’s names or any of the men’s names that was present when your horse was taken, write to me their names.

I have made careful inquiries about Ira Woodram’s horse. I have not been able to find out anything about his horse, also John’s. I can’t bear that horses were taken.

I can’t find out who took them, it being uncertain about getting your horse or pay for him the way matters stand at this time.

Your friend,

Hugh Toney

Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 25 June 1941.

Budweiser Advertisement (1928)

23 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan

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Anheuser-Busch, Appalachia, Budweiser, history, J.P. Hager & Company, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, St. Louis, West Virginia

Budweiser Ad LB 06.08.1928.JPG

Logan (WV) Banner, 8 June 1928.

Civil War Gold Coins Hidden Near Chapmanville, WV

23 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Chapmanville, Civil War, Guyandotte River

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Buried Treasures of the Appalachians, Chapmanville, civil war, Confederate Army, Fayette County, Guyandotte River, history, Logan County, Union Army, W.C. Jameson, West Virginia

From W.C. Jameson’s Buried Treasures of the Appalachians (1991, pp. 204-205) comes this story of buried treasure near Chapmanville, WV:

In Fayette County during the War Between the States, a contingent of Union soldiers was escorting a large payroll–a wagon full of gold coins–to a Yankee encampment in the area. As the party traveled along the winding trails through the dense woods, scouts told the commanding officer that a Confederate patrol was rapidly approaching from the east.

The Union officer ordered the escort into a full gallop in the hope of outdistancing the rebels, but after trying to elude the enemy for about five miles, it became clear that they would soon be overtaken. Anticipating a skirmish, the officer halted the wagon and ordered the canvas bags that held the Union payroll taken from the wagon and buried it a short distance from the trail. While troopers hastily dug a pit in which to hide the gold, the officer noted the surroundings in his journal. He wrote that the payroll was hidden on the west side of the Guyandotte River, near a small settlement named Chapmanville.

Once the hole was filled, the soldiers remounted and rode on. About an hour later, the Confederates overtook the Union soldiers and opened fire. The Yankees sought cover and returned fire, but they were disorganized and greatly outnumbered. The fighting lasted about two hours, and when it was over, all of the Yankee soldiers lay dead.

The rebel soldiers searched the wagon for the money and found it empty. Suspecting the gold had been buried shortly before the engagement, they retraced the Yankees’ trail for several miles, without finding the payroll.

Returning to the site of the skirmish, the Confederates stripped the Union soldiers of anything of value and left the corpses to rot in the sun. An unknown soldier took the commanding officer’s journal and he tossed it into the trunk and forgot it. In the early 1930s, someone discovered an old journal and searched unsuccessfully for the buried coins.

The directions in the journal claimed the gold was buried at a point where the old road and the Guyandotte River came within twenty yards of one another. Since the war, however, the road has been all but obliterated by the more modern thoroughfare, and the river has shifted its course.

If the Union payroll of gold coins was not uncovered by the shifting river and washed downstream, the Civil War cache is probably still lying just a few inches beneath the soil near Chapmanville.

For more information about buried treasure in Appalachia, read Mr. Jameson’s book, which can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/Buried-Treasures-Appalachians-W-C-Jameson/dp/0874831261

Elizabeth Adkins Deed to Jacob K. Adkins (1901)

23 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Guyandotte River, Little Harts Creek

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Appalachia, Elizabeth Adkins, Eveline Adkins, genealogy, George W. Adkins, Guyandotte River, Harts Creek District, Henry Adkins, Henry H. Adkins, history, Jacob K. Adkins, John C. Ferguson, John Sartin, L.C. Queen, Lincoln County, Little Harts Creek, Mary Adkins, Mary Louisa Tomblin, notary public, Ohio, Spencer Adkins, Wayne County, West Virginia

Elizabeth Adkins to Jacob K. Adkins 1

Deed Book 59, page 272, Lincoln County Clerk’s Office, Hamlin, WV. This deed involves the heirs of Henry and Mary “Polly” (Dalton) Adkins, Sr.

Elizabeth Adkins to Jacob K. Adkins 2

Deed Book 59, page 273, Lincoln County Clerk’s Office, Hamlin, WV.

History for Wyoming County, WV (1927-1928)

23 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Coal, Native American History, Wyoming County

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A.F. Wysong, Appalachia, architecture, Baileysville District, Barkers Ridge District, Center District, Charleston, Clear Fork District, coal, crime, Early Brothers, Gertrude of Wyoming, Guyan Heating and Plumbing Company, history, Huff's Creek District, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Maughwaiwama, Mingo County, Mullens, Native American History, Native Americans, Oceana, Oceana District, Pineville, Princeton, Slab Fork District, Thomas Campbell, West Virginia, Wyoming County, Wysong & Bengston

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history about Wyoming County, dated 1927 and 1928:

Wyoming County In the Public Eye

Now that three railroads are contesting for the authority to build a branch line across Wyoming county, increased interest is shown in the probable early development in that bailiwick.

Wyoming has coal resources equal to those of any other county in the state, it is said, and it has wide valleys of fine farming land, and an unusually picturesque mountain country. Like Mingo, it was carved out of Logan territory, its formation having been authorized by an act of the general assembly passed January 26, 1850. With an area of 507.30 square miles it is more than 50 miles larger than this county, yet its population in 1920 was only 15,180.

That county’s valuation for taxation purposes exceeded $28,000,000 last year.

Wyoming county is divided into seven magisterial districts, as follows: Baileysville, Barkers Ridge, Center, Clear Fork, Huff’s Creek, Oceana and Slab Fork districts.

Wyoming county was stricken off from the older county of Logan, which took its name from a celebrated Indian chief. Another county was formed from Logan, many years later, and to this was given the name of Mingo, the tribe to which Logan belonged. Logan, Mingo and Wyoming are the three counties in West Virginia whose names are derived from the original settlers.

Wyoming county bears the name of an Indian tribe, and this tribe was later honored by having its name adopted by one of our great western States. While the derivation of the name, in its application to the county, seems to be clear, the origin of the name itself is veiled in obscurity. By some authorities it is said to be a corruption of the Indian Maughwaiwama, signifying a plain, or open space. Others assert that it is a creation of Thomas Campbell, the poet, and author, of “Gertrude of Wyoming.”

Pineville, the present county seat, is located near the center of the county. It has an elevation of 1,323 feet above the level of the sea and had a population of 304 in 1920. Later estimates do not greatly increase this figure. Pineville became the county seat years ago, having secured the removal of the seat of justice from the older town of Oceana.

Mullens, a prosperous town and center of the coal industry, had a population of 1,425 in 1920.

Oceana, long the county seat before its removal to Pineville, had at the last census a population of 90.

Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 25 November 1927.

***

WYOMING COUNTY HAS NEW JAIL–NATIVE STONE USED–COST $150,000

Wyoming county’s new jail at Pineville has been accepted by the architects and will be formally turned over within the next few days.

Erected at a cost of approximately $150,000, the new bastille is perhaps one of the finest buildings of its kind in the southern part of the state. It is built of native stone throughout, and is a most imposing and beautiful building and one of which the county may well pride itself, says the Mullins Advocate.

It is three full stories high above the basements, heated by vapor, containing room for 70 prisoners with comfort, and can accommodate twice that number, if necessary. The cells and jail construction is of tool proof steel, equipped with the latest locking devices. A prisoner when confined in a cell, must go through three sets of tool proof steel bars to make an escape.

The building contains a large and comfortable residence for the jailer, including a large, well furnished and equipped kitchen, is supplied with hot and cold water throughout, including shower baths on the inside corridors of the jail, padded cells for the insane, hospitals for the sick and detention rooms for juveniles of both sexes.

In the basement there is an incinerator, together with a laundry and large supply rooms.

The building was formally approved on January 9th by A.F. Wysong of the firm of Wysong & Bengston architects, of Charleston, who had the construction of this building in charge. Early Brothers, of Mullens, contractors, constructed the building, while the heating system was installed by the Guyan Heating and Plumbing company, of Mullens. The plumbing was done by Wickline of Princeton. Mr. Wysong, after going over the jail carefully, approved the construction and recommended payment of the balance due on the several contracts.

Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 17 January 1928.

Jack Dempsey Working in a Coal Mine

20 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Coal, Logan, Sports

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Appalachia, boxing, coal, genealogy, history, Jack Dempsey, Logan County, photos, West Virginia

IMG_8130.JPG

Jack Dempsey, raised in Logan County, WV, was the heavyweight champion of the world from 1919 to 1926. Photo credit unknown.

Wife of Logan Banner Editor George A. Dean Disappears (1912-1913)

20 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Huntington, Logan, Matewan, Tazewell County

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Albermarle, Appalachia, Bluefield, Buchanan, Collier's Weekly, Dry Fork, genealogy, George A. Dean, Henry Clay Ragland, Herald-Dispatch, history, Huntington, Iaeger, Imperial Order of Redmen, J.B. ellison, Jefferson Hotel, Kentucky, Keyes Sisters, LaRoy Stock Company, Lena Boyd Nelson, Lena Gross, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Logan Democrat, Logan Nest 1442, Matewan, Modern Maccabees, Norfolk and Western Railroad, North Carolina, Order of Owls, Sayersville, Silver Cloud Tribe 138, Tazewell County, Virginia, W.L. Richardson, West Virginia, Williamson

In 1912, Logan Banner editor George A. Dean married the former Lena Gross, who soon thereafter disappeared. Here are a few stories about the event:

Editor Dean Married

On Monday, Nov. 11 in the minister’s study, Geo. A. Dean and Miss Lena Gross of Virginia, were united in marriage by Rev. W.L. Richardson.

Mr. Dean is the hustling editor of the Logan Banner and is well-known in this city and surrounding country as a man of push and energy, while the bride was one of the charming dining room girls at the Hotel Jefferson.

Mr. and Mrs. Dean will be at home to their friends after Nov. 18.

Source: Logan (WV) Democrat, 14 November 1912.

***

George A. Dean Logan Banner LB 01.24.1913.JPG

Logan (WV) Banner, 24 January 1913.

***

Editor of “Most Fearless Weekly” on the Trail

West Virginia editors who have failed to receive the Logan Banner on their exchange tables during the past three weeks, no doubt, marveled at its absence. But there is a reason–a tragic, gnawing reason which has caused the editor, Geo. A. Dean to suspend temporarily editorial duties and to embark upon a quest which means more to him than journalistic honors or the mere touch of hollow gold.

Readers of the Banner will remember that there appeared graven upon its front page four months ago Mr. Dean’s and his wife’s own announcement of their marriage. The paragraph attracted more than usual attention, partly because of its unique construction and partly because of the unusual manner of its presentation, but more than all because Mr. Dean was very prominently in the editorial limelight because of recent rather prominent mention in Collier’s Weekly. But that is history, and in mere prelude to the situation which now confronts him: to-wit: that of a married man, wifeless, disconsolate, yearning for the things that were.

Mr. Dean, who has been in Huntington and vicinity for two days seeking a trace of his evanished spouse, speaks frankly of his bereavement, and is importunate that the home-loving public shall, if possible, assist him in finding and restoring his lost treasure. In brief, Lena Boyd Nelson Dean has gone away and, some fear, forever departed. She went without the tender formality of a farewell husband’s kiss. She went away surreptitiously, mysteriously. She went, and Mr. Dean, who has sounded the very depths of heaven and earth, is no whit the wiser whither. Descriptive circulars, telling her height, weight, complexion, color of eyes and hair, manner of dress, and all that pertains to accurate and dependable description have been scattered broadcast all over the territory in which it might be surmised that she would be obscuring herself from the eyes of love and yearning. Mr. Dean stated last night, in conversation with the Herald-Dispatch, that he had absolutely no heart for business, that he had known no rest, no surcease from the terrible heart-longing that had seized upon him and held with tenacious grip from the morning of his wife’s departure. He has searched high and low. He has communicated with every known relative of his wife, without being able to get even the shadow of a clue tending to lead to the discovery of her whereabouts. He gives the following verbal photograph, which is almost as good as the ordinary studio product, and much better than a tintype:

Lena Boyd Nelson Dean, formerly of Williamson and Matewan and Bluefield. Four months ago she served as waitress, cook, and house girl at Logan, W.Va. Last seen at Kenova on Sunday morning, March 2. Physical description: Age 26. Height 5 ft. 2. Coal-black eyes given to starry twinkle. Raven black hair. Rather full lips. Gold filling in front teeth. Deep, well modulated musical voice, with a tendency to coarseness in time of cold. Can not read or write much as her early education was neglected. Her costume is described as being strict in the style of today. Raincoat, drab-colored; blue-serge, two piece coat suit. Beaver hat, embellished with four black ostrich plumes. Leather suitcase, canvass trunk and gold-headed umbrella.

Mr. Dean feels that his wife may have returned to one of the three occupations ascribed to her in the opening paragraphs.

He has important mail for her, both registered and ordinary, and is awaiting anxiously any news of her, and his arms are open to her return. The Logan editor’s plight is positively pitiful. He has grown emaciated, hollow-eyed, faded, wan. The tireless vigil, the ceaseless search, the anxious waiting hours, have all played their part in preying upon his splendid vitality. He is discouraged but not defeated, and will continue the search as long as human endurance will permit, or else sooner find the partner of his joys and immediate cause of his great and overpowering grief. His plight has elicited much sympathy. For what is life without a partner?

Source: Huntington (WV) Herald-Dispatch via Logan (WV) Democrat, 13 March 1913.

***

George A. Dean's Wife Missing LB 03.21.1913 1

Logan (WV) Banner, 21 March 1913.

George A. Dean's Wife Missing LB 03.21.1913 2

Logan (WV) Banner, 21 March 1913.

George A. Dean's Wife Missing LB 03.21.1913 3

Logan (WV) Banner, 21 March 1913.

George A. Dean's Wife Missing LB 03.21.1913 4

Logan (WV) Banner, 21 March 1913.

George A. Dean's Wife Missing LB 03.21.1913 5

Logan (WV) Banner, 21 March 1913.

George A. Dean's Wife Missing LB 03.21.1913 6

Logan (WV) Banner, 21 March 1913.

Andrew Perry Deed to Polly Vance (1855)

19 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Kiahsville, Queens Ridge

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Tags

Andrew Perry, Appalachia, Cane Patch Fork, genealogy, history, Lincoln County, Logan County, Mare Branch, Polly Vance, Twelve Pole Creek, W.I. Campbell, West Virginia, William Straton

Andrew Perry to Polly Vance Deed 1.JPG

Deed Book C, page ___, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV. Today, this property is located in Lincoln County, WV.

Jack Dempsey and Bill “Bear Cat” Clemons (1926)

19 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan, Sports

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Appalachia, Bear Cat Clemons, Gene Tunney, genealogy, Guyandotte Valley, history, Jack Dempsey, Logan Banner, Logan County, New York, West Virginia

From the August 20, 1926 issue of the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history about heavyweight champion boxer Jack Dempsey:

Bear Cat Clemons Training with Jack Dempsey LB 08.20.1926 3

Bear Cat Clemons, once upon a time the idol of the fistic fans of the Guyan Valley, is now in Jack Dempsey’s training camp at Sarasota Lake, New York, where Dempsey is training for his fight with Gene Tunney in New York, September 16.

Clemons goes two rounds with Dempsey every day. The champion lambasts him furiously and messes up his features, but he always is back the next day for more. When Dempsey and Clemons face each other in the squared circle, it is Logan county versus Logan county.

Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 20 August 1926.

Chapmanville Depot (c.1915)

18 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Chapmanville

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Tags

Appalachia, C&O Railroad, Chapmanville, history, Logan County, photos, West Virginia

Chapmanville Depot c1915 2.JPG

Chapmanville Depot, c. 1915. Photo credit unknown.

John Philip Sousa to Visit Huntington (1900)

18 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Huntington

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Appalachia, Bertha Bucklin, Blanche Duffield, Cabell County, Davis Theatre, history, Huntington, Huntington Advertiser, John Philip Sousa, music, Omaha, Paris Exposition, West Virginia

SOUSA COMING TO HUNTINGTON

THE CELEBRATED BAND MASTER AND “MARCH KING” WILL GIVE A CONCERT AT DAVIS THEATRE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, MARCH TWENTY-FIRST

Sousa Coming HA 03.12.1900 2

Sousa is now on his sixteenth semiannual concert tour, a brief trip of only eight weeks, before going to the Paris Exposition and on a rather protracted European engagement. Sousa and his band will open at the Paris Exposition April 14, having been appointed the official American band. The forthcoming tour will extend no farther west than Omaha. Our own city is in for a concert on Wednesday afternoon only, March 21. The programmes for this tour are especially prepared and are illuminated with bright things. The soloists are Miss Blanche Duffield, soprana and Miss Bertha Bucklin, violinist. Seat sale opens March 14th.

Source: Huntington (WV) Advertiser, 12 March 1900.

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Writings from my travels and experiences. High and fine literature is wine, and mine is only water; but everybody likes water. Mark Twain

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This site is dedicated to the collection, preservation, and promotion of history and culture in Appalachia.

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