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Tag Archives: Columbus

Chapmanville News 07.07.1922

09 Saturday May 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Chapmanville, Yantus

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Appalachia, Bowling Green, Chapmanville, Columbus, Cove Creek, Devona Butcher, Donald Phipps, Edd Turner, Edith Robertson, Elma Phipps, Everett Fowler, Fourth of July, Garland Mounts, genealogy, George Justice, Gladys Bryant, Greenway Simms, Harry Conley, history, Ida Butcher, J.H. Vickers, Kentucky, Logan Banner, Logan County, Lorain Hill, Maud McCloud, Millard Brown, Minnie Butcher, Nona Collins, Ohio, Tollie Ferrell, typhoid fever, W.J. Bachtel, Ward Hotel, Wayne Browning, West Virginia, Yantus

Correspondents named “Somebody’s Baby” and “Katie” from Chapmanville in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following news, which the Logan Banner printed on July 7, 1922:

We are glad to report that we are having a nice Sunday school organized at the Holiness church.

Rev. Johnson delivered a very interesting sermon at the church Sunday.

Mrs. J.H. Vickers has returned from a pleasant visit with her parents at Columbus, Ohio.

Little Dan Cupid has been very busy in our town and to our surprise, he shot an arrow across Mr. Greenway Simms’ path and he fell a victim to the dart.

Mr. Everett Fowler and Miss Nona Collins were out kodaking Sunday.

We are sorry to say that Mrs. Garland Mounts is very sick at this writing and her many friends hope for her speedy recovery.

Mr. and Mrs. W.J. Bachtel were out walking Sunday.

A very nice wedding took place at Cove Creek Saturday when Miss Marie Asberry became the happy bride of Mr. James Bryant. They returned here to the groom’s home, Sunday night, and will make this place their future home.

We wonder why Millard Brown visits Mr. Perry so much? Ask Pearl, she knows.

Mrs. George Justice will leave on Thursday for Bowling Green, Ky., at which place she will be the guest of her daughter for several weeks.

Mr. Harry Conley was calling on Miss Ida Butcher Sunday. He says Ida is some S.L.T.

Miss Gladys Bryant is spending the week and with her grand parents at Yantus.

Miss Maud McCloud is very ill at this writing as she received a message that her husband is suffering from appendicitis in the C. & O. hospital.

Mr. Lorain Hill paid his daily visit to the Ward hotel Saturday night.

The boys all say they like to take their meals at the restaurant now as they have a pretty cook.

Miss Edith Robertson is the guest of her mother, Mrs. Bowling, at the present time.

Miss Devona Butcher will leave on Sunday to enter a summer normal.

Will call again if this escapes the waste basket.

***

We are having some rainy weather here these days.

Mr. Wayne Browning and Everett Fowler are off on a three weeks vacation during the Fourth.

The people of this town were much disappointed on the Fourth owing to the unpleasant weather.

Miss Tollie Ferrell called on Miss Elma Phipps Wednesday.

Bathing seems to be popular here nowadays.

Wonder why Misses Devona and Minnie Butcher stay at home so much now? Call more often, girls.

Mr. Donald Phipps has been confined to his bed with typhoid fever, but is improving slowly.

Edd Turner was out riding his jitney Sunday.

The Holiness people have an excellent choir now.

Well I don’t want to write all the serious news of our city. Leave it to you, Rebecca.

I will call again next week.

Lincoln County, WV: After Oil and Gas (1922)

23 Sunday Dec 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Hamlin

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Tags

Appalachia, board of education, Carroll High School, cattle, Columbus, dairy, Edna Hager, education, fruit, gas, Hamlin, history, Homer Stiles, Hugh Hainor, Ida Hager, Kenova, Lincoln County, Lincoln Republican, Ohio, oil, orchards, sheep, teachers, West Virginia

From the Lincoln Republican of Hamlin, WV, comes this submission by three Carroll High School students about what Lincoln County might do when oil and gas is exhausted in the future.

AFTER OIL AND GAS, THEN WHAT?

If oil and gas were to become exhausted in Lincoln county what suggestions have you along the line of agriculture for keeping up and increasing the wealth of the county and maintaining the population of Hamlin?

Three Carroll High School pupils in a recent examination in Agriculture gave the following answers:

If oil and gas were to become exhausted in Lincoln county, and it is supposed that it will, the people could make just as much money at other things if they would only think so. For instance, Lincoln county has been declared by the best educated men in the State to be the best fruit growing county in West Virginia. The people of Lincoln county can make as much money growing fruit as the people of Ohio, and many a farmer in Ohio has grown rich just by growing fruit. I do not mean out close to Columbus, but down near Kenova, in the hilly section. These hills of Lincoln county can be cleared and the men who are now making $2500 a year working in the oil and gas business can make that much and more growing fruit. Of course he has to go about it in the right manner. If they do it as it should be done they would be busy every day in the year.

Dairying is another thing that has been discussed by educated men for Lincoln county. They say now that we are getting the hard road we can take all our milk and butter to Huntington and receive good prices for it. Improved cattle can be turned out on these hills and if cared for in the proper way a man can make as much money working at it as he can working in the oil and gas business.

IDA HAGER.

If oil and gas were to become exhausted in Lincoln county, I think dairying would help increase the wealth of the county and also help maintain the population of Hamlin. Dairying would pay in this county because so many people do not own cows and would buy all their milk and butter from the dairy. The cows could be pastured in the summer, and this would cause the people to improve their farms; and again, we are getting the hard road, and the dairy products could very easily be taken to market, if the dairy man could not sell all his products at home.

Fruit raising would also help Lincoln county. These hill-sides could be converted into profitable and beautiful fruit farms. I don’t think another town in the U.S. of its size uses so much fruit as Hamlin, and all this fruit must be shipped in from other places when it could be raised very easily at home. The people would improve their farms, and the washed and gullied hills would be made of some use, whereas they are of none. The only thing needed to make both dairying and fruit raising profitable is some one to start and boost the business.

EDNA HAGER.

If oil and gas were to become exhausted in Lincoln county, I would suggest agriculture on a scientific basis to keep the population and increase the wealth. If I see right, Lincoln county has some of the best land for orchards in the eastern part of the United States. What cannot be used for orchards can be used for sheep. With the proper care, orchards of great value and producing ability can soon be started in Lincoln county. Most of the soil, or sub soil, is clay and usually is deep and well watered. The change in temperature is usually gradual and not much risk or danger would be run in loosing from frosts or freezing. Again, we can not find a better sheep raising county in the east than Lincoln county. Sheep would surely prosper in Lincoln county. The land is somewhat run down and this would soon build it back again and restore Lincoln county’s virgin soils. This is the only way I can possibly see to keep Lincoln on her feet.

HUGH HAINOR

Perhaps it is well that some people are thinking along this line. It might be dded also that one way of keeping up the population and welfare of the county is to build up at the County seat the best school possible. In doing this everyone can help. We should have a large number of county teachers in the High School for the spring months. Everyone should be interested in livening teachers up to this opportunity of better preparation. We shall be in the new building then and the new building is fine. It might be of interest to note in closing that the Board of Education and the faculty are considering the establishment of a Five Week’s Summer Training School for teachers, and are discussing the matter with State authorities and with the County Superintendent.

HOMER STILES,

Prin. Carroll High School

Source: Lincoln Republican (Hamlin, WV), 02 February 1922.

Harts News 08.05.1927

15 Monday Jan 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Creek, Big Ugly Creek, Gill, Harts, Huntington, Logan

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Annie Dingess, Appalachia, Big Creek, Blanche Spry, Caroline Brumfield, Cat Adkins, Charleston, Columbus, Cora Adkins, Ed Brumfield, Ethel Brumfield, Fisher B. Adkins, Fred Shelton, genealogy, H.R. Adkins, Harts, Hendricks Brumfield, Herb Adkins, history, Howard Stone, Huntington, Inez Adkins, Jessie Brumfield, John McEldowney, Lincoln County, Logan, Logan Banner, Nye Rooper, Ohio, Pauline Scites, St. Albans, Sylvia Cyfers, Verna Johnson, Vesta Cyfers, West Virginia

An unknown correspondent from Harts in Lincoln County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on August 5, 1927:

Hurrah! Here comes Harts again!

H.R. Adkins was transacting business in Logan, Monday.

Miss Cora Adkins of Huntington spent the weekend with home folks here.

Cheer up, boys. The flapper from Big Creek will come again.

Mrs. Verna Johnson of Columbus, Ohio, was the guest of her mother, Mrs. Chas. Brumfield, here over Saturday and Sunday.

Howard Stone of Huntington was calling on friends in Harts, Friday.

F.B. Adkins was looking after business matters in Huntington, Saturday.

Miss Pauline Scites of Huntington was calling on Mrs. Jessie Brumfield here Saturday and Sunday.

Mr. and Mrs. John McEldowney and children of Charleston are here visiting friends at present.

Miss Ethel Brumfield was the guest of Mrs. Robert Dingess at Logan last Saturday.

Mrs. Jessie Brumfield and Pauline Scites and Fred Shelton were calling on Miss Sylvia and Vesta Cyfers at Gill Sunday and were accompanied by Nye Rooper of St. Albans.

George Midkiff is our new operator here this week.

Jack Marcum of Hamlin was in town Sunday.

Daily Happenings: Fred in his new car; Inez in her sleeveless dress; Catherine and her pipe; Herb and his bill book; Hendrix and his mail; Clara crying; Blanche flirting; Jessie and Pauline in Bessie’s fine new Oakland coach; Ed with his tax books.

Dear old Banner, goodbye, see you some time again.

Harts News 10.22.1926

20 Tuesday Jun 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Cemeteries, Chapmanville, Gill, Hamlin, Harts, Huntington, Logan, Ranger, West Hamlin, Whirlwind

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Appalachia, Bertha Haines, Bob Adkins, Bob Dingess, Brooke Adkins, Caroline Brumfield, Chapmanville, Christopher Columbus Pack, Columbus, Cora Adkins, county clerk, deputy sheriff, Dr. J.T. Ferrell, Earl Wysong, Elizabeth Tomblin, Ellis Hans Isaac, Fisher B. Adkins, genealogy, Gill, Grover Gartin, Hamlin, Harts, Harts Creek, Herb Adkins, history, Huntington, Ira Tomblin, Jack Browning Cemetery, Jack Marcum, Jessie Brumfield, Lincoln County, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Maezelle Brumfield, Mary Marcum, Nola Adkins, Nora Brumfield, Ohio, Pauline Scites, pneumonia, Ranger, Republican Party, Toney Johnson, typhoid fever, Verna Johnson, Vina Porter, Virginia Scites, Ward Brumfield, Wesley Tomblin, West Hamlin, West Virginia, Whirlwind

An unknown correspondent from Harts in Lincoln County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on October 22, 1926:

Grover Gartin of Ranger was calling on Miss Nola Adkins Sunday.

Herbert Adkins was transacting business in Huntington Monday.

Ward Brumfield was looking after business matters in Hamlin Tuesday.

Earl Wysong and Miss Bertha Haines of Logan were visiting friends and relatives at Harts Saturday and were entertained by Miss Jessie Brumfield.

Miss Cora Adkins spent Sunday at Gill.

Mr. and Mrs. Toney Johnson of Columbus, Ohio, spent Sunday with her mother, Mrs. Chas. Brumfield of Harts.

Mrs. Ellis Hans Isaac of West Hamlin was calling on friends here Sunday.

Miss Pauline Scites and little sister Virginia of Huntington were the guests of Miss Jessie Brumfield Sunday at Harts.

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dingess of Whirlwind passed through Harts Saturday evening enroute to Logan.

Jack and Mary Marcum of Ranger were in Harts Sunday.

Mrs. C.C. Pack and Miss Jessie Brumfield and little sister, May Zell, attended the funeral of Mrs. Wesley Tomblin, which took place at the Browning cemetery on Harts Creek Tuesday.

Ira Tomblin is very ill at present with typhoid fever.

We are very sorry to announce the death of Mrs. Wes Tomblin, who died at her home on Harts Creek Monday morning of pneumonia fever.

Mrs. Jas. Porter is very ill at this writing.

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Adkins and Mrs. Brooke Adkins of Hamlin were calling on friends in Harts Sunday afternoon.

Ward Brumfield, deputy sheriff of Lincoln county, is loading ties today (Wednesday).

Fisher B. Adkins, Republican nominee for county clerk, is making a progressive campaign. Go to it, Fisher. We are going to elect the whole ticket this time.

Dr. Ferrell of Chapmanville was calling on patients in Harts and on Harts Creek Saturday.

School is progressing nicely here with Mrs. Nora Brumfield for teacher.

Good luck to The Banner!

Chapmanville News 04.20.1926

11 Thursday May 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Cemeteries, Chapmanville, Coal

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Appalachia, barber, Bernard Forbes, Bethesda, C&O Railroad, Chapmanville, Chapmanville High School, coal, Columbus, Dallas Hollingsworth, genealogy, Godby Branch Cemetery, history, Hugh Thompson School, Huntington, J.D. Price, L.H. Strader, Logan Banner, Logan County, marbles, Odell Butcher, Ohio, Peter Dingess, Philippi, Tennis Hatfield, Tim's Fork, Vickers Coal Mine, W.A. McCloud, West Virginia

An unknown local correspondent from Chapmanville in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on April 20, 1926:

The Hugh Thompson school is progressing nicely under the tutorship of Mr. Bernard Forbes.

Dallas Hollingsworth of Tim’s Fork has left for his home in Bethesda, Ohio.

Peter Dingess was seen looking at a barber shop. Wonder why?

O’Dell Butcher is visiting Chapmanville this week. O’Dell Butcher is the best marble player in Chapmanville.

J.D. Price of this place died in a Huntington hospital last Saturday night. Interment was made in the Godby Branch cemetery on Tuesday.

Mr. Bias, the ladies man, is back on duty with the C. & O. this week.

The Vickers mines are resuming work after being closed down for quite a while.

H.T. Butcher is attending federal court at Charleston this week.

The high school is up to the voters now. The election has been called.

There were five transactions in real estate here last week. Pretty good for a village like this.

W.A. McCloud is planning a trip to Columbus, O., in the next few days.

Prof. L.H. Strader of Philippi was visiting friends here last week.

Now that the election contest is over, the people are expecting great things from Sheriff Hatfield and the county court. No further reason why this district should not have a member to represent us.

Next week I will give a list of all whom are sick, unless the list is too big for publication.

 

Big Creek News 04.12.1923

27 Sunday Jul 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Creek, Big Ugly Creek, Holden, Logan, Rector, Toney

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Arline Kitchen, Baptist, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Big Creek, Big Ugly Creek, Birchard Toney, Charleston, Charley Lilly, Columbus, D.E. Owens, Dixie Toney, Easter, education, Flossie Barker, Floyd Lilly, genealogy, Gilbert Thompson, Green McNeely, history, Holden, Hub Vance, Huntington, J.H. Kitchen, Keenan Toney, Limestone School, Lincoln Republican, Logan, Logan Lodge, Maggie Lucas, Methodist Episcopal Church South, Nellie Parsons, Ohio, Rector, Robert Stone, Stone Branch School, Tom Vance, Toney, Walter Fry

An unnamed local correspondent from Big Creek in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Lincoln Republican printed on Thursday, April 12, 1923:

Charley Lilly is in very poor health.

Arline, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Kitchen, has been very ill during the past week.

Mrs. Robert Stone was a business visitor in Huntington the past week.

The Stone Branch school closed on April 5th. Many were present and all report a fine time.

Mr. Tom Vance was a recent visitor in our midst.

Mrs. Floyd Lilly left Saturday for Charleston where she will pay an extended visit to her sister, Mrs. Nellie Parsons.

Miss Maggie Lucas has just closed a successful term of school at Lime Stone. The pupils there all want Miss Lucas back next year.

Mr. D.E. Owens, of Columbus, Ohio, was calling on friends here recently.

Mr. K.E. Toney, of Toney, who has large business interests in this city was here the early part of the week looking after business affairs and mingling with friends.

Rev. J. Green McNeely, of Logan, delivered very able sermons to the Baptist congregation in this city, at the M.E. Church, South, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Rev. McNeely is a splendid expounder of the gospel and the people of our city are always delighted to hear him.

Miss Dixie Toney returned home Saturday evening from a shopping visit in Huntington.

Mr. Walter Fry, prominent young citizen of Rector, was in the city yesterday on matters of business.

Uncle Hub Vance continues in very poor health.

Mr. W. Birchard Toney, of this place attended Logan Lodge, No. 391, B.P.O.E., Thursday evening.

Miss Flossie Barker, of Logan, spent Easter with friends here.

Gilbert Thompson, of Holden, was the recent guest of friends in our midst.

In Search of Ed Haley 336

15 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Ed Haley

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Andy Mullins, Ashland, blind, Brandon Kirk, Columbus, Dobie Mullins, Ed Haley, Edith Dingess, Ella Haley, Ewell Mullins, Ferrellsburg, fiddling, genealogy, Harts Creek, history, Huntington, Imogene Haley, John Hartford, Kentucky, Lancaster, Lawrence Haley, Liza Mullins, Liza Napier, Logan, Mud Fork, music, Nashville, Ohio, Ora Booth, Pat Haley, Peter Mullins, West Virginia, writing

By the spring of 1997, Brandon and I were at a reflective point in our research efforts. We had begun to lose our edge. After all, how many times could we ask, “Now, how did Ed Haley hold the bow?” or “Do you remember the names of any tunes he played”? We decided to step away from interviewing people and focus on writing what we knew about Ed’s life and music. I spent long hours in Nashville at my dining room table listening to Ed’s recordings and working with the fiddle, while Brandon — in his three-room house in Ferrellsburg — transcribed interviews, re-checked facts, and constructed a manuscript. This went on for quite some time.

Eventually, Brandon came to visit and we decided to telephone a few people and ask more questions. Our first call went out to Edith Dingess, the only surviving child of Ed’s uncle, Peter Mullins. Andy and Dobie Mullins had told us about her several months earlier when we visited them on Harts Creek. Edith, they said, had recently moved from her home on Mud Fork in Logan to stay with a daughter in Columbus, Ohio. When we dialed her up, her daughter said, “She might be able to give you some information. Her memory is pretty bad. She’s 81 years old and she’s had a couple of real major heart attacks.”

I first asked Edith if she knew about Ed’s mother — her aunt — who apparently died in the early 1890s. Unfortunately, Edith didn’t know anything about her. As a matter of fact, she said she barely remembered Ed, who we knew had been practically raised by her father. She said he was a “nice person, likeable” who would “laugh and joke and go on.”

“I know Ed Haley used to come to our house with Mrs. Haley and they had a little girl. Might’ve had some boys — older,” Edith said. “I believe they lived down around Huntington. They’d come up home when my dad was a living and we was all home — I was young then — and they’d play music and we’d have company. We used to have some square dances at our house. We had some good times when he come up there.”

Edith said Ed’s children led him around, but he also got around using a cane.

Before we hung up, Edith gave us the telephone number of her niece, “Little Liza,” who lived with a daughter in Lancaster, Ohio. This was wonderful; I had first heard about Little Liza from Lawrence and Pat Haley in 1991. Little Liza had grown up in Uncle Peter’s home and was a featured face in family photographs. Prior to this lead, I wasn’t even sure if she was still alive.

When we called Liza, we first spoke with her daughter, Ora Booth, who gave the familiar introduction: “I don’t know if you’ll get too much out of her or not. She’s kinda forgetful and she repeats herself a lot. All I can do is put her on the phone and see what you get out of her. She’s seventy-six and her mind just comes and goes on a lot of things.”

I told Liza that I was good friends to Lawrence and Pat Haley, had heard a lot about her, and was very interested in Ed’s life. She said Ed used to stay a week or two with Uncle Peter — who she called “Poppy” — before heading back to Ashland. To our surprise, she had no idea exactly how Ed was related to her family.

“It’s been so long and you know I’ve been sick and everything and been operated on for cancer and stuff and I just don’t feel good,” she said. “When you get old, your mind just comes and goes.”

Just when I thought Liza’s memories of Ed had all but disappeared, she said, “I tell you, he was awful bad to drink all the time. Lord, have mercy. Anything he could drink, he’d drink it. That might have been half what killed him. He was a mean man. Just mean after women and stuff. I don’t know whether he could see a bit or not, but you’d get and hide from him and he’d come towards ya. I was scared of him.”

I asked Liza who Ed played music with when he visited at Peter’s and she said, “He just played with his wife. He didn’t have nobody else to play with. Lord, him and her’d get into a fight and they’d fight like I don’t know what.”

I wondered if Ed fought with his kids.

“Yeah, they liked to killed Ed Haley one time up there,” she said. “They’d just get into a fight and the kids’d try to separate their mommy and daddy and it’d just all come up. I had to holler for Ewell to come down there and get them boys off’n Ed Haley ’cause I was afraid they’s a gonna kill him. I didn’t want that to happen, you know? He got down there and buddy he put them boys a going. They was mean. I guess they took that back after Ed Haley. Yeah, he’d come up there and go here and yonder. After Mommy and Poppy got so bad off, people’d bring him down there and set him off and I had to take care of them, so Poppy just told him, said, ‘Ed, she has to wait on us and she can’t wait on you. You’ll just have to go somewhere else.’ He did.”

That was a horrible image.

Queens Ridge 10.09.1913

07 Saturday Jun 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Ferrellsburg, Hamlin, Logan, Queens Ridge

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Arnold Perry, Columbus, Dr. York, Ellen Carter, Ferrellsburg, genealogy, Hamlin, Henry F. Workman, history, Isaac Workman Jr., Ivy Bias, J.J. Maynard, James Workman, John Workman, Joseph Maynard, Kentucky, Lincoln County, Lincoln Republican, Logan, Louisa, Maynard School House, Nancy Workman, Ohio, Queens Ridge, Squire Vance, Stone Coal, West Virginia, William F. Workman, Williamson, Wilsondale

“Bull Mooser,” a local correspondent from Queens Ridge in Lincoln County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Lincoln Republican printed on Thursday, October 9, 1913:

John Workman, Sr., is in very poor health. Dr. York, of Louisa, Ky., is the attending physician.

Isaac Workman, Jr., is recovering from a severe illness.

Squire Vance is on a business trip to Ferrellsburg this week.

Mr. and Mrs. J.J. Maynard were visiting Arnold Perry’s Sunday.

Joseph Maynard has been quite busy making repairs on the Maynard school house.

H.F. Workman is getting in his winter’s supply of coal.

W.F. Workman is attending the Association at Stone Coal, West Virginia.

Mr. and Mrs. Charley Gray, of Columbus, Ohio, are visiting relatives and friends here.

Ivy Bias, telegraph operator at Wilsondale, W.Va., went to Williamson to a hospital to have his right leg amputated.

Mrs. Isaac Workman is paying her daughter, Mrs. Ellen Carter who resides at Rolfe, a visit.

James Workman made a business trip to Logan this week.

Joseph Maynard made a business trip to Hamlin this week.

In Search of Ed Haley 303

11 Sunday May 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Ed Haley, Lincoln County Feud, Music, Stiltner

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banjo, Brights Disease, Cain Adkins, Cain Adkins Jr., Catlettsburg, Chillicothe, Columbus, crime, Daisy Ross, Ed Haley, Faye Smith, fiddlers, fiddling, genealogy, Goble Fry, Green McCoy, Green McCoy Jr., guitar, Harkins Fry, history, Indian Girl, Kenova, Kentucky, Laurel Creek, Luther McCoy, Mariah Adkins, McCoy Time Singers, Monroe Fry, music, Ohio, Oscar Osborne, Salty Dog, Sherman Luther Haley, Sherman McCoy, Spicie McCoy, Time Has Made A Change, Wayne County, WCMI, West Virginia, Winchester Adkins, writing

After the feud, Cain Adkins settled on Laurel Creek in Wayne County and never returned to Harts. Not long afterward, he began suffering from some type of lingering illness.

“Grandpaw, he played a fiddle,” Daisy said. “They had him to play the fiddle on his deathbed. Somebody came in and they wanted to hear a song and he played it for him. He said, ‘They ain’t no harm in a fiddle. If they’s any harm, it’s when no one plays it.’ I’ve heard Mom tell the last song he played, but I don’t know what it was he played. Mom said it made him feel better.”

Cain died of Brights Disease in 1896.

His widow Mariah lived many more years.

“Grandmaw was a good person — she went to church every Sunday. The last ten years she went blind and stayed with Mom. Mom waited on her.”

She died in 1931.

It took Spicie years to forgive the Brumfields for killing Green. Even after remarrying Goble Fry (her first cousin) in 1893, she was unable to cope with Green’s death and always cried when recounting the tale of his murder. For years, her bitterness kept her from joining the church.

“She felt like he hadn’t done nothing to be killed for ’cause she loved him better than anything,” Daisy said. “Before she was baptized, my brother Sherman had went off to work — him and a bunch of boys — and they was all telling what church their mother belonged to and Sherman said to Mom, ‘Mom, I had to tell them you didn’t belong to the church.’ ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I can’t forgive the Brumfields.’ He said, ‘You can’t forget it, but you got to forgive them or you’ll go to the same place where they did.’ I heard him say that. I was a young woman.”

These were apparently inspiring words, because Spicie was baptized soon afterwards and formed a gospel quartet, “The McCoy Time Singers.” Her son, Sherman McCoy, was a key member.

“Brother Sherman could play any kind of instrument, but banjo is what he played mostly,” Daisy said. “He played all kinds of pretty tunes on the banjo that wasn’t gospel. And when he was on WCMI he wanted people to write in and tell him to play the gospel music, but he had to play the one that got the most requests and he didn’t get very much requests for the gospel. But Mom and Sherman sung them gospel songs on there. They had a program on WCMI one time.”

Daisy said the only known recordings of the McCoy Time Singers had been destroyed years ago.

“They made records of their quartet singing and they peeled up. Got damp. Monroe, my brother, got some and even wrapped them in cloth and they still peeled.”

I wanted to know more about Sherman McCoy, so I got out my banjo and played a little bit for Daisy. She said he played a lot with his uncle, Winchester Adkins (one of the best fiddlers in Wayne County), and a guitar player named Oscar Osborne.

“Brother Sherman was one of the best banjo players I ever heard,” Daisy said. “I’ve heard them on television but I’ve never heard anything to beat Brother Sherman. He played a guitar and taught music lessons. He played all kinds of jigs. Did you ever play ‘The Indian Girl’? He didn’t like to play that one very much because he had to tune it different but that was the prettiest tune I ever heard on the banjo. It sounded like he had more than ten fingers.”

I asked Daisy about Sherman playing with Ed Haley and she said, “He played music with Ed Haley and they played in Catlettsburg.”

That’s all she knew about it but I wondered just how well they actually knew each other. Was it possible that Ed named his oldest child Sherman Luther Haley after Sherman McCoy? I could just picture them loafing together as young bachelors.

Daisy said Green McCoy’s other son, Green Jr., was a singing instructor. She remembered the first time he came into contact with a guitar.

“Uncle Cain, he played a guitar,” she said. “He come down one time and wanted Green to see his guitar. Green only seen that guitar one time and worked a week and got him a guitar and tuned it up and was playing on it. He was gifted.”

What happened to him?

Faye said, “Uncle Green, he hadn’t been dead but I’d say about eight or ten years. He played a guitar good.”

Daisy said Green’s son Luther plays the guitar on the radio in the Columbus-Chillicothe area.

“Uncle Green said he was absolutely the best he ever heard,” she said.

She didn’t know much about Luther or have any recordings of him but had a videocassette tape of Green Jr. picking the guitar and singing in 1975. (I couldn’t help but note that Green Jr. and Ed Haley both had sons named Luther.)

Spicie’s children by Goble Fry also were talented musicians, hinting at a musical strain in her genetics as well.

“Uncle Monroe was a Fry — that was Mom’s brother — and Harkins — they both played music,” Faye said. “But now, Uncle Monroe could play, I guess, about any type of instrument. I remember him playing ‘Salty Dog’ one time.”

Daisy really bragged on her brother Harkins Fry, a music teacher and songwriter. He wrote one gospel song called “Time Has Made A Change”, which Daisy and Faye sang for us:

Time has made a change in the old homeplace.

Many of my friends have gone away,

Some never more in this life I shall see.

Time has made a change in me.

Time has made a change in the old homeplace.

Time has made a change in each smiling face,

And I know my friends can plainly see

Time has made a change in me.

In my childhood days I was well and strong.

I could climb the hillside all day long,

But I’m not today what I used to be.

Time has made a change in me.

When I reach my home in that land so fair.

Meet my friends awaiting me over there.

Free from toil and pain I shall ever be.

Time has made a change in me.

In Search of Ed Haley 273

26 Wednesday Mar 2014

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

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Billy Adkins, Brandon Kirk, Cain Adkins, Cleveland, Columbus, crime, Daisy Ross, East Lynn, feud, Green McCoy, Green McCoy Jr., history, Huntington, John Hartford, Logan, Luther McCoy, Marango, McCoy Time Singers, music, Ohio, Ralph McCoy, Sherman McCoy, Spicie McCoy, Stiltner, Wayne County, West Virginia, writing

When we got back to Billy’s, we were amazed to find that he’d made contact with Green McCoy’s family. He showed us telephone numbers for two of Green’s grandsons, Ralph McCoy and Luther McCoy, as well as for Spicie McCoy’s daughter, Daisy (Fry) Ross.

I dialed up Ralph McCoy in Marango, Ohio, and explained who I was and what I was doing, then asked about Green McCoy’s murder.

“I’m 72 years old but a lot of that went on before I was born,” he said. “I’ve had two or three strokes and sometimes my memory’s gone. From the way I understood it, it was a Brumfield that killed my grandfather. There was something going on — I don’t know what the feud was about. See, I know nothing first-hand. My dad was born in 1888 and my dad was I think about two years old when his dad was murdered. My grandmother told me this part of it: that her and my dad and somebody else, I believe… My grandmother’s name was Spicie McCoy. I guess my grandfather put her on a raft or something and pushed her out in the river and told her to get out of there, to just keep on going and be quiet about it. She was pregnant for Uncle Green. Then after my grandfather got killed she married Goble Fry and then I think they came on down into Wayne County, which was around Stiltner and East Lynn and in that area.”

I asked Ralph if he knew anything about Green McCoy being a musician and he said, “Yes, very much. I’d say he was just like my dad, Sherman McCoy. He played anything that had strings on it. My dad and my grandmother, they traveled all over Wayne County playing in a quartet. They called themselves the ‘McCoy Time Singers.’ I did some traveling with them but it was just more or less in the Wayne County area. Logan city, I’ve been down that far with my dad and Grandma.”

So Green McCoy’s son Sherman was a musician, too?

“He did play with some people before he became a Christian and he played in Cleveland over the radio and stuff like that, but I wasn’t living with him then,” Ralph said. “I was living with mother. See, I was brought to Columbus, Ohio, and raised from about nine years old, so I lost track of a lot of them. But I did know he played over the radio in Cleveland and I think Huntington and several different places.”

“Have you talked with Luther McCoy?” Ralph asked.

I told him that we had tried calling Luther first but that he was in bed asleep.

“If you can talk with him, I think you’ll find out he’s probably in the same business you’re in,” Ralph said. “He plays, I think, back-up for several bands. From the way I understand it, he might be out on the West Coast.”

This was all great: our first contact with Green McCoy’s descendants.

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If you had lived in the Harts Creek community during the 1880s, to which faction of feudists might you have given your loyalty?

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