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Tag Archives: Cincinnati

John B. Wilkinson of Logan, WV (1928)

05 Monday Dec 2022

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan, Wayne

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Alderson-Wilkinson Land Company, Appalachia, Ashburn, attorney, Big Huff Coal Company, California, Carroll County, Cincinnati, David Wilkinson, Ernest Eugene Wilkinson, First Baptist Church, genealogy, Guyan Coal Company, Guyan Valley Bank, Guyandotte Valley, history, Hollywood, John B. Wilkinson, John B. Wilkinson Jr., Knights Templar, lawyer, Logan, Logan County, Margaret Midyette, Mary Belle Straton, Mingo County, Mona Coal Company, Mona Russo, Mystic Shrine, prosecuting attorney, Robertson Consolidated Land Company, Robertson Grocery Company, San Diego, Seventh Judicial Circuit, Virginia, Wayne, West Virginia, West Virginia Biographical Association

From West Virginians, published by the West Virginia Biographical Association in 1928, comes this profile of Judge John B. Wilkinson of Logan, WV:

The Honorable John B. Wilkinson, who died August 12, 1919, at Logan, where he had long been a foremost citizen, held rank among the best known and most successful lawyers and jurists in West Virginia. In business likewise Judge Wilkinson enjoyed a distinguished success. One of the leaders in the early development of the coal industry in the Guyan Valley, his position at the time of his death was among the great figures in business and industry. He was treasurer of the Guyan Coal Company, the Mona Coal Company, the Robertson Consolidated Land Company and the Alderson-Wilkinson Land Company. He was president of the Big Huff Coal Company and a director of the Robertson Grocery Company. He was originally a director of the Guyan Valley Bank, but later disposed of his holdings in that institution. Throughout the state at large, however, his fame was earned chiefly by his work as a jurist. During twelve years on the bench of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, he was noted for his fairness, accuracy and knowledge of the law. The press of the whole state reported his passing at great length and with sincere regret that so valuable a personality had been lost to the community. Judge Wilkinson was born in Logan County, W.Va., February 13, 1860, the son of David Wilkinson, who had come from Carroll County, Va. He lived on a farm and attended school in that part of Logan County which afterward became Mingo County, coming to the then village of Logan Court House to attend a teachers’ institute and take an examination for a teacher’s certificate. He taught two or three local normal schools here and at Wayne. His legal career began in 1882, when he was admitted to the bar. He continued in the legal profession until his death in 1919. In 1884 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Logan County, which office he filled continuously till 1896. After an interval of four years he again assumed that office, in 1900, and served till January 1, 1905. Having been elected Judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, he resigned as prosecutor and took his place on the circuit bench on the first of January, 1905, and remained as judge until failing health induced him to resign twelve years later. Several times Judge Wilkinson was urged to become his party’s candidate for Governor of the State, although he preferred not to accept that honor. In the summer of 1916 he was nominated for Judge of the Supreme Court of West Virginia. After leaving the office of circuit judge, the condition of his health inclined him to give up the practice of law and close his office, but many friends had learned to depend on him for legal counsel, and at their urging he continued in active practice until his death. Judge Wilkinson was married, September 21, 1882, to Mary Belle Straton of Logan, who survives him with their four children, John B., Jr., who resides at Ashburn, Va.; Ernest Eugene, of Cincinnati; Mrs. Mona Russo, of San Diego, Calif.; and Mrs. Margaret Midyette, of Hollywood, Calif. Judge Wilkinson was for a long time a member of the First Baptist Church of Logan, and a member of its board of deacons. He was a member of the Masonic Orders—the Knights Templar and the Mystic Shrine. Hundreds of people in West Virginia and neighboring states, although not personally acquainted with Judge Wilkinson, knew of his work as a jurist and his renown as a civic leader in general, so that at the time of his death, his passing elicited the sincere feeling that the state had lost one of its best and most constructive citizens.

Absentee Landowners of Magnolia District (1870, 1876, 1886, 1889)

22 Monday Feb 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Sandy Valley, Matewan

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A.J. Baker, Alexander Mounts, Anthony Lawson, Appalachia, Asbury Hurley, Charles Mounts, Charleston, Christian M. Cline, Cincinnati, Edward Cline, Eli Trent Jr., Four Pole Creek, genealogy, history, J.C. Alderson, J.D. Sergeant, Jackson Mounts, Jacob Smith, James Laidley, James M. Lawson, James OKeeffe, John Counts, John Mullins, Julius C. Williamson, Julius Williamson, Kanawha County, Kentucky, Lewis Ferrell, McDowell County, Minnesota, Morehead, Oswald Schaaf, Philadelphia, Pike County, Pond, Roane County, Stuart Wood, T.W. Blankenship, Tazewell County, W.W. Adams, Warren Alderson, Warren M. Alderson, Wayne County, West Virginia, Wheeling, William Collins, William P. Payne, William Prater, Wytheville

What follows is a list of absentee landowners in Magnolia Township/District of Logan County, WV, for 1870, 1876, 1886, and 1889… There are three significant types of absentee landowners: 1) those who live outside of Logan County; 2) those who live in Logan County but outside of Magnolia District; and 3) those who own property, for example, at Mate Creek but reside, for example, at Grapevine Creek (both within the district). This list does not include the latter type.

1870

Alexander Mounts, Kentucky, 300 acres

John Counts, Minnesota, 230 acres

Charles Mounts Estate and Jackson Mounts, Kentucky, 150 acres

John Mullins, McDowell County, 150 acres

Christian M. Cline, McDowell County, 85 acres

1876

Jacob Cline’s Heirs, Kentucky, 5000 acres

Warren M. Alderson, Kentucky, 4518 acres

Julius Williamson, Kentucky, 1375 acres

William Collins, Kentucky, 1045 acres

John W. Deskins, McDowell County, 555 acres

Eli Trent, Jr., Wayne County, 524 acres

James M. Lawson, Kentucky, 417.25

William Prater, Kentucky, 240 acres

Asbury Hurly Heirs, Kentucky, 214 acres

Alexander Mounts, Kentucky, 75 acres

Edward Cline, McDowell County, 25 acres

John Mullins, McDowell County, 15 acres

1886

Warren Alderson, Morehead KY, 2999 acres

Jacob Smith, Mouth of Pond KY, 2050 acres

J.D. Sergeant, Philadelphia PA, 1581 acres

Julius C. Williamson, Kentucky, 1353 acres

T.W. Blankenship, Roane County, 1200 acres

Anthony Lawson estate, Wytheville VA, 816 acres

Oswald Schaaf, Cincinnati OH, 650 acres

A.J. Baker, unknown, 300 acres

James Laidley, Kanawha County, 141 acres

1889

J.D. Sergeant, Philadelphia PA, 8976 acres

James OKeeffe, Tazewell County VA, 3592 acres

Stuart Wood, Philadelphia PA, 1093 acres

Warren Alderson, Morehead KY*, 800 acres

F. Slutienburgh, Cincinnati OH, 350 acres

J.C. Alderson and W.W. Adams et al., Wheeling and Charleston

Lewis Ferrell heirs, Pike County KY

Anthony Lawson heirs, Wytheville VA

William P. Payne et al., McDowell County

*Note: Residence located in Logan County in 1889 but in Morehead, Kentucky, for all other years.

Source: Land Book 1866-1872, Land Book 1873-1874, Land Book 1880-1886 and Land Book 1887-1892.

Former Sheriff Sidney B. Robertson Obituary (1923)

09 Friday Oct 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Huntington, Logan

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A.S. Bryan, Appalachia, Aracoma Lodge 99, banker, banking, C.C. Crane, C.H. Bronson, Charleston, Cincinnati, Cole and Crane Company, Ettye Robertson, First Presbyterian Church, genealogy, Gilbert, Guyan Valley Bank, Harry N. Robertson, history, Huntington, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Indianapolis, J. Murray Robertson, John Edwin Robertson, Kentucky, Knight Templars, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Louisville, Mae Robertson, Mary S. Robertson, masons, merchant, Ohio, politics, Portsmouth, Robert S. Shrewsbury, Ruby Robertson Parris, sheriff, Shriners, Spring Hill Cemetery, Stirrat, Sydney Robertson, W.B. Miles, West Virginia, Wheeling Consistory

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this obituary for former sheriff Sidney B. Robertson, dated June 22, 1923:

S.B. Robertson Dies At Huntington Home

Former sheriff of Logan county, Sidney B. Robertson, of 501 Fifth Avenue, Huntington, died Monday afternoon at 5:40 o’clock after a lingering illness. He has been in failing health for over a year, but it was not until about four months ago that his condition was regarded as serious. The best medical skill in the country was employed in his behalf, but none could make a diagnosis of his condition.

Funeral services will be conducted this afternoon, at 2:30 o’clock at the late home by the Rev. J.L. Mauze, pastor of the First Presbyterian church of which Mr. Robertson was a member. The body will be interred in Spring Hill Huntington cemetery following the services.

Mr. Robertson was born, August 3, 1864, and was the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Edwin Robertson. He early entered into business, and was prominent in lumber circles for some time, being associated with the late C.C. Crane, of Cincinnati, in that business. He served as sheriff of this county from 1900 to 1904 and following that engaged in the wholesale grocery business, until the time of his retirement, a year ago, which was necessitated by ill health. He had extensive holdings in coal mines of the county.

Mr. Robertson was in Logan about a month ago with Laryed Buskirk, on business connected with the purchase of the Stirrat-Gilbert right-of-way–at that time Mr. Robertson was in very poor health and told friends that it was doubtful if he would ever be in Logan again.

On February 22, 1884, he was married to Ettye Bryan, of Logan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A.S. Bryan. Four children were born of this union. Fifteen years ago, in the fall of 1907, the family moved to Huntington, which has been their home since that date.

Mr. Robertson was prominent in Masonry. He was a member of the Huntington chapter, No. 53, was a Shriner in the Charleston Beni Kedem temple, was a member of the Kanawha Commandery of Knight Templars of Charleston, held the thirty-second degree in Masonry in the in the Wheeling Consistory, and was past master of Aracoma lodge 99, of this city. He was also a member of the Logan chapter of I.O.O.F. He was at one time president of the Guyan Valley Bank and held a great number of offices in the different companies in which he was interested. He was a member of the First Presbyterian church of Huntington and was a member of the Men’s Bible class of that church.

Mr. Robertson is survived by his wife, Mrs. Ettye Robertson, three sons, Dr. J.E. Robertson, of Louisville, Ky., Harry N. Robertson of Logan, and J. Murray Robertson, of Huntington, an uncle, Sydney Robertson of Mana, Ark., three sisters, Mrs. C.H. Bronson and Mrs. W.B. Miles of Huntington, and Mrs. Mae Robertson of Pawtucket, R.I., and three grand children, Robert S. Shrewsbury of Huntington, John Edwin Robertson, Jr., of Louisville, Ky., and Mary S. Robertson of Logan.

Mr. Robertson’s only daughter, Mrs. Ruby Robertson Parrish, met a tragic death only a few weeks ago, dying as a result of injuries received when the family automobile went over a cliff near Portsmouth, O., while returning from the Memorial Day races at Indianapolis.

Chapmanville News 05.05.1922

15 Sunday Mar 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Creek, Chapmanville, Coal, Huntington, Logan, Stone Branch

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Alma Wagner, Anna Justice, Appalachia, Big Creek, Chapmanville, Cincinnati, Clee Conley, coal, Eustice Ward, genealogy, Hattie Clay, history, Hobert Spurlock, Huntington, Ida Butcher, Levy Hensley, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Lola Ferrell, Maud Garrett, Mazie Bates, Morgan Garrett, Nettie Pauley, Oscar Langdon, Queeney Conley, Roy Hager, Ruby Wagner, Stone Branch, Wanda Ferrell, West Virginia, Wilbert Langdon

A correspondent named “Uncle Joe” from Chapmanville in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following news, which the Logan Banner printed on May 5, 1922:

We are still having fair days and cool nights.

Miss Ruby Wagner has returned from the hospital at Huntington and is getting along nicely.

Mr. Oscar Langdon has left our town for Cincinnati.

Miss Alma Wagner looked lonesome Sunday. Where was L.T., Alma?

We wonder where they go when they take a ride here?

We saw two sweet gigglers out promenading all alone Sunday. Where were the boys?

Bug makes several trips to town during the day, but what does he care, for he gets his rides free.

Miss Eunice Ward and Mr. Hobert Spurlock were at the show Saturday night.

Miss Queeney Conley was shopping in town this week.

Some of the young folks were calling on Miss Clee Conley and thought they were on a merry go round.

Every person is always anxious to know who sends in the news. We wonder, who sent this?

Still more improvements and better wages at the mines here. You ought to make good money, boys.

When is Rev. Langdon going to preach for us again? It seems a long time between times.

Did we see Miss Maud Garrett and Mr. Wilbart Langdon out walking Sunday, or was it just imagination?

You’re not in style in our town unless you have a gray cap.

Mr. Roy Hager, of Big Creek, was calling on Miss Ida Butcher Sunday.

The handsomest man of Chapmanville has gone to work.

Mrs. Levy Hensley and daughter have returned to their home at Chapmanville after a short visit at Stone Branch.

Anna Justice, Hattie Clay and Mazie Bates were calling on Lola and Wanda Ferrell Sunday.

Mrs. Nettie Pauley was visiting relatives in this town Sunday.

Mr. Morgan Garrett has gone to work in Logan.

Buddy Griffin at Appalachian Heritage Day in Logan, WV (2019)

21 Saturday Sep 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan, Music

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A Prairie Home Companion, Appalachia, Appalachian Heritage Day, banjo, bluegrass, Bobby Osborne, Branson, Braxton County, Buddy Griffin, Charlie Sizemore, Cincinnati, David O'Dell, fiddler, fiddling, Glenville State College, Goins Brothers, guitar, Jackie Whitley, Jeff Roberts, Jim and Jesse McReynolds, Katie Laur Band, Landon Williams, Larry Sparks, Logan, Mac Wiseman, mandolin, Missouri, music, Nicholas County, photos, Robert C. Byrd, Rocky Top X-Press, Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College, The Hard Times, Vandalia Award, Vetco Records, West Virginia, West Virginia All-Star Bluegrass Band, Wheeling, WWVA Jamboree

DSC_0834

Bluegrass fiddle workshop, AHD, SWVCTC, Logan, WV. Photo by Jackie Whitley. 24 August 2019

DSC_0835

Bluegrass fiddle workshop, AHD, SWVCTC, Logan, WV. Photo by Jackie Whitley. 24 August 2019

DSC_0837

Bluegrass fiddle workshop, AHD, SWVCTC, Logan, WV. Photo by Jackie Whitley. 24 August 2019

Buddy Griffin with Bluegrass Music Workshop

Bluegrass fiddle workshop, AHD, SWVCTC, Logan, WV. Photo by David O’Dell. 24 August 2019

A native of Nicholas and Braxton counties, Buddy Griffin is a master musician on several instruments and a dedicated teacher and mentor. Raised in a musical family, Buddy began performing at an early age, excelling at banjo, fiddle, guitar, and mandolin. In 1973, he was hired in the staff band on the WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling, where he came into contact with Landon Williams, who lured him to Cincinnati to play in his band, The Hard Times. He and banjoist Jeff Roberts joined the Katie Laur Band in 1975. Buddy also played with the Goins Brothers. He later worked as an engineer at Vetco Records in Cincinnati and played in Charlie Sizemore’s band. He recorded with Mac Wiseman and has worked with Jim and Jesse, Larry Sparks, the Heckels, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, and Jesse McReynolds. He played in Branson, MO, for several years. In 1997, he returned to West Virginia and taught music at Glenville State College, where he was instrumental in developing the world’s first degree program in bluegrass music. He is a studio musician and has performed on various radio shows, including NPR’s “A Prairie Home Companion.” In 2011, he was awarded the Vandalia Award, West Virginia’s highest folklife honor. In 2016, he played fiddle with Bobby Osborne and the Rocky Top X-Press. He often performs with the West Virginia All-Star Bluegrass Band.

Stone Branch 08.24.1923

15 Sunday Sep 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Stone Branch

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Appalachia, Bessie Dean, Braeholm, Chester Curtis, Cincinnati, genealogy, history, Logan Banner, Logan County, Nellie McKennzie, Nellie Stiltner, Norma Saunders, Ohio, Pearl Mobley, Rebecca McKenzie, Ross Smith, Ruby Lucas, Sadie Ferguson, Sherman Hobbs, Stone Branch, West Virginia

A correspondent named “Three Pals” from Stone Branch in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following news, which the Logan Banner printed on August 24, 1923:

We are sorry to say that Chester Curtis is on the sick list.

Mrs. McKenzie and Mrs. Smith were calling on Mrs. Williamson Sunday evening.

Mrs. Stiltner and Mrs. McComas were calling on Mrs. Stiltner Sunday.

Martha Roberts has gone to Ohio to pay her mother a visit.

Mrs. Bledsoe was calling on Mrs. Roberts Saturday.

Miss Norma Saunders and Miss Pearl Mabblie have gone to Cincinnati.

Sherman Hobbs and Ross Smith were seen going down the road Saturday.

Mr. Stiltner and Mr. Smith sure do enjoy going to lodge.

Mr. McKenzie and Mr. Marshall were seen going down the road Saturday.

Miss Nella McKenzie was calling on Miss Nellie Stiltner Saturday night.

Miss Rubie Lucas and Miss Sadie Ferguson were the dinner guests of Miss Nellie McKenzie.

Mrs. Rebecca McKenzie called on Mrs. Little Sunday evening.

Some combinations–Boyd and his slop bucket; Gracie and her bonnet; Nellie and her cretonne dress; Sadie and her wrist watch; Rebecca and her silk dress; Mrs. Smith and her milk pail; Ruben and his wagon; Nellie and her silk dress; Gracie and her hair net; Nannie and her business course; Bob Ferrell and his cat; Frank and his milk pail; Lee and his dog.

Mrs. Little was calling on Mrs. McKenzie Sunday evening.

Mrs. Bessie Dean of Braeholm was calling on Mrs. Ferguson.

Stephen Hart and Harts Creek (1937)

14 Sunday Jul 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Creek, Big Harts Creek, Civil War, Hamlin, Harts, Logan, Midkiff, Ranger, Spurlockville, Toney

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Appalachia, assistant postmaster, Big Creek, Cabell County, Charles Spurlock, Cheat River, Cincinnati, civil engineer, civil war, doctor, genealogy, gunsmith, Hamlin, history, Jane Spurlock, John Spurlock, Lifas Spurlock, Lincoln County, Logan Banner, Logan County, Logan Post Office, Marshall Spurlock, Midkiff, Montgomery County, Omar, Pete Spurlock, preacher, Ranger, Robertson Spurlock, Seth Spurlock, Sheridan, sheriff, Spurlockville, Stephen Hart, surveyor, Union Army, Virginia, West Virginia

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history about Stephen Hart and Harts Creek in Lincoln and Logan counties, West Virginia. The story is dated April 14, 1937.

Stephen Hart Settled at Cheat River, Pete Spurlock, A Great Grandson, Reveals

P.A. (Pete) Spurlock, assistant postmaster at the Logan post office, this morning revealed the destination of Stephen Hart, who went went after he had lived for a short time at the forks of the creek in the lower end of Logan county which now bears his name.

Spurlock said that Hart went to the Cheat River and settled permanently there to hunt deer and rear a family. He said the family name of Hart is as familiar there as the name Dingess is familiar in Logan county.

A daughter of Stephen, Jane, was Spurlock’s grandmother. She lived until 1913 and told her grandson much of the early history of the family which made its home in and around Spurlocksville, Sheridan, Ranger, and Midkiff.

Charles Spurlock, the progenitor of the Spurlock family, came to what used to be the Toney farm below the mouth of Big Creek in 1805 from Montgomery county, Virginia.

“Uncle Charley was a funny old cuss,” his great grandson Pete said this morning. “The story is told that a sheriff of Cabell county was given a capias to serve on the old codger for some minor offense when he was growing old and rather stout.

“Meeting him in the road one day, the sheriff informed Uncle Charley he had a capias to serve on him.

“None abashed, the old man informed the sheriff he was a law-abiding citizen and laid down in the middle of the road and told the sheriff to take him to jail.

“The ruse worked, for the sheriff chose to look for less obstinate prisoners,” Uncle Charley’s grandson said, chuckling.

Another story about the eccentric “Uncle Charley Spurlock” which has gone down in history, whether true or not, was that he lived for a short time below Big Creek under a rock cliff (known as a rockhouse) during the early summer while he was getting his cabin in shape for winter.

The tale is out that “Uncle Charley” explained his strange dwelling place in this way to his neighbors:

“Well I took Sarah (his wife) in a good substantial frame house in Virginia and she wasn’t quite satisfied. I took her to a log house and she wasn’t satisfied. I took her to a rail pen and still she grumbled. Then I took her to a rock house built by God Almight and still she wasn’t satisfied.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with Sarah.”

Sarah evidently became accustomed to “Uncle Charley” for the couple reared four sons. They were John, Seth, Lifas and Robertson. There were no daughters.

Seth was P.A. Spurlock’s grandfather. His father, Marshall, is 78 and lives on his farm near Cincinnati.

Spurlock says “Uncle Charley” is buried on a point at Spurlocksville overlooking the haunts of his early manhood.

Robertson was a gunsmith and lived near Hamlin. Seth was a civil engineer and helped survey much of Logan county. He was a Union soldier. John was a country doctor who practiced at Ranger.

Lifas was a preacher for sixty years and lived at Sheridan.

Charles Spurlock, of Omar, is a distant cousin, the assistant postmaster said. He is the only relative that lives in this section of Logan county, Spurlock said.

Spurlock, at Omar, was born at Spurlocksville and is a grandson of one of the original “Charley’s” boys.

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.

Whirlwind News 05.04.1923

26 Sunday May 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Logan, Whirlwind

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Almeda Baisden, Appalachia, Cincinnati, Eva Ellis, Everett Workman, Garnet Hager, genealogy, George Carter, Harts Creek, history, Joe Ellis, Logan, Logan County, Ruth McCloud, Troy Vance, West Virginia, Whirlwind

An unnamed correspondent from Whirlwind on Harts Creek in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on May 4, 1923:

Troy Vance and George Carter were visiting home folks this week.

Ruth McCloud was calling on her best friend Sunday.

Miss Almeda Baisden was visiting home folks last week.

Mrs. Everett Workman is thinking of going to Logan to join her husband.

Miss Garnet Hager of Cincinnati was visiting relatives here Friday evening.

Miss Eva Ellis was the dinner guest of her mother, Mrs. Joe Ellis, Sunday.

Watch carefully Tom or the candy ankle will beat your time.

Big Creek News 08.31.1923

12 Saturday Jan 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Creek, Logan

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Albert Hager, Appalachia, Big Creek, Bill Stollings, C&O Railroad, Carlisle Toney, Charleston, Cincinnati, College of Beauty Culture, Detroit, Dyke Garrett, Francis Mobley, Frank Estep, Franklin Estep Jr., genealogy, history, Ida Mae Agee, Jess Harmon, Jess Toney, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Lula Mobley, Maud Belcher, Myrtle Mobley, Norma Sanders, Ohio, Ott Wilson, Pauline Mobley, Pearl Mobley, West Virginia, Willie Dingess

A correspondent named “Peggy” from Big Creek in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on August 31, 1923:

Miss Pauline Mobley has just returned home for a short visit with her mother. She has been attending the College of Beauty Culture in Detroit. She will return to take up her studies sometime this month. She was a guest of her sister in Logan Friday.

Dr. Whitehill will return to his work sometime in September. He is visiting relatives in Ohio. We are anxious for his return.

Mrs. Franklyn McKinney announced the arrival of a son, Franklin, Jr.

Franklyn Estep has a new girl but her name is a secret just now. He was seen with her Sunday night.

Bill Stollings has a new meat market. Seen him driving a calf up Main Street Thursday.

Misses Francis, Lula, Pauline and Myrtle Mobley entertained friends Sunday and Sunday night.

Mrs. C. Clark is the guest of her mother, Mrs. G. Mullins, this weekend.

Mr. Willie Dingess planned a visit to Big Creek but unfortunately the girl ran away. She thought she was too young to receive callers.

Miss Lula Mobley of Logan will accompany her sister as far as Cincinnati on her return to Detroit.

Mrs. Jess Toney entertained friends Sunday. They were out driving Sunday afternoon.

Ott Wilson of Logan and his Packard is seen in Big Creek frequently.

Carlisle Toney was hit by a car Thursday evening.

Rev. Dyke Garrett will hold a basket meeting Sunday, September 2nd. Everybody is welcome to attend.

Ida Mae Agee and Maud Belcher were visitors in Big Creek Friday.

Miss Pearl Mobley and Norma Sanders are visiting Mrs. Albert Hager of Cincinnati this week.

Mrs. Jess Harmon, who was the guest of his mother Monday, has returned to Charleston where he is employed by the C. & O. R.R. Co.

Man High School Girls’ Basketball Team (1928)

13 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Boone County, Gilbert, Huntington, Logan, Man, Sports, Women's History, Wyoming County

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Appalachia, basketball, Burch High School, Ceredo-Kenova High School, Cincinnati, Clothier Independent High School, genealogy, Gilbert High School, history, Huntington High School, Indianapolis, Logan Banner, Logan County, Logan High School, Madison High School, Man High School, Oceana High School, Sports, West Virginia, Wichita

Man HS Girls Basketball Photo LB 03.06.1928 3

Logan (WV) Banner, 6 March 1928.

Man HS Girls Basketball Photo LB 03.06.1928 2

Logan (WV) Banner, 6 March 1928.

Man HS Girls Basketball Photo LB 03.06.1928 4

Logan (WV) Banner, 6 March 1928.

Man HS Girls Basketball Team Goes to Kansas LB 03.27.1928 1

Logan (WV) Banner, 27 March 1928.

Allen Hatfield of Beech Creek, WV (1970s)

11 Tuesday Sep 2018

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

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Allen Hatfield, Appalachia, Beech Creek, Beni Kedem, Charleston, Charlie Simpkins, Cincinnati, civil war, Clyde Kiser, Deanna Hatfield, Devil Anse Hatfield, Devon Church of Christ, Doc Mayhorn, Eliza Murphy, Ellison Hatfield, feuds, Frankfort, genealogy, Goldie Hatfield, Gordon Smith, Grapevine Fork, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Hugh C. Boyd Lodge No. 119, Jane Hatfield, Jane Maynard, Joseph Chester Hatfield, Joseph Murphy, Kentucky, Kentucky Colonels, Lawrence Hatfield, Logan County, Major Hatfield, Martha Bell Murphy, Maryland, Mingo County, Norfolk and Western Railroad, North Tazewell, Ohio, Pike County, Plyant Mayhorn, preacher, Raymond Hatfield, Right Hand Fork, Rockville, Thacker, Valentine Wall Hatfield, Virginia, West Virginia, Williamson, Williamson Memorial Hospital, Willis Hatfield

My name is Deanna Hatfield and tonight I would like to share with you a West Virginian, Allen Hatfield, who the community of Beech Creek honored and loved. Allen was born October 11, 1877. He was the youngest child of the pioneer couple, Wall Valentine Hatfield and Jane Maynard Hatfield, who settled on Beech Creek in 1861, the year that the Civil War broke out in this country. His parents had settled at the mouth of Grapevine Fork of Beech Creek. They had occupied a log cabin near the present site of Lawrence Hatfield’s home. He was the nephew of Captain Devil Anse Hatfield, clan leader in the famed Hatfield-McCoy Feud, and a first cousin of Willis Hatfield, the only surviving child of that family.

Almost until the day of his death, Allen carried a sadness in his heart over the death of his father in the days of the famous feud. His father, a peaceable man, was not an active member of the fighting group of the Hatfields during the trouble between his family and the McCoys but was named in warrants along with two of his sons-in-law, Doc and Plyant Mayhorn. Allen Hatfield, but ten years old at the time, remembered that his father Wall, thinking that he had nothing to fear in the courts of Kentucky, wrote the prosecuting attorney of Pike County that he and his sons-in-laws wished to surrender in Pikeville and stand trial for crimes for which they were accused. Allen Hatfield recalled the incident from his boyhood, including the feud. His father did go to Pikeville to voluntarily stand trial and clear his name but he was convicted by a prejudiced jury, the son remembered, and was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Kentucky State Prison in Frankfort. After sentencing, he lived about one year and his burial place is still unknown today. The two Mayhorns served several years and were later pardoned.

One of his fondest memories was that of his mother Jane who took over the management of the home and did a good job of raising a large family after her husband was taken from her. She did chores around the homestead. A great and interesting conversationalist in his adult years, he liked to tell of how he and his friends made bows and arrows–arrows consisting of straight pieces of wood with a horseshoe nails attached as the spike. He became an excellent marksman with the bow and arrow and later with his first rifle as he helped to provide squirrels and other wild game for the family table.

The early years of Hatfield’s life were marked by sadness as a result of the loss of his family in the feud. But his hours spent in the great outdoors hunting and fishing provided a therapy that led to his development to splendid manhood. He was several years old when the Norfolk and Western Railroad Company built an extension from Virginia to southern West Virginia and Mingo County, which still was Logan County at that time.

In 1899, Hatfield was married to Martha Bell Murphy, daughter of Joseph and Eliza (Steele) Murphy. She had just turned fourteen when he proposed and her family thought she was too young to wed. The young couple sort of eloped the night of April 8, 1899, to Allen’s home where they were married by Allen’s brother, Ellison, a country preacher and a granny doctor, as he later recalled. Late that summer, he amassed enough lumber to build their first home—a one-room abode that was erected next to the hillside just north of the present homestead. Allen Hatfield made most of his furniture and his wife tended a garden and dug ginseng to help the family fortune.

During the ensuing years, the Hatfields had eleven children, two of whom preceded them in death. Lawrence Hatfield, who married Dollie Kiser, is now retired and lives with Dollie on Beech Creek at the mouth of Grapevine Fork. Estel Hatfield, who married Virginia Varney, lived with his dad and still lives in the old homeplace. Estel is an agent for the Norfolk and Western Railroad Company. Major Hatfield, who married Mildred Friend, is employed as an agent also for the Norfolk and Western Railroad Company in North Tazewell, Virginia. Rosa Hatfield, married Wayne Simpkins, lives on Beech Creek on Right Hand Fork. Goldie Hatfield married Gordon Smith, and they make their home below Grapevine Fork on Beech Creek. Mamie Hatfield married Charlie Simpkins and makes her home in Rockville, Maryland. Glendeen Hatfield married Douglas Berlin, and they make their home in Louisiana. Etta June Hatfield, never married and lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. Erma Hatfield married Forest Baisden, and she lives in Williamson, West Virginia. Milda Hatfield, deceased, was a retired school teacher and was never married. Joseph Chester Hatfield, died at six months old.

In 1914, Allen bought from his brother Smith a grocery store at the old homeplace and moved the merchandise to a small building at his home. He built a large home later and it was there that most of the children were born. He expanded his business to a larger store building, which still stands, and then he erected the present homeplace. During his early merchandising days, Hatfield was compelled to haul his goods from the railway station at Devon by team and wagon for the roads had not been built and most of the rough team tracks was through the creeks. It was a problem in the wintertime to get through the streams as they were filled with ice. After the county built a road up Beech Creek, he retired his team and wagon and switched to a gasoline-powered vehicle to haul and deliver his goods. He learned carpentry in the early years of his marriage and continued this art until 1964 when he retired. Hatfield was a 57-year member of the Hugh C. Boyd Lodge No. 119 AF & AM at Matewan and received his 50-year service award from the Grand Lodge of West Virginia in 1970. The lodge, when he became a master mason, was known as Thacker No. 119. It was located at Thacker, West Virginia. It later was moved to Matewan. He also belonged to the Beni Kedem Temple of Charleston, being a 50-year member of the Shriners. He also received the honorary commission of a Kentucky Colonel on April 10, 1972. He had been a member of the Devon Church of Christ since 1916 and sponsored the building of the present church that stands near his home on Beech Creek.

In his years of selling groceries, Hatfield said he never lost but 50 dollars in bad debts. He was proud of his heritage, a leader in his community, and in his active life a crack shot with a rifle, pistol, and shotgun. His hunting and fishing kept the table supplied with food. He won beef, hogs, turkeys, and chickens in the old-time rifle matches that were so popular in the Beech Creek area years ago. He and the former Martha B. Murphy were married 71 years before her death on May 25, 1970. His life might have been used as the subject by the poet who wrote, “Let me live by the side of the road and be a friend to man.” Allen Hatfield had spent a lifetime doing just that, living beside a little country road on Beech Creek and being a friend to mankind. On March 2, 1975, Allen was taken to the Williamson Memorial Hospital for ailments associated with his advanced age. He then was released and re-entered the hospital on April 18 in critical condition. On Friday, May 2, 1975, the community of Beech Creek lost one of the dearest old-timers that was ever known. Allen Hatfield, 97, prominently-known Mingo pioneer citizen, retired merchant of Beech Creek, died at 3 a.m. in the Williamson Memorial Hospital of a lingering illness. Funeral services were scheduled at the Chambers Funeral Home Chapel with his beloved ministers Clyde Kiser and Raymond Hatfield officiating. Burial took place in the family cemetery behind the homeplace on Beech Creek. His grandsons and great-grandsons were his pallbearers. Allen would have wanted it this way. Simple.

NOTE: Some of the names may be transcribed incorrectly.

P.H. Noyes v. Anderson Hatfield and John R. Browning (1891-1893)

17 Sunday Jun 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Guyandotte River, Hatfield-McCoy Feud

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Appalachia, Charles M. Turley, Charleston, Cincinnati, circuit clerk, deputy sheriff, Devil Anse Hatfield, Guyandotte, Guyandotte River, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Henry W. Sentz, history, J.B. Buskirk, John R. Browning, Kanawha County, lawyer, Logan County, Logan Court House, M.B. Mullins, Marion Chafin, P.H. Noyes & Company, pushboats, sheriff, steamboats, traveling salesman, W.W. Adams, West Virginia

On October 27, 1891, P.H. Noyes and Company sued Anderson Hatfield and John R. Browning relating to an 1890 debt. The following depositions provide some details about the case:

NOTICE TO TAKE DEPOSITIONS.

To Anderson Hatfield Sr. and John R. Browning. You will take notice that on the 28th day of March 1892, between the hours of 8 o’clock A.M., and 6 o’clock P.M., at the Law office of Adams and Smith’s at the City of Charleston in Kanawha County, we will proceed to take the deposition of P.H. Noyes and others to be read as evidence in behalf of ourselves in a certain suit at Law pending in the Circuit Court of Logan County, West Virginia wherein you are defendant and we are plaintiffs and if from any cause the taking of the said deposition be not commenced on that day, or if commenced and not completed on that day, the taking of the same will be adjourned and continued from day to day or from time to time, at the same place, and between the same hours, until completed.

Respectfully, P.H. Noyes & Co., By Counsel

Executed the within notice on the within named John R. Browning and Anderson Hatfield Sr. on the 2nd day of March 1892 by giving to each of them a true office copy of the same.

J.B. Buskirk, Dept. for F.M. Chafin, S.L.C.

***

DEPOSITIONS of Witnesses, taken before the undersigned authority, in and for the County of Kanawha, in the State of West Virginia pursuant to the annexed notice, at the law office of Adams & Smith at the City of Charleston W.Va on the 28 day of March 1892 between the hours of 8 o’clock A.M., and 6 o’clock P.M., of that day, to be read in evidence on behalf of the plaintiff, in a certain suit pending in the Circuit Court of Logan County West Virginia, in which suit P.H. Noyes & Company are Plaintiff and Anderson Hatfield Sr. and John R. Browning are Defendants.

Present: W.W. Adams for Plaintiff and no appearance for Defendant.

Deposition 1: Henry W. Sentz

Q: State your name, age, residence and occupation.

A: My name is Henry W. Sentz. I am 25 years old. I reside in Charleston, W.Va. and am a traveling salesman.

Q: What connection if any have you with the plaintiffs P.H. Noyes & Co.?

A: I am employed by them as a traveling salesman.

Q: Do you know anything about the matter in controversy in this suit between plaintiffs and defendants?

A: I sold him the bill of goods and he paid me in cash the sum of $400 for the residue. He executed the note upon which this suit is based. Since that time he has paid $100 on this note.

Q: Did you ever have any conversation with the defendant Anderson Hatfield in regard to the claim for which this suit is brought? If so, when and where?

A: I am not positive as to the time, but we had conversations in regard to the claim on two or three different occasions before the institution of this suit. These conversations were had at Logan Court House.

Q: State what was said by you and by him in said conversations.

A: He spoke of the debt, and when the note became due he asked for more time on it. He said if we would give him a little more time he would pay it, and I agreed to it as far as I could and explained the matter to the house. This was before the note was sent to Mr. Turley for collection. At the expiration of the time Mr. Hatfield asked should be given him on the note, I had another conversation with him. He still wanted more time, stating that he had a land deal on foot with M.B. Mullins, and said he thought it would only be a short time until the note was paid.

Q: What if anything did he say in these conversations, about the acts on which this suit was afterwards brought?

A: He said the debt was just and he wanted to pay it.

Q: When did these conversations occur?

A: The first conversation occurred about the time the note was due. The note was for three months, I think. The second conversation occurred about two months after the first. Both of these conversations occurred before the note was placed with Turley for collection.

Q: Has the house ever given Hatfield any other credit than the $100 credit above mentioned on the note?

A: Yes. At the time the goods were sold I figured up the amount of the bill. He paid at that time $400 and then sent in the note in controversy for the residue before the goods were shipped. When the goods were shipped, it was found that the amount of the note and the $400 was in excess of the amount of the bill for the goods, and credit was given on the note for this excess.

Q: What if anything did said defendant say in said conversations with reference to the condition of the goods for which this note was given? I mean their condition when he received them?

A: He said nothing.

Q: When did he first claim that the goods were damaged for which the note was given?

A: I can’t give the exact time but it was after the two conversations above mentioned, and before I had put the note for collection in C.M. Turley’s hands, that the defendant stated to me that some of the flour had been damaged, but that he did not blame P.H. Noyes & Co. for it as the goods had been a long time in transit and he did not get them home as early as he had expected to. Part of the flour had lain at Logan Court House for some time, I think in J.B. Buskirk’s stable.

Q: By what route and conveyance were these goods carried in Logan Court House?

A: They were shipped from Charleston to Guyandotte by steamboat, and from there to Logan Court House by push-boat, which is about 80 miles up Guyandotte River. The flour was shipped from Cincinnati to Guyandotte.

Q: When did you first hear of any claim on the defendant’s part and that he was entitled to an offset because said goods were damaged?

A: It was after the institution of the suit I saw the offset filed with the papers.

Q: Has the defendant made any payments on said note except the one of which you have spoken?

A: None that I know of.

Deposition 2: M.B. Mullins

Q: State your name, residence and occupation.

A: My name is M.B. Mullins, Logan County, West Virginia, Real estate dealer.

Q: Did you ever have any conversation with the defendant Anderson Hatfield in regard to the claim of P.H. Noyes & Co. v. him which is in controversy in this suit?

A: Yes.

Q: When and where?

A: I think it has been some nine months ago at Logan C.H. We first had the conversation in Buskirk’s store and then in Turley’s office.

Q: What did he say about said debt in that conversation?

A: He and I were on a trade for some land. He said he owed this debt and asked me in connection with the trade to pay it. This I agreed to do provided he could make good title to his land.

Q: At that time, who held this note for collection?

A: C.M. Turley said he had the note for collection. He is an attorney at Logan Court House. And part of the above conversation with Mr. Hatfield was had in the presence of Mr. Turley.

Q: Do you remember anything else Mr. Hatfield said to you about this debt on that occasion?

A: He asked me to write P.H. Noyes & Co. and ask them to give him a little time on this debt until this trade went through and he would pay it, and not to sue him. I did this.

Q: How long ago do you say this conversation occurred?

A: Nine months or more and I think I wrote the letter before I left Turley’s office. The date of the letter will show the date of the conversation.

Q: Did C.M. Turley take part in said conversation between you and Hatfield?

A: Yes, sir. My recollection is that Mr. Turley said he would give us time and hold up on the suit until the title to the land for which we were dealing was examined. Turley also wanted me to write P.H. Noyes & Co. so that they would understand why he had not brought suit v. Hatfield.

Q: Did Mr. Hatfield say anything about the goods Noyes & Co. had sent him being damaged or having any offset against said claim?

A: He did not at that time and I don’t remember of his having ever told me so. My recollection of his language is that he said “it is a just debt and I want to pay it.”

***

Additional notations derived from the Logan County Circuit Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV:

Law Orders Book G, p. 277 (27 October 1891): initial entry

Law Orders Book H, p. 112-113 (24 November 1892): case continued

Law Orders Book H, p. 113 (25 November 1892): jury could not decide, jury discharged

Law Orders Book H, p. 254 (28 April 1893): no notation

Law Orders Book H, p. 254 (28 April 1893): plaintiff wins $321.95 with interest

NOTE: This case does not appear to have any connection to the Hatfield-McCoy Feud.

Coal Development on Island Creek (1927)

04 Friday May 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Coal, Holden, Huntington

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Appalachia, Boston, Cincinnati, coal, F.W. Batcheler, history, Holden, Huntington, Island Creek, Island Creek Coal Company, James D. Francis, Kentucky, Logan, Logan Banner, New York, Norfolk and Western Railroad, Ohio, Pine Creek, Pond Creek, R.S. McVey, Thomas B. Davis, West Virginia

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this story titled “Boston Coal Men Pleased with Island Creek Development–New Town of Pine Creek Planned For,” published on October 25, 1927:

BOSTON COAL MEN PLEASED WITH ISLAND CREEK DEVELOPMENT–NEW TOWN OF PINE CREEK PLANNED FOR

Wish that more of the men at Boston, who talk about “mining camps” could come to West Virginia and see the flourishing cities and towns which dot the coal fields and ride over the hard roads which connect them was expressed Friday by F.W. Batcheler of Boston, treasurer of the Island Creek Coal Company. Mr. Batcheler, for 25 years in his present capacity, had just arrived in Huntington after his first visit to his company’s properties in Logan county and on Pond Creek in Kentucky. He said frankly that the experience had been a revelation to him, familiar as he already was in theory with the activities of his and other companies in these fields, reports the Herald-Dispatch.

Thomas B. Davis of New York, the Island Creek president, who has observed personally the development of the coal fields, was no less enthusiastic than Mr. Batcheler in his comment off the changes which have been wrought since his first visit to Island Creek.

“At first,” he said, “we had to go up the Norfolk & Western, using an accommodation train, and go across the mountains on horseback. Now we can inspect both Pond Creek and Island Creek properties in less time than it took them to get into the field.”

His enthusiasm and that of his fellow travelers was heightened by the fact that the party came to Huntington from Holden, by automobile, in two hours and twenty minutes.

With the president and Mr. Batcheler were R.S. McVey of Cincinnati, vice president in charge of sales, and James D. Francis of Huntington, vice president. Other members of the sales force took part in the inspection visit to the fields.

President Davis spoke in an optimistic strain of business conditions, which he feels are going to continue good despite a “let down” tendency now manifest.

“We can’t go at top speed all the time,” was his comment.

One of the chief points of interest to the inspection party while in Logan was operation No. 22, a new shaft mine which is being opened by the Island Creek company at an outlay of several million dollars.

15-Foot Seam at No. 22

“The shafts are down,” Mr. Davis said, “and we have found a 15-foot seam of coal as good as any found anywhere. The hoists are being raised and the first houses are being built.”

The preliminary housing in the new town of Pine Creek will include about forty buildings. The complete program, the officials explain, includes 600 houses to care for a population of 3,500. To reach this operation a railroad extension was built and a hard road, running for much of the seven-mile distance, was built by the company to connect Pine Creek with Holden.

 

Clinton Crane (1917)

14 Wednesday Feb 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan, Timber

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Appalachia, Christmas, Cincinnati, Clinton Crane, Cole and Crane Company, Fred Cole, genealogy, Guyandotte River, Guyandotte Valley, Henry D. Hatfield, Highland Avenue, history, Logan, Logan County, Logan Democrat, logging, Ohio, optometry, photos, timber, timbering, W.H. Cole, West Virginia

The following news items relating to Clinton Crane (1844-1917) and Cole & Crane Co. were printed in the Logan Democrat of Logan, WV, in 1917:

Clinton Crane 1

HONOR FOR LOGAN CITIZEN

C. Cole Appointed Member of State Board in Optometry

C. Cole of this city has been appointed by Governor Hatfield a member of the State Board of Examiners in Optometry, and the senate has confirmed the appointment.

It will be Mr. Cole’s duty to meet at the state capital with the other members of the board at regular intervals to prepare examinations and to examine applications who wish to practice optometry in this state, and to issue certificates to those who pass a satisfactory examination.

Mr. Cole has been practicing optometry for about sixteen years, and when the law requiring a certificate came into effect, he would have been exempt from taking the examination on account of his long practice, but preferred to take it.

In 1912 he passed a satisfactory examination and secured a life certificate, and since that time has been practicing in this profession and has taken an active part in the state optical work.

He has supervised the training and study of his two sons, W.H. and Fred Cole, who also hold certificates.

Source: Logan (WV) Democrat, 1 March 1917.

***

CAPT. CRANE IS BETTER

Veteran Timberman and Lumber Manufacturer Will Get Out Again

Capt. Clinton Crane of Cincinnati, millionaire timber and lumber dealer and manufacturer, who has been very ill for several weeks at his home in the Ohio metropolis, and whose life was for a time despaired of, is now improving, according to advices received by friends and business acquaintances here.

The messages state that Capt. Crane will be able to get out again as soon as the weather improves.

Source: Logan (WV) Democrat, 8 March 1917.

***

Work on remodeling the Cole residence on Highland avenue, which was damaged by fire before Christmas, is progressing rapidly. W.H. Cole, son of C. Cole, expects to build a house for himself later on the lot above his father’s.

Source: Logan (WV) Democrat, 27 April 1917.

***

CLINTON CRANE DEAD

Well Known Lumber Magnate Passes Away At His Home In Cincinnati

The death of Clinton Crane, a well known lumber man, at his home in Cincinnati, last Friday, came as a shock to a number of people in Logan county who were well acquainted with him.

Mr. Crane had extensive holdings in West Virginia, being junior partner in the firm of Cole & Crane. He was 77 years old. He entered the West Virginia timber market about 1880, and came to own thousands of acres in the Guyandotte valley. His firm had booms at the mouth of the Guyandotte river and drifted millions of logs from the upper waters, rafting them to the booms and then towing them to Cincinnati. Lately, they have used trains mostly for this work.

Mr. Crane kept in close touch with his vast business interests. He also had large coal interests in the Guyan valley. He leaves a widow and two daughters. He was buried last Monday. His interests in Logan county were put in the hands of trustees before his death, so his passing will have no effect on the companies in which he held interest here.

Source: Logan (WV) Democrat, 10 May 1917.

***

The late Clinton Crane, who died recently in Cincinnati, was among the first to recognize the vast resources of this part of West Virginia. He accumulated over a million dollars as a result. The same opportunities that were open to him are still open to others. The coal development of Logan county will produce many more millionaires within the lifetime of the present generation.

Source: Logan (WV) Democrat, 17 May 1917.

Admiral S. Fry Letter (1880)

11 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Green Shoal, Huntington, Lincoln County Feud, Music, Women's History

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Admiral S. Fry, Anderson County, Appalachia, Burbus Toney, Charleston, Cincinnati, Franklin County, Garnett, genealogy, George Fry, Green Shoal, history, Huntington, J.S. Caldwell, Kansas, Lincoln County, music, Ohio, Ottawa, Rhoda Fry, Tolbert S. Godby, West Virginia

A.S. Fry Letter 1A.S. Fry Letter 2A.S. Fry Letter 3

A.S. Fry Letter 4

I descend from three of A.S. Fry’s siblings: Christian Fry, Emily (Fry) Lucas, and Druzilla (Fry) Abbott. A.S. Fry’s son, George Fry, is a central character in my book, “Blood in West Virginia: Brumfield v. McCoy.”

The Majesty of Coal (1927)

24 Thursday Aug 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Coal

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Appalachia, Cincinnati, Cincinnati Enquirer, coal, history, Kentucky, Logan, Logan Banner, Manhattan, Ohio, Statue of Liberty, U.S. South, West Virginia

From the Cincinnati Enquirer via the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, we find this editorial about coal dated 8 February 1927:

Coal is one of the present greatest factors in the life of civilization. But for this “bottled sunlight” we should have little other light or power. We ride the street cars, pass under the luminance of arc lights, enjoy the soft glow of the incandescents; we operate our mills and factories, we speed across the continents and oceans on trains and steamers largely because we have coal. Some day something else may take its place, but at present coal is the nerve of modern life and industry, of trade and commerce.

In the program being carried forward to make this city better known to its own people and to other peoples, the Chamber of Commerce does well to stress the importance of the city as a soft-coal center. The city is, in fact, the soft-coal center of the nation. The great cosmopolitan communities of the country would often be in hard way but for Cincinnati and its facilities with reference to soft coal distribution. We not only are the gateway to the South, but the gateway through which flows the essence which fires and lights practically the life and industry of the mightiest nation on the face of the earth.

The coal of West Virginia and Kentucky makes life brighter and more worth living on the island of Manhattan; it goes to the areas of cold and bleakness on, and beyond, the Northern lakes. It helps to feed the trains and ships which carry millions of passengers and billions of dollars worth of freight. It helps to light the Statue of Liberty and warm the halls of legislation. Blow out, over night, the effectiveness and influence of Cincinnati to serve the nation and chaos would be invited for a time.

There is a good deal to be known about Cincinnati–much that is valuable to the city, and much that is of value to the nation and to the world.

Early Newspapers of Lincoln County, WV

03 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Hamlin, Huntington

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The following newspapers have existed in Lincoln County, WV:

Lincoln Clipper (1881-

“The publication of the Lincoln Clipper, a five column folio newspaper, was begun at Hamlin on the 15th day of September, 1881, by Messrs. C.M. Hall and T.T. McDougal, editors and proprietors. They continued it for several months, when Hall sold his interest to McDougal, by whom it was published until January, 1882, at which time he sold a half interest to Messrs. Joseph E. Chilton, C.W. Campbell and B.H. Oxley, and under the name of the Clipper Publishing Company they issued it until August, 1882, when Edward I. Holt purchased the press and office material, and by him it has been published since. Under his management it has constantly improved and enlarged. On the 18th day of October, 1883, it was made a five column quarto.” Source: Hardesty’s History of Lincoln County, WV (c.1884), p. 97.

“The Lincoln Clipper has again changed hands and is now published by the Lincoln Clipper Publishing Company. The capital stock is not given, but it is something less than $1,000,000.” Parkersburg Sentinel, 4 February 1882

 

Lincoln Citizen (1886-

“Mr. W.M. Workman will begin the publication of a newspaper called the Lincoln Citizen at Hamlin, Lincoln County, about the 20th inst. We presume the object of its publication is to fill the usual long-felt want, and incidentally to reap the golden reward of West Virginia journalism. We hope Mr. Workman may be successful in his enterprise.” Huntington Advertiser, 10 April 1886

“J. Jerome Haddox is again editor of the Lincoln Citizen. It is needless to say the Citizen is turned up to bold and brilliant things.” Logan County Banner, 18 September 1895

“The History of Logan County, by Hon. Henry Clay Ragland, has begun in The Logan Banner. He starts off like a true historian, and with a master pen blends romance and history together. He begins with the brave little Jamestown colony in 1607, and with a skillful pen and accurate knowledge of the footprints of colonial characteristics is bringing his readers gradually down to the settlements and formation of Logan.” Logan County Banner, 15 January 1896 (via Lincoln Citizen)

“Mr. J. Jerome Haddox, editor of the Lincoln Citizen, was married Sunday afternoon to Miss Linnie Mahone, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Virgil H. Mahone, prominent and well-to-do people of that county. The Banner extends congratulations.” Logan County Banner, 19 February 1896

“The Lincoln Citizen is the only exchange that comes to our tables that has the gall to try to keep alive that defunct Populist party. From the look of its dress it may be surmised that the Citizen will soon sink into its predestined grave to sleep until the vision so graphically pictured by Mr. Bellamy arrives which will perhaps be realized about the year 4000 A.D. One by one the ‘pop’ organs have dropped from the ranks until now to see one is a curiosity The Citizen may aptly be styled the last rose of summer in the West Virginia Populist garden.” Huntington Advertiser, 9 May 1896 (via Southern West Virginian)

“The populist convention of Lincoln county instructed their delegates to the State district convention to vote for Jerome J. Haddox, editor of the Lincoln Citizen, for delegate to the National populist Convention at St. Louis. Mr. Haddox was here today and thinks his chances are favorable. He is accompanied by his estimable wife and they will probably remain here for several days.” Huntington Advertiser, 8 June 1896

“The Lincoln Citizen, edited by the only Jerome Haddox, came in on time last evening and was as bright and newsy as ever. Mr. Haddox’s paper always contains some rich, rare, and racy effusions which will bring smiles to the countenance of the most disconsolate.” Huntington Advertiser, 29 January 1897

“Jerome Haddox, the populist editor, of Lincoln county, who has many friends in this city, is the happy father of a nine and one-half pound boy. It was born last Wednesday and Jerome says: ‘He is a middle of the road populist possessing oratorical abilities.'” Huntington Advertiser, 16 March 1897

“Editor Jerome J. Haddox of the Lincoln Citizen has sold out his plant and good will to Elbert R. Hoffman of the Lincoln Guidon but the paper will be known in the future as the Lincoln Citizen and will be republican in politics. Mr. Haddox is one among the most interesting writers in the state and the press generally will be sorry to lose him from the profession. Mr. Hoffman was formerly a well known Charleston newspaper man and will evidently make a success in his new field.” Huntington Advertiser, 26 July 1898.

Lincoln News (1894-

“We notice in the Lincoln News that John H. Sanborn and David Laird, of Dunlow, were in Hamlin a few days ago and subscribed for the Lincoln News. Frank says the sign was the special attraction.” Logan County Banner (Logan, WV), 21 June 1894

“Editor Van Zeveley of Hamlin, is here for a day or two after looking after the interests of his paper, The Lincoln News.” Huntington Advertiser, 10 March 1898

“The Lincoln News comes out this week in new dress and greatly enlarged. We are glad to chronicle the success of Mr. Van Zeveley its editor and owner. The News is doing good for the democracy in Lincoln.” Huntington Advertiser, 15 April 1898

“Editor Van Zeveley of the Lincoln News is in the city and is accompanied by Mrs. Zeveley. They will remain in Huntington over Sunday.” Huntington Advertiser, 13 May 1898

“Van Zeveley of Lincoln who has been in the city for a few days received a telegram yesterday afternoon that his wife who had been visiting out in the interior of the state was very ill and had been taken to the hospital at Wheeling for treatment. Mr. Zeveley left this morning for her bedside. It is hoped that he will find her much improved.” Huntington Advertiser, 6 July 1898

“Van H. Zeveley, the editor of the Lincoln news, is spending a few days here in company with his wife. Van was one of the secretaries of the Spencer convention, and a good one he was too.” Huntington Advertiser, 3 September 1898

“Van Zeveley, the well known editor of the Lincoln News, came in last night from Charleston where he has been spending a few days looking after some business matters. Mr. Zeveley will return home tomorrow morning.” Huntington Advertiser, 14 March 1899

“Editor Van Zeveley of the Lincoln News arrived in the city at noon today from Hamlin, accompanied by his wife. They will remain here until tomorrow morning, when they will leave over the Ohio railroad for Ritchie county, where they will spend a few weeks. Mrs. Zeveley has been in ill health for almost a year past, but is now much improved.” Huntington Advertiser, 20 July 1899.

“Editor Van Zeveley of the Lincoln News arrived here this morning and left this afternoon on the White Collar line steamer for Cincinnati.” Huntington Advertiser, 9 August 1899

“Van Zeveley, Editor of the Lincoln News, one of the leading democratic weeklies in the state, is in the city today looking after some business matters. The many friends of Mr. Zeveley will be sorry to learn that his health has been failing for a few months past. Mr. Zeveley will remain here until the middle of the week.” Huntington Advertiser, 18 September 1899

“Editor R.E. Hardwicke of the Lincoln News and several other prominent citizens of Lincoln are here today and will remain until tomorrow, when they go to Charleston to attend the Western Davis meeting.” Huntington Advertiser, 15 August 1900

“Editor R.E. Hardwicke of the Lincoln News came in from Charleston this morning and will spend a day or so here before returning to his home at Hamlin.” Huntington Advertiser, 21 September 1900

Van Zeveley was the son of E.S. Zeveley. The elder Mr. Zeveley was born in North Carolina in 1818 and began a newspaper called the Greensboro Beacon in 1836. In 1877, he founded the Ritchie Democrat and Beacon Light at Cairo, WV. His son, Van, began a newspaper called The Walking Beam in Volcano, WV. Following the elder Zeveley’s death in 1884, the Democrat passed to his son, Van. Van operated the Beacon Light (renamed and relocated to Pennsboro) until 1893, when he moved to Lincoln County. He edited the Lincoln News for six years until his poor health forced him to retire from the newspaper business. Sources: History of Ritchie County by Minnie Kendall Lowther (1911), p. 454-455; West Virginia and Its People by T.C. Miller and Hu Maxwell (1913), p. 304.

The Institute Daily Lincoln News (1895-

“We are in receipt of several numbers of The Institute Daily Lincoln News. This is the first daily ever published in Lincoln county, and it is bright and newsy and reflects much credit upon the management of the News.” Logan County Banner, 17 July 1895

Lincoln Guidon (1895-

Note: This is a “working” entry and will be updated periodically.

 

In Search of Ed Haley 351

07 Thursday Aug 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Ed Haley, John Hartford

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Allie Trumbo, Ashland, Beautiful Isle of Somewhere, Brandon Kirk, California, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Doug Owsley, Ed Haley, Ella Haley, Florida, genealogy, history, Jack Haley, Janet Haley, Jimmy Haley, John Hartford, Kentucky, Lawrence Haley, life, Margaret Ryan, Mona Haley, music, Noah Haley, Oak Hill Cemetery, Ohio, Pat Haley, Patsy Haley, Ralph Haley, Ralph Payne, Rosemary Haley, Wilson Mullins, World War II, writing

Early in December, Brandon and I met at Pat Haley’s. All of our excitement focused on the upcoming meeting with Owsley’s forensic team, although it wasn’t long until we were in the familiar routine of asking Pat and Mona questions. Mostly they spoke of Ralph, a key player in Ed’s story. It was Ralph who recorded Ed’s and Ella’s music. Pat said Patsy knew a lot about Ralph, so she called her in Cleveland.

Patsy said Ralph was a nice and intelligent person.

“All the kids looked up to him when they were growing up,” she said.

As far as Patsy knew, Ralph never had any contact with his real father but he did take the last name of Payne when he was older.

Around 1936, Ralph married Margaret Ryan, an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old Cincinnati girl. The newlyweds took up residence with Ed and Ella, and Ralph stopped drinking (at his wife’s insistence). Margaret remained living with the Haleys during the war, when Ralph was overseas fighting the Japanese.

During the war, Ralph had an affair with a Filipino woman named Celeste, who Pat said bore him a son. Mona thought he actually married Celeste. According to her, his plan was to “set” Margaret up after the war, divorce her and return to his Filipino bride. He had Celeste’s name tattooed on his body. When he returned home from the war, he told Margaret, when she saw his tattoo, that Celeste had been the name of his ship. Ralph and Margaret soon left Ashland and moved to Cincinnati.

It was around that time that Patsy came into the family. She said she married Jack in California on October 25, 1946 and met Ed the following Thanksgiving in Ashland. She and Jack moved in with him for three months at 105 17th Street. Mona, Wilson Mullins, and little Ralph were also living there at the time. Jack only stayed for about three months because he couldn’t find work. Patsy said they moved out near Ralph in Cincinnati. Ella’s brother Allie Trumbo lived there, as did several of her close friends. Mona and her family soon followed them there and found an apartment in the same building.

Mona said Ralph’s thoughts were with Celeste: he was in the process of getting Margaret “set up” when tragedy intervened.

One Sunday in May of 1947, Jack, Patsy, Ralph, Margaret, Mona, Wilson, and little Ralph went fishing at a park about 25 miles outside of Cincinnati. At some point, Patsy said Ralph and Mona began talking about hanging upside down in a nearby tree. Mona climbed up the tree and Patsy took her picture. Then Ralph got in the tree and fell. As he lay on the ground, he told his family that his neck was broken and requested that they put a board under him until the doctors could arrive. Ralph was taken to a hospital where he told Ella, “When I bite down on the ice it makes a musical tone in my head.”

On Thursday, May 22, 1947, Ralph died at the age of 34. The family was afraid that Ella might hear of his death over the radio. She was staying at Mona’s apartment at the time.

On May 24 — Mona’s birthday — Ralph was buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery near Cincinnati. Patsy said Ed never made it to Ralph’s funeral, nor did Lawrence, who was in the service in Florida but Mona remembered that Lawrence was there on emergency leave. Someone played “Beautiful Isle of Somewhere”, Ralph’s favorite hymn.

Celeste later wrote Ella, mentioning how her son had an ear problem. When the family wrote to tell her of Ralph’s death, she figured they were making it up just so she would stop writing.

We figured that Ralph was Mona’s favorite brother since she had named her oldest son after him, but she said Jack was her favorite brother because he had taken up for her the most. She said Ella had been the one who named her son after Ralph. She also spoke highly of Noah, who contracted malaria and saw a lot of combat during World War II.

“Noah was good to send things home to Mom and Pop during the war,” Mona said. “And when he came home he laid carpet and fixed doorbells did things like that for Mom there at 17th Street.”

Noah went to Cleveland around 1950. Pat said Noah’s wife was a high-strung person. Their daughter Rosemary killed herself when she was eighteen. She wanted to get married but her mother protested, so she went into her brother’s room and shot herself in the head. In later years, Noah and Janet divorced. Pat said Noah’s son Jimmy really did a good job of looking after them. Janet died several years ago.

Ed Haley plays on WLW (1924)

28 Monday Jul 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Culture of Honor, Ed Haley, Lincoln County Feud, Music

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Ashland, blind, Cincinnati, Crosley Radio Weekly, Ed Haley, Ella Haley, feud, fiddler, fiddling, Green McCoy, Hamlin, history, Kentucky, Lincoln County Feud, Lincoln Republican, Milt Haley, music, Ohio, West Virginia, WLW

About that time, Brandon found this teeth-rattling article while scanning through microfilm of the Lincoln Republican at the public library in Hamlin, West Virginia. It was titled “Ed Haley and Wife Play for the Radio” and dated Thursday, August 28, 1924.

The Crosley Radio Weekly, published at Cincinnati, Ohio, contains a good picture of Ed Haley and wife, the blind musicians so well known in Hamlin, with an interesting story of Mr. Haley, which we reproduce as follows:

The picture above is that of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Haley, of Ashland, Ky., blind fiddlers, who soon will entertain WLW listeners with a most interesting concert. They have the reputation of being the best old-time music makers of the mountains of West Virginia and Kentucky, making a living for themselves and their three children by playing at dances and county fairs. Mr. Haley is shown playing a fiddle connected with which there is a very interesting story of the old mountain feud days. His father was involved in the famous Brumfield-McCoy feud and was captured by the Brumfields. He was told he was to be shot to death in five minutes, during which time he calmly played his fiddle, the same one his son plays for radio listeners and which he was holding when the above picture was taken. The feudist and a friend was shot to death when the five minutes expired and both their bodies were buried in a wooden box. The fiddle, however, was kept by the Brumfields for some years and later returned to the son of the murdered man.

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