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Tag Archives: Boone County

Logan Chamber of Commerce Offers Cool Reception to UMWA Officials (1925)

18 Wednesday Nov 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Battle of Blair Mountain, Boone County, Logan

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Aracoma Hotel, Boone County, C.A. Brubeck, Chamber of Commerce, Herrin, history, Illinois, Kanawha County, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Mingo County, Ohio, Pomeroy, United Mine Workers of America, West Virginia

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history about a visit to Logan by United Mine Workers of America officials in 1925. The story is dated August 28, 1925.

Local Citizens Resent Visit of Union Officials

Chamber of Commerce Adopts Resolutions At Special Meeting, and Informs Visitors That They Are Unwelcome Guests

Just how thoroughly the citizens generally of this community are opposed to the activities and methods of the United Mine Workers of America was amply demonstrated this week when officials of the organization were frankly and almost bluntly told by committees waiting on them that their presence here was not desired and they were invited to make themselves conspicuous by their absence.

Two weeks ago eight officials prominent in the affairs of the organization paid a visit to this city and cloaked their activities with a secrecy which tended to excite suspicion. After a stay of a little over a day they departed for an unknown destination, leaving behind the information that they would return shortly. Tuesday four of them again made their appearance and immediately matters began to move with startling rapidity.

A special meeting of the Chamber of Commerce was hurriedly called. Before the visitors had been in the city a half hour members of the Chamber were being summoned by telephone and by messenger to assemble in special session. The response to the call was quite general for the business men of the community realized what the future promised where United Mine Workers methods prevailed. Pomeroy, Ohio and Herrin, Illinois, did not appeal to them as a possible future for Logan, so all other affairs were dropped and the meeting was promptly in session.

The subject of the visit was thoroughly discussed and it was unanimously decided that the best interests of the community demanded that unquestioned action should be taken. The experiences of other cities and communities where United Mine Workers methods prevailed were gone into thoroughly and in detail and the members went on record by unanimously adopting the following resolutions:

WHEREAS, it has come to the attention of the Chamber of Commerce of the City of Logan that certain officials of the United Mine Workers of America have made a recent visit to our city and are now back again, and

WHEREAS, we believe it is their desire and intention to stir up industrial strife in attempting to form an organization of the miners in this field, and,

WHEREAS, we have a peaceful, quiet community of good law-abiding citizens, and the miners in our section are now doing well and everything is peaceful and pleasant and that the relations between the coal operators and the miners is pleasant and agreeable, which is conducive to the peace and prosperity of our county; and

WHEREAS, the results and experiences in sections where efforts towards organization on the part of the United Mine Workers of America have been so destructive and disastrous to the industrial success of such communities such as Pomeroy, Ohio, Herrin, Ill., Northern West Virginia and Kanawha, Boone and Mingo Counties, which communities are still suffering from the effects of such attempted organization, and believing that the usual tactics would be pursued in this field if such organization is attempted.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that this body in meeting assembled, unanimously deplores the fact of any such attempted organization and go on record as being unqualifiedly opposed to say activities towards such attempted organization on the part of the United Mine Workers of America, or any of their agents, servants or employees.

AND, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be spread on the minutes of this meeting and also delivered to the press.

This resolution unanimously adopted this the twenty-fifth day of August, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty Five.

Logan Chamber of Commerce.

H.A. DAVID, chairman

C.A. BRUBECK, secretary

***

It was decided that a committee be appointed to wait on the visitors and in plain language inform them that their presence here was not desired and inviting them to transfer their activities to some other territory remote from Logan.

Shortly after the meeting adjourned, a committee of some twenty-five or thirty members paid a visit to the Aracoma hotel, where the officials were making their headquarters, and conveyed to them the feelings and decisions of the business men of the community. When the officials entered the parlor, where the committee had gathered, the spokesman conveyed to the visitors the reason for their interview in substantially the following words:

Men: Those assembled represent the business interests of the community members of the Chamber of Commerce. We know that you are not here for any good purpose, either for the good of the business interests or the good of the citizens of Logan county or its interests. We know your history in the past. We know what you did to Boone county and we…

Road Linking Charleston to Logan County (1861)

05 Thursday Nov 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Boone County, Civil War, Logan

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Appalachia, Aracoma, Ballardsville, Boone County, Camp Piatt, Charleston, civil war, Coal River, history, Logan, maps, Virginia, West Virginia

Source: National Archives.

Bob and Nora Brumfield Home in Harts, Lincoln County, WV (1991)

08 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Boone County, Harts

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Appalachia, Billy Adkins, board of education, Bob Brumfield, Boone County, Caroline Brumfield, Charley Brumfield, Columbus Lum Pack, Corbit Brumfield, genealogy, Harts, history, Lincoln County, Nora Brumfield, photos, teacher, Victoria Pack, West Madison, West Virginia

Robert & Nora Brumfield Home

Bob and Nora (Pack) Brumfield residence in Harts, Lincoln County, WV. Bob (1893-1969), a son of Charley and Caroline (Dingess) Brumfield, served as a member of the district board of education in the early 1900s. Nora (1896-1964), the daughter of Lum and Victoria (Lambert) Pack, was a longtime teacher in the Harts community. I used to visit their son Corbit Brumfield at West Madison, Boone County, WV. Photo courtesy of Bill Adkins.

Armed March Trial (1923)

29 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Battle of Blair Mountain, Boone County, Coal, Logan

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A.M. Belcher, Appalachia, Battle of Blair Mountain, Bill Blizzard, Blair Mountain, Boone County, C.W. Osenton, coal, Coal River, crime, deputy sheriff, Dingess Run, Edgar Combs, George Muncy, H.W. Houston, history, J.E. Wilburn, James Cafalgo, John Gore, Lewisburg, Logan Banner, Logan County, Nellis, Ottawa, T.C. Townsend, United Mine Workers of America, Velesco Carpenter, W.B. Mullens

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this story dated June 29, 1923 about the trial that resulted from the “armed march” on Logan County, WV, by UMWA miners:

Widow Is Introduced At The Blizzard Trial

LEWISBURG, W.Va., June 27 — Two word pictures, one from the lips of the widow of George Munsy, coal digger who “never came back” from guarding his county, the other from one of the party that met and killed the outpost on the mountain side, lay tonight before 12 men who are to determine whether Sub-District President William Blizzard, of the miners’ union, was an accessory to the murder of Munsy.

Before these word pictures the jurors had heard counsel on both sides outline the story of the labor trouble of Southern West Virginia coal fields, the march of thousands against the Logan border, the interruption of that march after a brigadier general of the United States Army had intervened a midnight clash between miners and deputy sheriffs and state police, resumption of the march, fighting on the mountain ridges that separated the non-union Logan coal fields from the then union fields on Coal River, the meeting of 30 or 40 marchers with Deputy Sheriff John C. Gore, of Logan county, and two companions one of whom was Munsey, the volley of shots that answered the Logan pass-word, “amen,” and a wealth of detail about the march presented from point of view of both prosecution and defense.

Review Blair Battle

All the morning was spent in the opening of the attorneys, A.M. Belcher and C.W. Osenton, for the prosecution, and H.W. Houston and T.C. Townsend, for the defense. Then in the afternoon the jurors turned their attention to the witness box. First they saw W.B. Mullens point out the battle line and the points of interest in the march on a map that was tacked to the courthouse wall above the witness stand. Next Velesco Carpenter, facing an inexhaustible stream of questions in direct and cross-examinations told how he had gone from his home in Nellis to Blair, how in a party of about 35 he marched up Blair mountain, spent the night, and early the next morning set out and from his place in line watched the meeting with three men, one of whom he learned was Gore, heard the shots and saw the bodies after they had fallen. Then just before court adjourned Mrs. Munsy took the stand for her brief examination so that she might return tomorrow to her seven children in her home on Dingess Run Creek in Logan county.

Widow on Stand

“The night before he was killed was his time to come home but he never came,” Mrs. Munsy testified that her husband had been digging coal for about fifteen years before his death and that they had been married about 20 years. He had been “guarding for about a week, working for Logan county, for the coal operators,” she went on, but later when Mr. Houston cross-examined her on that statement her formerly quiet tone rose to the ringing declaration “he was defending his county.”

Carpenter did not know who fired the shots that killed Gore, Munsy and James Cafalgo. When the shooting began he ran back a few steps and dropped to the ground, he said. After it was over he went to a point near the body of “the foreigner,” and saw that of Gore, but could not see the third body. Edgar Combs told him he had killed the one Carpenter had designated as “the large man in the middle,” and later told another of the party this man was Gore.

He left Nellis, where he was employed as a pump man, on August 29, 1921, he said, after a man had come to the mines and threatened to “knock off” the “yellow” men who did not go. A journey on foot and by rail took about 30 in his party to Ottawa, and there Edgar Combs picked him and three others he named to go to Blair. The next day from the schoolhouse steps in Blair, he said, Rev. J.E. Wilburn made a speech and a party was organized that went into the hills. Some threw down their guns and refused to go but threats were made, and the men were lined up in single file, with leaders for squads of eight men. The original party of 50 or 60 divided, and the group of about 35, in which he went, camped on the top of the mountain until daybreak. They heard firing in the direction of the “gap,” through which previous testimony had shown the road from Blair to Logan ran and set out in that direction.

Then he told of the meeting with the “large man” and his two companions, and by pre-arranged signal the leader lifted his hat three times to indicate there was no danger. The large man beckoned to them to come on, and when the parties met there were mutual demands for the password. The shots were fired, Carpenter testified, when somebody said “amen,” and in the opening statements prosecution counsel had told the jury that it would be shown that “amen” was the Logan password. Wilburn, the preacher, was in the lead of the marchers column, and Combs next behind him, the witness said.

Attack Upon Non-Union Mine in Boone County, WV (1922)

16 Saturday Nov 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Boone County, Clothier, Coal, Logan

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Appalachia, Boone County, Clothier, coal, crime, history, Lloyd Layman, Logan, Logan Banner, Madison, Ottawa, West Virginia

The following story about an attack upon a non-union mine at Ottawa in Boone County comes from the Logan Banner on July 21, 1922:

300 Shots Are Fired At Boone County Mine

Three hundred shots were fired from the mountain side into a group of non-union miners as they were going to work at 7:30 A.M., in a mine at Ottawa, Monday. There were no casualties as the miners fled and hastily hid behind trees, and other points of safety.

Two state troopers stationed at Ottawa made an immediate dash for the scene of the trouble but the firing which had lasted for only a few minutes, was over when they reached the mine. An investigation disclosed the fact that the attacking party had made a hasty retreat and their whereabouts could not be ascertained. A call for assistance brought five additional troopers from Clothier who brought with them a bloodhound but the dog could not take the trail evidently due to some substance that the attacking party had used to throw the hounds off the trail.

Immediately after the firing was over an investigation was made and 30 sticks of dynamite were found concealed beneath the mine track inside of the drift mouth of the mine and so arranged that it would explode when the first mine motor entered.

The outbreak Monday was the first that has occurred on Little Coal River in some months and the state police in that section are making every effort to apprehend members of the party who did the firing. Ten special officers were sworn in at Madison on Monday and Capt. Midkiff, in charge of the state police at Clothier, dispatched trooper Lloyd Layman to Logan Monday where he was furnished with 30 high-powered rifles and 3,000 rounds of ammunition with which to equip the special officers and successfully combat any further outbreak that might occur as well as to assist in apprehending members of the attacking forces last Monday.

Trooper Layman stated that in addition to the ten men sworn in Madison there would be 50 special officers sworn in at Ottawa, and every effort put forth by officers to track down the men who were responsible for the mine battle and bring them to justice.

Big Coal Deals for Logan County, WV (1917)

11 Tuesday Jun 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Boone County, Coal, Huntington, Logan

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A.H. Land, Al Litz, attorney, B.L. Holland, Bengal Coal Company, Billy Aldredge, Boone County, Cleveland and Western Coal and Coke Company, coal, coal operators, Cora Mining Company, E.H. Butts, Ethel, Ethel Coal Company, Flynn-Haislip Coal Company, Fred Haislip, George Aldredge, H.T. Proctor, history, Hotel Frederick, Huntington, Island Creek Colliery Company, J.J. Ross, Jack Dalton, Logan County, Logan Democrat, Loma Mining Company, Norfolk and Western Railroad, Riley Lilly, Tom Wilson, Washington D.C., West Virginia

From the Logan Democrat of Logan, WV, comes this bit of information relating to coal companies in Logan County, printed on May 17, 1917:

BIG DEALS FOR COAL IN LOGAN ARE BEING MADE

Public Service Corporation Buying Huge Prices for Local Properties

Public service corporations which must have coal whether school keeps or not are becoming big investors in Logan county coal and many big deals are about to be made. Most of the business is being done at the Frederick hotel, Huntington, which at this time is swarming with Logan county operators and representatives of big interests.

So far, the following companies are as good as sold.

Loma Mining Company.

Cora Mining Company.

Island Creek Colliery Company.

The following companies have been optioned and are regarded as good as sold:

Ethel Coal Company.

Flynn-Haislip Coal Company.

Bengal Coal Company.

The Loma Mining Company and the Cora Mining Co., are reported to have been sold to Cleveland and Western Coal and Coke Company for $250,000 apiece. The Loma Mining company was capitalized at $100,000 while the Cora Mining company was capitalized at $50,000 so the investors in both corporations will clear up a handsome profit on their investment.

Deposit $100,000

In the case of the Loma Mining company $100,000 already has been deposited in a Huntington bank to insure the deal so there is no chance of it falling through. The final papers in the Cora Mining company may not be signed for a few days yet but it is regarded as good as sold as it is a valuable property for any public service to own. Both companies have well developed seams of coal and are capable of great productivity. Island Creek Colliery sold for $475,000.

The Ethel Coal Mining company at Ethel, W.Va., is working on three operations. It is reported to have been optioned at $1,250,000 and the company notified by those holding the option that they intend to exercise their rights in the near future. It was not possible to get the amount of the proposed sale of the Flynn-Haislip company.

A.H. Land, the well known coal operator of Logan county, at present is in Washington, D.C. It is said that he is there on a big deal but it is not possible to give details.

Among the operators from this county who have been in the throng at the hotel Frederick during the last few days are Jack Dalton, H.T. Proctor, Fred Haislip, Al Litz, E.H. Butts, attorney for several Logan county operators, Riley Lilly, attorney for several Logan county interests, B.L. Holland, George Aldredge, Billy Aldredge, Tom Wilson, J.J. Ross and others.

Make Vast Sums

Logan county operators are now in a position, according to reports, to clean up vast sums of money on their investments. The public service corporations who have been depending on the open market have found that it is absolutely necessary for them to go into the coal mining business on their own hook in order to insure their supply and they are doing so.

At the hotel Frederick, many big deals have been pulled off for mines in Boone, the N. & W. territory as well as for Logan. A number of deals affecting Logan county interests are anticipated in near future.

The buyers of Logan mines intend to operate them on a bigger scale than ever before. They have the money to do so and intend to employ for it that purpose so that the general prosperity of the county is on a more solid foundation than ever before.

Clothier, WV (1925)

08 Wednesday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Battle of Blair Mountain, Boone County, Clothier, Coal, Timber

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Appalachia, Boone County, Boone Timber Company, Clothier, Coal River, Emma J. Chambers, Haddad Brothers Company, history, Logan County, Spruce Fork, West Virginia

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Stephen Hart: Origins of Harts Creek (1896/1937)

07 Thursday Feb 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Boone County, Crawley Creek, Native American History, Roane County

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Appalachia, Boone County, Crawley Creek, Dick Johnson, Elizabeth Hart, Fred B. Lambert, genealogy, Harts Creek, Henderson Dingess, Henry Clay Ragland, history, Jacob Stollings, James Hart, John Baker, Lincoln County, Little Harts Creek, Logan Banner, Logan County, Logan County Banner, Mud River, Native Americans, Roane County, Smokehouse Fork, Stephen Hart, West Virginia

From the Logan County Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history written by amateur historian Henry Clay Ragland relating to Stephen Hart and the naming of Harts Creek in Lincoln and Logan counties, West Virginia, dated 1896:

Stephen Hart Ragland LCB 04.08.1896.JPG

Logan County (WV) Banner, 8 April 1896.

***

On 13 April 1937, the Logan Banner printed another story about Hart and his relationship to Harts Creek. This latter story was generally derived from Ragland’s 1896 history.

Harts Creek Named After Stephen Hart—A Wanderer And Famous Deer Hunter

Much has been told about Harts Creek in late years, but little is known about the first settler who built his home in the long hollow and gave it a name.

Stephen Hart built a cabin on the farm which Henderson Dingess later owned at the forks of Hart’s Creek. He cared nothing for the soil, but spent his time hunting deer and curing the meat. He didn’t stay long in one place.

Near his cabin he built a house in which to store his cured venison between his infrequent trips to the settlements down the river and was altogether self-sufficient. His neighbors knew little about the man. There is no record of a family reared by him and he told neighbors little of his past history.

His was a roaming nature. He, like the Arabs, pitched his tent where the water was clearest, the game gamest, and the soil most fertile.

To commemorate his short stay at the forks of Harts, neighbors named the creek for him after he had loaded his gun, food stores and skins on a pack mule, and started west.

His few friends heard no more about him, but they remembered him as a “quiet man, a good shot, and a good neighbor.”

Just “around the bend and over the ridge,” Jacob Stollings, John Baker, and Dick Johnson brought their families and built their homes. From descendants of this family comes much of the record of Stephen Hart who gave the creek a name.

Hart’s venison was known for miles around as the tenderest, the most delicately cured meat in the Hart’s section and Stollings, Baker, and Johnson always put in a small supply of Hart’s meat for the winter, sometimes to take an unusually large supply off the hunter’s hands but most times just because they liked the venison.

John Baker married a daughter of Jacob Stollings, and Dick Johnson married a sister of Baker’s. Both men reared large families whose names are familiar in the county’s history.

But Hart left only the name of his beloved deer hunting grounds as a reminder that he had first set foot on Hart’s Creek.

MY NOTE: Of importance, much confusion remains regarding the source for the naming of Harts Creek, essentially relating to the fact that Stephen Hart was born too late to have inspired the naming of the stream. I first attempted to unravel this story when I published a profile of Stephen Hart in a Lincoln County newspaper in 1995/6. Stephen Hart, son of James and Elizabeth Hart, was born c.1810 in North Carolina; Harts Creek appears on a map printed prior to 1824 (Hart was still quite young). In the early 1900s, amateur historian Fred B. Lambert noted that Hart’s father had been killed by Native Americans at the mouth of present-day Little Harts Creek (according to a Hart descendant). Possibly it is Mr. Hart’s father who inspired the naming of the local stream. Problematic to this possibility is the fact that, based on Stephen Hart’s estimated year of birth, his father would have been killed in 1809-1811, which is about fifteen to twenty years too late for an Indian attack in the Guyandotte Valley. Stephen Hart did settle locally. He may well have squatted on Harts Creek land, as Ragland reported in 1896. Based on documentary evidence, he acquired 50 acres on Crawley Creek in 1839. He appears in the 1840 Logan County Census and the 1850 Boone County Census. By 1860, he had settled in Roane County, where he died in 1896–the same year that Ragland published his history. He also left plenty of local descendants in the Mud River section of Lincoln County. How did Ragland garble this section of his history so badly? For those who wish to avoid sorting out this confusing tale, consider this version: at least one early account states the creek was named “hart” due to the prevalence of stags in its vicinity.

Jake Kinser of Logan County, WV (1936-1937)

20 Saturday Oct 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Creek, Big Harts Creek, Boone County, Civil War, Coal, Logan

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Appalachia, Aracoma, Big Creek, Boone County, Brooke McNeely, Camp Chase, Chapmanville District, Charles Williams, civil war, Claude Ellis, coal, Confederate Army, crime, Dave Kinser, Democratic Party, Douglas Kinser, Elbert Kinser, Ethel, Fort Branch, French River, genealogy, ginseng, Harts Creek, Hetzel, history, J. Green McNeely, Jake Kinser, Jane Mullins, Jefferson Davis, Jim Aldridge, John Carter, John Kinser, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, logging, Malinda Kinser, Malinda Newman, Mary Ann Ellis, Mud Fork, Otis Kinser, rafting, Scott Ellis, Smyth County, Stonewall Jackson, timbering, tobacco, Virginia, Washington Township, West Virginia, Wythe County

Jake Kinser Visits LB 06.20.1936 1

Logan (WV) Banner, 20 June 1936. Note: Jacob was not born in 1850, so he does not appear with his family in the 1850 Census for Wythe County, Virginia. He was nine years old in the 1860 Census for Smyth County, Virginia.

Jake Kinser Recollections LB 11.12.1936 2

Logan (WV) Banner, 12 November 1936. Note: Jake Kinser appears as a seventeen-year-old fellow in the 1870 Census for Boone County, West Virginia (Washington Township).

Jake Kinser and Jane Mullins LB 07.07.1937 2

Jake Kinser and his sister Jane Mullins, Logan (WV) Banner, 7 July 1937. 

Jake Kinser and Jane Mullins LB 07.07.1937 3

Jake Kinser and his sister Jane Mullins, Logan (WV) Banner, 7 July 1937. Note: Mary Jane (Kinser) Mullins was eleven years old in the 1860 Census for Smyth County, Virginia. Mr. Kinser died in 1944; his death record can be found here: http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_view2.aspx?FilmNumber=571280&ImageNumber=349

 

Confederate Pensions in West Virginia (1929)

24 Monday Sep 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in African American History, Big Creek, Big Harts Creek, Boone County, Civil War, Crawley Creek, Holden, Logan, Man, Pecks Mill, Whirlwind

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A.B. White, A.L. Browning, A.V. Pauley, African-Americans, Andrew Jackson, Appalachia, Band Mill Hollow, Big Creek, Boone County, C.H. Gilkinson, civil war, Confederacy, Confederate Army, Crawley Creek, Curry, Dave Bryant, Dyke Bryant, Dyke Garrett, Ethel, genealogy, Gettysburg, Green Thompson, Harrison White, Harts Creek, Harvey Chafin, Henlawson, Henry Mitchell, history, Holden, House of Delegates, Hugh Avis, J. Matt Pauley, Jackson McCloud, James Zirkles, John Bryant, John Neece, Joseph Lowe, Judy Bryant, Kistler, Leslie Mangus, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Lucinda Spry, M.T. Miller, Madison, Man, Martha Jane Smith, Melvin Plumley, Mingo County, Monaville, Mt. Gay, Pecks Mill, preacher, Shegon, Slagle, slavery, Steve Markham, Stollings, Union Army, W.C. Turley, Wade Bryant, Wayne County, West Virginia, Whirlwind, William C. Lucas, William Chafin, William Workman, Zan Bryant

In 1929, the State of West Virginia nearly opted to allocate a monthly pension to its Confederate veterans, as well as blacks who had served the Confederate Army in service roles. In covering the story, the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, compiled a list of its remaining Confederate veterans.

HOW MANY VETERANS?

A pension of $20 a month is provided for Confederate veterans of the state by a bill passed by the Senate last week and sent in the House for concurrence. Senator M.T. Miller, of Boone county, who said he could not vote to pension men who had carried arms against their government, cast the only vote against the proposal.

A Charleston paper says there are only about 60 Confederate veterans living. This paper cannot believe that, although it has no information on the subject. How many are there in Logan county? Does anyone know? Has anyone an approximately correct list? If so, will he or she make the fact known? Uncle Dyke Garrett probably knows most of them.

The Banner would like to obtain a list of both Confederate and Union veterans still living in the county, together with their post office address.

Source: Logan Banner, 26 February 1929.

***

AS TO OLD SOLDIERS

The Banner’s request for information about old soldiers living in Logan county has not been in vain, nor has the response been satisfactory. The names of four confederate veterans have been turned in, as follows:

Rev. Dyke Garrett, Curry, beloved and venerable minister; William Workman, Shegon, who fought at Gettysburg and is now 88; Steve Markham, Holden No. 20, who has been blind for 20 years; and William Chafin, who lives with his son Harvey, at Holden 5 and 6.

Who are the others? Send in their names and addresses and any information you deem of interest concerning their careers as soldiers and citizens. The same information about Union soldiers, residents of the county, is likewise desired.

Logan Banner, 5 March 1929.

***

PREPARING THE ROLL

Another name has been added to the list of old soldiers that The Banner has undertaken to compile. Reference is to J. Matt Pauley, residing in Band Mill Hollow, post office Stollings. He was in the Confederate army, fought throughout the war and was wounded, writes Mrs. A.V. Pauley of Ethel. He is of the same age as Uncle Dyke Garrett.

The names of four survivors of the War Between the States, all living in Logan county, were published in Tuesday’s paper. There must be others. Who are they?

Today, W.C. Turley brought in a list of eight Confederate veterans, including the following new names: Wm. C. Lucas, Big Creek; Henry Mitchell, Henlawson; Hugh Avis, Green Thompson and John Neece, Logan; Harrison White, Pecks Mill.

Logan Banner, 8 March 1929.

***

On Confederate Roll

Two more names have been added to the roll of Confederate veterans that The Banner is preparing. These are James Zirkles of Man, whose name was sent in by Leslie Mangus, of Kistler, and Zan Bryant of Whirlwind, whose name was recalled by County Clerk McNeely. Are there not others besides nine or ten previously published?

Logan Banner, 12 March 1929.

***

Confederate Veterans Living Here Number at Least 17

There Are Probably  Others–Will You Help to Enroll Them–All Merit the Tender Interest of Younger Folk

Seventeen names of Confederate soldiers, residents of the county, have been collected by The Banner. Wonder if any have been overlooked, or if the appended list is in error in including any Union veterans? If any reader knows of a Confederate soldier not listed here, please send in the name and address AT ONCE. There will be no further request or reminder.

This paper undertook to make up a list of these old soldiers for two reasons. Chief of these was a desire to prevent any of them being overlooked in case a bill to pension them was passed by the legislature–but the writer does not know yet whether or not that bill was enacted into law. Another reason for assuming the task was to test in a limited way a statement in a Charleston paper that there were only 60 Confederate veterans left in the state. That statement was doubted, and with good reason judging from the number polled in this county. Anyhow, the ranks have become terribly thinned. Every few days we all read of taps being sounded for another one here and there.

Middle-aged men and young folk should esteem it a privilege to do something to brighten the lives of these old soldiers. As the years roll by our pride will increase as we recall our acquaintance with and our kindness toward the “boys of ’61 and ’65.”

Here is the list. Look it over, and if there is a name that should be added or a name that should be stricken out, or any error or omission that should be corrected or supplied, speak up:

James Zirkles, Man; Zan Bryant, Whirlwind; J. Matt Pauley, Ft. Branch; Uncle Dyke Garrett, Curry; William C. Lucas, Big Creek; Henry Mitchell, Henlawson; Hugh Avis, Green Thompson and John Neece, all of Logan; Harrison White, Pecks Mill; Melvin Plumley, Crawleys Creek (post office not known); William Workman, Shegon; Steve Markham, Holden No. 20; William Chafin, No. 5 and 6.

Logan Banner, 15 March 1929.

***

Two Names Added Confederate Roll

Bill to Pension Them is Defeated By Parliamentary Tactics in House

Names of two more Confederate soldiers living in the county have been sent to The Banner. They are: C.H. Gilkinson, minister, resident of Holden, who was born and reared in Wayne county, and is the father of Dr. L.W. Gilkinson. Jackson McCloud, a resident of Whirlwind on Harts Creek. His name was supplied by A.L. Browning of Monaville, who says he feels sure that Mr. McCloud was in the Confederate service and fought at Gettysburg.

Assuming both names should be added to the roll, it means that there are at least 19 Confederate veterans still living in Logan county, seventeen names having been listed and published a week ago.

For many of them there will be disappointment in the information that the bill to pension them did not pass. Sponsored in the Senate by ex-governor A.B. White, the son of a Union soldier, the bill passed, that body, Senator M.T. Miller of Madison casting the only vote against it. In the House of Delegates it was amended, by a majority of one, to include Negroes, whether slave or free, who had served in the Confederate army of cooks, personal servants, or otherwise, and later tabled.

Source: Logan Banner, 22 March 1929.

***

Slagle Man 17th in Confederate List

Zan Bryant Probably Oldest Veteran In County–Born in Jackson’s Time

Joseph Lowe of Slagle is the latest name to be added to the list of Confederate veterans that has been compiled by The Banner. However, that leaves the count at 17, as the name of Melvin Plumley of Crawleys Creek was erroneously included in the published list. He was a Union soldier, it seems.

Of all those listed Zan Bryant of Whirlwind must be the oldest. He is said to be 98 years old and his wife, Judie Hensley Bryant, 91. They have been married for 75 years and have a son, Dave Bryant, who is 73. There are five other children, Dave, John, Wade and Dyke all live on Harts Creek, most of them near their parents; Mrs. Martha Jane Smith at Gay, and Mrs. Lucinda Spry of Mingo county.

This venerable couple have spent all their years in the isolated Harts country, their home being on White Oak fork, and can be reached only by a long horseback ride.

When Zan was born Andrew Jackson was president and Logan county as a political subdivision was but five years old. He was 23 years old when married and 30 when the War Between the States began.

Logan Banner, 26 March 1929.

 

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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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