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Tag Archives: Brandon Kirk

Hatfield Tunnel at Sprigg, WV (2022)

03 Saturday Dec 2022

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Sandy Valley, Matewan

≈ 1 Comment

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.

Hatfield Tunnel, erected in 1914. Sprigg, Mingo County, WV. October 2022
Hatfield Tunnel, erected in 1914. Sprigg, Mingo County, WV. October 2022
Hatfield Tunnel, erected in 1914. Sprigg, Mingo County, WV. October 2022. Photo by Mom.

Brig. Gen. James A. Garfield (1862)

26 Saturday Jun 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Civil War, Pikeville

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Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, civil war, history, James A. Garfield, Kentucky, Pike County, Pikeville, Union Army

Pikeville, Pike County, KY. 2021.

Col. Milton J. Ferguson of Wayne County (2021)

11 Friday Jun 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Civil War, Wayne

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16th Virginia Cavalry, Appalachia, attorney, Brandon Kirk, civil war, Confederate Army, history, judge, Milton J. Ferguson, Wayne County, West Virginia

Wayne, WV. 13 February 2021

Tom Dula: Dula Cemetery (2020)

03 Tuesday Mar 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Cemeteries, Civil War, Tom Dula

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

42nd North Carolina Regiment, Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, cemeteries, civil war, Confederate Army, Dula Cemetery, Elkville, history, Iredell County, Laura Foster, North Carolina, photos, Tom Dooley, Tom Dula, Whippoorwill Academy and Village, Wilkes County

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Looking for Tom Dula’s grave in Elkville, Wilkes County, NC. 7 January 2020

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Up this way to the Tom Dula grave! 7 January 2020

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The Dula family cemetery is located here, but only Tom Dula’s grave is marked by a headstone. 7 January 2020

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Tom Dula was a Confederate veteran. 7 January 2020

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Sadly, visitors have chipped away part of Tom Dula’s headstone. Note: His death date is erroneously recorded as 1866. 7 January 2020

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This was the highlight of my trip. Tom Dula’s original headstone is housed at nearby Whippoorwill Academy and Village. 7 January 2020

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Tom Dula’s correct year of death is noted on his footstone. 7 January 2020

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Here is a glimpse of the landscape near Tom Dula’s grave. 7 January 2020

Tom Dula: Trial and Hanging in Statesville, NC (2020)

29 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Tom Dula

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, Depot Hill, fiddle, fiddler, fiddling, history, Iredell County, North Carolina, photos, Phyllis Kirk, sheriff, Silas Alexander Sharpe, Southern Railway Depot, Statesville, Tom Dooley, Tom Dula, William Wasson

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Iredell County Courthouse, Statesville, NC. The courthouse that hosted Tom Dula’s trial between 1866 and 1868 is gone; this courthouse was built in 1899. 7 January 2020

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Col. Silas Alexander Sharpe House. Spectators here saw Tom Dula ride by from the courthouse to the gallows…supposedly playing a fiddle. 7 January 2020

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Col. Sharpe House. 7 January 2020

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Southern Railway Depot, built c.1911. Tom Dula was taken to a gallows near the original depot at what is called Depot Hill and hanged in 1868. The original depot stood 300 yards to the northeast. 7 January 2020

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Tom Dula was hanged somewhere in this vicinity. Perhaps as many as 3000 spectators attended the hanging. 7 January 2020

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Tom Dula was hanged somewhere in this vicinity. Sheriff William Wasson had never executed anyone prior to Dula. Photo by Mom. 7 January 2020

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Tom Dula was hanged somewhere in this vicinity. For some reason, no historical markers are here to help tourists find the spot. Photo by Mom. 7 January 2020

Tom Dula: Wilkes County Jail, Part 2 (2020)

16 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Tom Dula

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Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, crime, Elkville, history, justice of the peace, Laura Foster, North Carolina, photos, Phyllis Kirk, Pickins Carter, Tom Dula, true crime, Wilkes County, Wilkes County Jail, Wilkesboro

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The Wilkes County Jail was built in 1859. Here’s our guide showing us the jail cell on the lower floor. 8 January 2020

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All three cells have the original doors, wood, and iron bars. The keys still operate the door! 8 January 2020

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The jail was used until 1915, when it was converted into apartments. It was scheduled for demolition in 1968 but a local group saved it. It began operation as a museum in the 1970s. Here’s the lower floor cell before restoration… 8 January 2020

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This way to the two cells upstairs… 8 January 2020

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Was a knife like this one used to kill Laura Foster? 8 January 2020

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In June of 1866, Justice of the Peace Pickins Carter wrote the warrant for Tom Dula’s arrest from this desk in Elkville, NC. 8 January 2020 For more info, go here: http://www.kronsell.net/the_story_3.htm

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No known photographs of Tom Dula exist, but here is one local artist’s rendition of him. Photo by Mom. 8 January 2020 For information about the fake Tom Dula picture, read this article: https://www.statesville.com/news/local/joel-reese-column-who-s-the-soldier-in-the-photo/article_48eb0f0c-4c93-11e8-8455-abac2bbbaf82.html

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Through these bars is Tom Dula’s jail cell. 8 January 2020

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Looking inside of Tom Dula’s cell… 8 January 2020

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Tom Dula’s jail cell… 8 January 2020

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Inside of Tom Dula’s jail cell with the guide. Photo by Mom. 8 January 2020

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Inside of Tom Dula’s jail cell… 8 January 2020

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Tour happening! Photo by Mom. 8 January 2020

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Side window inside of Tom Dula’s jail cell… 8 January 2020

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Looking out of the front window inside of Tom Dula’s jail cell… 8 January 2020

Logan Memorial Park in McConnell, WV (1928, 2020)

16 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Cemeteries, Logan

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Aldridge Coal Company, Amanda Avis, Anna Crovjack, Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, C&O Railroad, cemeteries, Charles Quinn, crime, Dwight Williamson, Ed Burgess, Elzie Burgess, Fintown, genealogy, history, Hugh C. Avis, immigrants, Ireland, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Logan Memorial Park, Mamie Thurman, Maude Steele, McConnell, Noah E. Steele, Q.L. Stewart, West Virginia, Woodmen of the World, Works Progress Administration

Logan Memorial Park was a “perpetual care” cemetery established in the late 1920s in McConnell, Logan County, WV. The cemetery contains the final remains of many noteworthy Loganites, including Mamie Thurman, whose 1932 murder continues to tantalize regional residents. The Logan Banner reported on the cemetery’s beginnings on September 7, 1928:

Work Rapidly In Developing Burial Park

With Brush Cut and Loose Rock Being Hauled for Surface, Road Work Starts Soon

BEAUTIFYING COMES SOON

Plans Call for Use of Skilled Landscape Gardeners to Aid in Placing Shrubbery

Conclusive proof that Logan is soon to have a modern burial part embodying all the improvements found in the highest type institutions of this kind anywhere was afforded a reporter of The Logan Banner in an inspection of the work being done near McConnell by the Logan Memorial Park company.

Much work was found to have been done already. Brush and undergrowth has been cleaned off the entire 20 acre tract. This will finally include the grubbing of stumps and raking up the trash until the entire tract can be mowed with a lawnmower. Several hundred sled loads of loose rock have already been hauled to the banks of the small stream that flows through the central part of the tract, where a rubble stone embankment will be built near the water course to be covered with vines and shrubbery.

All surface rocks will be removed, blasting being resorted to loosen the larger ones. Several hundred holes were drilled in the surface of the entire plot of ground before it was decided that it would be a suitable place for burial purposes. It was found that there was no ledge rock on the entire tract except at one small spot.

Work is now in progress in preparation for the concrete road to be built from the state road into the park. A ditch suitable for the placing of 26-inch tile to carry the small stream out of the park is being dug. The C. & O. had two steam shovels at work Wednesday cleaning off a sidetrack, unused for several years and submerged by silt from the roadside, preparatory to setting out a carload of tile. It will be laid at once and then the making of a grade for the concrete will follow.

This entrance is between the residence of Burgess and Aldridge. Options have already been secured on property adjacent so that a large stone and iron entrance can be built just off the state road. From that point the hard surfaced road passes up the hollow to where a natural amphitheater provides several acres of smooth land where the first section of the park will be developed. The improved road will entirely encircle this plot so that easy access will be afforded and each lot will be reached by either the roadway or paths.

At the lower end of the natural amphitheater stand several houses that were formerly the property of the Aldridge Coal Company. The present tenants have been ordered to vacate these and they will be torn down.

Water will be supplied to the entire section now being developed and in the spring the entire tract will be plowed and seeded to the best grass obtainable. At that time much shrubbery, from the best nursery stock, will be planted under the direction of competent landscape gardeners.

The Bannerman was in doubt as to the closeness of this tract to the Courthouse, so it was metered and clocked. It proved to be 2 1/2 miles in distance and it was driven easily in traffic in six minutes. Thus there will be the dual advantages of the great natural and enhanced beauty of the Logan Memorial Park site and proximity to the town.

The earnest desire of the company to get this memorial park ready for those desiring to use it is shown in the rush that characterizes the work of cleaning it of brush and rock and in getting in a permanent road. More than a dozen men have been at work ever since the charter was granted and others will be added as more projects get under way simultaneously. The permanent road is to be laid immediately. The rubble stone wall along the stream will come later, but every bit of the work is to be pushed as rapidly as men can do it.

The perpetual care which the charter confirms to the lot owner will no doubt be a great inducement. Already interested parties are inquiring about when it will be open for inspection. Q.L. Stewart, the manager, assures them that no avoidable delay will be allowed to intervene.

***

Here’s a WPA map of the cemetery dating from the 1930s:

Logan Memorial Cemetery 1Logan Memorial Cemetery 2

***

This 1938 map of the cemetery is located in the Logan County Clerk’s office:

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***

Here are photographs of the cemetery in 2020:

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14 February 2020

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14 February 2020

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14 February 2020

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14 February 2020

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14 February 2020

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14 February 2020

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Charles Quinn, Irish immigrant… 14 February 2020

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Many immigrants are buried in the cemetery… 14 February 2020

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14 February 2020

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14 February 2020

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14 February 2020

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14 February 2020

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Woodmen of the World! 14 February 2020

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14 February 2020

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14 February 2020

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14 February 2020

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14 February 2020

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14 February 2020

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14 February 2020

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Mamie Thurman is buried below the Steele Mausoleum… 14 February 2020

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Elzie Burgess helped dig Mamie Thurman’s grave. Here is an interview with Mr. Burgess by Dwight Williamson, dating from about 1985…

Tom Dula: Caldwell County, NC (2020)

09 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Tom Dula

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Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, Caldwell County, crime, Elkville, history, Laura Foster, North Carolina, photos, Tom Dula, Wilkes County, Yadkin Valley

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Laura Foster’s murder in the vicinity of Reedy Branch at Elkville, NC, resulted in Tom Dula’s hanging. Driving from Elkville (Wilkes County) toward Yadkin Valley (Caldwell County) on Highway 268, the Laura Foster grave is located at left; the Laura Foster memorial is located up ahead at right. You park at the memorial. 8 January 2020

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Laura Foster Memorial near Yadkin Valley in Caldwell County, NC. 8 January 2020. The marker is located across Highway 268 from the Foster grave.

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Laura Foster’s grave is located at the edge of a field. The pasture is surrounded by an electric fence. 8 January 2020

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Laura Foster’s grave. A white fence encloses the grave so as to protect it from cattle. 8 January 2020

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When Laura Foster was buried here, locals marked her grave with white stones from the creek. Today, white gravel still marks her grave. 8 January 2020

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Laura Foster’s headstone shows an incorrect death date and includes the name of her killer, Tom Dula. Since her burial, the grave site has been nearly lost and her marker disappeared for a time. Thankfully, the grave site is well-preserved today. 8 January 2020

Tom Dula: Ferguson, NC (2020)

08 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Civil War, Music, Tom Dula

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Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, civil war, Confederate Army, Elkville, Ferguson, fiddler, Frank Proffitt, Grayson and Whittier, history, Kingston Trio, music, North Carolina, photos, Phyllis Kirk, Sharyn McCrumb, The Ballad of Tom Dooley, Tom Dooley, Tom Dula, Wilkes County

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Reading Sharyn McCrumb’s masterpiece “The Ballad of Tom Dooley” sent us down to find historical sites in the vicinity of Ferguson in Wilkes County, NC. 7 January 2020. Most anyone will remember this 1958 mega-hit by the Kingston Trio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhXuO4Gz3Wo

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Tom Dula (1845-1868), a Confederate veteran and fiddler, lived in Elkville, just above Ferguson, NC. Few sites remain from his time; most of the old buildings are gone. 7 January 2020. Here’s the first recording of “Tom Dooley” by Grayson and Whittier (1929): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWd1rNmDAgg

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Finding this sign in Ferguson meant that we were basically at Ground Zero. More discoveries to come! Photo by Mom. 7 January 2020. Here’s a personal favorite version of “Tom Dooley” by Frank Proffitt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfPdCveqQRw

Kiahs Creek, Wayne and Lincoln Counties, WV

19 Saturday Oct 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Kiahsville

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bear, Big Laurel Fork, Brandon Kirk, Francis Fork, horses, Kiahs Creek, Lincoln County, Mountain Home Cemetery, nature, New Salem Old Regular Baptist Church, photos, Phyllis Kirk, Wade Adkins Branch, Wayne County, West Virginia

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Black Bear, Francis Fork of Kiahs Creek, WV. Photo by Mom. 2015

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House With the Rock, Wade Adkins Branch of Kiahs Creek, WV. 15 July 2016

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Log Structure on Francis Fork of Kiahs Creek, WV. 31 August 2019

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Mountain Home Cemetery, Trough Fork of Kiahs Creek, Wayne County, WV. 5 August 2017

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New Salem Old Regular Baptist Church, Big Laurel Fork of Kiahs Creek, Wayne County, WV. 15 July 2016

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Old School at Big Laurel Fork of Kiahs Creek, Wayne County, WV. 15 July 2016

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Head of Big Laurel Fork of Kiahs Creek, Wayne County, WV.  15 July 2016

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Head of Big Laurel Fork of Kiahs Creek, Wayne County, WV.  15 July 2016

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Head of Big Laurel Fork of Kiahs Creek, Wayne County, WV.  15 July 2016

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Head of Big Laurel Fork of Kiahs Creek, Wayne County, WV.  Photo by Mom. 15 July 2016

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Road in the Road, Wade Adkins Branch of Kiahs Creek, Wayne County, WV. 15 July 2016

Frank Hutchison (1927, 2019)

10 Saturday Aug 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Cemeteries, Logan, Music

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, cemeteries, Coney Isle, Ed Belcher, Elbert Garrett Family Cemetery, fiddler, Fort Branch, Frank Hutchison, genealogy, guitar, harp-organ, history, Lake, Logan Banner, Logan County, music, New York, Okeh Company, Omar Theatre, Peach Creek Theatre, piano, Sheila Brumfield Coleman, Stirrat Theatre, Stollings, West Virginia, West Virginia Rag, William Hatcher Garrett

Two Local Musicians Record LB 02.01.1927 1

Logan (WV) Banner, 1 February 1927.

Frank Hutchinson's Songs for Sale LB 03.08.1927

Logan (WV) Banner, 8 March 1927.

Frank Hutchinson LB 03.25.1927

Logan (WV) Banner, 25 March 1927.

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Here we are visiting the Frank Hutchison grave at the Elbert Garrett Family Cemetery at Lake, Logan County, WV. Photo by Sheila Brumfield Coleman. 10 August 2019

Hatfield-McCoy Feud: Ellison Hatfield Grave at Newtown, WV (2019)

17 Wednesday Jul 2019

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

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Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, Ellison Hatfield, Floyd Hatfield, genealogy, Hatfield Cemetery, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Mate Creek, Mingo County, Newtown, Phyllis Kirk, Sarah Hatfield, West Virginia

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Up this way to the old Hatfield cemetery. Newtown, Mingo County, WV. Photo by Mom. 6 July 2019.

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Entering the old Hatfield cemetery. It was a bit weedy! Photo by Mom. 6 July 2019.

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I mowed some of the graves and made sure to place flowers at the grave of Ellison Hatfield. Photo by Mom. 6 July 2019

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Leaving the cemetery, you can return to the paved road by going left over the bridge or right through Mate Creek. 6 July 2019

Hatfield-McCoy Feud: Tom “Guerilla” Mitchell grave at Meador, WV (2019)

14 Sunday Jul 2019

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

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Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, cemeteries, genealogy, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Meador, Meador Cemetery, Mingo County, Nancy Varney, Sarah Jane Mitchell, Tom Mitchell, West Virginia

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Heading up to the cemetery. What a rush! 12 July 2019

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This cemetery has several names, most commonly Meador, Varney, or Steele Cemetery. 12 July 2019

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Tom Mitchell is buried to the left just as you enter the cemetery. I made sure to place flowers at his grave. 12 July 2019

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Tom Mitchell (Feb 1865-10/20/1935), son of Sarah Jane Mitchell, married Nancy Varney and fathered at least twelve children. He was a key participant in the Hatfield-McCoy Feud.

Interview of Jean Hatfield at Sarah Ann, WV (2001), Part 4

01 Saturday Jun 2019

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Allen Hatfield, Altina Waller, Appalachia, Beckley, Beech Creek, Brandon Kirk, Cap Hatfield, Coleman Hatfield, Delorme, Devil Anse Hatfield, Dutch Hatfield, Ellison Mounts, Ephraim Hatfield, feuds, genealogy, Hatfield Cemetery, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Henry Hatfield, history, History Channel, Jean Hatfield, Jim Vance, Johnson Hatfield, Levisa Hatfield, Logan Banner, Logan County, Matewan, Mingo County, Nancy Vance, Otis Rice, Randolph McCoy, Red Jacket, Route 44, Sarah Ann, Stirrat, Tennis Hatfield, The Hatfield and McCoy Feud After Kevin Costner, The McCoys: Their Story, The Tale of the Devil, Thomas Dotson, tourism, Truda Williams McCoy, Valentine Wall Hatfield, West Virginia

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

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

What follows is Part 4 of my interview with Jean, which occurred on August 7, 2001:

What kind of house did Johnse have?

Probably just a frame house.

I don’t know much about what he did for a living.

I really don’t know either. There’s not that much on him. Maybe he just spent his time chasing ladies. I don’t even know what type of work he did. But he had to work. He worked for his father, for one thing. But now there’s some of his grandchildren still living. But I’m like you, he’s not as good looking as most of the other boys were. But then when you’re like eighteen years old, everybody’s good looking at eighteen.

I wonder what Devil Anse thought about people taking his photo?

There was just always somebody wanting to take his picture. Now this is by Life magazine. They done a story.

I love the one in his hat.

That’s a very rare one. And the one with the long rifle. Because most of the time in the pictures you see him with his little shotgun. But that has the long rifle. I think that’s the muzzle-loading type.

Not nearly as many photos of Randolph McCoy.

This one here, when we did the McCoy monument, they didn’t have any pictures. We had gathered up quite a few of the McCoys and we made a collage picture and that one was in it. That’s the one mostly you see of him is that one. But I have a couple here somewhere when he was younger but it’s not a very clear copy. But he looks very sad and very old and very sick in that one. But he was like thirteen years older than Grandpa, though.

Did your husband hold any grudges?

No.

Was he raised to?

Oh no. He says on the History Channel tape that he went to school with McCoys and he never did have any animosity towards any of them. In fact, our postmaster down here, she was a McCoy before she married. And she and I get along real good.

So not all of Devil Anse’s brothers were involved in the feud…

Well now, like Wall Hatfield, he wasn’t concerned in it nowhere and they took him before a jury and found him guilty of murder, which he didn’t do. And he died in the pen just not long after he got in because he just couldn’t handle penitentiary life. And he’s buried down under that highway. The highway went over the graves of the prisoners that were buried there. Isn’t that terrible? That’s what the family said. Uncle Allen Hatfield from Beech Creek was one of his children. That’s where that come from.

Where did they bury Ellison Mounts?

I think he’s buried over at Hatfield Cemetery at Matewan. That’s where Grandma and Grandpa’s mother and father is buried. Ephraim. He was buried there.

Are they marked?

Yeah. I think they have a small marker is all. Devil Anse’s father was Big Eph Hatfield and she was Nancy Vance. That’s where Uncle Jim come in at. That was her brother. So that would have been Grandpa’s uncle. He loved Grandpa so well, he would kill for him, that was all there was to it. And Grandpa didn’t have to tell him. He went out on his own and done it. I think that had a lot to do with it. In all that I read, Grandpa’s personality just didn’t seem like he was that type of a person.

Did they ever talk about him doing things like singing or whittling?

He was a joker. Like my mother-in-law said, Tennis had give her a new diamond ring. And she was out helping Grandpa milk the cow and she was showing him her pretty ring and he said, “I’d just soon have a pewter button.” He was always joking with people and things like that. Now my mother-in-law was a very scary person. And if he’d a been a mean person she wouldn’t have stayed around him. But her and Tennis lived with them until they had two children. He couldn’t have been very threatening.

Who had the home when it burned?

Tennis. He inherited it from his momma. It burned after she passed. That was on the land that he inherited. All of the children got a certain amount of land.

Did Devil Anse sell out in Mingo County?

Yeah. Cline got it. He just let him have it all and he moved over here.

Who owned the old property where the cemetery is in Mingo County?

That’s part of the other estate, I’d say, Ephraim. That would be part of his. Delorme and up in that area was where they were all at mostly. Delorme, Red Jacket. I don’t know a whole lot about Mingo County. And we lost one of our good little relatives over there: Dutch Hatfield. He used to be chief of police of Matewan and he knew everybody. And him and Henry was really close together and they passed within a year of each other. But he was pretty well up on all of the relatives and who was whose child and all of that.

Why was Cap’s family not buried with the other Hatfields?

Cap and Grandpa and the boys, seems like there was a rift there all the time. He was at Grandpa’s funeral but they hadn’t had much dealings from what I can understand. So when he died he just wanted to be buried on his own land. They started their own little cemetery down there. They may have had some people die before that and buried them there.

Where is Johnse buried?

Johnse is buried up here.

Any of his wives buried with him?

No.

That’s sad that he had so many wives and none are buried with him.

Yeah. That’s a lesson to those men. Better find one and be loyal to them.

I hope someone can figure out how to make this tourism work here.

If you happen to see them down at the Chamber of Commerce, you ask ‘em about a road up here. See if we can get it changed some way. Because if they’re going to use this for tourism they’re going to need to be able to locate it. This is 44. 18 miles from the boulevard to the top of the mountain—that’s as far as 44 goes. And they’re advertising it through the rest stop areas. And Sarah Ann’s not even on the map. Stirrat is.

They don’t have it together in the county seat either.

No. I think it’s one group pulling against another group and if they don’t get together nothing gets done.

Have you ever seen that play in Beckley?

No. I’ve had people say it’s good. I don’t like to stay overnight away from home. I’m a home body.

***

Jean died in 2011. I miss seeing her when I drive up Route 44.

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

29 Wednesday May 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are unmarked graves in there.

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

What about Devil Anse’s politics?

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

There’s hope.

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

What about Dyke Garrett?

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

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

Well, all of them.

Even on the McCoy side?

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

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

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

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

They were the instigators.

Devil Anse, he really didn’t…

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

Was that in Kentucky?

Uh huh, right.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

28 Tuesday May 2019

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

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

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

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

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

What year was your husband born in?

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

Where did Devil Anse’s house sit here?

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

Is it still in family hands?

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

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

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

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

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

Do you know any stories about Anse and bear?

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

What about Don Chafin?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Did you ever hear what year it was built?

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

Did your husband read a lot about the feud?

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

Did you say you had something of his?

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

Didn’t he marry Nancy McCoy?

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

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

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

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

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

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

26 Sunday May 2019

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

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

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

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

26 Sunday May 2019

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

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

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

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

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

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

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

You mentioned a gun specifically.

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

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

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

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

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

Did you say you had an axe, too?

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

So they had their own mill?

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

Where did it sit?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Did she nurse in a hospital?

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

Do you know what her religion was?

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

Did you say something about having a chifferobe?

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

Do you know where the fort was?

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

John Hartford

02 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in John Hartford, Lincoln County Feud, Music

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

art, Bonaparte's Retreat, Brandon Kirk, Brownlow's Dream, Dixie, fiddling, history, John Hartford, Museum of Appalachia, music, The Lincoln County Crew

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An artist presented this framed drawing to John at the Museum of Appalachia in the late 1990s…and he gave it to me.

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I asked John to make a tape of these tunes for me, and he did.

Hindman Settlement School (2019)

04 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Music

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Tags

Ali Hintz, author, authors, Brandon Kirk, culture, Hindman, Hindman Settlement School, history, James Still, Kentucky, Knott County, music, Sam Gleaves, Uncle Sol's Cabin, writers

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Welcome to Hindman Settlement School! Hindman, Knott County, KY. 1 March 2019 For more information about the school, visit here: https://www.hindmansettlement.org/

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Uncle Sol’s Cabin. Hindman, Knott County, KY. Inside I met Ali Hintz, Community Agriculture VISTA. 1 March 2019 For more about Ali, go here: https://growappalachia.berea.edu/author/alihintz/

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Uncle Sol’s Cabin. Hindman, Knott County, KY. 1 March 2019

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Inside of Uncle Sol’s Cabin. Hindman, KY. Thanks to Sam Gleaves, Traditional Arts Director, for a quick tour. 1 March 2019 For more about Sam, go here: http://www.samgleaves.com/

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Inside of Uncle Sol’s Cabin. Hindman, KY. 1 March 2019

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James Still grave at Hindman Settlement School in Hindman, KY. 1 March 2019 Photo by Sam Gleaves. For more about James Still, go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Still

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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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Feud Poll 2

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

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  • The Friendly Neighbor Radio Show 4
  • The New Yorker
  • The State Journal's 55 Good Things About WV
  • tumblr.
  • Twitter
  • Website
  • Weirton (WV) Daily Times Article
  • Wheeling (WV) Intelligencer News Article 1
  • Wheeling (WV) Intelligencer News Article 2
  • WOWK TV
  • Writers Can Read Open Mic Night

Feud Poll 3

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

Recent Posts

  • Sheriff Joe D. Hatfield, Son of Devil Anse (1962)
  • The C&O Shops at Peach Creek, WV (1974)
  • Map: Southwestern West Virginia (1918-1919)

Ed Haley Poll 1

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

Top Posts & Pages

  • Old Hinchman Book at Pecks Mill in Logan County, WV (1936)
  • In Search of Ed Haley 158
  • Logan Court House (1904-1911)
  • Orville McCoy Recalls "Squirrel Huntin'" Sam McCoy (1990)
  • Baisden Family Troubles

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

BLOOD IN WEST VIRGINIA is now available for order at Amazon!

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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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