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Brandon Ray Kirk

Category Archives: Women’s History

The Hopemont Blues: A Poem (1922)

11 Thursday Mar 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan, Poetry, Women's History

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Appalachia, Hopemont, Logan, Logan Banner, poems, poetry, Sally Godbey, Terra Alta, tuberculosis, West Virginia, writers, writing

The following poem appeared in the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, on July 7, 1922. The author was Sally Godbey, who gave her address as the “State T.B. Sanitarium, Hopemont, Terra Alta, W.Va.”

THE HOPEMONT BLUES

When the golden sun is sinking

Behind the hills of old Hopemont,

When of home and friends I’m thinking

That “what-might-have-been” is not.

When the night birds’ soft notes falling,

Melodies sweet float on the air,

Then my thoughts go back to Logan,

And the friends that I left there.

When the sighing night-winds moaning,

Groaning through the old oak trees

and the strain of “Home Sweet Home”

Carry softly on the breeze,

Then is when my thoughts go roaming,

Filled with memories old and new

Days of gladness, days of sadness,

Nights so happy, nights so blue.

Though there’s many miles between us,

Little town I love you yet,

And I long to hurry back,

For I’m homesick and regret

That I ever left you Logan,

But I had to, so they say.

I’m lonesome for the old home town,

And I’m coming back some day,

They say that you are a dull little town,

They spell it with a capital D.

They wish that they could get away,

But you are all the world to me,

And though the world is a very big place

My home has always been with you.

And I find you quite a nice little town,

With friends both kind and true.

The Banner prefaced the poem with this: “The Logan Banner is the recipient of a constant chain of poems which would fill our columns if we even dared to publish them. People will never learn that poets are born, not made. However, we have just received one which is from a former Logan girl and now a patient at Hopemont. we are pleased to give this publicity and for genuine beauty of expression and sentiment it far excels many of those we see in the public print today. The author is Miss Sally Godbey and she calls the poem “The Hopemont Blues.” We will refrain from further comments but pass the beatufiul lines on to our readers with the request that they write Miss Godbey, care of State T.B. Sanitarium, at Hopemont, W.Va. and tell her what they think of her literary ability.”

Nancy E. Hatfield Memories, Part 2 (1974)

02 Saturday Jan 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Sandy Valley, Civil War, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Women's History

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attorney general, Battle of Gravepine, Battle of Scary Creek, Cap Hatfield, Charleston, civil war, Confederate Army, crime, Dan Cunningham, detective, Devil Anse Hatfield, Ellison Mounts, feuds, Frank Phillips, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Howard B. Lee, Jim Comstock, Johnse Hatfeild, Kentucky, Logan Wildcats, Nancy Hatfield, Roseanna McCoy, Tug Fork, Union Army, West Virginia, West Virginia Women

Howard B. Lee, former Attorney General of West Virginia, provided this account of Nancy Hatfield (widow of Cap) in the early 1970s:

Our next stop was at the home of Nancy Elizabeth, the same home where I visited with her and Cap during my campaign. For nearly three hours I asked questions and listened to that remarkable woman recount many of her experiences as the wife of America’s most celebrated feudist.

Nancy Elizabeth’s home also held a number of guns, pistols, and other relics of the feud days. But the most interesting item was Cap’s bullet-proof, steel breastplate, designed to cover the entire front half of his body from his beck to his lower abdomen.

“Mrs. Hatfield,” I said, “judging from the three bullet marks on it, this breastplate was a great protection to Cap; but what was to prevent an enemy from shooting him in the back?” Her eyes flashed as she replied: “Mr. Lee, Cap Hatfield never turned his back on an enemy or a friend.”

“I have read two stories, Mrs. Hatfield, each purporting to give the true cause of the feud: One book stated that it was the result of a dispute between a McCoy and a Hatfield over the ownership of a hog. Another book said that it grew out of the seduction of a McCoy girl by Johnson Hatfield, oldest son of Devil Anse. Is either one of these stories true?”

“No, neither story is true,” she replied. “The McCoys lived on the Kentucky side of Tug River, and the Hatfields lived on the West Virginia side. Hogs don’t swim rivers. I never heard the girl story until I read it in a book, written long after the feud was over. Both stories are pure fiction.”

“The truth is,” she continued, “in the fall of 1882, in an election-day fight between Ellison Hatfield, a younger brother of Devil Anse, and three McCoy brothers, Ellison was shot and knifed. He died two days later. In retaliation, Devil Anse and his clan captured and shot the three McCoy brothers. It was these four senseless killings that started the feud.”

In answer to my inquiry, Nancy Elizabeth said: “Yes, there had been ‘bad blood’ between the two families since the Civil War. In that struggle the Hatfields were ‘rebels’,–loyal to their State, Virginia. Devil Anse organized and was the captain of a company of Confederate sympathizers called the ‘Logan Wildcats’. They were recruited for local defense; but they left the county long enough to take part in the battle of Scary, fought along the banks of the Kanawha River, a few miles below Charleston.

“The McCoys, and their mountain neighbors, were pro-Union; and to protect their region against invasion by ‘Virginia rebels’, they organized a military company called ‘Home Guards’. There were occasional border clashes between the two forces, with casualties on both sides. The war ended only seventeen years before the feud began, and the bitterness still existed in the minds of the older generation, and they passed it on to their children. It was the old sectional and political hatreds that sparked the fight between Ellison Hatfield and the McCoy brothers.”

Nancy Elizabeth declined to estimate the number killed on either side of the feud.

“It was a horrible nightmare to me,” she said. “Sometimes, for months, Cap never spent a night in our house. He and Devil Anse, with others, slept in the nearby woods to guard our homes against surprise attacks. At times, too, we women and our children slept in hidden shelters in the forests.

“But these assaults were not one-sided affairs. The Hatfields crossed the Tug and killed McCoys. It was a savage war of extermination, regardless of age or sex. Finally, to get our children to a safer locality, we Hatfields left Tug River, crossed the mountains, and settled here on Island Creek, a tributary of the Guyandotte River.

“No, there was no formal truce ending hostilities. After a decade or more of fighting and killing, both sides grew tired and quit. The McCoys stayed in Kentucky and the Hatfields kept to West Virginia. The feud was really over a long time before either side realized it.

“Yes, Kentucky offered a large reward for the capture of Devil Anse and Cap. The governor of West Virginia refused to extradite them because, said he, ‘their trials in Kentucky would be nothing more than legalized lynchings’. It was then that Kentucky’s governor offered the reward for their capture–‘dead or alive’. Three attempts were made by reward seekers to capture them.

“Dan Cunningham, a Charleston detective, with two Cincinnati detectives, made the first attempt. They came through Kentucky, and crossed Tug River in the night; but the Hatfields soon captured them. A justice of the peace sentenced them to 90 days in Logan County jail for disturbing hte peace. When released, they were told to follow the Guyandotte River to Huntington, a distance of 60 miles, and ‘not to come back’.

“Next, a man named Phillips led two raids from Kentucky into Hatfield territory. In the first, he captured ‘Cottontop’ Mounts, a relative and supporter of the Hatfields, and took him to Pikeville, Kentucky, where he was hanged. But the second foray met with disaster at the ‘Battle of the Grapevine’. Phillips, and some of his followers escaped into Kentucky, but some where buried where they fell.

“This was the last attempt of the reward seekers. However, Kentucky never withdrew the reward offer, and that is why Devil Anse and Cap were always alarmed and on the alert.”

Source: West Virginia Women (Richwood, WV: Jim Comstock, 1974), p. 151-152

Nancy E. Hatfield Memories, Part 1 (1974)

28 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Cemeteries, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Logan, Women's History

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Appalachia, attorney general, Betty Caldwell, Cap Hatfield, cemeteries, Devil Anse Hatfield, feuds, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Howard B. Lee, Jim Comstock, Logan, Logan County, Nancy Hatfield, politics, Republican Party, Robert Elliott Hatfield, Sarah Ann, Tennis Hatfield, West Virginia, West Virginia Women, Willis Hatfield

Howard B. Lee, former Attorney General of West Virginia, provided this account of Nancy Hatfield (widow of Cap) in the early 1970s:

HATFIELD WOMEN.

Over the years, much has been written about the male members of the Hatfield clan who took part in that early orgy of blood-letting–the Hatfield-McCoy feud. But nothing has been said concerning the indomitable wives of that stalwart breed of men.

My purpose is to pay a richly deserved tribute to one of those pioneer women–the late Nancy Elizabeth, wife of William Anderson Hatfield, common known “Cap,” second son of Devil Anse, and the most deadly killer of the feud.

More than 30 years have passed since I last talked with her; but I still regard Nancy Elizabeth Hatfield as the most remarkable and unforgettable woman of the mountains.

In the spring of 1924, I was a candidate in the primary election for the Republican nomination for attorney general, and I wanted the Hatfield influence. Devil Anse had died in 1921, and his mantle of leadership of the clan had fallen to his oldest living son, Cap–a power in Logan County politics.

I had met Cap, casually, in 1912, but I had not seen him since that meeting. But his sister, Mrs. Betty Caldwell, and her husband, lived in my county of Mercer, and were among my political supporters. To pave the way for my later meeting with Cap, I had Mrs. Caldwell write and ask him to support me.

Later, when campaigning in the City of Logan, I engaged a taxi to take me the few miles up Island Creek to Cap’s home. The car stopped suddenly and the driver pointed to a comfortable-looking farm house on the other side of the creek and said:

“That’s Cap’s home, and that’s Cap out there by the barn.”

I told him to return for me in two hours.

Cap saw me get out of the car, and, as I crossed the creek on an old-fashioned footlog. I saw him fold his arms across his chest and slip his right hand under his coat. Later, I noticed a large pistol holstered under his left arm. Even in that late day, Cap took no chances with strangers. When I got within speaking distance, I told him my name, and that I had come to solicit his support in my campaign for attorney general. He gave me a hearty handclasp, and said:

“My sister, Mrs. Caldwell, wrote us about you. But, let’s go to the house, my wife is the politician in our family.”

Cap was reluctant to commit himself “so early.” But Nancy Elizabeth thought otherwise. Finally, Cap agreed to support me; and, with that point settled, we visited until my taxi returned.

Meanwhile, with Cap’s approval, Nancy Elizabeth gave me the accompanying, heretofore unpublished photograph of the Devil Anse Clan. In 1963 I rephotographed it and sent a print to Willis Hatfield (number 22 in picture), only survivor of Devil Anse, who made the identification. Nancy Elizabeth is number 16, and the baby in her lap is her son, Robert Elliott, born April 29, 1897. Therefore, the photograph must have been made late in 1897, or early in 1898.

A few months after Cap’s death (August 22, 1930), the West Virginia newspaper publishers and editors held their annual convention in Logan. I was invited to address the group at a morning session. That same day, Sheriff Joe Hatfield and his brother, Tennis, younger brothers of Cap, gave an ox-roast dinner for the visiting newsmen and their guests. The picnic was held on a narrow strip of bottom land, on Island Creek, a half-mile below the old home of Devil Anse.

I ate lunch with Nancy Elizabeth and her sister-in-law, Betty Caldwell. After lunch, at the suggestion of Mrs. Caldwell, we three drove up the creek to the old home of her father–Devil Anse. It was a large, two-story, frame structure (since destroyed by fire, then occupied by Tennis Hatfield, youngest son of Devil Anse).

The most interesting feature in the old home was Devil Anse’s gun-room. Hanging along its walls were a dozen, or more, high-powered rifles, and a number of large caliber pistols, ranging from teh earliest to the latest models. “The older guns,” said Nancy Elizabeth, “were used in the feud.”

As we returned, we stopped at the family cemetery that clings uncertainly to the steep mountainside, overlooking the picnic grounds. There, among the mountains he loved and ruled, old Devil Anse found peace. A life-size statue of the old man, carved in Italy (from a photograph) of the finest Carrara marble, stands in majestic solitude above his grave. On its four-foot high granite base are carved the names of his wife and their thirteen children.

Source: West Virginia Women (Richwood, WV: Jim Comstock, 1974), p. 149-151

L. Jean Bayes (1929)

16 Friday Oct 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in African American History, Logan, Women's History

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African-Americans, Appalachia, Aracoma High School, Cheyney, Cheyney Normal School, education, history, L. Jean Bayes, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Pennsylvania, teacher, teachers, West Virginia, West Virginia State College, Wilberforce University

In April of 1929, the Logan Banner profiled numerous prominent African-American residents of Logan County, West Virginia.

Miss L. Jean Bayes

Elementary Department, Aracoma High School

Miss Bayes is a graduate of Wilberforce University and has done work at West Virginia State College and Cheyney Normal, Cheyney, Pa. She has taught for eleven years in West Virginia, seven of which have been engaged in Logan county. She is a member of the Teachers’ State and National Educational movements. She is very energetic in the promotion of civic, religious and the political welfare of her county and state. She tends her efforts zealously for the welfare and uplift of her people in a wide scope of interest. Social handicaps appeal strongly to her humanitarian impulses, and she is a veritable Good Samaritan in this sphere of necessity. Miss Bayes possibly has not a superior among the women of her race in the state as an organizer and effective public speaker. As a teacher she is effective. She knows her subject and her pupil and brings both together harmoniously and beneficially. In the community, Miss Bayes is always constructive and outstanding in whatever she undertakes and easily outdistances all competitors in her program. Her ____ is widespread, for she is possessed with a purpose and strength of character that makes her a natural leader among her people.

Poem: Sad Story of Married Life (1913)

15 Wednesday Apr 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Huntington, Poetry, Women's History

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Appalachia, Huntington, Logan Democrat, Marshall College, poems, poetry, West Virginia

From the Logan Democrat of Logan, WV, comes this poem written by three young female students of Marshall College, published May 22, 1913:

Shady tree, babbling brook

Girl in hammock, reading book;

Gold curls, tiny feet,

Girl in hammock, looks so sweet;

Man rides past, big mustache,

Girl in hammock makes a “mash”.

Mash is mutual, day is set,

Man and maiden, married get.

Married now, one year ago,

Keeping house on Baxter row;

Red hot stove, beefsteak frying,

Girl got married, cooking trying.

Cheeks all burning, eyes look red,

Girl got married, nearly dead;

Biscuits burn up, beefsteak charry,

Girl got married, awful sorry,

Man comes home, tears mustache,

Mad as blazes, got no hash,

Thinks of hammock in the lane,

Wishes maiden back again,

Maiden also thinks of swing,

Wants to go back too, poor old thing.

Hour of midnight, baby squawking,

Man in sock feet bravely walking;

Baby yells on, now the other

Twin he starts up like his brother.

Paregoric by the bottle

Emptied into baby’s throttle,

Naughty tack points in air,

Waiting some one’s foot to tear,

Man in sock feet, see him there!

Holy Moses! Hear him swear!

Raving crazy, gets his gun,

Blows his head off, dead and gone.

Pretty widow, with a book,

In a hammock by the brook,

Man rides past, big mustache;

Keeps on riding, nary “mash.”

Tom Dula: Ann Melton Grave (2020)

08 Sunday Mar 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Cemeteries, Tom Dula, Women's History

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Ann Melton, Appalachia, cemeteries, crime, Elkville, genealogy, history, James Melton, Laura Foster, Melton Cemetery, North Carolina, photos, Tom Dula, true crime, Wilkes County

IMG_6084

Ann Melton, a married woman, was involved in a love triangle with Tom Dula and her cousin, Laura Foster. Up this way to Melton Cemetery, Elkville, Wilkes County, NC. 7 January 2020

IMG_6033

Anne Melton was charged with the Laura Foster murder, but was cleared by Tom Dula’s note shortly before his execution. Melton Cemetery, Elkville, Wilkes County, NC. 7 January 2020

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Ann Melton died a few years after Tom Dula. A Foster descendant suggested that I not put flowers at Ann Melton’s grave, but I did anyway. 7 January 2020

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Sources disagree as to Ann Melton’s cause of death. Family members recently placed this headstone. 7 January 2020

Mrs. Evva L. Hatch (1929)

04 Wednesday Mar 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in African American History, Women's History

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African-Americans, Appalachia, Charleston, Evva L. Hatch, Garnet High School, Logan Banner, Logan County, McBeth School, Ohio University, teacher, University of Chicago, West Virginia, West Virginia State College, West Virginia State Teachers' Association

In April of 1929, the Logan Banner profiled numerous prominent African-American residents of Logan County, West Virginia.

Notable Blacks of Logan County LB 04.16.1929 18

Mrs. Evva L. Hatch

Teacher, McBeth School

Mrs. Hatch is a graduate of Garnet High School, Charleston, and West Virginia State College. She has done summer work at Ohio University and University of Chicago. Mrs. Hatch has taught for fourteen years in the state, twelve years of which have been spent in Logan county. She is a member of West Virginia State Teachers’ Association.

In her community and district and also through the county, Mrs. Hatch is regarded as one of the active and influential leaders in all of her activities that are promoted in interest of good citizenship. Her preparation and long service as a teacher makes her ability unquestioned. She is a leader in her field and all groups of citizens recognize her qualifications and hold her in high regard.

Miss Ruby L. Hess (1929)

26 Wednesday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in African American History, Women's History

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African-Americans, education, history, Logan Banner, Logan County, Lorado, Nannie Burroughs School, Ruby L. Pless, teacher, West Virginia, West Virginia Parent-Teacher Association, West Virginia State College, West Virginia State Teachers' Association

In April of 1929, the Logan Banner profiled numerous prominent African-American residents of Logan County, West Virginia.

Notable Blacks of Logan County LB 04.16.1929 13

Miss Ruby L. Pless

Teacher, Nannie Burrough School, Lorado

Graduate West Virginia State College and did summer work at same institution. She has taught four years, two of which have been spent in her present position.

She is a member of the West Virginia State Teachers’ Association and of the State Parent-Teacher Association.

Miss Pless is a teacher of engaging personality. Studious and earnest in her work, and direct in her methods, for obtaining results, she is classed with the group of progressive teachers of the county and state. She is making a splendid record in her present position. Well placed in the affections of her pupils and patrons, Miss Pless’ thoroughness in her field of labor is destined to lead her far in advancement in the profession in which she is engaged.

Appalachian Heritage Day in Logan, WV (2019)

29 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Civil War, Logan, Music, Women's History

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Almost Heaven Dulcimer Club, Appalachia, Appalachian Heritage Day, authors, Bobby Taylor, books, Carter Taylor Seaton, Confederate Army, Cooney Ricketts Chapter, culture, fiddler, fiddlers, fiddling, Hatfield-McCoy CVB, Hippie Homesteaders, history, Ken Hechler, Laura Treacy Bentley, Logan, Logan County Commission, Looking for Ireland, M. Lynne Squires, photos, Rebel in the Red Jeep, Southern Coalition for the Arts, Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Urban Appalachia, Vandalia Award, West Virginia

Appalachian Heritage Day occurred on August 25, 2019 in Logan, WV. The event featured authors, scholars, guest speakers, information tables, a genealogy workshop, a writers’ workshop, numerous old-time and bluegrass music workshops, and an all-day concert. Special thanks to the Logan County Commission, Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College, the Hatfield-McCoy CVB, and the Southern Coalition for the Arts for sponsoring the event. For more information, follow this link to the event website: https://appalachianheritageday.weebly.com/

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Authors Carter Taylor Seaton, Laura Treacy Bentley, and M. Lynne Squires offered their amazing books for sale, hosted meet-and-greet sessions at author tables, and presented about Appalachian topics. Each of these ladies has a website providing information about their biographies and books; for more info, give them a Google!

Cooney Ricketts UDC Group

The United Daughters of the Confederacy, Cooney Ricketts Chapter, were featured at Appalachian Heritage Day. This wonderful group of ladies offered history about Confederate soldiers and women on the home front. For more about this group, go here: https://www.herald-dispatch.com/features_entertainment/albert-gallatin-jenkins-united-daughters-of-confederacy-hosts-annual-meeting/article_6d2cdf9e-5ef3-5a75-a22f-69382944e145.html

Bobby Taylor in Old-Time Fiddle Workshop

Master fiddler Bobby Taylor hosted an old-time fiddle workshop. Bobby is the 2010 Vandalia Award winner. For more about Bobby, go here: http://www.wvculture.org/vandalia/award/2010taylor.html

Almost Heaven Dulcimer Club

The Almost Heaven Dulcimer Club made plenty of unforgettable music at Appalachian Heritage Day. For more about them, go here: http://www.davehaasmusic.com/davehaasmusic/Club.html

Recollections of Laura Hinchman at Combs Addition, WV (1984), Part 1

24 Friday Jan 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in African American History, Civil War, Coal, Guyandotte River, Huntington, Logan, Man, Timber, Women's History, Wyoming County

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African-Americans, Alfred Beckley, Anna Brooke Hinchman, Bruno, Buffalo City, civil war, Claypool, Clean Eagle Coal Company, coal, Combs Addition, Confederate Army, Cyclone, Cyclone Post Office, Davin, Elk Creek, Forkner, genealogy, Guyandotte River, history, Hollow A. Davin, Huntington, John L. Lewis, Lake Claypool, Laura Hinchman, Logan, Logan County, logging, Lorenzo Dow HInchman, Mallory, Man, Man High School, Morris Harvey College, Oceana, Paul Hinchman, Pete Toler, postmaster, rafting, Raleigh County, Rosa Hinchman, splash dams, timbering, Ulysses Hinchman, United Mine Workers of America, Vic McVey, Walter Hinchman, West Virginia, Woodrow Hinchman, Wyoming County

Laura C. Hinchman was born on March 22, 1919 to Walter and Anna Brooke (McVey) Hinchman at Mallory in Logan County, WV. She was an educator for over fifty years and was very active in civic affairs. For more information about her background, see her obituary at this location: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/140834185/laura-caryl-hinchman

The following interview of Ms. Hinchman was conducted on July 16, 1984. In this part of the interview, she discusses her ancestry, community history, timbering, and coal mining.

***

Miss Hinchman, how did your family first come to this area?

Well, when West Virginia was being settled, people who were willing to come here were given land grants by governors of Virginia over different periods of years. This property was given by the governor of the commonwealth of Virginia at that time, Governor Nicholson. It was given in 1815 to my great grandfather, Dr. Ulysses Hinchman, who was a member of the legislature. He had land holdings in Wyoming County, and he laid out the town of Oceana. He is recorded in a lot of the books of the history of Wyoming and Logan Counties. According to the West Virginia Blue Book, that is how Man got its name. At first it was called Buffalo City. Then they decided to change the name. They thought Hinchman was too long and there was already a place called Hinch, so they named it Man in honor of my great grandfather. Now, that’s according to the West Virginia Blue Book.

Do you remember what your grandparents were like?

Now, both my grandfather and grandmother Hinchman died before I was born, so I don’t remember either of them. At that time, this was all timber land. My grandfather Hinchman, whose name was Lorenzo Dow Hinchman, was a timberman. We have a lot of records here in the house where he kept books of how much he paid the men and how much he sold, and all that. After this was cleared, then, of course, it became farmland. Now, they had no way of getting the logs that were cut to a market. So down there just below Woodrow’s, and this happened several places, they built what was called splash dams. They made a dam and dammed the water up and filled it with logs. Then there would be a great big lot of excitement. Everybody would gather and they would tear the dam lose and let the logs float down to the Guyan River. There were men who went with them, I suppose on rafts, and rafted the logs together, and floated them down the Guyan River to the Guyandotte. Now, my mother’s father, who came from Raleigh County, was Uncle Vic McVey. Of course, I remember him well, he lived here with us until he died at the age of ninety-four. He was one of the men who followed floating those logs down the river, and then they would walk back from Huntington. They had places that they stayed on their way back. I don’t know how many days it took.

Now, my grandmother Hinchman was a Chambers, which is also one of the early settler families in this area. She was a schoolteacher. At that time, it was possible to teach school when you got through the eighth grade, you were given a certificate. All first teachers in the one room schools here were just graduates of the eight grade, because the high school at Man was not built until 1919 or 1920, and that’s all they had. Now some people taught after they finished the eighth grade, and then went on when it was possible. I have a cousin Lake Claypool–that’s another old family in this area for which Claypool is named–that she taught after she finished the eighth grade then she went on to Man and finished high school and then went to Morris Harvey. But all the older teachers were just eighth grade. There was a one room school down here at Claypool. There was a one room school up at Vance’s. There were several one room schools on Buffalo Creek. There was a one room school up–what’s that creek up Bruno called–Elk Creek. My grandmother was a teacher, but as I say, both died before I was ever born. Now then, this place was called Cyclone. This is where Cyclone was. My grandmother Hinchman kept the Cyclone Post Office here for forty years. After she passed away, my mother–she was a McVey–and she married my father, Walter Hinchman, in 1910, and came here. I had Aunt Rosa Hinchman, who had never married at that time, who helped her keep the post office. The mail was carried on horseback from Huntington and the West, came that way, and from Oceana, from that direction they carried it. The postmasters met here, and they ate dinner here every day. My mother–ever who all was here, and at that time, you never knew who might be there for dinner… But when this house was built, this part wasn’t part of it. The kitchen and the dining room were in separate buildings. Now, of course, in the south they had slaves and all, but I do recall their talking about on black man, by the name of Sam. I don’t remember much about him but that’s the only black person that they ever had here, you know, on the farm.

I do remember my granddad McVey quite well, and my great-grandfather came to Raleigh County with General Beckley and settled there. Then my mother’s grandfather was a Confederate soldier in the Civil War. His name was Zirkle, which is the German word for circle. He ran away from home during the Civil War and joined the Confederate Army. After the war he came here and settled. He also lived with us until he was in his nineties. But my mothers’ mother, my grandmother McVey, died when my mother was only, maybe two years old, so I never knew any of my real grandparents except, you know, my granddad McVey.

Were you born here, at this house?

I was born here on March 22, 1919. My father passed away in February of 1920 when I was eleven months old. There were three of us Hinchman children: Woodrow, Paul, and I was the youngest, of course. I don’t remember my father, but Woodrow does. Then my mother married Pete Toler when I was twenty-three months old, a year after my father died. I remember his as my real father because he reared me. He worked this farm and I remember the first time I called him Daddy, now I don’t know how old I was.

There was a mine at Davin that was first called Forkner, and it was changed to the name of Davin after Hollow A. Davin, a prominent man in Logan who probably owned the mine, and that started in 1923. Then the post office was taken up the creek and then we had a post office at Davin. Then my dad ran a coal cutting machine. Men took those jobs by contract and they were paid for the number of cars that they cut. They could work as many hours as they wanted. The men who loaded the coal–they may have loaded themselves, I don’t know–they loaded the coal into wooden cars. Now, in order to get credit of the coal car that they had loaded they had a–what was it called? Well, it was a little round piece of metal with a number on it that they hung on that coal car. The coal was hauled out of the mine by mule or ponies. There was a tipple and everything there at Davin. Then the Clean Eagle mine went in later, I don’t remember when, but my dad worked there, and he also worked at Mallory. But when we were children, we never saw our dad until the weekend because he went to work before daylight, before we ever thought of getting up and he never came in until after we had gone to bed. That sort of thing kept up with miners until John L. Lewis, you see, organized the union.

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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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  • Fourteen
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  • Gilbert
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  • Gill
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  • Halcyon
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  • Holden
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  • Huntington
  • Inez
  • Irish-Americans
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Feud Poll 2

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

Blogroll

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Feud Poll 3

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

Recent Posts

  • Whirlwind News 04.12.1927
  • E. Hatfield Survey (1878)
  • Cline Property in Magnolia District (1865-1876)

Ed Haley Poll 1

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

Top Posts & Pages

  • Guyan Valley High School Graduates (1932)
  • Tice Elkins in Ferrellsburg, WV
  • West Virginia Banjo Player
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Copyright

© Brandon Ray Kirk and brandonraykirk.wordpress.com, 1987-2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Brandon Ray Kirk and brandonraykirk.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Appalachia Ashland Big Creek Big Ugly Creek Blood in West Virginia Brandon Kirk Cabell County cemeteries Chapmanville Charleston civil war coal Confederate Army crime culture Ed Haley Ella Haley Ferrellsburg feud fiddler fiddling genealogy Green McCoy Guyandotte River Harts Harts Creek Hatfield-McCoy Feud history Huntington John Hartford Kentucky Lawrence Haley life Lincoln County Lincoln County Feud Logan Logan Banner Logan County Milt Haley Mingo County music Ohio photos timbering U.S. South Virginia Wayne County West Virginia Whirlwind writing

Blogs I Follow

  • OtterTales
  • Our Appalachia: A Blog Created by Students of Southern West Virginia CTC
  • Piedmont Trails
  • Truman Capote
  • Appalachian Diaspora

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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

Our Appalachia: A Blog Created by Students of Southern West Virginia CTC

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

Piedmont Trails

Genealogy and History in North Carolina and Beyond

Truman Capote

A site about one of the most beautiful, interesting, tallented, outrageous and colorful personalities of the 20th Century

Appalachian Diaspora

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