William Anderson Dempsey Will (1875)
22 Tuesday Dec 2020
22 Tuesday Dec 2020
14 Tuesday Jan 2020
Posted Chapmanville, Holden, Logan, Man, Sports
inTags
A.K. Bowling, Annie Ward, Appalachia, Basil Robertson, Bennie Robertson, Bernard Ward, Bob Ferrell, Chapmanville, Charleston General Hospital, Charlie Stone, football, genealogy, history, Holden, Homer Langdon, Ina Barker, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Man, Nell Bryant, Oran Mobley, pie supper, revenue agents, Ula Barker, West Virginia, Willie Boothe
A correspondent named “The Black Cat” from Chapmanville in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following news, which the Logan Banner printed on October 12, 1923:
Quite a large crowd attended the musical Saturday night at Ula Barker’s store.
Mr. Bob Ferrell was calling on Miss Barnette Sunday.
A large number was presented at the pie supper Thursday night. It was given by the school. Pies and candy sold well with auctioneer Mr. Charlie Stone, Prof. Stiles and Mr. Eyrial.
There was much excitement here Friday when two of our dry law officers were thrown by the white mule and were seriously wounded. They were taken to the Charleston General Hospital.
We are sure glad to see Ima Nutt back on the job again. We have missed him so much.
Mr. Homer Langdon spent Sunday with his mother of this place.
Mr. Bernard Ward spent Saturday in Holden.
Quite a large crowd attended the party Friday night at Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Ward’s. After an evening of fun, refreshments were served.
Some of our most popular young men have left here and gone to Holden to work.
Mr. and Mrs. N. Muncy returned last week after a few weeks visiting in Virginia. They report a good trip.
Mrs. Annie Ward and Mrs. A.K. Bowling were visiting in Man this week.
Mr. Oran Mabley is seen in Chapmanville pretty often now.
Misses Ina Barker, Bennie Robertson, Messrs. Darnald Stone and Bacil Robertson and Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Ward attended the football game at Logan.
Mr. Willie Boothe and Miss Nell Bryant seem to enjoy themselves walking in the sunshine.
Messrs. Joe Glim and George Ohler returned home after a long vacation.
02 Tuesday Oct 2018
Posted Sports
inTags
Appalachia, Armand Emanuel, boxing, California, Charleston, Charleston Gazette, Estelle Dempsey, Gene Tunney, history, Hollywood, Jack Dempsey, James J. Corbett, Logan Banner, Los Angeles, Mickie Walker, Mike McTigue, New York City, photos, San Francisco, Summers Street, Virginia Street, West Virginia
The following items relating to Jack Dempsey, heavyweight champion of the world from 1919-1926, were printed in the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, in 1928:
Jack Dempsey, 1924. Photo credit unknown.
“Fight Gene, Sure” Says Jack Dempsey
Jack Dempsey has begun light training, says a dispatch from Los Angeles, but says he is merely trying to keep fit.
“There’s nothing in the wind. I don’t want to get fat, and the only way to keep from it is to have a regular training diet,” he is quoted as having said.
“Fight Tunney again? Sure. But I’m not in the mood to do any elimination bouting to get another crack at the title.
“Of course, I might take on one or two preliminary scraps if there was a definite program in sight, but there’s absolutely nothing to report that one has been drawn up.”
Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 10 January 1928
***
DEMPSEY WINS ANOTHER TILT
Jack Dempsey came out with flying colors in court at New York City last week when a jury decided that he did not owe his former manager something like $700,000. Kearns sued Dempsey claiming that he was entitled to a certain percentage of the profits earned by Dempsey, but the jury decided in favor of Dempsey, and did not award Kearns one penny. It was a sad blow for the former manager of the former champion, who now makes a living piloting Mickie Walker, middle-weight champion.
Now that Dempsey has all the legal worries off his mind he will get down to business to pick up a little soft dough managing his twenty-two-year-old protégé, Armand Emanuel, of San Francisco. Dempsey sent word to Emanuel last Wednesday to start for New York at once, as he had a mach in view. Emanuel boarded the first train from San Francisco east.
When Emanuel arrives in New York, James J. Corbett, former heavy-weight champion, will look him over. Corbett is a graduate of the Olympic Club in San Francisco and so is Emanuel. The latter was the national amateur heavyweight title in 1925. He has been a professional since 1926. He has not lost a decision in 28 bouts. His last fight took place in San Francisco Monday night when he fought a draw with the veteran Mike McTigue, of New York City.
Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 1 May 1928
***
DEMPSEY LIVED IN CHARLESTON CLAIMS GAZETTE
Jack Dempsey, retired pugilist and former world’s champion, once spent several months in Charleston, according to several here who knew him well. He is said to have made his headquarters in the old Hauck and Schmit billiard room at Summers and Virginia streets. He is remembered as serving as “bouncer” in the place, living in a room above. He kept in the best of condition, taking long walks and engaging in boxing exhibitions that finally took him to other sections.
Now Mr. Dempsey is in New York where he went from Hollywood, Calif., to see the Tunney-Heeney fight. Estelle Taylor Dempsey, his wife, has left the Pacific coast to see Jack in New York to make a movie picture, it is stated.
Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 3 August 1928
13 Thursday Sep 2018
Posted Boone County, Gilbert, Huntington, Logan, Man, Sports, Women's History, Wyoming County
inTags
Appalachia, basketball, Burch High School, Ceredo-Kenova High School, Cincinnati, Clothier Independent High School, genealogy, Gilbert High School, history, Huntington High School, Indianapolis, Logan Banner, Logan County, Logan High School, Madison High School, Man High School, Oceana High School, Sports, West Virginia, Wichita
Logan (WV) Banner, 6 March 1928.
Logan (WV) Banner, 6 March 1928.
Logan (WV) Banner, 6 March 1928.
Logan (WV) Banner, 27 March 1928.
24 Tuesday Jul 2018
Tags
Appalachia, boxing, genealogy, history, Jack Dempsey, Jack Sharkey, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Smoke House Restaurant, West Virginia
Logan (WV) Banner, 19 July 1927.
Here’s video footage of the fight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btvw6GM33II
20 Friday Jul 2018
Tags
Appalachia, boxing, coal, genealogy, history, Jack Dempsey, Logan County, photos, West Virginia
Jack Dempsey, raised in Logan County, WV, was the heavyweight champion of the world from 1919 to 1926. Photo credit unknown.
19 Thursday Jul 2018
Tags
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, 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.
15 Sunday Apr 2018
Posted Boone County, Chapmanville, Holden, Huntington, Logan, Sports, Women's History
inTags
Boone County, boxer, boxing, Cecilia Dempsey, Cecilia Smoot, Chapmanville, Charles Smoot, Chicago, Colorado, Don Ellis, Dyke Garrett, Enoch Baker, Gay Coal and Coke Company, Gene Tunney, Hiram Dempsey, history, Holden, Huntington, Huntington Hotel, Island Creek, J. Kenneth Stolts, Jack Dempsey, Jack Kearns, John B. Ellis, Joseph Ellis, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Manassa, Salt Lake City, Scott Justice, Simpson Ellis, Stratton Street, The Long Count Fight, Utah, West Virginia, Wiatt Smith
From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history about champion boxer Jack Dempsey dated September 9, 1927:
Jack Dempsey’s Mother Pays Visit to Logan
Travels from Utah to See Relatives and Old Friends and Neighbors
Maiden Name Cecilia Smoot
Uncle Dyke Garrett Among Welcomers; Dempseys Once Owned Site of Holden.
While Jack Dempsey is fighting to regain the heavyweight championship of the world, his mother Mrs. Hiram Dempsey will be the guest of Logan relatives and friends. She is expected to arrive at any hour for an extended visit to the scenes of her childhood.
Mrs. Dempsey arrived at Huntington Sunday and then planned to come here the next day. Later, word came that she would complete today the last lap of a motor trip from Salt Lake City to Logan.
Interviewed at Huntington Mrs. Dempsey told of her desire to revisit girlhood scenes and inquired about old friends. She spoke of Uncle Dyke Garrett and was pleasantly surprised to learn that he is still living. Uncle Dyke read the interview (his wife is an aunt of Wiatt Smith, the interviewer) and despite the nearness of his 86th birthday, came back up from his home back of Chapmanville to welcome Mrs. Dempsey.
This beloved old mountain minister never knew Jack Dempsey, but he remembers Jack’s mother as a girl, her maiden name being Cecilia Smoot. She was a daughter of Charles Smoot, who came to Logan from Boone county, and who lived and died up on Island Creek. After his death, Mrs. Smoot (Jack Dempsey’s grandmother) married Simpson Ellis, who died but a few years ago, after serving a long period on the county court.
Scott Justice, who divides his time between Huntington and Logan, was among those who greeted Mrs. Dempsey at the Huntington Hotel yesterday. He remembers the marriage of Hiram Dempsey and Cecilia Smoot, and also recalls that the site on which the town of Holden now stands was sold by Hiram Dempsey to Mr. Justice’s father when the family decided to migrate westward.
According to Mr. Justice, the tract of 200 acres changed hands for a consideration of $600.
“Uncle” Enoch Baker was another caller to greet the challenger’s mother. Mr. Baker was engaged in business in Logan county when the Dempseys lived here, being well acquainted with the family.
Mrs. Dempsey was accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. J. Kenneth Stolts of Salt Lake City. They made the trip from Utah, where Jack’s mother now has her permanent home, in a large automobile, traveling in easy stages. They arrived in Huntington Sunday evening and are leaving there today.
She called her famous son in Chicago by telephone Sunday night to advise him she had arrived here safely.
While in Logan, Mrs. Dempsey will visit her half-brothers, Don Ellis of Stratton Street, and Joseph and John B. Ellis of Island Creek, and others.
She has never seen Jack in the ring and will probably receive the result of the coming battle from friends in Logan.
The difference in the ages of the champion and challenger will not be an advantage to Tunney, Jack’s mother thinks. “If Tunney will stand up and fight, I expect Jack will give a good account of himself. But if Jack has to chase him all the time, Tunney may turn around and give him a licking in the end. I believe they are pretty evenly matched and lucky may figure in the outcome,” she said.
The Dempseys left Logan in 1887 and William Harrison (Jack) was born in Manassa, Colo., in June ’95. While he was a mere child they returned to Logan county. Jack remained here until a young man, having been employed by the Gay Coal and Coke Company as late as 1913, and then went west alone to seek pugilistic fortune. He met Jack Kearns on the Pacific coast, from which point his spectacular climb to the pinnacle of the heavyweight division furnished the sport with one of its most romantic episodes.
In view of the fact that Dempsey is said to have lived in this county and because of the interest in the approaching fight, the foll
15 Sunday Apr 2018
Tags
Appalachia, boxer, boxing, Brandon Kirk, Carol Howerton, Chicago, Cole Kripak, history, Illinois, Jack Dempsey, Logan County, photos, Sullivan's Steakhouse, West Virginia
I spotted two Jack Dempsey photos displayed at Sullivan’s Steakhouse during a recent trip to Chicago. Jack Dempsey, the heavyweight champion of the world from 1919-1926, was partly raised in Logan County, WV. Seeing these old photos made my day! Photo by Carol Howerton. 7 April 2018.
Cole Kripak, the manager of Sullivan’s Steakhouse, gave these three Jack Dempsey photos to me. Very generous! For more about the restaurant, go here: sullivanssteakhouse.com. Photo by Carol Howerton. 8 April 2018.
31 Saturday Mar 2018
Tags
boxer, boxing, Bruce Dempsey, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Colorado, Don Bernard Dempsey, Effie Dempsey, Elsie Dempsey, Estella Dempsey, G. Wayne Rogers, Hiram D. Dempsey, history, Jack Dempsey, John Dempsey, Joseph H. Dempsey, Lavlet Florence Dempsey, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Manassa, Mary Alice Dempsey, Mary P. Dempsey, Massachusetts, Mormons, Robert Dempsey, Rocky Mountains, San Luis Valley, The Manassa Mauler, West Virginia
From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history about champion boxer Jack Dempsey dated September 9, 1927:
Manassa, Colorado, Dempsey’s Old Home
In view of the fact that Dempsey is said to have lived in this county and because of the interest in the approaching fight, the following story concerning the early life of Dempsey is printed here:
While the little town of Manassa, in the San Luis valley of South Central Colorado, is not even a pin point on the larger state maps, its 750 inhabitants, more or less, view their community at this time as about the most important place in the United States.
There it was that William Harrison “Jack” Dempsey was born and spent his early boyhood days. Incidentally that is the origin of the scrapper’s pseudonym “The Manassa Mauler.”
Despite the pride the native Manassans display in pointing out an old-fashioned frame and adobe house near the edge of the town as Dempsey’s birthplace, they are not of one accord in their estimates of his general ability. Some are “pulling” hard for Dempsey to win back his lost laurels, while others are hoping Tunney whips him.
According to the official record of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a branch of the Mormon religion which Dempsey’s parents, Hiram D. and Mary P. Dempsey, have long been affiliated as active workers. William Harrison was born June 24, 1895, the ninth child. A brother and sister were born at later dates. In all, the former champion has had five brothers and sisters born in the following order: Don Bernard, Effie, Lavlet Florence, Estella, Mary Alice, Joseph H., Robert, John, Elsie and Bruce, the former champion arriving between John and Elsie. All were baptized in the Mormon faith, according to the church archives in the keeping of G. Wayne Rogers, of Manassa, secretary of the local organization.
Dempsey’s birthplace being 7,600 feet above sea level, he enjoyed the benefits of rarified air during his “growing days” as a boy. The San Luis valley, of which Manassa is a rich agricultural and live stock center, has an area equal to that of Massachusetts and is surrounded by Rocky mountain ranges, so the future world champion had an ample playground to develop his muscle. According to the old inhabitants, he put in all of his spare time from school “climbing around the mountains like a goat,” which may account for his sturdy legs of today.
28 Wednesday Feb 2018
Tags
Appalachia, boxer, boxing, Don Chafin, history, Jack Dempsey, Jack Sharkey, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, New York City, Ohio, Toledo, West Virginia
Logan (WV) Banner, 19 July 1927. For more information about this historic fight, follow this link: http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Jack_Dempsey_vs._Jack_Sharkey
To watch the fight, follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U55XvQy_eZY
04 Sunday Jun 2017
Posted Big Ugly Creek, Chapmanville, Sports
inTags
Appalachia, baseball, Big Ugly Creek, Chapmanville, genealogy, history, Lincoln County, Logan Banner, Logan County, Phico, Speed Price, West Virginia
Logan (WV) Banner, 11 June 1926.
26 Tuesday Feb 2013
Posted African American History, Big Harts Creek, Ed Haley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Logan, Music, Sports
inTags
Appalachia, Aracoma, Big Foot, blind, Blues, Clyde Haley, Come Take A Trip in My Airship, Coney Island, Devil Anse Hatfield, Done Got the 'Chines in My Mind, Ed Haley, Ella Haley, fiddler, Fox Cod Knob, Franklin Roosevelt, Harts Creek, Hester Mullins, Hiram Dempsey, history, Island Queen, Jack Dempsey, John Hartford, Lawrence Haley, Logan, Logan County, Mona Haley, music, mystery, Noah Haley, Nora Martin, Pink Mullins, steamboats, Trace Fork, Turkey in the Straw, West Virginia
Mona’s memories were really pouring out, about a variety of things. I asked her what Ed was like and she said, “Noah is a lot like Pop in a way. He always liked the outdoors, Pop did. He’d get out and sleep on the porch at night. He could peel an apple without breaking the skin. There was an old man up on Harts Creek and I’m almost sure that his name was Devil Anse Hatfield and Pop trimmed his fingernails out on his porch with his pocketknife. Aw, he could trim my nails or yours or anybody’s.”
Ed was good at predicting the future.
“Pop said machines was gonna take over man’s work and we was gonna go to the moon one day,” Mona said. She figured he wrote the song “Come Take A Trip in My Airship” because it sounded like his kind of foresight.
Mona said she remembered some of Ed’s stories but warned me that I wouldn’t want to hear them.
Of course, I did.
I asked her if they were off-color and she said, “Well, not really, but he was kind of an off-color guy. I can’t really remember any of the tales about him. What was that one about him dreaming he was on Fox Cod Knob and dragging a big log chain and he fell over a big cliff and when he come to hisself he was standing on his head on a chicken coop with his legs locked around a clothes line?”
What?
“He told some weird stories sometimes — ghost stories and things that I can’t remember,” she continued. “He told that story about Big Foot up in the hills of Harts Creek. A wild banshee. Pop talked about it. Clyde said he saw a Big Foot.”
Lawrence said, “It was up in the head of the Trace Fork of Harts Creek somewhere. Pop was on the back of this horse behind somebody. They was coming down through there and all at once something jumped up on back of the horse behind him and it was just rattling chains all the way down through there and the more that chain rattled the faster that horse would go. They absolutely run that horse almost to death getting away from it.”
I asked about Ed’s travels. Mona said her parents walked and hitchhiked a lot. Along the way, Ella sang to occupy the kids. Lawrence remembered buses and trains, where Ed sometimes played the fiddle for a little extra money from passengers. I asked if he ever talked about playing on any boats and Mona said, “No, but I know they did because I was with them on the ISLAND QUEEN that was going back and forth to Coney Island. Up by the calliope on the top deck.”
Mona said Ed always set up in towns near a movie theatre so the kids could watch movies.
“Every time he played he drawed a crowd,” she said. “He was loud and he was good. I never seen him play any that he didn’t have a crowd around him — anywhere.”
Ed was “all business” but would talk to people if they came up to him.
“One time we went in a beer joint up in Logan, West Virginia, that sat by the railroad tracks,” she said. “They played over at the courthouse and we walked over there. Pop wanted to get a beer while I ate supper. It was back when Roosevelt was president I reckon and he got in an argument with some guy about President Roosevelt. That was his favorite fella, you know. This guy started a fight with him and he backed off and walked away. Pop just let the man walk the length of his cane, hooked it around his neck, brought him back and beat him nearly to death. He was strong. He was dangerous if he ever got a hold of you, if he was mad at you. He always carried a pocketknife and it was sharp as a razor. He whittled on that knife — I mean, sharpened it every day.”
“Everybody liked Pop — everybody that I ever knew,” Mona said. “He had some pretty high people as friends.”
In Logan County, Ed visited Pink and Hester Mullins on Mud Fork and Rosie Day’s daughter Nora Martin in Aracoma. Mona said Ed was also friends with a famous boxer in town whose father played the fiddle, but she couldn’t remember his name. I later learned from Lawrence that it was Jack Dempsey, the heavyweight champion of the world from 1919-1926. Dempsey wrote in his biography that his father had fiddled “Turkey in the Straw” so much that all the children thought it was the National Anthem.
Ed mixed freely with some of the colored folks in Logan, and sometimes even left Mona at a “bootleg joint” operated by a black lady named Tootsie. She and Lawrence both felt Ed absorbed a lot of the Blues from the blacks in the coalfields. Mona sang one of her father’s songs — which I had never heard — to make the point:
Done got the [ma]chines in my mind, Lord, Lord.
Done got the ‘chines in my mind.
‘Chines in my mind and I can’t make a dime.
Done got the ‘chines in my mind.
My old gal got mad at me.
I never did her any harm.
‘Chines in my mind and I can’t make a dime.
Done got the ‘chines in my mind.
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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