08 Thursday Dec 2022
Posted in Atenville, Banco, Beech Creek, Big Creek, Big Harts Creek, Big Sandy Valley, Big Ugly Creek, Boone County, Breeden, Chapmanville, Clothier, Cove Gap, Crawley Creek, Dingess, Dunlow, East Lynn, Enslow, Ferrellsburg, Fourteen, Gilbert, Gill, Green Shoal, Guyandotte River, Halcyon, Hamlin, Harts, Holden, Kermit, Kiahsville, Kitchen, Leet, Little Harts Creek, Logan, Man, Matewan, Meador, Midkiff, Pecks Mill, Peter Creek, Queens Ridge, Ranger, Rector, Sand Creek, Spurlockville, Stiltner, Stone Branch, Toney, Twelve Pole Creek, Wayne, West Hamlin, Wewanta, Wharncliffe, Whirlwind, Williamson, Wyoming County, Yantus
Tags
Appalachia, Big Sandy River, Boone County, Guyandotte River, Hamlin, history, Lincoln County, Logan, Logan County, Madison, map, maps, McDowell County, Mingo County, Pineville, Polk's State Gazetteer and Business Directory, Tug Fork, Twelve Pole Creek, Wayne, Wayne County, Welch, West Virginia, Williamson, Wyoming County
05 Monday Dec 2022
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Boone County, Coal, Huntington, Logan, Native American History, Williamson
Tags
Appalachia, Aracoma, Aracoma Hotel, Boone County, Charleston, Chief Cornstalk, Chief Logan, coal, Daniel Boone, farming, history, Huntington, Kanawha County, Logan, Logan-Boone Highway, logging, Madison, Marmet, Midland Trail, mining, Tug Fork, West Virginia, West Virginia Biographical Association, Williamson
From West Virginians, published by the West Virginia Biographical Association in 1928, comes this profile of the Logan-Boone Highway in southwestern West Virginia:
Boone County, south of Kanawha, has been opened up by a hard road from Marmet, across the Kanawha from the Midland Trail. A second connection with Charleston is offered by a highway on the south side of the Kanawha. The county was named for Daniel Boone, the great hunter and Indian fighter, who lived in West Virginia many years. Madison is the county seat. Logan, county seat of Logan County, was named for Chief Logan, the speech-making Indian chief, who has been made one of the numerous story book heroes of the Indian race. Whether or not Chief Logan ever shot a deer or pitched his wig-wam in this county is much in doubt. The modern hotel at Logan, the Aracoma, further reflects the Indian influence with the name of this member of Chief Cornstalk’s family. Coal mining, lumbering and farming are the principal activities of Logan and Boone counties. Most of the road south is also hard-surfaced, and will eventually form the link between the Midland Trail to the North and the Huntington-Williamson highway along Tug River.
05 Monday Dec 2022
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Timber
Tags
Anderson Blair, Appalachia, genealogy, Harrison Stafford, history, James Brewster, Logan County, logging, Mingo County, Thomas McCoy, Thomas Runyon, Valentine Hatfield, West Virginia, William A. Dempsey, William Staton, William Vinson
03 Saturday Dec 2022
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Matewan
Tags
Allen River Wall Hatfield, Appalachia, Ben Patterson, Bend of the River, Brandon Kirk, Catlettsburg, Greenway Hatfield, Hatfield Tunnel, John Wallace Hatfield, Kentucky, Mingo County, Norfolk and Western Railroad, Phyllis Kirk, Pike County, Sprigg, West Virginia
A video from the 1990s features commentary from two sons of Allen “River Wall” Hatfield (1892-1978), who lived in Pike County, Kentucky. Scenes include Hatfield Tunnel, the Allen Hatfield farm, and the John Wallace Hatfield Family Cemetery. One person who is shown in the video died in 1997, so the video dates to 1990-1997.
Scene 1
…other side over there at the end of the bridge is West Virginia. And over on this side is Kentucky. My dad [Allen “River Allen” Hatfield, son of John Wallace Hatfield] walked up those beams and carried water—he was a water boy—while they were putting in this bridge here. This is a bridge that goes through the mountain that cuts off where the river makes a circle called the Bend of the River. And the Bend of the River is where the Hatfields lived. And over here is the tunnel. Hatfield Tunnel. And I have walked through this tunnel. You walk through this tunnel. There was man-holes through this tunnel and you could walk through here and… Step on the side when you hear a train coming. My dad and Ben Patterson who used to be the tunnel watchman here took a handcar and went over to Sprigg and put a self-playing piano on a handcar, brought it through the tunnel and took it across the river here and we unloaded it and hauled it down to our house, which was the Greenway Hatfield farm. Ben Patterson and my dad were very close friends. This is the tunnel and place where the Hatfields used to go down to Catlettsburg and they used to go down to Catlettsburg and as they took rafts down by the river and get at Catlettsburg and they’d buy whisky. The way they brought it back they brought a casket and put the whisky in a casket and put the casket in the coach car like there was somebody had died. So they’d get the train to stop right here at this tunnel and let the corpse off, you know. So they could get by with bringing in whisky from Catlettsburg.
14 Monday Nov 2022
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Matewan
Tags
Anna Musick, Appalachia, Big Sandy River, Blackberry Creek, Clinch River, Coleman A. Hatfield, David Musick, Devil Anse Hatfield, Ephraim Hatfield, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Honaker, Joseph Hatfield, Kentucky, Logan County, Mary Smith Hatfield, Mate Creek, Mingo County, Mud Lick Branch, Native American History, New Garden District, Pike County, Red Jacket, River Wall Hatfield, Russell County, Shawnee, Sprigg, Thompson's Creek, Tug Fork, Valentine Hatfield, Virginia, West Virginia
Here is an excerpt of Hatfield Pioneers composed by Coleman A. Hatfield, grandson of Devil Anse Hatfield. It was published in 1952.
23 Tuesday Nov 2021
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud
Tags
Appalachia, Bob Hatfield, Cap Hatfield, Charles Gillespie, Christmas, Court of Appeals, crime, Daniel Whitt, Devil Anse Hatfield, Elias Hatfield, Elliot Hatfield, feuds, Frankfort, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Henry Mitchell, history, Jim McCoy, Jim Vance, Johnse Hatfield, Kentucky, Pike County, Pocahontas, Randolph McCoy, Tom Chambers, Tom Mitchell, true crime
Daniel Whitt’s testimony in the Johnse Hatfield murder trial provides one version of the Hatfield raid upon Randolph McCoy’s home on January 1, 1888:
Q. “Do you know Randolph McCoy?”
A. “Yes sir.”
Q. “Do you know Cap Hatfield?”
A. “Yes sir.”
Q. “Do you know Robert Hatfield, Ellison Mounts, Elliot Hatfield, Charles Gillespie, Thomas Mitchell, and Anderson Hatfield?”
A. “Yes sir.”
Q. “Do you remember of the old man McCoy’s house being burned?”
A. “Yes sir, I heard of it.”
Q. “Where were you a short time before that occurred?”
A. “Three days before Christmas I was in the neighborhood of the Hatfield’s.”
Q. “Who was with you?”
A. “Ance Hatfield, Jim Vance, Johnson Hatfield, Cap Hatfield, Charles Gillespie, and Tom Mitchell, I believe about all of the bunch.”
Q. “What were you doing together and how long had you been together?”
A. “About three days and nights.”
Q. “Were all of you armed?”
A. “Yes sir.”
Q. “What were you doing armed and together?”
A. “Just traveling in the woods most of the time.”
Q. “What did you sleep on?”
A. “We carried our quilts with us.”
Q. “Who was your captain?”
A. “Jim Vance.”
Q. “What was the purpose of your getting together?”
A. “They claimed the purpose was to get out of the way of the Kentucky authorities.”
Q. “What else did they claim?”
A. “When I left them we came to Henry Mitchell’s to get dinner. They wouldn’t let me hear what they had to talk about. Cap asked me if I was going to Kentucky with them. Said they were going to Kentucky to kill Randolph and Jim McCoy and settle the racket. He asked me if I was going with them and I said that I was not. He said that I would go or I would go to hell. I said that I would go to hell. Elias came and took me off. We slept in a shuck pen. When he got to sleep I ran away and went to Pocahontas and was there when this occurred.”
Q. “Was Johnson present when Cap was talking?”
A. “He was in the yard close enough to hear, and he came up to me when Cap was talking and took Cap out and had a talk with him.”
Source: Bill of exceptions at the office of the Clerk of the Court of Appeals in Kentucky, Frankfort, KY.
30 Saturday Oct 2021
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Logan, Matewan, Women's History
Tags
Appalachia, attorney, attorney general, Big Sandy River, Bill Smith, Cap Hatfield, Catlettsburg, Devil Anse Hatfield, feuds, genealogy, Georgia, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Howard B. Lee, Huntington, Jim Comstock, Joe Glenn, Kentucky, Logan, Logan County, logging, Mate Creek, Matewan, Mingo County, Nancy E. Hatfield, Ohio, Ohio River, Portsmouth, Tennessee, timbering, Tug Fork, University Law School, Wayne County, West Virginia, Wyoming County
Howard B. Lee, former Attorney General of West Virginia, provided this account of Nancy Hatfield (widow of Cap) in the early 1970s:
“Mrs. Hatfield, we have talked much about an era that is gone. Feuds are ended, railroads and paved highways have come, the huge coal industry has developed, churches and schools are everywhere, and people are educated. Now, I would like to know something about you.”
This is the brief life-story of the remarkable and unforgettable Nancy Elizabeth Hatfield, as she related it to me.
She was Nancy Elizabeth Smith, called “Nan” by her family and friends, born in Wayne County, West Virginia, September 10, 1866. (She died August 24, 1942). In her early years, she lived “close enough to the Ohio River,” she said, “to see the big boats that brought people and goods up from below.” She attended a country school three months out of the year, and acquired the rudiments of a common school education, plus a yearning for wider knowledge.
While she was still a young girl her parents moved by push-boat up the Big Sandy and Tug rivers into what is now Mingo County, then Logan County. They settled in the wilderness on Mate Creek, near the site of the present town of Matewan.
“Why they made that move,” said Nancy Elizabeth, “I have never understood.”
In her new environment, in the summer of 1880, when she was 14 years old, Nancy Elizabeth married Joseph M. Glenn, an enterprising young adventurer from Georgia, who had established a store in the mountains, and floated rafts of black walnut logs, and other timber, down the Tug and Big Sandy rivers to the lumber mills of Catlettsburg, Ky., and Portsmouth, Ohio.
Two years after their marriage Glenn was waylaid and murdered by a former business associate, named Bill Smith–no relation to Nancy Elizabeth. Smith escaped into the wilderness and was never apprehended. The 16-year-old widow was left with a three-weeks old infant son, who grew into manhood and for years, that son, the late Joseph M. Glenn, was a leading lawyer in the city of Logan.
On October 11, 1883, a year after her husband’s death, at the age of 17, Nancy Elizabeth married the 19-year-old Cap Hatfield, second son of Devil Anse.
“He was the best looking young man in the settlement,” she proudly told me.
But at that time Cap had little to recommend him, except his good looks. He was born Feb. 6, 1864, during the Civil War, and grew up in a wild and lawless wilderness, where people were torn and divided by political and sectional hatreds and family feuds–a rugged, mountain land, without roads, schools, or churches.
When he married, Cap could neither read nor write, but he possessed the qualities necessary for survival in that turbulent time and place–he was “quick on the draw, and a dead shot.”
“When we were married, Cap was not a very good risk as a husband,” said Nancy Elizabeth. “The feud had been going on for a year, and he was already its most deadly killer. Kentucky had set a price on his head. But we were young, he was handsome, and I was deeply in love with him. Besides, he was the best shot on the border, and I was confident that he could take care of himself–and he did.”
Nancy Elizabeth taught her handsome husband to read and write, and imparted to him the meager learning she had acquired in the country school in Wayne County. But, more important, the she instilled into him her own hunger for knowledge.
Cap had a brilliant mind, and he set about to improve it. He and Nancy Elizabeth bought and read many books on history and biography, and they also subscribed for and read a number of the leading magazines of their day. In time they built up a small library or good books, which they read and studied along with their children.
At the urging of Nancy Elizabeth, Cap decided to study law, and enrolled at the University Law School at Huntington, Tennessee. But six months later, a renewal of the feud brought him back to the mountains. He never returned to law school, but continued his legal studies at home, and was admitted to the bar in Wyoming and Mingo counties. However, he never practiced the profession.
Nancy Elizabeth and Cap raised seven of their nine children, and Nancy’ss eyes grew moist as she talked of the sacrifices she and Cap had made that their children might obtain the education fate had denied to their parents. But her face glowed with a mother’s pride as she said:
“All our children are reasonably well educated. Three are college graduates, and the others attended college from one to three years. But, above everything else, they are all good and useful citizens.”
As I left the home of the remarkable and unforgettable Nancy Hatfield, I knew that I had been in the presence of a queenly woman–a real “Mountain Queen.”
Source: West Virginia Women (Richwood, WV: Jim Comstock, 1974), p. 153-154.
26 Saturday Jun 2021
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Timber
Tags
Appalachia, art, Big Sandy River, Blennerhassett Museum, history, logging, Parkersburg, rafting, timber, timbering, West Virginia
11 Friday Jun 2021
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Matewan
Tags
Alifair McCoy, Appalachia, Calvin McCoy, Court of Appeals, Frankfort, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Hence Chambers, history, Johnse Hatfield, Kentucky, Melvin McCoy, Pike County, Randolph McCoy, Sarah McCoy
Randolph McCoy’s testimony in the Johnse Hatfield murder trial provides one version of the Hatfield raid upon McCoy’s home on January 1, 1888:
Q. “How old are you?”
A. “I was born in 1825.”
Q. “Begin in your own way, and tell all about the case that you know.”
A. “The first thing I knew about it the dogs woke me up. My boy came to the bed and said, ‘Pa, they are coming. Get up.’ And by that time I was up on the floor, and they had surrounded the house and 1 heard one of them say, ‘God damn ye, come out and surrender yourselves, prisoners of war.’ We never spoke. By that time, they had come past the upper house as we called it. We got behind that door that broke. They fired a volley each way in the house and I moved for I saw that I could not stay there. Next, I went to the fireplace. Calvin went to the back of the house. They shot cross shots from each side of the door, through the doors. I stayed there a good while. They kept shooting and, finally, I went into the loft. The firing kept up a long time. I thought it a long time. Finally, they fired the house, the room that I was in, me and my wife, Calvin, and Melvin was in the same room. I took a cup and when the blaze would come through the house I would throw water on it and it out. Finally, the water gave out. The boy had gone up in the loft and I went up where he was. We stayed in the house until three of the joists had burned and the end of the joists had fell down before we had attempted to leave the house. The boy then came to me and said, ‘Pa, ye stay here, I can out-run you and I will go to the barn and try to attract their attention in that direction and maybe I can save you.’ He started and got past the corner of the house when they began firing again. He never got to the barn. The little boy hung onto me but I shoved him loose at the door and went out among them. I stepped out of the house and saw Johnson Hatfield standing eight or ten steps from the rest of them, and just as I stepped out of the house and looked up his gun fired in the direction of Calvin. I discovered that his gun had caught fowl and he was humped down working on it. I fired into the crowd then turned and fired at Johnson. I aimed to shoot him in the neck, but I aimed too low and shot him in the shoulder. The burning house made it as light as day and I know that it was Johnson.”
Q. “What did you do when you shot Johnson, the defendant?”
A. “I ran down the creek.”
Q. “Where did you go then?”
A. “I crawled into the shuck pen.”
Q. “Did you have on your night clothes?”
A. “Yes sir.”
Q. “Where was Alafair McCoy?”
A. “She was in the upper part of the house. They did not fire that until the shots were fired at the other—the room we were in.”
Q. “What did you hear at that time?”
A. “I heard Alafair say, ‘Cap Hatfield and Hence Chambers, you would not shoot a poor innocent woman, would you?’ Then they said, ‘Shoot her, God damit, shoot her down. Spare neither men nor woman,’ and they shot her in the left breast. I heard her fall and struggle near the door. This was all before I came out of the house.”
Q. “Where did you stay that night?”
A. “In the shuck pen, I went back at daylight.”
Q. “What did you find?”
A. “I found my son lying there dead. My daughter dead with her hair froze in her blood to her heart.”
Q. “Was the house there?”
A. “No sir, it was burned up. The little girl had dragged her sister off from the house.”
Q. “How far from the house?”
A. “About thirty yards.”
Q. “How many shots did they fire?”
A. “No man could count them. They came in volleys and platoons.”
Q. “Did you have a gun too?”
A. “Yes sir.”
Q. “Was your wife in her night clothes?”
A. “Yes sir, they thought they had killed her, no doubt, or I think they would have done so.”
Source: Bill of exceptions at the office of the Clerk of the Court of Appeals in Kentucky, Frankfort, KY.
12 Wednesday May 2021
Posted in Big Sandy Valley
Tags
Appalachia, Big Sandy River, genealogy, history, John Ferrell, Logan County, Magnolia District, Mingo County, Sally McCoy, Sarah Ann McCoy, West Virginia
The following land information is derived from Land Book 1873-1874 and Land Book 1880-1886 at the Logan County Clerk’s Office in Logan, WV:
Sally McCoy (of Logan County)
No property listed in 1865-1872.
[Note: Her name is given as Sally McCoy in 1873-1874, then as Sarah Ann McCoy in 1875-1876.]
1873-1874: Magnolia District
200 acres John Ferrell Farm and Vance &c $2.50 per acre no building $500 total
[Transferred from E. Rutherford.]
1875-1876: Magnolia District
200 acres Sandy River $2.50 per acre $25 building $500 total
1877: Magnolia District
No records for this year for Magnolia District
1878: Magnolia District
200 acres Sandy River $2.50 per acre $25 building $500 total
[Note: Her name is listed as Sary Ann McCoy of Logan County.]
1879: Magnolia District
No records for this year for Magnolia District
1880: Magnolia District
200 acres Sandy River $2.50 per acre $25 building $500 total
1881: Magnolia District
200 acres Sandy River $3 per acre $30 building $350 total
1882: Magnolia District
Missing pages.
1883: Magnolia District
Pages are mostly blank.
1884: Magnolia District
200 acres Sandy River $3.50 per acre $30 building $790 total
1885: Magnolia District
200 acres Sandy River $3.50 per acre $30 building $700 total
1886-1887: Magnolia District
200 acres Sandy River $3.50 per acre no building $700 total
12 Wednesday May 2021
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Matewan
Tags
Appalachia, Asa McCoy, Big Sandy River, genealogy, history, Logan County, M.B. Lawson, Magnolia District, Mingo County, Nellie McCoy, West Virginia, William McCoy
The following land information is derived from Land Book 1873-1874, Land Book 1880-1886, and Land Book 1887-1892 at the Logan County Clerk’s Office in Logan, WV:
William McCoy (of Logan County)
No property listed in 1865-1877.
1878: Magnolia District
[On February 11, 1878, Asa and Nellie McCoy deeded 150 acres to William McCoy for $500. References the mouth of Mate Creek and the land occupied by William McCoy. Ephraim Hatfield was justice of the peace. Deed Book __, page 484-485.]
150 acres Sandy River $1.75 per acre no building $262.50 total
[Transferred from Asa McCoy.]
1879: Magnolia District
No records for this year for Magnolia District
1880: Magnolia District
150 acres Sandy River $1.75 per acre no building $262
1881: Magnolia District
150 acres Sandy River $2.50 per acre $25 building $500 total
[100 acres to S. Simpkins and M.B. Lawson]
1882: Magnolia District
Pages missing.
1883: Magnolia District
Pages are mostly blank
1884-1885: Magnolia District
50 acres Sandy River $4 per acre $25 building $200 total
1886-1887: Magnolia District
50 acres Sandy River $4 per acre no building $200 total
12 Wednesday May 2021
Posted in Big Sandy Valley
Tags
Appalachia, Big Sandy River, genealogy, history, L.D. McCoy, Logan County, Magnolia District, Moses Mounts, Steep Gut Branch, Tug Fork, West Virginia
The following land information is derived from Land Book 1873-1874 and Land Book 1880-1886 at the Logan County Clerk’s Office in Logan, WV:
L.D. McCoy (of Logan County)1
No property listed in 1865-1875.
[In 1875, Moses Mounts deeded 200 acres on Tug Fork to L.D. McCoy. Deed Book F, page 252.]
1876: Magnolia District
200 acres Steep? Gut Sandy River $2 per acre no building $400 total
[Transferred from Peter Mounts and others.]
1877: Magnolia District
No records for this year for Magnolia District
1878: Magnolia District
200 acres Steep Gut Branch $1 per acre no building $200 total
1879: Magnolia District
No records for this year for Magnolia District
No property listed for 1880.
No property listed in 1881.
***
1Most likely, Lorenzo Dow McCoy, son of Selkirk. Perhaps son of John and Nancy McCoy.
12 Wednesday May 2021
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Matewan
Tags
Alafair Davis, Albert G. McCoy, Appalachia, Asa McCoy, Ephraim Hatfield, genealogy, H.S. Davis, history, Jane Ferrell, John Ferrell, justice of the peace, Logan County, Magnolia District, Magnolia Township, Nellie McCoy, Pigeon Creek, Thacker Fork, Tug Fork, West Virginia, William Tiller
The following land information is derived from Land Book 1866-1872, Land Book 1873-1874, Land Book 1880-1886, and Land Book 1887-1892 at the Logan County Clerk’s Office in Logan, WV:
Asa McCoy (of Logan County)1
[On June 4, 1859, Asa McCoy deeded __ acres on Pigeon Creek to John Ferrell for $__. Deed Book __, page 54. Only part of this deed is recorded. Ephraim Hatfield2 and William Tiller were justices of the peace.]
No property listed in 1865.
1866: Magnolia Township
290 acres South Side Pigeon and Thacker Fork $0.50 per acre no building $145 total
820 acres North Side Pigeon $0.50 per acre no building $410 total
No property listed for 1867-1870.
[On February 29, 1869, John and Jane Ferrell deeded 500 acres on Tug Fork of Sandy River and Sulphur Creek to Asa McCoy for $900. References the store house on the bank of the river, near the mouth of Mates Creek. William Tiller was justice of the peace. Deed Book __, page 208-209.]
1871-1874: Magnolia District
500 acres Sulphur and Sandy River $2 per acre no building $1000 total
1875-1876: Magnolia District
500 acres Sandy River and Sulphur $1.75 per acre $100 building $875 total
[On August 19, 1876, Asa and Nelly McCoy deeded 100 acres between Sulphur Creek and Tug River to Alafair Davis3 (wife of H.S. Davis) for $200. Deed Book __, page __.]
1877: Magnolia District
No records for this year for Magnolia District
1878: Magnolia District
[On February 11, 1878, Asa and Nellie McCoy deeded 150 acres to William McCoy for $500. References the mouth of Mate Creek and the land occupied by William McCoy. Ephraim Hatfield7 was justice of the peace. Deed Book __, page 484-485.]
350 acres Sandy River and Sulphur $1.75 per acre $100 building $612.50 total
1879: Magnolia District
No records for this year for Magnolia District
[On April 15, 1880, Asa and Nellie McCoy deeded 75 acres to A.G. McCoy for $200. References the first hollow below the forks of Sulphur Creek. A.W. Ferrell was a justice of the peace. Deed Book __, page 189-190.]
[On April 15, 1880, Asa and Nellie McCoy deeded 50 acres to Albert G. McCoy for $50. References the first hollow on the right hand side of Sulphur. Deed Book __, page __.]
1880: Magnolia District
350 acres Sandy River and Sulphur $1.75 per acre $100 building $612.50 total
1881: Magnolia District
225 acres Sandy River $1.75 per acre no building $262.50 total
1882: Magnolia District
Pages missing.
1883: Magnolia District
125 acres Sulphur Branch Sandy River $2 per acre [rest blank]
1884-1885: Magnolia District
125 acres Sulpher Branch and Sandy River $2 per acre $75 building $250 total
1886: Magnolia District
125 acres Sulphur of Sandy $2 per acre $75 building $75 total
1887: Magnolia District
125 acres Sulphurr of Sandy River $2 per acre $75 building $250 total
***
1Brother to Sallie (McCoy) McCoy.
2Most likely, this is the father to Devil Anse Hatfield.
3Daughter of Asa and Nelly McCoy
11 Tuesday May 2021
Posted in Big Sandy Valley
Tags
Anna McCoy, Appalachia, Big Sandy River, Cordelia McCoy, David Mounts, Elizabeth Vance, H.H. Williamson, Hezekiah Blankenship, John Ferrell, justice of the peace, Kentucky, Little Blackberry Creek, Logan County, Magnolia Township, Pigeon Roost Bottom, Pike County, Pleasant McCoy, Randolph McCoy, Richard Vance, West Virginia, William A. Dempsey, William McCoy
The following land information is derived from Land Book 1866-1872 at the Logan County Clerk’s Office in Logan, WV:
Randolph McCoy (of Logan County)1
[On December 15, 1837, Randolph McCoy of Logan County deeded 83 acres to Hezekiah Blankenship for $150. References Pigeon Roost Bottom. John Ferrell and David Mounts were justices of the peace. Deed Book __, page 136.]
[On September 17, 1845, Randolph and Anna McCoy of Pike County, KY, deeded 200 acres to Daniel McCoy for $300. Deed Book B, page 538-539.]
[On February 11, 1854, Elizabeth Vance2 deeded __ acres to Randolph McCoy for $300 all her land in Logan County excepting what she has sold to H.H. Williamson and William A. Dempsey. Beginning below the mill seat; references the island below Little Blackberry Creek and the ash gap in the horse ridge. Pleasant McCoy was a justice of the peace. Deed Book __, page 337.]
[On February 11, 1854, Richard Vance3 deeded __ acres to Randolph McCoy for $200 all of his lands in Logan County. Joseph Murphy and P. McCoy were justices of the peace. Deed Book C, page 444-445.]
No property listed in 1865.
1866: Magnolia Township
199 acres Sandy River $2.50 per acre no building $497 total
75 acres Sandy River $1.75 per acre no building $431 total
No property listed thereafter.
***
1Son of William and Cordelia (Campbell) McCoy.
2Mother of Jim Vance.
3Brother of Jim Vance.
11 Tuesday May 2021
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Matewan
Tags
Anderson Hatfield, Appalachia, Ephraim Hatfield, Evermont Ward, genealogy, history, James Lawson, John Allen, Logan County, Mates Creek, Mingo County, Valentine Hatfield, Virginia, West Virginia, William A. Dempsey
11 Tuesday May 2021
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Matewan
Tags
Anna McCoy, Appalachia, Asa Harmon McCoy, Big Sandy River, Cordelia McCoy, Daniel McCoy, genealogy, history, John Ferrell, John Green, John Lawson, Kentucky, Logan County, Magnolia District, Magnolia Township, Pike County, Randolph McCoy, Robert Jackson, Sand Lick Creek, Virginia, West Virginia, William McCoy
The following land information is derived from Land Book 1866-1872 at the Logan County Clerk’s Office in Logan, WV:
Daniel McCoy (of Logan County)1
[On December 27, 1841, Andrew Varney deeded 200 acres to Daniel McCoy for $100. Part of John Green survey bought of John Lawson by said Varney and Randolph McCoy2; references the Stafford farm; lists A. Ferrell and John Ferrell as justices of the peace. Deed Book B, page 367-368.]
[On September 17, 1845, Randolph2 and Anna McCoy of Pike County, KY, deeded 200 acres to Daniel McCoy for $300. Deed Book B, page 538-539.]
No property listed in 1865.
1866: Magnolia Township
200 acres Sandy River $6 per acre $50 building $1200 total
1867: Magnolia Township
200 acres Sandy River $6.83 per acre $50 building $1200 total
1868: Magnolia Township
200 acres Two Tracts Sand Lick Creek $6.30 per acre $50 building $1260 total
1869-1871: Magnolia Township
200 acres Sandy River $6.30 per acre $50 building $1260 total
1872: Magnolia Township
Daniel McCoy deeded 200 acres on Sandy River worth $6.30 per acre with $50 building total $1260 to Robert Jackson and others of Logan County
No property listed thereafter.
***
1Father to Randolph and Harmon McCoy of Hatfield-McCoy Feud fame.
2Son of William and Cordelia (Campbell) McCoy.
01 Thursday Apr 2021
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Matewan
Tags
Appalachia, Big Sandy River, C.H. Gore, Double Camp Fork, Ephraim Hatfield, Floyd Hatfield, genealogy, history, John Gore, John Lee Buskirk, Logan County, Mate Creek, Mingo County, sheriff, surveyor, Valentine Hatfield, West Virginia, William Anderson Dingess
31 Wednesday Mar 2021
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Matewan, Wharncliffe
Tags
Ben Creek, Big Sandy River, Grapevine Creek, Hickory Gap Fork, Jacob Cline, Jacob Cline Jr., Julius Williamson, Magnolia District, Magnolia Township, Sarah Ann McCoy, William Collins
The following land information is derived from Land Book 1866-1872 and Land Book 1873-1874 at the Logan County Clerk’s Office in Logan, WV:
Jacob Cline’s Estate (of Logan County)
No property listed in 1865.
1866: Magnolia Township
5000 acres Sandy River $0.30 per acre $150 building $1500 total
225 acres Grape Vine of Sandy River $1 per acre no building $225 total
1867: Magnolia Township
5000 acres Sandy River $0._0 per acre $180 building $1500 total
255 acres Grape Vine Sandy River $1 per acre no building $255 total
1868: Magnolia Township
5000 acres Sandy River $0.31 1/2 per acre $180 building $1575 total
255 acres Grape Vine of Sandy $1.05 per acre no building $267.75 total
1869: Magnolia Township
5000 acres On Sandy River $0.37 1/2 per acre $180 building $1575 total
255 acres Grapevine of Sandy River $1.05 per acre no building $267.75 total
1870: Magnolia Township
5000 acres Sandy River $0.31 1/2 per acre $180 building $1575 total
255 acres Grape Vine of Sandy River $1.05 per acre no building $267.75 total
1871-1874: Magnolia Township
5000 acres Sandy River $0.35 per acre $180 building $1750 total
255 acres Grapevine Creek $1.05 per acre no building $267.75 total
1875: Magnolia District
5000 acres Grape Vine and Sandy $0.36 per acre $50 building $1800
[Note: No indication of who received the 255-acre tract. Note also: This record notes “Jacob Cline’s Heirs” as being located in Kentucky–not Logan County.]
1876: Magnolia District
5000 acres Grape Vine and Sandy [blank] $50 building [blank]
[Note: Jacob Cline’s Heirs located in Kentucky.]
1877: Magnolia District
No records available for Magnolia District
1878: Magnolia District
3500 acres Grapevine Creek and Sandy River $0.28 5/8 per acre $50 building $1001 total
[Note: This record reads “value proportion by parts.”]
1879: Magnolia District
No records available for Magnolia District
Jacob Cline, Jr. (of Logan County)
No property listed from 1865-1870.
1871: Magnolia Township
78 acres Hickory Gap Fork Ben Creek $1.05 per acre no building $81.90 total
[Transferred to Cline from William Collins in 1871. In 1872, Cline transferred this tract to Julius Williamson.]
06 Saturday Mar 2021
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Pikeville
Tags
Appalachia, Cap Hatfield, Coleman Hatfield, Devil Anse Hatfield, genealogy, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Jeff McCoy, Kentucky, Logan County, Mingo County, Nancy E. Hatfield, Perry Cline, Pike County, Pikeville, Preacher Anse Hatfield, Ron Blackburn, Tom Dotson, Tom Wallace, West Virginia, William S. Ferrell
Logan County, W.Va.
December 26, 1886
Mr. P.A. Cline
Pikeville, Ky.
Dear Sir:
I had to answer your Letter in regard to the Late Trouble. We are all very sorry that the Trouble occurred but under Somewhat aggravated circumstances it hapened. but I know and solemnly affirm that if such could have been prevented by me I would have stoped the Trouble. but it has gone by & cannot be ___. Cap was away from Home and Jeff went there to his house in the presents of his wife lying on her sick bed and had been under Treatment of the Doctor for three or four weeks and in undertaking to arrest Wallace shot into the House and when Cap came home he went and arrested Jeff to hand him over to a peace officer. & he met with Tom Wallace, and Wallace went with him and at William S. Ferrell’s he Broke loose in the presents of Wallace, and swam the river and Wallace followed shooting at him. I hope that if their is any question Relative to this affair that it will be ___ by a fair statement of the case.
Your friend
Ans. Hatfield
William S. Ferrell statement
At the time Jeff started Cap was of conversing with me some 40 or 50 yds and I never seen Cap Hatfield fire a single shot. You can write to Wm S. Ferrell for now in conclusion I will say to all the relatives of Jeff McCoy that neither one of the Hatfields has any animosity against them and very sorry that such has occurred and sincerely Trust that there will be no more Trouble in regard to the matter. Perry the very Bottom of this crime is nothing more nor less than Mary Daniels and her girls. Now Bill is gone and says he won’t come back. No person is going to Trouble him let him come back.
Very Respectfully,
Anderson Hatfield
NOTE: Ron G. Blackburn owns the original letter. A copy can be seen in Thomas Dotson’s The Hatfield & McCoy Feud After Kevin Costner: Rescuing History (2013), p. 232-233. Coleman Hatfield said that Nancy E. Hatfield, wife of Cap, wrote the letter, while Tom Dotson feels that Preacher Anse Hatfield wrote the letter.
01 Monday Mar 2021
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud
Tags
Anderson Hatfield, Appalachia, Big Sandy River, genealogy, history, Johnson McCoy, Logan County, Magnolia Township, Mingo County, West Virginia
The following land information is derived from Land Book 1866-1872 at the Logan County Clerk’s Office in Logan, WV:
Johnson McCoy (of Logan County)1
No property listed in 1865.
1866: Magnolia Township
150 acres Sandy River $10 per acre $50 building $1500 total
No property listed thereafter.
***
1Most likely, this is William Johnson McCoy (1836-1901), brother-in-law to Anderson Hatfield.
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