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Tag Archives: Elias Hatfield

Tom Chafin Recalls Story of Ellison Hatfield’s Killing (1989)

21 Thursday Apr 2022

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

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Allen Hatfield, Anse Ferrell, Beech Creek, Cap Hatfield, Devil Anse Hatfield, Double Camp Hollow, Elias Hatfield, Ellison Hatfield, Estil Hatfield, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Island Creek, John Hennen, Kentucky, Mate Creek, Matewan, Mingo County, North Matewan, Pigeon Creek, Pike County, Rutherford Hollow, Tom Chafin, Truman Chafin, Vicy Hatfield, Wall Hatfield, Warm Hollow, West Virginia, Williamson, Willis Hatfield

On June 21, 1989, scholar John Hennen interviewed Tom Chafin (1911-1997) of Williamson, West Virginia. What follows here is an excerpt of Mr. Chafin’s story about the death of his grandfather Ellison Hatfield in 1882 and other general memories of the Hatfield family.

JH: Okay, let’s go ahead and just follow that line. Tell me about Ellison Hatfield. And of course Ellison Hatfield was one of the participants in the early days of the so called Hatfield and McCoy feud.

TC: He’s the one that the McCoys killed. Uh, he lived up Mate Creek at the mouth of a hollow they call Double Camp Holler. He came down to Matewan here and got with some of his friends and they had a saloon here. It was called a saloon then, not the liquor store like we call it.

JH: Do you have any idea where that saloon was?

TC: Uh…the saloon was close to where the liquor store is now.

JH: Okay.

TC: I’m…I’m sure it was in the same building. That’s the Buskirk building. And he got with some of his friends and they got to drinking and was a having an election across the river in Pike County, Kentucky. Just across the river here. And he said to them said, some of his friends said, “Let’s go over and see how the elections goin’,” and when they got over there, they got into it with them and he was cut all to pieces with knives. He didn’t die in Kentucky. They loaded him up and hauled him back in a wagon. They hauled him back through the river up here at the upper end of Matewan and took him to Warm Holler. Now this is Warm Holler straight across from the bank on the right goin’ down there. You go across the railroad tracks. Uncle Anse Ferrell lived there. That was Ellison’s uncle. Uncle Anse Ferrell lived there in a big old log house. And they took Ellison there to his house that evening and he stayed there all that evening, all that night, and all day the next day and died the next evening. Just about dark. But in the mean time now, the Hatfields captured the three McCoy boys that they said did the killin’ of Ellison. Cuttin’ him up with knives. They captured them and took them up to a place they call North Matewan just out of Matewan here. They had and old school house there at the mouth of Rutherford Hollow. And they had an old school house there at the mouth of Rutherford Holler and that’s where they kept the three McCoy boys. All this evening, all night tonight, all day tomorrow, until tomorrow evening. And they brought him back down here, took him across the river and then a little drain, I call it, instead of a holler. It’s not a holler, it’s just a drain where water runs out where you go up to the radio station. That’s where they tied them to three papaw bushes. Now, we don’t have any papaw bushes around like we used to. We used to have whole orchards of them but they all disappeared. Why, they was papaws everywhere You could pick up a bushel of papaws anywhere when I was a boy. But you don’t even see a papaw tree any more. They said they tied them to three papaw bushes and killed all three of them.

JH: And this was after Ellison died?

TC: They waited until Ellison died. Say he died this evening and they went up there and got them and took them over there I believe the next morning.

JH: Who were some of the Hatfields involved in this?

TC: Well, to be exact, I’d say Cap… Cap was the head man. He was Devil Anse’s oldest son. 

JH: I’d like you to tell me a little bit more about Cap Hatfield and well, do you have a personal memory of Devil Anse? I know you have been to his house when you were a boy.

TC: No.

JH: You can’t remember anything directly about him?

TC: I’ve been to his house. I know where his house is. I knew what kind of house it was. It was a log house and it had a window in that end of it and a window in this end of it and it was across the creek. I could show you right where it is on Island Creek over there and I can remember goin’ over there with my grandfather Mose Chafin. Now, he was a brother to Devil Anse’s wife, Aunt Vicy. We’d go over and see Aunt Vicy after Uncle Anse had died. I believe he died in 1921 and I was ten years old when he died. And when I would go over there with him, probably I was twelve or thirteen or something like that, after Uncle Anse had died. And we’d ride a horse. I’d ride on the hind and my grandfather Mose Chafin. And I could tell you exactly how to go. We’d go up Mate Creek across the hill into Beech Creek and from Beech Creek into Pigeon Creek and Pigeon Creek into Island Creek.

JH: And Vicy was still living at that time?

TC: Yeah.

JH: So you knew her then?

TC: Yeah. She was a pretty big fat woman. She wasn’t too big and fat. She was about, say, hundred and sixty, something like that, I’m guessin’. I’m gonna guess it. About a hundred and sixty pound. Anyhow, she was a big fat woman.

JH: Now, Cap lived on up into…to be an old man?

TC: Yeah. Willis is the last man that…last one to die.

JH: He was the son of Devil Anse also?

TC: Yeah. I was with him at a birthday party for Allen Hatfield on Beech Creek. That was his cousin. Allen was Elias’ boy* and he was Ellison’s boy**. Willis was. That made them first cousins and Willis was the only Hatfield left on Island Creek so we got him to come to that… Allen’s boy Estil Hatfield got him to come over to the birthday party, and I believe Truman went with me. He died in seventy-eight. I can tell you when he died.

JH: Willis?

TC: Willis died. Last child that Devil Anse had died in seventy-eight. 1978.

*Should read as “Wall’s boy”

**Should read as “Anse’s boy”

New Year’s Raid (1888): Daniel Whitt’s Testimony

23 Tuesday Nov 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud

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Appalachia, Bob Hatfield, Cap Hatfield, Charles Gillespie, Christmas, Court of Appeals, crime, Daniel Whitt, Devil Anse Hatfield, Elias Hatfield, Elliot Hatfield, feuds, Frankfort, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Henry Mitchell, history, Jim McCoy, Jim Vance, Johnse Hatfield, Kentucky, Pike County, Pocahontas, Randolph McCoy, Tom Chambers, Tom Mitchell, true crime

Daniel Whitt’s testimony in the Johnse Hatfield murder trial provides one version of the Hatfield raid upon Randolph McCoy’s home on January 1, 1888:

Q. “Do you know Randolph McCoy?”

A. “Yes sir.”

Q. “Do you know Cap Hatfield?”

A. “Yes sir.”

Q. “Do you know Robert Hatfield, Ellison Mounts, Elliot Hatfield, Charles Gillespie, Thomas Mitchell, and Anderson Hatfield?”

A. “Yes sir.”

Q. “Do you remember of the old man McCoy’s house being burned?”

A. “Yes sir, I heard of it.”

Q. “Where were you a short time before that occurred?”

A. “Three days before Christmas I was in the neighborhood of the Hatfield’s.”

Q. “Who was with you?”

A. “Ance Hatfield, Jim Vance, Johnson Hatfield, Cap Hatfield, Charles Gillespie, and Tom Mitchell, I believe about all of the bunch.”

Q. “What were you doing together and how long had you been together?”

A. “About three days and nights.”

Q. “Were all of you armed?”

A. “Yes sir.”

Q. “What were you doing armed and together?”

A. “Just traveling in the woods most of the time.”

Q. “What did you sleep on?”

A. “We carried our quilts with us.”

Q. “Who was your captain?”

A. “Jim Vance.”

Q. “What was the purpose of your getting together?”

A. “They claimed the purpose was to get out of the way of the Kentucky authorities.”

Q. “What else did they claim?”

A. “When I left them we came to Henry Mitchell’s to get dinner. They wouldn’t let me hear what they had to talk about. Cap asked me if I was going to Kentucky with them. Said they were going to Kentucky to kill Randolph and Jim McCoy and settle the racket. He asked me if I was going with them and I said that I was not. He said that I would go or I would go to hell. I said that I would go to hell. Elias came and took me off. We slept in a shuck pen. When he got to sleep I ran away and went to Pocahontas and was there when this occurred.”

Q. “Was Johnson present when Cap was talking?”

A. “He was in the yard close enough to hear, and he came up to me when Cap was talking and took Cap out and had a talk with him.”

Source: Bill of exceptions at the office of the Clerk of the Court of Appeals in Kentucky, Frankfort, KY.

Elias Hatfield (1888)

12 Wednesday May 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Hatfield-McCoy Feud

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Appalachia, Elias Hatfield, feuds, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Logan County, West Virginia

From T.C. Crawford’s “An American Vendetta” (1889).

Elias Hatfield Indictment for Unlawful Retailing (1889)

22 Monday Feb 2021

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

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Alexander Cabell, Appalachia, Elias Hatfield, genealogy, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Logan, Logan County, moonshining, West Virginia

Not long after his election to the Aracoma town council, Elias Hatfield was indicted for unlawful retailing.

Significant Tracts in Magnolia District (1867, 1870, 1876, 1886-1889)

19 Friday Feb 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Beech Creek, Big Sandy Valley, Matewan, Wharncliffe

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Alex D. Trent, Beech Creek, Ben Creek, Bend Creek, Big Sandy River, David Mounts, Devil Anse Hatfield, Elias Hatfield, Elkhorn Sandy River Trust Company, genealogy, Glen Alum, Grapevine Creek, history, Isabella Rutherford, J.C. Williamson, J.D. Sergeant, Jacob Cline, Jacob Phillips, Jacob Smith, James Vance Jr., John Ferrell, John Francesco, John W. Deskins, Joseph Glen, Julius Williamson, justice of the peace, Kentucky, Lewis Ratcliff, Lewis Rutherford, Logan County, M.A. Ferrell, M.B. Lawson, Magnolia District, Michael A. Ferrell, Mingo County, Morehead, Philadelphia, Pigeon Creek, Richard Ferrell, Richard Maynard, Richard Ratcliff, Richard Ratliff, Right Fork, Roane County, Spring Fork, Spruce Fork, T.W. Blankenship, Thacker Creek, Tug River, Warren Alderson, West Virginia, William Ferrell, William S. Ferrell

What follows is a list of 1000-plus-acre tracts in Magnolia Township/District of Logan County, WV, for 1867, 1870, and 1886-1889…

1867

Jacob Cline’s Heirs, Logan County, 5000 acres, Sandy River

William Ferrell, Logan County, 3900 acres, Sandy River

Richard Maynard, Logan County, 3250 acres, Sandy River

David Mounts, Logan County, 3000 acres, Tug River and Tributaries

John Ferrell, Logan County, 2812 acres, Sandy River

Warren Alderson, Logan County, 2740 acres, Right Fork Ben Creek

John Ferrell, Logan County, 1814 acres, Pigeon Creek

Richard Ratliff, Logan County, 1340 acres, Stafford and Beech Creek

John W. Deskins, Logan County, 1305 acres, Thacker Creek and Sandy River

Warren Alderson, Logan County, 1300 acres, Spring Fork of Ben Creek

John Ferrell, Logan County, 1100 acres, Sandy River

Jacob Phillips, Logan County, 1000 acres, Sandy River

1870

Jacob Cline’s Estate, Logan County, 5000 acres, Sandy River

Richard Ferrell, Logan County, 3900 acres, On Sandy River

John Ferrell, Logan County, 3075 acres, 7 Tracts on Pigeon

David Mounts Estate, Logan County, 3000 acres, Tug Fork and Tributaries

Warren Alderson, Logan County, 2740 acres, Right Fork Ben Creek

Richard Maynard, Logan County, 2430 acres, On Sandy River

John W. Deskins, Logan County, 1305 acres, Turkey Sandy River

Warren Alderson, Logan County, 1300 acres, Spring Fork Ben Creek

William S. Ferrell, Logan County, 1100 acres, Sandy River

1876

Jacob Cline’s Heirs, Kentucky, 5000 acres, Grape Vine and Sandy

William S. Ferrell, Logan County, 3000 acres, Thacker and Sandy River

Warren M. Alderson, Kentucky, 2640 acres, Right Fork of Ben Creek

Isabella Rutherford, Logan County, 1600 acres, Sandy River

Michael A. Ferrell, Logan County, 1300 acres, Sandy River

Warren M. Alderson, Kentucky, 1175 acres, Spring Fork Ben Creek

Richard Ratcliff, Logan County, 1140 acres, Stafford Branch Sandy

Julius Williamson, Logan County, 1000 acres, Sandy and Branches

1886

William S. Ferrell, Logan County, 2650 acres

Warren Alderson, Morehead KY, 2640 acres, Sandy River

Lewis Rutherford, Logan County, 1600 acres

Jacob Smith, Mouth of Pond KY, 1500 acres

James Vance, Jr., Logan County, 1500 acres

J.D. Sergeant, Philadelphia PA, 1481 acres

Elias Hatfield, Logan County, 1431 acres

M.A. Ferrell, Logan County, 1300 acres

T.W. Blankenship, Roane County, 1200 acres

1887

William S. Ferrell, Logan County, 2650 acres, Thackers Creek and Sandy River

Warren Alderson, Morehead KY, 2640 acres, Sandy River

Anderson Hatfield, Logan County, 2360 acres, Grape Vine

J.D. Sergeant, Philadelphia PA, 1481 acres, Beech Creek

Elias Hatfield, Logan County, 1471 acres, Four tracts on Mates Creek

M.A. Ferrell, Logan County, 1300 acres, Sandy River

T.W. Blankenship, Roane County, 1200 acres, Spruce Fork of Ben Creek

1888

Anderson Hatfield, Logan County, 2656 1/2 acres, Grapevine Creek

William S. Ferrell, Logan County, 2650 acres, Thacker and Sandy

J.C. Williamson, Logan County, 1837 acres, Four tracts on Alum and Sandy River

Lewis Ratcliff, Logan County, 1600 acres, Sandy River

John Francesco, Logan County, 1500 acres, Grapevine and Thacker

Simpkins and M.B. Lawson’s Heirs, Logan County, 1500 acres, Richard Ratcliff Farm and Sandy River

Elkhorn Sandy R. Trust Co., Logan County, 1481 acres, Ben Creek and Sandy

J.D. Sergeant, Philadelphia PA, 1385 acres, Sandy River

M.A. Ferrell*, Logan County, 1300 acres, Sandy River

1889

Anderson Hatfield, Logan County, 2656 1/2 acres, Grapevine Creek

W.S. Ferrell, Logan County, 2650 acres, Thacker and Sandy River

J.C. Williamson, Logan County, 1837 acres, 4 Tracts on Alum and Sandy River

Lewis Rutherford, Logan County, 1600 acres, Sandy River

Jacob Smith, Logan County, 1500 acres, Richard Ratcliff’s Farm and Sandy River

John Francesco, Logan County, 1500 acres, Grape Vine

Elkhorn Sandy River Trust Company, Logan County, 1481 acres, Ben Creek and Sandy River

J.D. Sergeant, Philadelphia PA, 1385 acres, Sandy River

Joseph Glen, Logan County, 1377 acres, Tug River Below Mouth Bend

J.D. Sergeant, Philadelphia PA, 1354 1/4 acres, Mates Creek

J.D. Sergeant, Philadelphia PA, 1338 3/4 acres, Grapevine

M.A. Ferrell*, Logan County, 1300 acres, Sandy River

Alex D. Trent, Logan County, 1246 acres, Spring Fork Ben Creek

Note: On November 6, 1888, M.A. Ferrell was elected justice of the peace; his term commenced on January 1, 1889.

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

Elias Hatfield Oath of Office as Aracoma Councilman (1889)

19 Friday Feb 2021

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

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Appalachia, Aracoma, Elias Hatfield, genealogy, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Logan, Logan County, notary public, S.P. Kelly, West Virginia

Oath of Office (1889), Aracoma Town Council.
Oath of Office (1889), Aracoma Town Council.

Elias Hatfield, Jailer of Logan County (1892)

18 Thursday Feb 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Huntington, Logan, Wayne

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Appalachia, attorney, C.W. Campbell, Elias Hatfield, genealogy, H.K. Shumate, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Huntington, J.R. Shields, John H. Holt, judge, Logan County, Thomas H. Harvey, Wayne County, West Virginia

Elias Hatfield was the brother of Anderson Hatfield and father to Henry D. Hatfield. This item is unrelated to the Hatfield-McCoy Feud.

Hatfield-McCoy Feud Radio Spot

16 Tuesday Feb 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud

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Appalachia, Big Sandy River, Elias Hatfield, feuds, fiddle, Floyd Hatfield, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Johnse Hatfield, Kentucky, Randolph McCoy, Roseanna McCoy, Tolbert McCoy, Tug Fork, West Virginia

Randolph McCoy-Floyd Hatfield hog trial…
Romance between Johnse Hatfield and Roseanna McCoy; Ellison Hatfield’s Killing…

Elias Hatfield Property in Logan County (1869-1894)

12 Friday Feb 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Sandy Valley, Guyandotte River, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Logan, Matewan

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Appalachia, Big Island, Big Sandy River, E.K. Counts, Elias Hatfield, genealogy, George W. Duty, Hardee District, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Logan County, Logan County Banner, Logan District, Magnolia District, Magnolia Township, Mates Creek, Mingo County, Oliver Perry, Warren Alderson, West Virginia

The following land information is derived from Land Book 1866-1872, Land Book 1873-1874, Land Book 1880-1886, Land Book 1887-1892 , and Land Book 1893-1899 at the Logan County Clerk’s Office in Logan, WV:

Elias Hatfield

No property listed in 1865-1868.

1869-1870: Magnolia Township

100 acres Mates Creek $4.00 per acre no building $400 total from E.K. Counts

30 acres Mates Creek $10 per acre no building $300 total from E.K. Counts

50 acres Mates Creek $20 per acre no building $1000 total from E.K. Counts

1871: Magnolia Township

100 acres Mates Creek $3.00 per acre $50 building $300 total

30 acres Mates Creek $3.00 per acre no building $90 total

50 acres Mates Creek $3.00 per acre no building $150 total

1872: Magnolia Township

100 acres Mates Creek $3.00 per acre $50 building $300 total

30 acres Mates Creek $3.00 per acre no building $90 total

50 acres Mates Creek $3.00 per acre no building $150 total

50 acres Mates Creek $3.00 per acre no building $150 total

350 acres Mates Creek $0.25 per acre no building $87.50 total from W. Alderson (assessor)

1873: Magnolia District

100 acres Mates Creek $3.00 per acre no building $300 total

30 acres Mates Creek $3.00 per acre no building $40 total

50 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre no building $150 total

400 acres Two Tracts Mates Creek $1 per acre no building $400 total

50 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre no building $150 total

350 acres Mates Creek $0.25 per acre no building $87.50 total

1874: Magnolia District

100 acres Mates Creek $3.00 per acre $50 building $300 total

50 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre no building $150 total

30 acres Mates Creek $3.00 per acre no building $40 total

400 acres Two Tracts Mates Creek $1 per acre no building $400 total

50 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre no building $150 total

350 acres Mates Creek $0.25 per acre no building $87.50 total

1875-1876: Magnolia District

100 acres Mates Creek $3.00 per acre $50 building $300 total

50 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre no building $150 total

30 acres Mates Creek $3.00 per acre no building $40 total

400 acres Two Tracts Mates Creek $1 per acre no building $400 total

50 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre no building $150 total

[Note: In 1875, Elias transferred his 350-acre tract but records do not identify the recipient.]

1877: Magnolia District

Records are blank for this district.

1878: Magnolia District

100 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre $50 building $300 total

30 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre $90 building $90 total

400 acres 2 Tracts, Mates Creek $0.25 per acre no building $100 total

50 acres Mates Creek $2 per acre no building $100 total

[Note: Records for this year spelled his name as Allias Hatfield.]

1879: Magnolia District

Records are missing for this year

1880: Magnolia District

100 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre $50 building $300 total

30 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre $90 building $90 total

400 acres 2 Tracts, Mates Creek $0.25 per acre no building $100 total

50 acres Mates Creek $2 per acre no building $100 total

1881: Magnolia District

100 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre no building $300 total

30 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre no building $90 total

400 acres 2 Tracts, Mates Creek $0.25 per acre no building $100 total

50 acres Mates Creek $2 per acre no building $100 total

[Note: The 100-acre tract was noted with this: “yrs from G.W. Duty.” The 30 acre tract was noted as “change to Hardee Dist on Book 1882.”]

1882: Magnolia District

The Hatfield page is missing.

1883: Magnolia District

The record is blank for this district

1884: Magnolia District

100 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre $50 building $300 total

30 acres Mates Creek $4 per acre $30 building $120 total

400 acres 2 Tracts, Mates Creek $1 per acre no building $400 total

50 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre no building $150 total

1885: Magnolia District

100 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre $50 building $300 total

30 acres Mates Creek $4 per acre $30 building $120 total

400 acres 2 Tracts, Mates Creek $1 per acre no building $400 total

50 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre no building $150 total

749 acres Mates Creek $1 per acre no building $749

322 acres Mates Creek $1 per acre no building $322 total

[In 1885, he acquired the 749-acre tract from a commissioner. No indication is given about the source of the 322 acres.]

1886: Magnolia District

100 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre [blank]

30 acres Mates Creek $4 per acre [blank]

50 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre [blank]

1471 acres 4 Tracts Mates Creek $1 per acre [blank]

600 acres Sandy River $1.90 per acre no building $56 total

1887: Magnolia District

100 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre $50 building $300 total

30 acres Mates Creek $4 per acre $30 building $120 total

50 acres Mates Creek $3 per acre no building $150 total

1471 acres 4 Tracts, Mates Creek $1 per acre no building $1471 total

600 acres Sandy River $1.90 per acre $40 building $1140 total

1888: Magnolia District

600 acres Sandy River $1.90 per acre $40 building $1140 total

1889-1891: Magnolia District

600 acres Sandy River $1.90 per acre $40 building $1140 total

1889-1891: Logan District

30 acres Big Island $20 per acre no building $600 total

13 acres Big Island and Washed Part $1 per acre no building $13 total

[Note: The 30-acre tract was acquired from Oliver Perry. No indication of the source for the 13 acres. According to the 21 March 1889 issue of the Logan County Banner: “On the 18th inst., Elias Hatfield, purchased of Oliver Perry, the property known as the ‘Big Island’ near this place.”]

1892-1894: Magnolia District

400 acres Sandy River $5 per acre $50 building $2000 total

1892-1894: Logan District

25 acres Big Island Guyandotte River $20 per acre no building $500 total

18 acres Big Island Guyandotte River $1 per acre no building $18 total

Elias Hatfield Survey (1877)

11 Thursday Feb 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Matewan

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Appalachia, Big Sandy River, Elias Hatfield, Ephraim Hatfield, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, John Smith, Logan County, Mates Creek, Mingo County, Mitchell Branch, Valentine Wall Hatfield, W.A. Dingess, West Virginia

Elias Hatfield, 171 acres of school land, Mates Creek, Surveyors Record Book B, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV.

Hatfield-McCoy Feud: Schools in 1882

23 Tuesday Jul 2019

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

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Albert Simpkins, Ambrose Guzlin, Anderson Ferrell School, Blackberry Creek, Bob Williams, Charles Carpenter, Coon Branch School, Delorme School, Devil Anse Hatfield, Dials Branch School, Dick Bachtel, education, Elias Hatfield, Elias Hatfield School, Ella Hatfield McCoy, feud, feuds, Hatfield School, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Head of Blackberry School, Henry D. Hatfield, history, Homer Claude McCoy, Jackson County, Johnnie Rutherford, Kate Ray, Kentucky, Lee Rutherford, Logan County, Mate Creek, Mate Creek School, Matewan, Mike Clingenpeel, Mingo County, Mud Fork, Pharmer McCoy, Pike County, Ransom, Sam Jackson, Scott Justice, teacher, Tolbert McCoy, Tug River, Upper Mate Creek School, W.A. McCoy, West Virginia, Will Bachtel

From “The Rise of Education and the Decline of Feudal Tendencies in the Tug River Valley of West Virginia and Kentucky in Relation to the Hatfield and McCoy Feud” by Homer Claude McCoy (1950):

The following list of school houses are given to determine the location of schools at the time of the feud. Most of the information obtained in regard to the existence of schools and their teachers have been received from interviews. These people were actual students at the schools or had brothers or sisters who went to school there. This information has been verified when possible from different interviews.

Mate Creek School: Mate Creek School was located about a mile up Mate Creek from Matewan which is located at its mouth. It was a log structure and had only one room. The schoolhouse was used during the feud as a prison to retain the three McCoy boys in. David Ross was the teacher of the school during the time of the feud, 1882, just a few days after the boys were held there, and there is a possibility that there was school there before the incident and that David Ross was the teacher.

Upper Mate Creek School: It is believed that there was a school at the head of Mate Creek, but the information is not strong enough to be substantiated.

Coon Branch School: Coon Branch School was located in Kentucky across from the site of Matewan. The teacher of the Coon Branch School was Ambrose Guzlin, and was attending in 1887.

Anderson Ferrell School: This school was located on Anderson Ferrell’s farm a mile below Matewan and came into use when the Mate Creek School was closed about 1883. The teacher of this school was Johnnie Rutherford.

Hatfield School: This school was located on the farm of Elias Hatfield in a hollow behind his home. It was a log structure and came into use when the railroad made it necessary to eliminate the Anderson Ferrell School.

Delorme School: The Delorme school was located near the home of Devil Anse, it was believed, for Charles Carpenter mentioned as a schoolteacher taught in that neighborhood. It is doubtful that there was a school there, for no definite record has been found. Charles Carpenter was said to be a teacher in that locality.

The Dial’s Branch School: This school is not substantiated by any strong evidence as being in operation during the early days of the feud, but was known to exist in the latter days of the feud.

Head of Blackberry School: This was at what is known today as Ransom. This school was some distance (about 15 miles from the mouth of Blackberry). Bob Williams taught school there. Dr. H.D. Hatfield attended school at this school.

Kate Ray who was a teacher at the Elias Hatfield School in 1893, says that she went to school there and when she graduated from the fifth grade she took an examination and taught the next year. She says the examination was not hard, and all the teachers gathered at Williamson. Other teachers that taught there were Albert Simpkins, Dr. Rutherford, Lee Rutherford. Scott Justice taught school at Mud Fork. Mike Clingenpeel was another teacher at Mud Fork.

Mrs. Ray stated:

I went to my first school on Mud Fork in 1888. I was only four years old. They didn’t mind for I didn’t give them any trouble. I learned a little at that age. Lee Curry was the teacher that year. He made improvements in the log school. His first improvement was to put backs on the seats. We did not have any desks or any blackboards. Dick and Will Bachtel also taught school at Mud Fork. They came from Jackson County. They stayed at Sam Jackson’s. They paid about $8.00 a month for board. Scott Justice, now a resident of Huntington, West Virginia, taught school on Mud Fork. So did Mack Clingenpeel. Every one liked Mack. He could explain the lessons so well.

When I was in the fifth grade I went to the Hatfield School below Matewan. When I graduated, I took the teachers examination and taught the next year there at the school on Elias Hatfield’s farm about the year 1895.

Sources:

Derived from these interviews by Mr. McCoy:

Ella Hatfield McCoy interview (she “lived on Blackberry Creek during the time of the feud”) (c.1949)

W.A. McCoy interview (c.1949)

Kate Ray interview (c.1949)

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

26 Sunday May 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You mentioned a gun specifically.

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

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

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

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

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

Did you say you had an axe, too?

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

So they had their own mill?

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

Where did it sit?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Did she nurse in a hospital?

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

Do you know what her religion was?

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

Did you say something about having a chifferobe?

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

Do you know where the fort was?

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

Paw Paw Incident: Andy Varney Deposition (1889)

14 Sunday Apr 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud

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Alex Messer, Andy Varney, Appalachia, Blackberry Creek, Cap Hatfield, Charles Carpenter, crime, Devil Anse Hatfield, Elias Hatfield, genealogy, Harrison Steele, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Johnson Hatfield, Kentucky, Mate Creek, Mingo County, Pharmer McCoy, Pike County, Plyant Mahorn, Preacher Anse Hatfield, Tolbert McCoy, Tug Fork, Valentine Wall Hatfield, West Virginia

The killing of Tolbert, Pharmer, and Bud McCoy by a Hatfield-led gang on August 8, 1882 represented one of the most sensational events of the Hatfield-McCoy Feud. What follows is Andy Varney’s deposition regarding the affair:

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The Commonwealth then introduced as a witness Andy Varney who proves that he knows Defts Wall, Ance, Cap, & Jonce Hatfield, C. Carpenter, Alex Messer. Knows the McCoy boys. I first saw them over on Blackberry just a little above Rev. Anderson Hatfield. Saw Ance, Cap, Jonce, Wall, and Defts. Do not remember seeing defendants with any arms. I next saw them at the river. Was at the school house on Mate creek Tuesday evening to the best of my knowledge the defts had arms there. Guns, I think. The crowd come to Elias Hatfields about 11 oclock. Wall, Elias, Jonce, Ance, Cap, Alex Messer, and the defts they were all armed. They were all there next morning. I was Lying on the porch when the parties came to Elias Hatfield. I saw these two Mayhorn boys there. I staid there all night. I had a gun. I was guarding the prisoners while at school house on Mate. Some one told me he had a summons for a sufficient guard. I have been staying at old man McCoy’s. I was indicted with defendant but the case has been filed away. I was behind all the way down Blackberry Creek with Harrison Steele.

State v. Elias Hatfield (1877-1878)

14 Thursday Feb 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud

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Appalachia, assault and battery, C. McDonald, circuit clerk, crime, David Thomas, deputy sheriff, Elias Hatfield, genealogy, history, J.A. Peck, James Hatfield, John Chafin, Logan County, M.B. Lawson, Mingo County, sheriff, Thomas Johnson, West Virginia

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State v. Elias Hatfield (1877-1878)

02 Saturday Feb 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud

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Appalachia, county clerk, crime, David McComas, David Thomas, deputy sheriff, Elias Hatfield, genealogy, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, J.A. Peck, James Hatfield, John Chafin, justice of the peace, Logan County, M.B. Lawson, Mingo County, Thomas Johnson, West Virginia

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Harrison Blair v. Anderson Hatfield (1876)

16 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud

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Appalachia, crime, Devil Anse Hatfield, Elias Hatfield, Ellison Hatfield, Ephraim Hatfield, Evans Ferrell, G.W. Taylor, genealogy, Harrison Blair, Henry Clay Ragland, history, John Buchanan, John Chafin, Logan County, sheriff, West Virginia

Harrison Blair v. Anderson Hatfield et al 1.jpg

Summons for Anse Hatfield, John Buchanan, Ephraim Hatfield, Ellison Hatfield, Elias Hatfield, and Evans Ferrell, 8 May 1876.

harrison blair v. anderson hatfield et al 2

Executed on Anse Hatfield and Evans Ferrell in Logan County on 25 June 1876 by Sheriff G.W. Taylor.

Paw Paw Incident: Randolph McCoy Deposition (1889)

16 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Pikeville

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Alex Messer, Anderson Hatfield, Appalachia, Blackberry Creek, Bud McCoy, Cap Hatfield, Charley Carpenter, Chuck Murphy, constable, crime, Devil Anse Hatfield, Doc Mayhon, Elias Hatfield, Floyd Hatfield, Floyd McCoy, genealogy, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Jerry Hatfield, John Hatfield, Johnson Hatfield, Kentucky, Pharmer McCoy, Pike County, Pikeville, Plyant Mayhon, Tolbert McCoy, Tug River, Valentine Wall Hatfield, West Virginia

The killing of Tolbert, Pharmer, and Bud McCoy by a Hatfield-led gang on August 8, 1882 represented one of the most sensational events of the Hatfield-McCoy Feud. What follows is Randolph McCoy’s deposition regarding the affair:

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The Court of Ky

Vs.

Anderson Hatfield & other Defts.

Pltffs Bill of Exceptions

Be it remembered that on the trial of Doc Mayhorn and Plyant Mahon under the above styled prosecution the following proceedings was had.

The Commonwealth introduced and has worn as a witness Randolp McCoy, who proves that he is 63 years old that he is the father of Tolbert, Pharmer, and Randolp McCoy, they are now dead, was on Blackberry Creek in Pike County Ky at the August Election 1882 says that the boys in custody about 2 oclock on that day staid on the Election grounds about two hours they then went up to Floyd McCoys and staid until nearly night and then went to John Hatfields house and staid all night. They were in custody of Tolbert Hatfield a Justice of the Peace and Floyd Hatfield special Constable. Defents Doc and Plyant Mayhon are sons in law of Wall Hatfield. My boys was next morning started toward Pikeville in Pike County under a guard of six or seven men and was taken by Wall and Elias Hatfield and then turned back down [page torn] stopped at the mouth of Dial [page torn] his boys was then placed in a large corn sled while there. Anse Hatfield and his squad come up. Defendants was with them when they come up. they had with them country Rifle guns. Dials branch is from a ¼ to ½ miles from where Wall Hatfield came to them. Defendants were there all the time from the time they come to the corn sled. the crowd stopped at old Jerry Hatfield and Charley Carpenter got a rope and tied my three boys together. then went down the creek to Rev. Anderson Hatfields and defendants and all stopped there and got dinner. Knows Ance, Cap & Johnson Hatfield. they was there. Alex Messer was there. After Dinner Devil Ance stepped out and said “all of Hatfields frirends form a line” Ance Cap Jonce two Defts. Alex Messer Chuck Murphy was all in the line. Defts had arms (Guns I think). this was Aug 8 1882. My boys was then by this squad marched down the creek toward the river. This is the last time I ever saw them alive. I was on the road from Pikeville home they day my boys was buried. There was quite a crowd at the corn sled. There were a great many persons who were not interested several had guns. If I am not mistaken the first time I saw defendants was at the mouth of Dials branch. I may be mistaken but do not think I am. I saw no one catching horses in pasture at Rev. Anderson Hatfield’s. If I did I do not know who they were. The defts. were present when my boys were tied at Jerry Hatfield’s above Rev. Anderson Hatfield’s. When Devil Ance at the Rev. Anderson Hatfield’s called for the Hatfield friends to fall into the line the defts. went into the line and they were I think both armed with rifles and guns. The boys were then taken down the creek toward Tug river still tied together. I never saw them alive again.

Anderson Hatfield Statue (1922)

16 Sunday Dec 2018

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

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Appalachia, Bob Hatfield, Cap Hatfield, Carrara, Devil Anse Hatfield, Elias Hatfield, Elizabeth Hatfield, Elliott Hatfield, F.C. McColm, genealogy, Hatfield Cemetery, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Huntington, Island Creek, Italy, Joe Hatfield, Johnson Hatfield, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Mary Hatfield, McColm Granite Company, Nancy Hatfield, R.E. Trevey, Rose Hatfield, Sarah Ann, Tennis Hatfield, Troy Hatfield, West Virginia, Willis Hatfield

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history about the statue of Anderson Hatfield at the Hatfield Cemetery on Island Creek:

Anse Hatfield Statue LB 04.14.1922 1.JPG

Hatfield Statue is Shipped from Italy

A statue of “Devil Anse” Hatifeld, which has been recently completed by a world famous sculptor in Carrara, Italy from a model drawn by F.C. McColm, of Huntington, has been shipped to that city where it will be placed on display, before erection at the grave of Captain Hatfield, near his home on Main Island Creek, Logan county.

The statue shows the late “Devil Anse,” standing erect, typifying the stalwart, West Virginia mountaineer, in a characteristic pose, with slouch hat, loose long coat and baggy trousers.

The pedestal, which is being made by the McColm Granite Company, is thirteen feet high. There is no epitaph, merely the words, “Captain Anderson Hatfield, 1839-1891,” and “Levicy Chafin, his wife, 1842–.” The statue is being erected by his family. There is a space at the side of the monument for the thirteen children, who are: Johnson, William A., Robert L., Nancy, Elliott R., Mary, Elizabeth, Elias, Troy, Joseph D., Rose, Willis E., and Tennis S.

Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 17 March 1922. Note: The Banner printed an incorrect date for Anse Hatfield’s death year.

Anse Hatfield Statue LB 04.14.1922 5

Photo by R.E. Trevey.

***

Memorial Unveiled To “Devil Anse” Hatfield

Magnificent Statue Unveiled at the Family Burying Ground Last Sunday Before Friends.

ERECTED TO MEMORY OF STATE’S MOST NOTED MAN

Carved from Italian Granite by a Noted Sculptor in Carrara Arriving Here Last Week

The magnificent statue of Anderson Hatfield, better known throughout this section of the nation as “Devil Anse” Hatfield, was unveiled Sunday afternoon at the family burying ground near his old home on Upper Main Island Creek.

Preparations had been made for a large crowd and a free dinner had been prepared, but due to the condition of the roads and to the fact that showers fell in the afternoon hundreds of his friends were kept away. About 500 people braved the threatening clouds to attend and gazed upon a handsome marble figure standing 13 feet in height, typifying the deceased mountaineer in his daily walks of life.

The majestic statue is erected to the memory of one of the most noted characters that ever lived in West Virginia. It is erected to the memory of a life that was crowded with thrilling events, but in this body, that witnessed and participated in many historical events, there ran a strain of human kindness never exceeded.

In keeping with the well known hospitality of the Hatfields, his relatives had prepared a bountiful repast for all that visited their home Sunday and the food was all that could be desired. His children and grandchildren were there in large numbers and many of the friends of the family.

The statue stands in the family burying ground and the full life size figure stands majestically overlooking the hills and valleys were “Devil Anse” in his lifetime was wont to roam as lord and master of all he surveyed.

The statue is of Italian granite and was carved by a noted sculptor in Carrara and is set upon a granite pedestal. The shaft contains the name of the noted old leader, together with the dates of his birth and death, the name and date of birth of his wife. Space is left on other portions of the statue for the names of his thirteen children.

Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 14 April 1922.

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Anse and Levisa (Chafin) Hatfield graves at the Hatfield Cemetery in Sarah Ann, Logan County, WV. 12 May 2018.

Levisa Hatfield (1927-1929)

03 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Holden, Huntington, Logan, Matewan, Pikeville, Wharncliffe, Women's History

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Abraham Lincoln, Appalachia, Barnabus, Ben Creek, Betty Caldwell, Betty Hatfield, Bob Hatfield, C.C. Lanham, Cap Hatfield, Charles Dardi, Charleston, deputy sheriff, Devil Anse Hatfield, E. Willis Wilson, Elias Hatfield, Elliott R. Hatfield, F.M. Browning, Fayette County, feud, genealogy, governor, Halsey Gibson, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Henry D. Hatfield, Hibbard Hatfield, history, Holden, Huntington, Island Creek, J.O. Hill, Jim McCoy, Joe Hatfield, John Caldwell, John J. Jackson, Johnson Hatfield, Kentucky, L.W. Lawson, Levicy Hatfield, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Lundale, Marion Browning, Mary Howes, Mate Creek, Matewan, Matilda Chafin, Mingo County, Nancy Carey, Nancy Mullins, Nathaniel Chafin, Omar, Pike County, Pikeville, Pittsburgh, pneumonia, R.A. Woodall, Randolph McCoy, Rebecca Hatfield, Rose Browning, sheriff, Tennis Hatfield, Tom Chafin, Troy Hatfield, Tug River, W.R. Eskew, West Virginia, Wharncliffe

The following news items from the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, provide some history about the final years of Levisa Hatfield, widow of Anse Hatfield:

Levisy Hatfield Dies LB 03.15.1929 1.JPG

MRS. HATFIELD BETTER

Mrs. Levicy Hatfield, widow of Ance Hatfield, continues to recuperate from a serious illness and is now able to walk about the home of her daughter, Mrs. F.M. Browning, of Holden, where she has been cared for. She is 84 years old.

Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 03 June 1927

***

Mrs. Hatfield Hurt

Mrs. Lovisa Hatfield, widow of the late “Devil Anse” Hatfield, is suffering from injuries received in a fall at her home on Island Creek Sunday. She hurt her hip and shoulder and forehead and her condition was such as to cause some concern, yet she was able to sit up yesterday. Two or three of her daughters are helping to take care of her. She is 85 years old.

Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 20 September 1927

***

DEVIL ANSE’S WIDOW, AGED 86, RECOVERS FROM PNEUMONIA

In recovering from her recent severe illness Mrs. Levisa Hatfield, widow of the late “Devil Anse,” has again demonstrated her remarkable vitality. Though in her 87th year, she is now recovering from pneumonia with which she was stricken on December 28. Monday of this week her lungs began to clear up, and her son, Sheriff Joe Hatfield, said yesterday that she seemed to be assured of recovery.

So critical was her illness for several days that half a dozen physicians were summoned to her bedside. These included Dr. H.D. Hatfield, L.W. Lawson, J.O. Hill, Brewer and Moore as well as Dr. E.R. Hatfield, of Charleston, a son of the aged patient.

Mrs. Hatfield celebrated her 86th birthday at the Hatfield homestead near the head of Island Creek on December 20.

Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 18 January 1929.

***

Devil Anse’s Widow Died Early Today

Mrs. Levisa Hatfield Succumbs Unexpectedly In 87th Year

10 Living Children

Hers Was Life of Storm And Stress for Several Decades

Funeral services for Mrs. Hatfield will be held at 2:30 Sunday at the Hatfield cemetery on Island Creek.

Mrs. Levisa Hatfield, widow of “Devil Anse” of Hatfield-McCoy feud fame, died at the family homestead up near the head of Island Creek at about 8 o’clock this morning. Though she was frail and had been in ill health all winter, the news of her passing caused much surprise and regret among relatives and friends outnumbered. Still, her condition yesterday was unsatisfactorily, indicating she had suffered a backset.

Mrs. Hatfield celebrated her 86th birthday on December 20. Eight days later she was stricken with pneumonia, and for several weeks her condition was alarming. Despite her advanced age, her indomitable grit and wiry strength and endurance triumphed, having as she did the tender, constant care of her children and other kinfolk, neighbors, and friends.

Hers was a stout heart, otherwise it could not have, withstood the storms that raged about her home and her family for many years. But long before her interesting career ended, peace and contentment had come into her life, and her declining days were brightened by the successes that had come to her children and grandchildren.

The decedent was born and reared on Mate Creek in what was then Logan county but now in Mingo. She was a daughter of Nathaniel Chafin. In her teens she was married to a neighbor youth, William Anderson Hatfield, who shortly thereafter entered the Confederate army and attained the rank of captain. That was a trying experience for a bride, but a longer and more terrifying one came in the early ‘80s when her family became involved in a now historic private war with the McCoys, a large family living on the Kentucky side of the Tug River. Even after the feud ended and a tacit agreement was carried out whereby her family moved back from the Tug and over the county divide and their foes went farther away from the Tug in the opposite direction, tragedies cast their shadows across her pathway. Chief of these was the slaying of her sons Troy and Elias by a drunken miner in Fayette county in 1911. The miner, too, was riddled with bullets after his victims had fallen mortally wounded.

Ten children survive Mrs. Hatfield and three are dead, Johnson, the oldest, having died in 1922 on Ben Creek, Mingo county. The living are: William A. (Cap), who shared with his father the leadership of their clan in the days of the feud, now a deputy sheriff and living at Stirrat; Robert L., Wharncliffe; Mrs. Nancy Mullins, living just above the Hatfield place; Dr. Elliott R., Charleston; Mrs. Mary Howes, at home; Mrs. John (Betty) Caldwell, Barnabus; Sheriff Joe D. Hatfield; Mrs. Marion (Rose) Browning, Holden; Willis, deputy sheriff at Lundale; Tennis, former sheriff.

She is survived by two sisters and a brother: Mrs. Betty Hatfield, widow of Elias Hatfield and mother of U.S. Senator H.D. Hatfield; Mrs. Rebecca Hatfield, of Logan, mother of Hibbard Hatfield, and Tom Chafin, who lives on Mate Creek.

Mrs. Hatfield and devoted to her home and family. And her home as well as herself was widely known for hospitality. There the friend or wayfarer ever found a welcome. She was a member of the Church of Christ and was baptized along with her husband by Uncle Dyke Garrett some years before her husband’s death.

No announcement was made this forenoon as to the funeral arrangements. Squire Elba Hatfield, a grandson, said he supposed the funeral would be held Sunday. Burial will be in the family cemetery.

Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 15 March 1929

***

Great Crowd At Funeral of Mrs. Hatfield

Throng Surpassed That of Any Previous Funeral In County

Pictures Are Taken

News of Death of “Devil” Anse’s Widow Travels Far and Wide

Hundreds of relatives and friends and neighbors paid their last tribute of affection to Mrs. Lovisa Hatfield Sunday afternoon. It is declared to be, by persons capable of judging, the largest funeral crowd ever assembled in the county. Perhaps the maximum attendance of the afternoon was no larger than that at the funeral of Charles Dardi last November, but on Sunday people were coming and going for an hour or more before the hour set–2:30–for the services and until the services were concluded.

Early in the afternoon a crowd began to form both at the Hatfield cemetery and the homestead. A cool, steady, stiff breeze made it uncomfortable for those who gathered at the cemetery, with the result that they did not tarry long there; and on account of weather conditions a great many did not leave their cars, which were closely parked along both sides of the highway from Sheriff Joe Hatfield’s home up to and beyond the home of the decedent.

The attendance at Sunday’s rites exceeded that of the funeral of Mrs. Hatfield’s widely known husband, “Devil Anse,” which was held on Sunday, January 9, 1921. At that time there was but a semblance of a highway up toward the head of Island Creek and most of those who attended the rites of the old feudist chieftain rode on a special train that was run that day or walked for a great distance.

At the homestead there were scripture readings, sermons, and tributes by Rev. Joe Hatfield, a nephew of the decedent, of Matewan; Rev. Halsey Gibson and Rev. C.C. Lanham, pastor of the first Methodist church of Logan. Before the cortege left the house R.A. Woodall, local photographer, took pictures of the body at rest in a beautiful metallic casket and of the grandchildren and perhaps others who were grouped on the porch.

At the grave the services were conducted by Rev. W.R. Eskew of Omar and a solo by a Mr. Woods of Huntington featured the singing. Mr. Eskew paid a tribute to the generosity and hospitality of Mrs. Hatfield, to her love of home and her devotion to her children and other loved ones.

As related in Friday’s paper, Mrs. Hatfield died at about 8 o’clock that morning, after having nearly recovered from pneumonia. Her age was 86 years, two months and 25 days. She was a daughter of Nathaniel and Matilda Varney Chafin and was born on Mate Creek, now in Mingo county. Her sisters, Mrs. Elizabeth Hatfield of Huntington , Mrs. Nancy Carey, Pittsburgh, and Mrs. Rebecca Hatfield of Logan, and her brother Tom Chafin of Mingo were at the funeral.

All over the country the news of Mrs. Hatfield’s death was flashed and it called forth much comment on the old Hatfield-McCoy feud that for a long time held the close attention evidently of millions of newspaper readers.

—

An old sketch of “Devil Anse” says he had none of the attributes of “bad men” in his character. He was always recognized as a loyal friend of the many who had some sort of claim to his friendship. Numbered among those who believed he had been right in the position he took during the feud days were the late Judge John J. Jackson, known as the “Iron Judge,” who was appointed to the federal bench by President Lincoln, and the late Governor E.W. Wilson, the former protecting Hatfield when he was called into court, and the latter refusing to honor a requisition of the Governor of Kentucky for the arrest of Devil Anse on a charge of killing some particular member of the McCoy family.

Detectives, real and alleged, had arranged for the capture of Hatfield, spurred by a reward, after they had seen to it that he was indicted on a charge of whiskey selling; in 1888, Judge Jackson, hearing of these plans, sent word to him that if he would appear in court voluntarily the court would see that he had ample protection until he returned to his home in this county.

Uncle Anse appeared and was acquitted of the charge against him. Some of the detectives pounced on him soon after he left the court room, but Judge Jackson summoned all of them before him, threatened to send them to jail, and directed special officers to see that Hatfield was permitted to reach his home. After Hatfield was well on his way, Judge Jackson told the detectives that if they wanted to get him they could proceed, just as the McCoys had been doing for a number of years. They never went.

Captain Hatfield spent the last 20 years of his life peacefully on his farm then in an isolated section of the county. Once he was prevailed upon by some enterprising amusement manager to go on the vaudeville stage but the lure of his home in the mountains soon proved stronger than the lure of the footlights.

—

In the splendid account of the death of Mrs. Anderson Hatfield, estimable woman who passed away at her home Friday, it was stated that Mrs. Hatfield was one of the last of either the Hatfield or McCoy family directly connected with the feud and that all the McCoy principals are believed to be dead. This last is in error as James McCoy, who resided in Pikeville for many years and latter came here, where he lived with his family for a number of years, and after the death of his wife only a few years ago again returned to Pikeville and is now living there. He is a highly respected and esteemed citizen and was the eldest son of the late Randall McCoy, of Pike county, and was one of the main principals of the feud.

Catlettsburg cor. in Huntington Advertiser

Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 19 March 1929.

Paw Paw Incident: James McCoy Deposition (1889)

30 Friday Nov 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud

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Alex Messer, Anderson Ferrell, Appalachia, Blackberry Creek, Bud McCoy, Cap Hatfield, clerk, crime, Devil Anse Hatfield, Doc Mayhorn, Elias Hatfield, Elijah Mounts, Ellison Hatfield, Floyd Hatfield, G.W. Pinson, genealogy, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, James McCoy, Joe Davis, Joe Hatfield, Johnson Hatfield, Kentucky, Logan County, Mate Creek, Mathew Hatfield, Pharmer McCoy, Pike County, Pikeville, Plyant Mayhorn, Preacher Anse Hatfield, Tolbert McCoy, Tom Mitchell, true crime, Valentine Wall Hatfield, West Virginia

The killing of Tolbert, Pharmer, and Bud McCoy by a Hatfield-led gang on August 8, 1882 represented one of the most sensational events of the Hatfield-McCoy Feud. What follows is James McCoy’s deposition regarding the affair:

COMMONWEALTH VS DOC MAYHORN &C

Bill of Exceptions

FILED Sept. 1889

G.W. Pinson, Clk

IMG_9720.JPG

The Commonwealth then introduced as a witness James McCoy who proves that he is brother to Tolbert, Randolp (sic) Jr. and Pharmer McCoy. Saw them Aug 9, 1882 on Mate Creek in the state West Va. Saw them on Blackberry Creek on Election day. Jo Hatfield, Mathew Hatfield and Floyd Hatfield had charge off them on that day. First saw them next day at Rev. Anderson Hatfield about 12 o’clock. They were tied arm and arm and all tied together. Saw several persons there. Saw Defendants there. They had guns. I think Rifle guns. Soon after I got there Bad Ance formed a line and said let all Hatfield men or friends fall into line. Deft. fell in to line. Doc had a gun. Am not sure that Plyant Had any gun. Ance said when the Prisoners were brought out we will take charge of them now. The whole crowd then went down Blackberry Creek toward the river. Witness went along about 1 ½ miles. Ance said to me I had no business further down and I stopped. Ance further said that he had a notion to tell the officers along that he had no further use for them. I went to Mate Creek in West Va. where my brothers was in a School house Wednesday Aug 9th 1882. I saw Bad Ance, Cap, Jonce Hatfields Defendants Doc & Plyant Mayhorn, Alex Messer, Tom Mitchell and some others. Defendants had guns some times. I left there about 3 o’clock p.m. Went down to mouth Mate Creek staid a few minutes at Sam Simpkin’s. Then went to Asa McCoy’s at mouth Sulphur. I saw Wall with a papers. Do not know what it contained and heard Wall call for signers. Saw Plyant walk up to Wall but can not say whether he signed it or not. Saw Plyant with Wall & Elias Hatfield and Elijah Mounts that evening late at the mouth Mate Creek. They went up river. Saw them again just after dark pass down by the mouth of Sulphur. I was there and they had not been gone by perhaps 20 minutes when I heard a volley of guns or pistols fired on the Ky side of the river about ½ way between Mouth Sulphur and Mate Creek but on the opposite side of the river from Sulphur. My brothers was dead when I found them. Anderson Ferrell went with him to find them. Found on the Ky shore short distance from river in a sink or flat all tied together and to two Paw Paw Bushes. Tolbert had one hand over his head. Made an examination of my brothers and found Pharmer shot 16 times. Randolph with the whole top of his head shot off. Six or seven shots in Tolbert. We removed them in a sled. They were all burried (sic) in one coffin. Elias Hatfield had a gun as they passed me at the mouth of Sulphur there was one horse in the crowd was considerably excited at times. The officers had the boys in charge for murdering Ellison Hatfield. There were a great many men along who had guns that are not indicted. There was six or seven guards and some that were not guards along with my brothers. I do not know where any one objected to my brothers being brought to Pikevill or not. I can not tell all the parties who had guns. Ellison Hatfield died about 2 ½ or 3 oclock Wednesday Aug 9, 1882. The men who taken the corps of Ellison Hatfield to Elias Hatfields was a part of the men he had seen at the school house. My brothers were found dead in Pike County Ky. Wall Hatfield is the brother of Ance, Elison & Elias Hatfield, and the father in law of the defts. When I saw my brothers at Rev. Anderson Hatfield’s there was also present Ance, Cap, Johns, Wall & Elias Hatfield. Carpenter, Dan Whitt, Messer, Murphy, Mose Christian and defts. When I found my brothers dead they were tied together and to two paw paw bushes. When Wall, Elias, & deft. Plyant Mahorn found me near the mouth of Sulphur at dark they were passing from the direction of Joe Davis’ at mo. Blackberry and going in the direction of the mouth Mate. From Jo Davis’ to mouth of Sulphur is about ½ mile, and from Sulphur to mouth Mate is about ½ mile. From the point where my brothers were found dead in Pike Co Ky is _____ in WVa immediately opposite is about 125 yards. As soon as they passed me near the mouth of Sulphur I ___ my horse pulled some grass and fed him, went back and sat down on the porch, and the firing directly began. I think it was 20 minutes after they passed until the firing began. I think I heard 50 shots. After the volley ceased there was one loud shot.

***

Written in the margin: Soon after this I went down to Ferrell’s and ___ Simpkins and myself went and found my brothers.

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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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