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Brandon Ray Kirk

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

Brandon Ray Kirk

Monthly Archives: May 2019

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Town of Troy, Logan County, WV (1936)

31 Friday May 2019

Tags

Appalachia, history, Island Creek, Logan County, map, Mud Fork, Shegon, Troy, West Virginia

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Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk | Filed under Logan

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Leet News 10.26.1923

30 Thursday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Ugly Creek, Leet, Logan

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Appalachia, Big Ugly Creek, Bill Brumfield, Coal River, Edna Brumfield, Everett Paisley, genealogy, Gertie Smith, history, John Gartin, Leet, Lennie Brumfield, Lillie Curry, Lillie Lucas, Lincoln County, Lizzy Huffman, Logan, Logan Banner, Lonnie Lambert, Lucas School, Maud Frye, Minnie Frye, Nora Lucas, Sam Lambert, Thelma Huffman, West Virginia

A correspondent named “Daisy” from Leet on Big Ugly Creek in Lincoln County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on October 26, 1923:

Dear Banner:

We are certainly having some nice weather at this writing.

Miss Thelma Huffman has returned home from her week’s vacation on Coal River, visiting friends and relatives.

Mrs. Lillie Curry entertained company Sunday, Mr. Nelson.

Mr. and Mrs. Bill Brumfield spent a few days at Leet, W.Va., visiting the old folks.

The big revival meeting will begin Sunday at Leet.

Mr. John Gartin of Hart held meeting at the Lucas school building Sunday morning.

Mr. and Mrs. Lizzy Huffman were seen out car riding Sunday.

Miss Lennie Brumfield were calling on Miss Lambert Sunday morning.

Miss Lillie Lucas visited home folks Saturday and Sunday.

Mr. and Misses Everett Paisley were the guests of Miss Huffman Sunday.

Mr. Lonnie Lambert was calling at the home of Miss Edna Brumfield Sunday.

One of Sam Lambert’s horses fell dead while hauling on the road Wednesday.

Miss Thelma Huffman and Miss Edna Brumfield were shopping in Logan last Saturday.

Miss Minnie and Maud Frye were out horseback riding Sunday.

Miss Gertie Smith went chestnut gathering yesterday.

Miss Nora Lucas seems to be enjoying herself fine these days.

We’ll leave the rest for White Hill.

Rowan County Feud in Morehead, KY (2019)

29 Wednesday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Cemeteries, Rowan County Feud

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Appalachia, Craig Tolliver, D.B. Logan, Daniel Boone Tolliver, feuds, Floyd Tolliver, Hiram Pigman, John Martin, Kentucky, Lee Cemetery, Martin-Tolliver Feud, Morehead, Rowan County, Rowan County Feud, Tolliver-Martin Feud

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Historical marker providing some details of the Rowan County Feud, Morehead, KY. 24 June 2017. For a little more history about the feud, go here: https://brandonraykirk.com/2013/07/06/in-search-of-ed-haley-140/

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Historical marker providing some details of the Rowan County Feud, Morehead, KY. 20 May 2019

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Memorial to the casualties of the Rowan County Feud, Morehead, KY. 20 May 2019

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Lee Cemetery, Morehead, KY. Feudists are buried here! 20 May 2019

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Daniel Boone Tolliver was father to Craig Tolliver. Lee Cemetery, Pikeville, KY. 20 May 2019

Interview of Jean Hatfield at Sarah Ann, WV (2001), Part 3

29 Wednesday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Cemeteries, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Pikeville

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Altina Waller, Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, Cap Hatfield, Coleman Hatfield, Democratic Party, Devil Anse Hatfield, Dyke Garrett, feuds, Frank Phillips, genealogy, Hatfield Cemetery, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Henry Hatfield, history, Jean Hatfield, Jim Vance, Joe Hatfield, John Ed Pearce, Johnson Hatfield, Kentucky, Levisa Hatfield, Logan Banner, Logan County, Otis Rice, Pikeville, Republican Party, Rosa Browning, Roseanne McCoy, Sarah Ann, Tennis Hatfield, The Hatfield and McCoy Feud After Kevin Costner, The McCoys: Their Story, The Tale of the Devil, Thomas Dotson, Truda Williams McCoy, West Virginia

In 2001-2002, I wrote a series of popular stories for the Logan Banner that merged aspects of well-known Hatfield-McCoy books written by Otis Rice and Altina Waller in the 1980s. I had previously enjoyed Rice’s narrative and Waller’s analysis; I did not conduct any new research. Even though I believed the definitive Hatfield-McCoy Feud book remained unwritten, my purpose in writing these stories was not a step toward writing a book; my purpose in writing these stories was to revisit the narrative with some analysis for Banner readers. My hope was that readers would see what I saw: first, fascinating history (or folk story) for its own sake; second, the power of history to create a popular type of tourism.

I was fortunate during this time to meet Jean Hatfield. Jean, born in 1936, operated a Hatfield family museum at Sarah Ann, WV. Jean was not a native of West Virginia but had lived her entire adult life locally and had personally known several of Anderson Hatfield’s children. I really appreciated her desire to promote regional history. She “got it.” She inspired me. Anytime that I drove up Route 44, I stopped to visit Jean at the museum. She was always welcoming. Knowing her reminded me that every Hatfield (and McCoy) descendant is a source of information–-and that for the most part they have yet to tell the story in their own words. Three notable exceptions include The McCoys: Their Story by Truda Williams McCoy (1976), The Tale of the Devil (2003) by Coleman Hatfield and Bob Spence, and The Hatfield and McCoy Feud After Kevin Costner: Rescuing History (2013) by Thomas Dotson.

What follows is Part 3 of my interview with Jean, which occurred on August 7, 2001:

What kind of shape is the [Hatfield] cemetery in?

Pretty rough right now because Henry’s been gone two years and he was sick two years before so he didn’t get to take care of it the way he normally did. It’s pretty well growed up. The main part of the cemetery, the family part, is pretty good. It’s just where the hill’s growed up.

There are unmarked graves in there.

There’s a bunch in there. Well, the main part of the cemetery is just the Hatfield people. And there’s a lot of graves up there, neighborhood people that couldn’t afford to buy grave plots and things like that. They just let them be buried up in there. So they’re not all Hatfields. I think all of the Hatfields now are marked up there, because we put Aunt Rosie’s up last fall and she was the last one in the family not to be marked. And we got that done. But there’s a lot of neighborhood people up in there and a lot of friends that Tennis and Joe made and they died off and they wanted to be buried close to the family.

What about Devil Anse’s politics?

Well, Henry’s father [Tennis] changed. Grandpa [Devil Anse] was a Democrat. The way I can understand it, the Democrat Party was so closed they wouldn’t let Tennis in when he wanted to run for sheriff so he ran for sheriff on the Republican ticket and won. Surprised the heck out of them, I imagine. And then Joe carried on as a Republican. But my husband was a Republican until he died. Me, I vote for both sides. Depends on the person that’s running. You know how politics is. Once you’re out of favor then you live a pretty rough life. And that happened in the family, too. Kind of wild back in those days. Even back 30-40 years ago, it was wild. I think we’re about to get civilized.

There’s hope.

I don’t know. If they don’t get a handle on these drugs there’s not going to be much hope. We’ve got problems here with the drugs. I just wish they could get them settled so people could get back to normal. When we built our house up there… We went on vacation we left the house wide open. Nobody bothered anything. Neighbor went in and let my little dogs run for a while, fed ‘em, put ‘em back in the house. Never even thought of locking the door. But you wouldn’t do that now. I think there’s been like five break-ins up here in the last couple of weeks. I think you can probably trace it right back to drugs. People trying to get stuff to sell for drugs. Which is pitiful.

What about Dyke Garrett?

Uncle Dyke? He was with the family most of the time, off and on. He done the burying and the marrying. Of course, the picture back there shows him baptizing Grandpa. He was a circuit preacher. He traveled everywhere.

Do you have a favorite character in the story? Anyone you feel attached to?

Well, all of them.

Even on the McCoy side?

Well, I think Roseanne is my favorite on the McCoy side, of course. And I think Grandma. Because think of what she went through. How many nights did she set up worrying about those reckless boys of hers? And every picture you see of them together, they look like love. Their body language shows it. They care for each other. And I think he took a lot of her advice and things like that. And if he was half the man that the people he helped and things like that, I think he must have been a pretty great person, too. There’s one of the pictures there… There was a Chafins boy that they just took in and raised. He didn’t have no family. Evidently his mother and father died when he was young and they took him in and raised him. They done several people that way. If they didn’t have a job, he’d work them, timbering and things like that so they could have a little bit of money along. That’s another thing about Altina Waller’s book I liked because she told the people who worked for him. There was a lot of McCoys who worked for him, too.

Have you read John Ed Pearce’s book about feuds in eastern Kentucky? I think he was unfair to Devil Anse.

Well, maybe he had ties to the McCoys or something.

I think Cap and Uncle Jim Vance are the two who…

They were the instigators.

Devil Anse, he really didn’t…

He wasn’t in the major things. If you notice, all the incidents that happen, he wasn’t there. But Uncle Jim and Cap were. So I think they kind of pushed it and Frank Phillips pushed it on the other side. Frank Phillips was the type of man who would kill you for fifty cents bounty. He was a bounty hunter. Back at that time, five dollars was a big bounty. They had a five-hundred-dollar bounty on Grandpa and Johnse’s head back in 1887. Usually like Jesse James and them, theirs didn’t go over one hundred dollars.

Was that in Kentucky?

Uh huh, right.

I’m hoping someone will link all of these historical sites together…

Well, that’s what they’re trying to do out in Pikeville but Logan County is not interested in it. There’s no driving force behind it, more or less. I was reading in the paper where the county commission was talking about taking over the cemetery, but it won’t do no good unless they clean it up and fix it so people can get up there. There’s a lot of people who can’t walk up the hill. And we need a road and a bridge up through there so people can get up there.

I was told the Cap Hatfield cemetery is not supposed to be visited. Is that true?

I don’t know. Neighborhood people go up in there so I really don’t know.

How would you describe his ‘set’ of the family?

They were more private people. They didn’t mix with the public like… Well now, Henry’s father [Tennis] was always in the public so I think it just come naturally for his children to be that way, too.

Pikeville, KY (2019)

28 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Pikeville

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architecture, history, Johnson Hatfield, Kentucky, photos, Pike County, Pikeville, Roseanna McCoy, University of Pikeville

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View of Pikeville, KY, from the University of Pikeville campus. 8 May 2019

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Pikeville, KY. 10 May 2019

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Johnse Hatfield and Roseanna McCoy. Pikeville, KY. 10 May 2019

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Pikeville, KY. 10 May 2019

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Pikeville, KY. 10 May 2019

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Pikeville, KY. 10 May 2019

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Pikeville, KY. 10 May 2019

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Pikeville, KY. 10 May 2019

Leet News 06.29.1923

28 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Ugly Creek, Leet, Logan

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Big Ugly Creek, Edna Brumfield, genealogy, George Hager, Georgia Huffman, Girty Smith, Hazel Toney, history, Leet, Lincoln County, Logan, Logan Banner, Lucy Reynolds, Thelma Huffman, Tinnie Brumfield, Wayne Brumfield, Wealtha Lambert, West Virginia

A correspondent named “Black Head” from Leet on Big Ugly Creek in Lincoln County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on June 29, 1923:

Here we come again as before, making folks interested in the Dear Old Banner.

We had a nice meeting at the Lucas school house Sunday, also baptizing.

Mr. Wayne C. Brumfield attended church Sunday.

Miss Thelma E. Huffman enjoyed herself Sunday with Mr. Brumfield.

Miss Wealtha Lambert was the guest of Miss Thelma Huffman Sunday.

Mr. George Hager and Miss Girty Smith were seen out horse back riding.

Hazel M. Toney visited her grandmother recently.

Miss Tinnie Brumfield entertained a lot of company Sunday.

Edna Brumfield seems to be awful downhearted. She didn’t go anyplace Sunday. We hope she will soon cheer up.

Lucy Reynolds made a flying trip to the dentist in Logan one day last week.

Mrs. Georgia Huffman and little kids are coming to visit Mrs. L. Huffman.

There have been a lot of boys and girls in bathing here.

Some Combinations: Wayne and his sweetie, Lomie and his house, Tillie and her pink smock, Wealth and her parasol, Hazel going to grandma’s, Thelma and her hoe going to the cornfield, Forest and a por(?) fish.

Cotton Production in Antebellum Pike County, KY

28 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Civil War, Pikeville

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Appalachia, civil war, cotton, farming, history, Kentucky, Magoffin County, Pike County

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Cotton in Eastern Kentucky, Big Sandy Heritage Center Museum, Pikeville, KY. 11 May 2019

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Cotton in Eastern Kentucky, Big Sandy Heritage Center Museum, Pikeville, KY. 11 May 2019

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Cotton in Eastern Kentucky, Big Sandy Heritage Center Museum, Pikeville, KY. 11 May 2019

Interview of Jean Hatfield at Sarah Ann, WV (2001), Part 2

28 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Civil War, Hatfield-McCoy Feud

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Altina Waller, Appalachia, Asa Harmon McCoy, Betty Caldwell, Bob Hatfield, Bob Spence, Brandon Kirk, Cap Hatfield, Cincinnati, civil war, Coleman Hatfield, crime, Devil Anse Hatfield, Don Chafin, Ellison Hatfield, feud, feuds, Frank Phillips, genealogy, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Henry Hatfield, history, History Channel, hunting, Jack Hatfield, Jean Hatfield, Joe Hatfield, Johnson Hatfield, Levisa Hatfield, Logan Banner, Logan County, logging, Mingo County, Nancy McCoy, Otis Rice, Perry Cline, Preacher Anse Hatfield, Rosa Browning, Roseanne McCoy, Sarah Ann, Tennis Hatfield, The Hatfield and McCoy Feud After Kevin Costner, The McCoys: Their Story, The Tale of the Devil, Thomas Dotson, timbering, tourism, Truda Williams McCoy, West Virginia

In 2001-2002, I wrote a series of popular stories for the Logan Banner that merged aspects of well-known Hatfield-McCoy books written by Otis Rice and Altina Waller in the 1980s. I had previously enjoyed Rice’s narrative and Waller’s analysis; I did not conduct any new research. Even though I believed the definitive Hatfield-McCoy Feud book remained unwritten, my purpose in writing these stories was not a step toward writing a book; my purpose in writing these stories was to revisit the narrative with some analysis for Banner readers. My hope was that readers would see what I saw: first, fascinating history (or folk story) for its own sake; second, the power of history to create a popular type of tourism.

I was fortunate during this time to meet Jean Hatfield. Jean, born in 1936, operated a Hatfield family museum at Sarah Ann, WV. Jean was not a native of West Virginia but had lived her entire adult life locally and had personally known several of Anderson Hatfield’s children. I really appreciated her desire to promote regional history. She “got it.” She inspired me. Anytime that I drove up Route 44, I stopped to visit Jean at the museum. She was always welcoming. Knowing her reminded me that every Hatfield (and McCoy) descendant is a source of information–-and that for the most part they have yet to tell the story in their own words. Three notable exceptions include The McCoys: Their Story by Truda Williams McCoy (1976), The Tale of the Devil (2003) by Coleman Hatfield and Bob Spence, and The Hatfield and McCoy Feud After Kevin Costner: Rescuing History (2013) by Thomas Dotson.

What follows is Part 2 of my interview with Jean, which occurred on August 7, 2001:

What year was your husband born in?

He was born in ‘25. Grandpa died in 1921. He didn’t remember him but he remembered his grandmother. Grandma died in ’28.

Where did Devil Anse’s house sit here?

It’s up above the cemetery. There’s a ranch-style house there now. There’s a concrete bridge going over there. And a big bottom. And where the ranch style house is, that’s where the old homeplace was.

Is it still in family hands?

No. It’s been out of the family for I guess fifty years or more.

Now, Devil Anse having that many kids, do the grand-kids mingle pretty well?

They’re scattered. We really need to get back to the tradition of having a family reunion where they could all come in. But they’re scattered all over the country. Some in Florida, some in Ohio.

Are there other pictures like this that other branches of the family have?

I would say they all have some. There’s always pictures hidden back in attics and things like that. You never know. There’s one… Bob Hatfield from Cincinnati, he has an extensive family also. He’s through Anderson Hatfield. Preacher Anderson.

Do you know any stories about Anse and bear?

He was a bear hunter. And he killed a momma bear and brought the baby cubs home and raised them. They had them for years. A male and a female. Their names was Billy and Fanny. And Grandma would have to go out and run them out of the well house because they was out there slurping all of the cream off of the milk. They were down-to-earth people. They planted their gardens and things like that.

What about Don Chafin?

He was distant relation to the Hatfields. Grandma was a Chafin so he would have come in on her side. Maybe cousins. There’s a picture over there of Grandpa and him together.

The pictures of Johnse that I’ve seen, I don’t think he’s the best looking of the boys.

Well, I don’t either. Some of the pictures doesn’t do him justice either. This is the one that I like of him. It’s a little bit better. As he got older, he didn’t age very well. But then he had about five wives, too. That has a tendency to age you a bit.

If you have just one wife and she’s no good that can be enough.

I was lucky in that respect. We had 47 good years together. Now that top picture there is Joe and Cap and one of the deputies. His name was Lilly.

Devil Anse’s home burned, right? Did they lose a lot of things in it?

Uh huh. It had a lot of things in it. Somebody said Tennis had stored a lot of guns and ammunition and things like that in it. People were afraid to go by there for a week afterwards because the shots was going off. I would say it was something else because at that time there was no fire departments or anything. It probably just burned out.

Did you ever hear what year it was built?

1889. That’s a replica of it there. It was a seven-room two-story. Cap’s was built on the same pattern.

Did your husband read a lot about the feud?

Mostly, but he disagreed with a lot of it. The Altina Waller book, he liked that. It was a good one. They interviewed him on the History Channel. She never interviewed anyone. She went with public record on everything. And I think a lot of it was Perry Cline pushed a lot of it. Grandpa had sued him because he got on Grandpa’s land and timbered it. Grandpa won 5000 acres of land off of him. After that, all the warrants and the bounty hunters started looking for Grandpa and the boys. Grandpa decided all of a sudden that he was just going to sell him the land and get rid of it and when he did that everything just stopped. She thought in the book too that Perry Cline was the one really instigating the Hatfields and the McCoys and he was taking money off both sides of the family for things. He would buddy up to one side and then do something for someone and they’d pay him and then he would go to the other one and do the same thing.

Did you say you had something of his?

No. Frank Phillips. A pocket knife. We got it through one of our friends way back there. And he didn’t want it because he said it was too grisly. And it is rusty but you know the blade is razor sharp. And it has to be way over 100 years old.

Didn’t he marry Nancy McCoy?

She was Johnse’s first wife. She left Johnse for Frank Phillips. Well now, Asa Harmon McCoy was her father. And he was the one… Grandpa wounded him in the Civil War. And when they all come back from the Civil War he was found dead in the Hatfield territory and they blamed the Hatfields for the killing. But I think years later on they found out that one of his own people had killed him and just throwed him in the Hatfield territory. But now it was his daughter that married Johnse and from what I can understand she made Johnse live pretty rough, which he probably deserved for treating Roseanne the way he did. But now, I talked to Aunt Betty and Aunt Rosie both about Roseanne and they were living at the house with her and they loved her. They said she was a beautiful person. She had coal-black hair, she had a good turn. She was just a nice person. And I think they kind of got mad at Johnse because he was running around and chasing women and things like that.

Now, I’ve heard that Devil Anse wouldn’t allow them to be married.

He wouldn’t. But years later he said he wished he had’ve because Roseanne saved Johnse’s life a couple of times there. That is true. And he did say that he wished he had let them marry. But back at that time there was so much hatred going on between the families. Her father, as far as I know, never spoke to her again. Just because she did take up with Johnse.

What about the shirt that Ellison wore when he was stabbed?

As far as I know, it’s in a museum in New Orleans. There’s a picture there. Uncle Joe had it and he sold it to one of his sister’s grandsons and he passed away and his wife has it. I heard that it was on display in a museum. Henry tried to buy it back after his cousin died but we never did get an answer back from them. I would still like to have it back. Actually, it belonged to Henry’s father and he left it in storage at Uncle Joe’s and Uncle Joe sold it. It should have come down to Henry or Jack. But that’s life.

Logging Items at Big Sandy Heritage Center Museum (2019)

26 Sunday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Pikeville, Timber

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Appalachia, Big Sandy Heritage Center Museum, branding hammer, history, Kentucky, logging, photos, Pikeville, timber, timbering

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Branding stamping hammer, Pikeville, KY. 11 May 2019

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Branding stamping hammer, Pikeville, KY. 11 May 2019

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Timberman’s caliper, Pikeville, KY. 11 May 2019

Whirlwind News 05.04.1923

26 Sunday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Logan, Whirlwind

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Almeda Baisden, Appalachia, Cincinnati, Eva Ellis, Everett Workman, Garnet Hager, genealogy, George Carter, Harts Creek, history, Joe Ellis, Logan, Logan County, Ruth McCloud, Troy Vance, West Virginia, Whirlwind

An unnamed correspondent from Whirlwind on Harts Creek in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on May 4, 1923:

Troy Vance and George Carter were visiting home folks this week.

Ruth McCloud was calling on her best friend Sunday.

Miss Almeda Baisden was visiting home folks last week.

Mrs. Everett Workman is thinking of going to Logan to join her husband.

Miss Garnet Hager of Cincinnati was visiting relatives here Friday evening.

Miss Eva Ellis was the dinner guest of her mother, Mrs. Joe Ellis, Sunday.

Watch carefully Tom or the candy ankle will beat your time.

Gov. Simon Bolivar Buckner Grave in Frankfort, KY (2019)

26 Sunday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Cemeteries, Civil War, Hatfield-McCoy Feud

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Brandon Kirk, cemeteries, civil war, Confederacy, Confederate Army, Frankfort, Frankfort Cemetery, genealogy, governor, history, Kentucky, Phyllis Kirk, Simon B. Buckner, U.S. Military Academy

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Simon Bolivar Buckner grave at Frankfort Cemetery, Frankfort, KY. Governor Buckner, a veteran of the Confederate Army, played a role in the Hatfield-McCoy Feud. Located in Section I of the cemetery. Photo by Mom. 21 May 2019

Interview of Jean Hatfield at Sarah Ann, WV (2001), Part 1

26 Sunday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Timber

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Altina Waller, Appalachia, Beech Creek, Ben Creek, Betty Caldwell, Bob Spence, Brandon Kirk, Catlettsburg, Coleman Hatfield, Devil Anse Hatfield, Elias Hatfield, feuds, genealogy, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Henry D. Hatfield, history, Jean Hatfield, Joe Hatfield, Johnson Hatfield, Kentucky, Levisa Hatfield, Logan Banner, Logan County, Matewan, miller, Mingo County, Otis Rice, Randolph McCoy, Red Jacket, Rosa Browning, Roseanne McCoy, Route 44, Sarah Ann, sheriff, Tennis Hatfield, The Hatfield and McCoy Feud After Kevin Costner, The McCoys: Their Story, The Tale of the Devil, Thomas Dotson, tourism, Troy Hatfield, Truda Williams McCoy, West Virginia, Willis Hatfield

In 2001-2002, I wrote a series of popular stories for the Logan Banner that merged aspects of well-known Hatfield-McCoy books written by Otis Rice and Altina Waller in the 1980s. I had previously enjoyed Rice’s narrative and Waller’s analysis; I did not conduct any new research. Even though I believed the definitive Hatfield-McCoy Feud book remained unwritten, my purpose in writing these stories was not a step toward writing a book; my purpose in writing these stories was to revisit the narrative with some analysis for Banner readers. My hope was that readers would see what I saw: first, fascinating history (or folk story) for its own sake; second, the power of history to create a popular type of tourism.

I was fortunate during this time to meet Jean Hatfield. Jean, born in 1936, operated a Hatfield family museum at Sarah Ann, WV. Jean was not a native of West Virginia but had lived her entire adult life locally and had personally known several of Anderson Hatfield’s children. I really appreciated her desire to promote regional history. She “got it.” She inspired me. Anytime that I drove up Route 44, I stopped to visit Jean at the museum. She was always welcoming. Knowing her reminded me that every Hatfield (and McCoy) descendant is a source of information–and that for the most part they have yet to tell the story in their own words. Three notable exceptions include The McCoys: Their Story by Truda Williams McCoy (1976), The Tale of the Devil (2003) by Coleman Hatfield and Bob Spence, and The Hatfield and McCoy Feud After Kevin Costner: Rescuing History (2013) by Thomas Dotson.

What follows is Part 1 of my interview with Jean, which occurred on August 7, 2001:

You were telling me some of the things you have. Family things.

Like the guns and gun molds and knives and things like that that belonged to the Hatfields. And of course as you can see here in the shop I’ve got all kinds of photographs. Still have more. I just don’t have the room to display all that I have.

You mentioned a gun specifically.

I have three of the pistols that belonged to Grandpa [Devil Anse]. The last one that he carried in his pocket. And then I have a large .38/.40. I also have a little silver pearl handle squeezer that my husband’s father gave him when he was running for sheriff before he died.

Which one of those boys was your father-in-law?

Tennis. That was Devil Anse and Levisa’s youngest son. He was just like 6 years old, seven years old when the feud was going on. I think he was born in 1889. And the feud actually started around 1886. So he was just a little boy, him and Uncle Willis both. Willis, if you remember the old picture of them in front of the old log house, Willis was sitting on one side and Tennis was sitting on the other side. Both of them was small boys.

Is that the one where they have the little coon skin caps?

Uh huh. It’s a very common picture. I think about everybody has that one.

Did you say you had an axe, too?

Yeah, I’ve got a little axe that they called their kindling axe. They chopped their wood up to start their fires with. Little short handle. Maybe the handle on it is like 28, 29 inches long. And it’s got two cutting sides so it would be a double-bitted axe. And I have gristmill rocks that they used to use to grind their meal up from their corn that they raised. They were pioneer people. They had to do everything on their own because there was no convenience store at that time. Anything they had… They floated their logs down to Catlettsburg in the fall and then they’d take a train back with their flour and sugar and things like that they needed for winter. And the rest of the things I would imagine they canned and dried so they had plenty of food the winter.

So they had their own mill?

Oh yeah. They’d grind their own corn into meal.

Where did it sit?

Uncle Joe had one over here across the road but now they had one earlier over ___. That was the area that they were in when the feud was going on. That’s where they done a lot of their timbering back over in that area.

What little town is there now that’s close to where they lived?

Red Jacket, over in that area. Close in around Matewan.

So you remember your father-in-law pretty well?

Well no. He died two weeks after my husband and I met. But I knew Willis and I knew Rosie [Browning] and Betty [Caldwell] and Uncle Joe. They were all Devil Anse’s children.

A lot of these things I read about, you don’t get a good idea of what they were like. Do you know anything that would make them seem like real people? Any stories? Things you’ve never seen in print?

Well, like Johnse. He was the ladies’ man. He was the one that fell in love with Roseanne and they wouldn’t let them marry. Now Tennis and Willis and Joe pretty well hung together. They were more buddies than the rest of them. Aunt Rosie was a nurse. So she nursed everybody. She was like a mother figure to all of them.

Did she nurse in a hospital?

I think she did nurse at one time in one of the hospitals. Probably one of Big Doc’s hospitals. Dr. Henry D. But she was always the type to go to the homes and take care of them, more or less. And Aunt Betty was very religious, so she was like the minister to the family.

Do you know what her religion was?

I would say Baptist. What was the older one? Probably United. But she was religious all of her life. They were human. I have a lot of people in the years that I’ve been here tell me that their grandfather and grandmother stayed at Grandpa and Grandma’s house because he wouldn’t let nobody go by if it was getting dark because they had wild bears and panthers and things like that. He was afraid people would get hurt. So he would make them come in the house and they would feed them supper and they’d sleep and the next morning at daylight they could go on. He’d done took care of their horses and everything. I would have give anything if he would have had some kind of a register that people could have signed that they have stayed all night with him. Because I still have people telling me, “My grandma, my great-grandma did this” and “My great-grandma did that.” And they took a lot of people in that didn’t have homes and let ‘em work and live with ‘em. They were kind people. But I think that they just didn’t like to be pushed around. Right now, everybody’s that way. They’ll give you anything they got, but just don’t try to take it off of ‘em. Now my husband, he was a very large man. He was like 6’2” when I met him. And I always called him my gentle giant because he was just as gentle as he could be. But you didn’t want to make him mad. He did have a temper. But I very seldom ever saw it. And they loved people. They liked dealing with people. Most of them were storekeepers. Two of Grandpa’s sons were doctors. Of course, Tennis was sheriff, Joe was sheriff. Lias and Troy, they were storekeepers. So they always were dealing with the public. You don’t deal with the public without repercussions if you’re mean.

Did you say something about having a chifferobe?

Yes. A handmade chifferobe and it has a little hidey-hole in the top of it where you could hide guns or money or whatever you want in it.

Do you know where the fort was?

I have never figured that out. I don’t know whether it was… There may have been one over on Beech Creek or Ben Creek, over in that area. But as far as I know from the family telling me, it didn’t exist. But I know their house was built back off of the road. Well, back at that time, there wasn’t a road. You had to go down through the creek to get anywhere. And trespass on other people’s property to get to Logan. I think this road went in here in 1932 or 1938. But even when Henry’s father put the monument up for Grandpa, there was no road here. That was in 1928. And they had to use mules and sleds and everything else to get that stone up on the mountain.

Civil War Items at the Big Sandy Heritage Center Museum (2019)

25 Saturday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Civil War, Pikeville

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

15th Kentucky Cavalry, Appalachia, Battle of Middle Creek, Big Sandy Heritage Center Museum, civil war, E. Everett McMurray, Floyd County, history, Kentucky, Pike County, Pikeville, Samuel Duncan

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Captain Samuel Duncan, Company A, 15th Kentucky Cavalry. On loan by E. Everett McMurray of Duquoin, IL. 15 May 2019

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Pikeville, KY. 15 May 2019

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Civil War buttons, Pikeville, KY. 15 May 2019

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Pikeville, KY. 15 May 2019

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Pikeville, KY. 15 May 2019

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.58 caliber 3-ring bullet minie ball from the Middle Creek Battlefield in Floyd County, KY. 15 May 2019

Whirlwind News 04.27.1923

25 Saturday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Whirlwind

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Tags

Appalachia, Branch Fork, Buck Fork, C.H. McCloud, genealogy, Harts Creek, history, Logan Banner, Logan County, Mt. Era United Baptist Church, Pink Mullins, R. Baisden, T. Vance, Tom Baisden, Tom Maynard, West Virginia, Whirlwind

A correspondent named “Sunshine and Happiness” from Whirlwind on Harts Creek in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on April 27, 1923:

There have been a many events happen this week, I will write a few.

Mr. R. Baisden made a business trip to Pink Mullins Sunday.

Mr. T. Vance was visiting Branch Fork Sunday. Wonder where his tie was?

Tom Maynard visited Buck Fork on the 11th and 12th of April. Come back, Tom. Someone enjoys your company.

There was a grand sermon delivered at the Mt. Era Chapel Sunday.

Charles seems to be looking forward to something very bright. I bet I know what.

Several neighbors attended the funeral of Mr. C.H. McCloud’s fine white pony Friday evening.

Mr. Tom Baisden’s mansion is nearly completed. He will give a grand supper and dance when it is finished.

Coal Items in the Big Sandy Heritage Center Museum (2019)

25 Saturday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Coal, Pikeville

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Appalachia, Big Sandy Heritage Center Museum, coal, history, Kentucky, photos, Pike County, Pikeville

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Coal miner’s lamp, Pikeville, KY. 15 May 2019

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Checking tag, Pikeville, KY. 15 May 2019

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Miner’s cap with light, Pikeville, KY. 15 May 2019

Queens Ridge News 03.09.1923

25 Saturday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Little Harts Creek, Queens Ridge

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Tags

Appalachia, Charley Stollings, D.K. Ratliff, Dewey Bias, Frank Mann, genealogy, Gracie Mann, history, Huff's Creek, Lincoln County, Logan Banner, Mann School, Ora Mann, Otto Mann, Queens Ridge, W.H. Mann, Wayne County, West Virginia

A correspondent named “Blue Eyes” from Queen’s Ridge at Lincoln-Wayne counties, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on March 9, 1923:

W.H., Otto, and Frank Mann and Dewey Bias left for Huff Creek Sunday afternoon.

D.K. Ratcliff had church at the Man school house Sunday.

Gracie and Ora Mann enjoyed a horse race Sunday evening. They reported a grand time.

Mrs. Charley Stollings has returned home from Rocky where she has been visiting for the past four months.

NOTE: Geographically, Queens Ridge is located entirely in Wayne County but the post office area included a section of Lincoln (and Logan) County for a certain number of years.

Devil Anse Hatfield Gun (2019)

20 Monday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Pikeville

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Appalachia, Big Sandy Heritage Center Museum, Devil Anse Hatfield, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Kentucky, photos, Pike County, Pikeville

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Big Sandy Heritage Center Museum, Pikeville, Kentucky. 15 May 2019 For more information about the museum, go here: https://bigsandyheritage.com/

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Big Sandy Heritage Center Museum, Pikeville, Kentucky. 15 May 2019. For more information about the gun, go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFoarDFii38

A Mountain Cabin: A Poem (1923)

19 Sunday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Poetry

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

A Mountain Cabin, Appalachia, log cabins, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, poems, poetry, West Virginia

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this poem by an unknown author printed on July 20, 1923:

A MOUNTAIN CABIN

The roof of rough rived boards,

The walls hewn logs and chinking;

Over windows vining gourds,

Round gourds for festive drinking.

A wood hinged batten door

With latch, and string for greeting;

A near to nature floor,

Stone hearth for friendly meeting.

An open fire place wide,

And black pot hooks showing;

No art the crude to hide—

Shelter when winds are blowing.

This house quite humble stands,

But love wrought in its building;

Great wealth is not in lands

And homes are not gilding.

John Workman Deed to James Browning (1854)

15 Wednesday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Queens Ridge

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Tags

Appalachia, Henry Conley, history, James Browning, John Workman, justice of the peace, Kiahs Creek, Logan County, Lorenzo Dow Hill, Sarah Workman, Spice Branch, Twelve Pole Creek, Vance's Trace Branch, West Virginia, William Smith

John Workman to James Browning Deed 1.JPG

Deed Book C, page ___, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV. Today, this land would be located in the vicinity of the Wayne-Lincoln county line.

Queens Ridge 03.23.1923

15 Wednesday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Hamlin, Little Harts Creek, Queens Ridge, Twelve Pole Creek

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Appalachia, education, Eva Workman, Francis Fork, genealogy, Hamlin, history, Jim Ramey, Kiahs Creek, Lincoln County, Logan Banner, Mae Caines, Minnie Workman, Queens Ridge, Trough Fork School, W.H. Mann, Wayne County, West Virginia, Woodrow Workman

A correspondent named “Black Eyes” from Queen’s Ridge at Lincoln-Wayne counties, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on March 23, 1923:

The Trough Fork school will close on the 23rd day of this month. Everybody come.

Woodrow Workman has returned home from a two weeks vacation on Francis Creek.

Jim Ramey celebrated his sixtieth birthday last Thursday.

Miss Minnie Workman was the guest of May Caines Monday.

Miss Eva Workman was visiting the post office Friday.

W.H. Mann is attending court this week at Hamlin.

NOTE: Geographically, Queens Ridge is located entirely in Wayne County but the post office area included a section of Lincoln (and Logan) County for a certain number of years.

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Feud Poll 1

If you had lived in the Harts Creek community during the 1880s, to which faction of feudists might you have given your loyalty?

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Do you think Milt Haley and Green McCoy committed the ambush on Al and Hollene Brumfield in 1889?

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Feud Poll 3

Who do you think organized the ambush of Al and Hollene Brumfield in 1889?

Recent Posts

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Ed Haley Poll 1

What do you think caused Ed Haley to lose his sight when he was three years old?

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OtterTales

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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