06 Sunday Jan 2019
Tags
Appalachia, Devil Anse Hatfield, genealogy, George W. Lawson, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Henry P. Clark, history, Ira L. Clark, Jacob Cline, James A. Nighbert, Logan County, Perry Cline, S.S. Altizer, West Virginia
G.W. Lawson v. Anderson Hatfield, Logan County, WV.
Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk | Filed under Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud
02 Wednesday Jan 2019
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud
Tags
Ali Hatfield, Appalachia, Board of Supervisors, clerk, genealogy, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Logan County, Thomas Buchanan, West Virginia
Order to pay twelve dollars to Ali Hatfield from Mr. Ballard, President of the Board of Supervisors in Logan County, WV (1868). This transaction is unrelated to the Hatfield-McCoy Feud.
31 Monday Dec 2018
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Timber
Tags
Appalachia, crime, deputy sheriff, Devil Anse Hatfield, Ephraim Hatfield, genealogy, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, J.M. Jackson, James Allison, John Hatfield, Logan County, logging, Mingo County, sheriff, timber, timbering, Valentine Wall Hatfield, West Virginia
In 1871-1872, Ephraim Hatfield was accused of stealing “with force and arms” twenty saw logs valued at fifty dollars from James Allison in Logan County, WV. Most likely, the Ephraim Hatfield of this record is Ephraim “Big Eph” Hatfield (c.1811-c.1881), father to Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield. Other possibilities include Ephraim Hatfield (b. c.1851), son of John Hatfield, and Ephraim Hatfield (b. c.1856), son of Valentine “Wall” Hatfield.
Grand jury indictment for Ephraim Hatfield, who stood accused of stealing twenty “saw logs” from James Allison valued at fifty dollars on 10 April 1871. Logan County, WV. Page 1.
Page 1 (back). Note: This event is not related to the Hatfield-McCoy Feud.
Summons for Ephraim Hatfield to appear for the Fall Term of Court 1872 in Logan County, WV. Dated June 15, 1872. Page 1
M. Jackson served summons to Ephraim Hatfield on 20 July 1872. Page 1 (back)
16 Sunday Dec 2018
Posted in Cemeteries, Culture of Honor, Hatfield-McCoy Feud
Tags
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:
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.
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.
Anse and Levisa (Chafin) Hatfield graves at the Hatfield Cemetery in Sarah Ann, Logan County, WV. 12 May 2018.
16 Sunday Dec 2018
Posted in Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Timber
Tags
Appalachia, county clerk, crime, deputy clerk, Devil Anse Hatfield, Farmer McCoy, genealogy, Harrison Blair, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Hiram H. Williamson, history, Jim Vance, John Buchanan, Logan County, Mingo County, sheriff, Thomas Buchanan, timber, timbering, West Virginia, William Straton
Hiram H. Williamson and William Straton, $1800 bond, 15 September 1868.
Hiram H. Williamson and William Straton, $1800 bond, 15 September 1868.
Summons for Jim Vance and Anse Hatfield, 15 September 1868.
Summons for Jim Vance and Anse Hatfield, 15 September 1868.
Hiram H. Williamson oath, 15 September 1868.
Order to seize property, 5 October 1868.
Order to seize property, 5 October 1868.
Law Order Book A, page 38, 10 November 1868, Logan County Circuit Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV. NOTE: This latter document relates to a charge against Hatfield for unlawful retailing of liquor and also against Farmer McCoy for lewdness.
06 Thursday Dec 2018
Posted in Hatfield-McCoy Feud
Tags
Appalachia, Blackberry Creek, Bud McCoy, Cap Hatfield, Devil Anse Hatfield, Doc Mayhorn, feuds, G.W. Pinson, genealogy, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, James M. McCoy, Kentucky, Logan County, Pharmer McCoy, Pike County, Preacher Anse Hatfield, Randolph McCoy Jr., Tolbert McCoy, 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 M. McCoy’s deposition regarding the affair:
COMMONWEALTH VS DOC MAYHORN &C
Bill of Exceptions
FILED Sept. 1889
G.W. Pinson, Clk
The Commonwealth then introduced as a witness James M. McCoy an uncle to the boys killed say the boys in the corn sled on Blackberry Creek. They were not tied do not know who all was ____ did not see the Mayhorn Boys there, they come shortly afterwards with Ance Hatfield and his crowd. Defendants was armed with Rifle guns. The next time saw defts was when line was formed at Rev. Anderson Hatfields. Defts. fell into line saw them cross the river with the McCoy boys. The Mayhons was along and was armed. Never saw the McCoy boys alive anymore. Saw them after they were killed. There is a road running down the river from where the boys were killed it is about 100 yards from where the boys was killed to the road. I then lived just below the mouth of Peter. A great many people was on Blackberry on Tuesday. Most all the neighborhood both in Ky and West Va was there. They came with Ance Cap & Jonce Hatfield Carpenter Messer & others. first saw Defts at the sled at the old house. The dets. went into the line that was formed at Rev. Anderson Hatfields. The three McCoy boys crowd in a skiff with Wall Carpenter Johnce Ance & Murphy.
03 Monday Dec 2018
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Holden, Huntington, Logan, Matewan, Pikeville, Wharncliffe, Women's History
Tags
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:
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.
30 Friday Nov 2018
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud
Tags
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
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.
23 Friday Nov 2018
Posted in Hatfield-McCoy Feud
Tags
Alex Hatfield, Appalachia, crime, feuds, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Lafe Chafin, Logan Banner, Mingo County, New York, New York Times, prosecuting attorney, West Virginia
Perceptions of the Hatfield-McCoy Feud and of Southern Appalachia in general often differ greatly among insiders and outsiders. The following letter from Lafe Chafin of Mingo County, WV, reveals his disdain for inaccurate reporting by the New York Times about the feud and his community:
Chafin Scores New York Times For News Story
Mingo Prosecutor-Elect Takes Exception To Story Recalling Old Family Feud and Tells Some Facts About State.
Penchant for publication by New York newspapers of news stories calculated to place West Virginia in an unfavorable light before the public and to ignore publicity matter favorable to the state is charged in a communication forwarded by Lafe Chafin, prosecuting attorney-elect of Mingo county in The New York Times on December 12.
The letter reads:
The Editor
The New York Times.
Times Square
New York, N.Y.
Dear Sir:
Your attention is invited to an article published in the New York Times on Sunday, November 16, 1924, on page 20 of section 8, headlined, “One More Hatfield Bites the West Virginia Dust.” The article appears on the back page of section 8. Hence, it is apparent to the reader that you did not care to dignify it as news matter for the public but simply used as filler. No doubt you had run out of anything else to print on this page and so ran this in the thought that it would be interesting reading for those who have heard of the feud days in West Virginia. The article is unsigned. Hence, I am taking you, as editor, to task for permitting the publication of it and what I shall say will be offered in a spirit of friendly criticism and I hope you will accept it as such.
To begin with, you deliberately publish an untruth when you say, at the head of the article, that Alex Hatfield was killed and that Mingo county was humming and teaming with excitement. It is true that a man by the name of Alex Hatfield was shot about ten days prior to the recent election, but it is not true that he was killed, or even seriously wounded. He sustained a flesh wound and this is known only to a few people. Alex Hatfield is not the son of the mountaineer who started as bloody a feud as the south has ever known. In fact, he is not related in any way to the Hatfields who were involved in the so-called Hatfield-McCoy feud. The writer of the article simply seized upon the fact that a Hatfield had been shot as an excuse to rehearse his conception of the so-called Hatfield-McCoy feud, and he proceeds to write in a dime-novel fashion his notion of what happened in the fight between the Hatfields and the McCoys.
If it were not for the fact that your paper is read so universally and by people who do not know of conditions in West Virginia and Mingo county, I should not write you this letter. The so-called Hatfield-McCoy feud is dead and has been dead for twenty-five years or more. Every community, like every family, has its family skeleton, but we bury our skeletons and try to keep them buried until someone like you comes along and resurrects them.
I shall not take the time to point out all the slander and untruths included in this article, because most of it is untrue, as all who know conditions here will attest. I want particularly to call your attention to the fact that the apparent excuse for the article, if any there is, lies in the fact that a man by the name of Hatfield was shot about ten days prior to the recent election. Notwithstanding the fact that he only sustained a flesh wound, you carry a story in this article almost a month later, to-wit, November 16, 1924, that he was killed and that the county was all in excitement and that it has never forgotten the days of the so-called feud. A publication of the standing of The Times cannot afford to publish such misstatements and to libel this community in such manner.
Would it not be better to publish facts about West Virginia and about our community? In the thought that you were misinformed in this instance, I purpose giving you some facts that you can publish with safety and without fear of contradiction.
The population of West Virginia in 1920 was 1,500,000. Ninety per cent of the population is native white American. Less than four per cent is foreign born. Ninety-eight per cent of the farm population is native American stock. Less than six per cent of the population is illiterate. The per capita wealth is $1,429.64. There are twelve state educational institutions to train for leadership in the professions. There are 213 high schools, with an enrollment of 35,000. There are 1,800 high school teachers. Five thousand five hundred complete high school courses each year. There are 500,000 enrolled in the elementary schools. The per capita cost of education based on enrollment is $44.20.
This is the kind of publicity we want and we feel it is the kind that we deserve. Our natural resources are unmatched by any other state in the union. While these resources are decreasing, our human resources are increasing, in value. Like any community, we have had, and how have our problems, but we are doing our best to solve them. You are not helping us to solve them by publishing such articles as you published in our issue of November 16.
I would be glad to know that you have given some attention to this letter, and it seems to me that in justice and fairness to our county the party responsible for the article appearing in your issue of November 16, should be taken to task.
It so happens that I am the prosecuting attorney-elect of Mingo county and I resent such libel, not only as a citizen of the county, but as an official. Since I cannot prosecute the writer of the article for this libel, I think I at least ought to take this matter up with you as the editor and ask you to correct it insofar as you might be able to do so.
Yours very truly,
Lafe Chafin
Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 19 December 1924.
20 Saturday Oct 2018
Posted in Culture of Honor, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Matewan
Tags
Alex Messer, Anderson Ferrell, Appalachia, Asa McCoy, Blackberry Creek, Bud McCoy, Cap Hatfield, Charlie Carpenter, clerk, crime, Devil Anse Hatfield, Doc Mayhorn, Elias Hatfield, Elijah Mounts, Ellison Hatfield, feuds, Floyd Hatfield, G.W. Pinson, genealogy, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Joe Hatfield, Johnson Hatfield, Kentucky, Mate Creek, Matthew Hatfield, Pharmer McCoy, Pike County, Pikeville, Plyant Mayhorn, Preacher Anse Hatfield, Sam Simpkins, Tolbert McCoy, Tom Mitchell, 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 Plyant Mayhorn’s deposition regarding the affair:
COMMONWEALTH VS DOC MAYHORN &C
Bill of Exceptions
FILED Sept. 1889
G.W. Pinson, Clk
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 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.
For more information about this incident, follow these links:
http://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/785?tour=55&index=3
http://wvpublic.org/post/three-mccoys-killed-hatfields-kentucky-august-8-1882#stream/0
http://hatfield-mccoytruth.com/2017/04/22/in-hatfield-country-blackberry-creek-in-the-1880s/
19 Friday Oct 2018
Posted in Culture of Honor, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Matewan
Tags
Alex Messer, Appalachia, Beech Creek, Blackberry Creek, Bud McCoy, Cap Hatfield, Charlie Carpenter, Devil Anse Hatfield, Doc Mayhorn, Elias Hatfield, Elijah Mounts, Ellison Hatfield, Ephraim Hatfield, feuds, G.W. Pinson, genealogy, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Henry Mitchell, history, Joe Davis, John C. France, Johnson Hatfield, Mose Christian, Pharmer McCoy, Plyant Mahon, Plyant Mahorn, Preacher Anse Hatfield, Sam Mahon, Tolbert McCoy, Valentine Wall Hatfield
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 Plyant Mayhorn’s deposition regarding the affair:
COMMONWEALTH VS DOC MAYHORN &C
Bill of Exceptions
FILED Sept. 1889
G.W. Pinson, Clk
PLYANT MAHORN
The defendant had sworn as a witness Plyant Mahorn who proves that I was at Doc Mayhorn house on Beech Creek when Eaf Hatfield came and said that Ellison Hatfield had been stabbed shot and killed and that his father had Wall Hatfield had sent word for them to send him his horse and Doc went down to Wall’s House. He was away from home and at the mouth of beech. I went back home and got my horse and at the request of Wall’s wife who is my mother in law me and Doc took Wall’s Horse to him. We found him near the mouth of Beech Creek some ten miles above Blackberry. We all concluded we would come down and see Ellison that at that nor no other time was there any thing said by him or by Wall or any other person in his presents that they was to be any harm done to any person. That he did not know who had hurt Ellison until he got to Blackberry Creek. Then they learned who it was and that they had taken Ellison out and they then heard that the boys that had cut and shot him. Ellison was to have a trial up on Blackberry that day and they that is he and Doc and some others concluded to go up and hear the trial. They went up and Just above Rev. Anderson Hatfield’s they met quite a crowd coming down the creek with the McCoy boys. Ance, Capt., Jonce, Wall & Elias Hatfield, C. Carpenter, Alex Messer, & others were along. I reined my horse and of the ___ and let them pass and fell in behind. They went on down to Rev. Anderson Hatfield when they all stopped for dinner me, Doc, John C. France, Mose Christian and perhaps others turned our horses in the pasture below the house and after dinner we got tired waiting for trial and went down into the field to catch our horses and while or as we came up through the field with our horses the crowd was going down around the field. We come out and soon got on our horses and went on down. When got to the mouth of Blackberry I seen the McCoy boys sitting on a log. Me and Doc went across to McFannin’s store and I went in. Did not see them cross the river. Doc was in the yard and I heard they had crossed and [I cropped bottom of photo] an hour me and Doc got on our horses and went on down to Anderson Ferrell’s where Ellison Hatfield was and staid there and helped to wait on him all night. Did not see the McCoy boys until next morning. Went to the school house. Was there a short time. Did not see Mrs. McCoy there. Was back there again that evening and did not see her there. He did not see her over there. Was only at the school House twice. Had no gun nor pistol from the time I left home during the whole time I was gone. Was not across the river in Kentucky any more until after the Boys was killed. Had no understanding with any one nor did I know that such a thing was to be done. He heard no intimidation from any one that the boys were to be killed. That he went up the river with Wall & Elias Hatfield and Elijah Mounts to Jo Davis and staid a short time and went back and went just below the mouth of Sulphur ___ heard the firing of guns or pistols. I said to Mounts want (sic) in the worlds does that mean and Mounts said I don’t know. I was shocked. Did not know what __ ____. Went on down River and up Mate. Me & Doc staid at Henry Mitchell’s all night next went and helped bury Ellison and went across the hill home. Remained there at work until we was brot over here I had at no time any purpose of mind in me or any intention of doing harm to the McCoy boys or any one else. I was a good friend to the McCoy boys. Never had any thing against them when we met them coming down blackberry __ between Rev. Andersons once what called the waste hous it was about ¼ mile above Andersons me and them Did not hear an owl hoot or a person hoot like an owl between the time we left Jo Davis and the time the crowd from over the river come to us on Mate that he heard nothing that was said between Jo Davis Wall & Elias Hatfield. He was ten or 15 steps away at the time. My brother Sam and Dock went with me to the mouth of Beech and we left with Wall about day. It is about 3 miles from Wall Hatfields to the mo. Beech.
Written on left margin (and marked through): We left home on Tuesday and got a ___ ____ of Br__ where Wall was about daylight.
For more information about this incident, follow these links:
http://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/785?tour=55&index=3
http://wvpublic.org/post/three-mccoys-killed-hatfields-kentucky-august-8-1882#stream/0
http://hatfield-mccoytruth.com/2017/04/22/in-hatfield-country-blackberry-creek-in-the-1880s/
17 Monday Sep 2018
Posted in Civil War, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Native American History, Timber
Tags
Appalachia, Battle of Middle Creek, Brandon Kirk, Breaks, Breaks Canyon, Breaks Interstate Park, civil war, fossils, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, James A Garfield, Kentucky, Marion, moonshine, moonshining, Native American History, Native Americans, photos, Phyllis Kirk, rafting, Saltville, Union Army, Virginia
Video showcasing regional history. 25 August 2018.
Hammerstone and Polishing Stone. 25 August 2018.
Fully Grooved Axe. 25 August 2018.
Lt. James A. Garfield, Union hero at the Battle of Middle Creek, KY. 25 August 2018.
Rafting through Breaks Canyon, c.1885. 25 August 2018.
This photo is labeled: “A Confrontation Between the Hatfields and the McCoys.”
Moonshine still. 25 August 2018.
Seed fern fossil, 305 million years old. 25 August 2018.
Native wildlife. 25 August 2018.
Log cabin. 25 August 2018.
Log cabin. 25 August 2018.
Log cabin. 25 August 2018.
Log cabin. 25 August 2018.
Log cabin. 25 August 2018.
Mom at the cabin. 25 August 2018.
Moonshine still showing cap, thumping keg, and worm. 25 August 2018.
Salt kettle cast at Marion, VA, about 1860 and buried to conceal it from Union troops at Saltville, VA, in 1864. 25 August 2018.
13 Thursday Sep 2018
Posted in Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Kermit
Tags
Appalachia, Brit Jones, Buchanan County, Carroll County, Catherine Wills, Catlettsburg Republican, crime, Flora Baisden, Floyd County, genealogy, Grant Bollman, Grover Waldron, Grundy, Harrison Baisden, Harrison Baisden Jr., Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Hiram Wills, history, Ira J. McGinnis, Jack Maynard, James Brewer, Jeffersonville, John Brewer, John Henry Baisden, John Lee White, John Smith Baisden, Johnson County, Kentucky, Lebanon, Lee Brewer, Lewis Dempsey, Logan County, Logan County Banner, Logan Democrat, Marrowbone Creek, Martha Baisden, Mingo County, murder, Naugatuck, Parkersburg Sentinel, Pigeon Creek, R.W. Buskirk, Reuben Baisden, Riley Brewer, Robert Irons, Robert L. Baisden, Ruby Harrison Baisden, Trace Fork, Virginia, West Virginia, William Baisden, William Bevins
Between 1883 and 1891, several members of the Baisden family suffered troubles in their section of West Virginia and Virginia. What follows are some news and other accounts of those events:
At the mouth of Pigeon creek, in Logan county, Grant Bollman and Dr. Harrison Baisden got into a difficulty over a settlement, short words brought blows, when Bollman used a knife severely if not fatally stabbing Baisden. Thereupon he drew a revolver and shot Bollman, who died the same day from the effects of the wound. There is little hopes of the recovery of Baisden.
Parkersburg (WV) Sentinel, 18 August 1883
***
Judge McGinnis has issued a vacation order to the Circuit Clerk of Wayne County admitting Dr. Baisden, charged with the murder of Yancy Bolin, in Logan County, to bail in the sum of $2,000.
Huntington (WV) Advertiser, 31 July 1886
***
According to one item printed in an old genealogy newsletter: “John Smith Baisden was born May 14, 1864. On May 29, 1885 he married Martha Jane Wills who was born in Carroll County, Virginia, on August 4, 1870, the daughter of Hiram and Catherine Massey Wills. Martha had come to Floyd County, Kentucky, in a wagon train in 1879. She was fifteen when she married John Smith Baisden. They had two children: Flora, who was born on January 8, 1888, and Ruby Harrison “Harry” Baisden [February 7, 1890]. On May 4, 1890, John Smith Baisden was shot and killed by John Brewer and John Lee White, while the family was visiting in West Virginia. He was shot in an argument over a horse. It is thought that his murder was indirectly associated with the Hatfield-McCoy Feud. The Baisdens became involved after relatives married McCoys. About the same time of his father’s death, the Hatfields kidnapped and imprisoned Ruby Harrison Baisden (then only a child) and other members of the McCoy clan, and held them in a log barn in what is now Mingo County, West Virginia. Ruby Harrison Baisden was found by a roadside where he had been left for dead. Soon after John S. Baisden’s death, Martha, against the advice of family members, returned to Kentucky by horseback, traveling at night over lonely mountain trails with her son and daughter.”
***
Last week several capias against John Henry Baisden and John Smith Baisden were placed in the hands of the Sheriff of this County. The Baisdens had established the very unenviable name of being dangerous and desperate men, and, a part of the process was placed in the hands of Wm. Bevins with instructions to go by way of Marrowbone to summon a guard who knew the haunts of the Baisdens and to locate them if he could and meet the Sheriff, who was accompanied by Jailor Buskirk, Deputy Sheriff McDonald and several guards, at the mouth of the Trace Fork of Pigeon. Mr. Bevins arrived on Marrowbone on Friday morning and learned that just before his arrival the Baisden boys had made an attack on the house of James Brewer with Winchester Rifles, and that assisted by John Lee White, he had repelled the attack, mortally wounding John Smith Baisden. On learning this Mr. Bevins at once summoned a posse consisting of John Lee White, Brit Jones, James Brewer, Riley Brewer, Lee Brewer and John Brewer and followed the Baisdens to Pigeon Creek. Locating them at Dr. Harrison Baisden’s, Bevins left all of the guard about a quarter of a mile from the house, except John Lee White, who he took with him to find the position of the Baisden boys. As soon as he came in sight of them he demanded their surrender, which they refused to do and fire was opened on them. James Baisden was killed and John Henry Baisden was badly wounded and captured. William Baisden having left the crowd made his escape and is still at large. John Henry Baisden was brought to this place and is now in jail. He was shot through both arms and in the right side, but his wounds are not dangerous. All parties regret the killing of young James Baisden, as there was nothing against him. Heretofore a man in this county had thought that to establish for himself the name of a dangerous man was all the security that he needed against the officers of the law. That is now changed and all of them will hereafter be hunted down.
Logan County (WV) Banner, 24 April 1890
***
John Smith Baisden, who was shot by James Brewer and John Lee White, on April 18th, while making an attack on Brewer’s house, died last Sunday evening.
Logan County (WV) Banner, 8 May 1890
***
On Monday morning John Henry Baisden was turned over by the authorities of West Virginia to Wm. A. Bevins upon a requisition from the Governor of Virginia. Baisden is wanted in Buchanan county, Va., for the murders of a man named Irons. Bevins, accompanied by R.W. Buskirk and Lewis Dempsey, started with Baisden to Jeffersonville, Va., where he will be confined for safe keeping until the Buchanan authorities are ready for his trial. He was not taken to Buchanan as there has been some talk of lynching him there.
Logan County (WV) Banner, 26 June 1890
***
R.W. Buskirk, Wm. Bevin and Lewis Dempsey, who took John Henry Baisden to Virginia on a charge of murder, returned on Sunday. The prisoner was first taken to Jeffersonville, then to Grundy, and finally to Lebanon as neither the Jeffersonville nor Grundy Jail were safe.
Logan County (WV) Banner, 10 July 1890
***
A Logan Man Gone Wrong.
Wm. Baisden, formerly of this county, was last week sentenced to the Virginia penitentiary from Buchanan county, for the term of 18 years, for the murder of a man named Irons, some two years ago. Outside of whisky, Baisden was regarded as a good man, and had a great many friends on the Sandy side of our county, where he was raised, and where his relatives now live.
Logan County (WV) Banner, 6 August 1890
***
Baisdens Allowed to Escape.
John Henry Baisden who killed Robert Irons in Buchanan county, Va. last fall and who afterwards figured in a terrible tragedy in Logan county, W.Va., and who was captured and taken to Virginia has been allowed to escape. After killing Irons, he fled to W.Va. to find another man living with his wife. He got a party of his relatives and went to attack the man, but was met by an officer and posse in search of him. Two desperate fights ensued between the two parties on consecutive days and Jim and John Smith Baisden were killed. John Henry was captured, after being seriously wounded, and lodged in jail. The parties who captured him in W.Va. delivered him to the authorities all right and received the Reward. He was afterwards sent to Russell county jail and being taken back to Buchanan for trial was taken from the guard by his brother. It is thought that the officers were willing that the prisoner should be rescued.
Catlettsburg (KY) Republican via the Logan County (WV) Banner, 21 August 1890
***
Murder on Sandy.
Monday afternoon Harrison Baisden, Jr., a member of the notorious gang of Baisden outlaws came down to the Mouth of Pigeon where there was a whiskey boat moored on this side of the river. He took his horse across to the Kentucky side, and then returning, he walked deliberately up to Jack Maynard, between whom and himself, it appears, there had been some bad blood, and shot him through the head, killing him instantly. The last heard from Baisden he was in Kentucky riding from about five men, who were pursuing him hotly. As the report says he was very drunk and the men were only a mile behind, the chances are that he is captured by now. It is feared that if he is caught that he will be lynched.
Logan County (WV) Banner, 3 September 1891
***
Found Dead.
A rumor has reached us that Reuben Baisden, the murderer of Jack Maynard, was found dead at the head of a lonely creek, in Johnson county, Kentucky, with fifty-three bullet wounds on his body and his dead horse lying on him. It was thought that he had been dead about three days when found. We do not credit the story.
Logan County (WV) Banner, 17 September 1891
***
Manslaughter for Dr. Baisden
In the Mingo criminal court last week, Dr. Robert L. Baisden was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter for killing Grover Waldron, at Naugatuck on April 23, of last year.
The evidence showed that young Waldron was stabbed to the heart on the above named night near the signal tower at Naugatuck. Dr. Baisden was coming down the tower steps when some person threw a beer bottle against a stone wall not far away. Young Waldron and two companions were standing near the foot of the steps.
Using an oath Dr. Baisden inquired who threw the bottle at him and there came a reply and also an oath, that it was for him and some one of the three also called out that they would send Dr. Baisden to hell “feet first” if he was not careful.
Logan (WV) Democrat, 20 April 1911
11 Tuesday Sep 2018
Posted in Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Matewan, Tazewell County
Tags
Allen Hatfield, Appalachia, Beech Creek, Beni Kedem, Charleston, Charlie Simpkins, Cincinnati, civil war, Clyde Kiser, Deanna Hatfield, Devil Anse Hatfield, Devon Church of Christ, Doc Mayhorn, Eliza Murphy, Ellison Hatfield, feuds, Frankfort, genealogy, Goldie Hatfield, Gordon Smith, Grapevine Fork, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Hugh C. Boyd Lodge No. 119, Jane Hatfield, Jane Maynard, Joseph Chester Hatfield, Joseph Murphy, Kentucky, Kentucky Colonels, Lawrence Hatfield, Logan County, Major Hatfield, Martha Bell Murphy, Maryland, Mingo County, Norfolk and Western Railroad, North Tazewell, Ohio, Pike County, Plyant Mayhorn, preacher, Raymond Hatfield, Right Hand Fork, Rockville, Thacker, Valentine Wall Hatfield, Virginia, West Virginia, Williamson, Williamson Memorial Hospital, Willis Hatfield
My name is Deanna Hatfield and tonight I would like to share with you a West Virginian, Allen Hatfield, who the community of Beech Creek honored and loved. Allen was born October 11, 1877. He was the youngest child of the pioneer couple, Wall Valentine Hatfield and Jane Maynard Hatfield, who settled on Beech Creek in 1861, the year that the Civil War broke out in this country. His parents had settled at the mouth of Grapevine Fork of Beech Creek. They had occupied a log cabin near the present site of Lawrence Hatfield’s home. He was the nephew of Captain Devil Anse Hatfield, clan leader in the famed Hatfield-McCoy Feud, and a first cousin of Willis Hatfield, the only surviving child of that family.
Almost until the day of his death, Allen carried a sadness in his heart over the death of his father in the days of the famous feud. His father, a peaceable man, was not an active member of the fighting group of the Hatfields during the trouble between his family and the McCoys but was named in warrants along with two of his sons-in-law, Doc and Plyant Mayhorn. Allen Hatfield, but ten years old at the time, remembered that his father Wall, thinking that he had nothing to fear in the courts of Kentucky, wrote the prosecuting attorney of Pike County that he and his sons-in-laws wished to surrender in Pikeville and stand trial for crimes for which they were accused. Allen Hatfield recalled the incident from his boyhood, including the feud. His father did go to Pikeville to voluntarily stand trial and clear his name but he was convicted by a prejudiced jury, the son remembered, and was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Kentucky State Prison in Frankfort. After sentencing, he lived about one year and his burial place is still unknown today. The two Mayhorns served several years and were later pardoned.
One of his fondest memories was that of his mother Jane who took over the management of the home and did a good job of raising a large family after her husband was taken from her. She did chores around the homestead. A great and interesting conversationalist in his adult years, he liked to tell of how he and his friends made bows and arrows–arrows consisting of straight pieces of wood with a horseshoe nails attached as the spike. He became an excellent marksman with the bow and arrow and later with his first rifle as he helped to provide squirrels and other wild game for the family table.
The early years of Hatfield’s life were marked by sadness as a result of the loss of his family in the feud. But his hours spent in the great outdoors hunting and fishing provided a therapy that led to his development to splendid manhood. He was several years old when the Norfolk and Western Railroad Company built an extension from Virginia to southern West Virginia and Mingo County, which still was Logan County at that time.
In 1899, Hatfield was married to Martha Bell Murphy, daughter of Joseph and Eliza (Steele) Murphy. She had just turned fourteen when he proposed and her family thought she was too young to wed. The young couple sort of eloped the night of April 8, 1899, to Allen’s home where they were married by Allen’s brother, Ellison, a country preacher and a granny doctor, as he later recalled. Late that summer, he amassed enough lumber to build their first home—a one-room abode that was erected next to the hillside just north of the present homestead. Allen Hatfield made most of his furniture and his wife tended a garden and dug ginseng to help the family fortune.
During the ensuing years, the Hatfields had eleven children, two of whom preceded them in death. Lawrence Hatfield, who married Dollie Kiser, is now retired and lives with Dollie on Beech Creek at the mouth of Grapevine Fork. Estel Hatfield, who married Virginia Varney, lived with his dad and still lives in the old homeplace. Estel is an agent for the Norfolk and Western Railroad Company. Major Hatfield, who married Mildred Friend, is employed as an agent also for the Norfolk and Western Railroad Company in North Tazewell, Virginia. Rosa Hatfield, married Wayne Simpkins, lives on Beech Creek on Right Hand Fork. Goldie Hatfield married Gordon Smith, and they make their home below Grapevine Fork on Beech Creek. Mamie Hatfield married Charlie Simpkins and makes her home in Rockville, Maryland. Glendeen Hatfield married Douglas Berlin, and they make their home in Louisiana. Etta June Hatfield, never married and lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. Erma Hatfield married Forest Baisden, and she lives in Williamson, West Virginia. Milda Hatfield, deceased, was a retired school teacher and was never married. Joseph Chester Hatfield, died at six months old.
In 1914, Allen bought from his brother Smith a grocery store at the old homeplace and moved the merchandise to a small building at his home. He built a large home later and it was there that most of the children were born. He expanded his business to a larger store building, which still stands, and then he erected the present homeplace. During his early merchandising days, Hatfield was compelled to haul his goods from the railway station at Devon by team and wagon for the roads had not been built and most of the rough team tracks was through the creeks. It was a problem in the wintertime to get through the streams as they were filled with ice. After the county built a road up Beech Creek, he retired his team and wagon and switched to a gasoline-powered vehicle to haul and deliver his goods. He learned carpentry in the early years of his marriage and continued this art until 1964 when he retired. Hatfield was a 57-year member of the Hugh C. Boyd Lodge No. 119 AF & AM at Matewan and received his 50-year service award from the Grand Lodge of West Virginia in 1970. The lodge, when he became a master mason, was known as Thacker No. 119. It was located at Thacker, West Virginia. It later was moved to Matewan. He also belonged to the Beni Kedem Temple of Charleston, being a 50-year member of the Shriners. He also received the honorary commission of a Kentucky Colonel on April 10, 1972. He had been a member of the Devon Church of Christ since 1916 and sponsored the building of the present church that stands near his home on Beech Creek.
In his years of selling groceries, Hatfield said he never lost but 50 dollars in bad debts. He was proud of his heritage, a leader in his community, and in his active life a crack shot with a rifle, pistol, and shotgun. His hunting and fishing kept the table supplied with food. He won beef, hogs, turkeys, and chickens in the old-time rifle matches that were so popular in the Beech Creek area years ago. He and the former Martha B. Murphy were married 71 years before her death on May 25, 1970. His life might have been used as the subject by the poet who wrote, “Let me live by the side of the road and be a friend to man.” Allen Hatfield had spent a lifetime doing just that, living beside a little country road on Beech Creek and being a friend to mankind. On March 2, 1975, Allen was taken to the Williamson Memorial Hospital for ailments associated with his advanced age. He then was released and re-entered the hospital on April 18 in critical condition. On Friday, May 2, 1975, the community of Beech Creek lost one of the dearest old-timers that was ever known. Allen Hatfield, 97, prominently-known Mingo pioneer citizen, retired merchant of Beech Creek, died at 3 a.m. in the Williamson Memorial Hospital of a lingering illness. Funeral services were scheduled at the Chambers Funeral Home Chapel with his beloved ministers Clyde Kiser and Raymond Hatfield officiating. Burial took place in the family cemetery behind the homeplace on Beech Creek. His grandsons and great-grandsons were his pallbearers. Allen would have wanted it this way. Simple.
NOTE: Some of the names may be transcribed incorrectly.
07 Friday Sep 2018
Tags
Andrew Varney, Appalachia, Big Sandy River, Chloe McCoy, Eveline Browning, genealogy, George F. McCoy, Harts Creek, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Hiram McCoy, history, John Stafford, Julie Ann McCoy, Lewis J. McCoy, Lincoln County Feud, Logan County, Melvina Curry, Pigeon Creek, Randolph McCoy, Rockhouse Fork, Salena Vance, Sarah McCoy, Virginia, West Fork, West Virginia, William J. McCoy
Deed Book C, page 313, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV. Note: This property is located in present-day Mingo County, WV.
Deed Book C, page 313, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV. Hiram McCoy was a brother to Sarah McCoy, wife of Randolph.
Deed Book C, page 313, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV. Hiram’s granddaughter Salena (Browning) Vance settled on West Fork of Harts Creek and was an important character in the Lincoln County Feud.
07 Friday Sep 2018
Posted in Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Matewan
Tags
Anderson Ferrell, Appalachia, Bud McCoy, crime, Devil Anse Hatfield, Doc Mayhorn, feud, feuds, G.W. Pinson, genealogy, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, John Hatfield, murder, Pharmer McCoy, Tolbert McCoy, true crime, Valentine Wall Hatfield
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 Doc Mayhorn’s deposition regarding the affair:
COMMONWEALTH VS DOC MAYHORN &C
Bill of Exceptions
FILED Sept. 1889
G.W. Pinson, Clk
Dock Mayhorn
I was at home in bed asleep when Walls boy come and said that Ellison had been cut shot and killed and that he wanted his horse ____ to him. We took the horse and went down to Wall at the mouth of Beech. Wall wanted us to go and help get his brother away from where he was shot. We did not know until we got down to Black Berry who had cut and shot Ellison. We then consented that we would go up and hear the trial, and ___ up the creek. I met Ans and th__ ____ the McCoy boys in charge in the ford above Rev. Anderson Hatfields house. I __ my horse out of the road and they passed on. I followed down to Rev. Anderson Hatfields They stopped there for dinner. I ___ my horse in the pasture ___ ____ walk to John Hatfields and got my dinner I was not present at Anderson Hatfields when the line was formed. After dinner I went to ___ my horse and as I started back to the house with my horse I saw the crowd moving down the road and down the creek. I went down to the mouth of the creek and stopped at the store house for ___ one ____ We then crossed the river and went down to Anderson Ferrills and staid there all night. I was up at the school house next day __ had no arms nor any pistol. either that day or the day before. I was not across the river with the crowd that killed the McCoy boys. I didn’t have anything to do with killing those boys nor did I aid or assist in doing so.
Examined
Clucl Murphy ____ me up his ___ and I _____
For more information about this incident, follow these links:
http://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/785?tour=55&index=3
http://wvpublic.org/post/three-mccoys-killed-hatfields-kentucky-august-8-1882#stream/0
http://hatfield-mccoytruth.com/2017/04/22/in-hatfield-country-blackberry-creek-in-the-1880s/
06 Thursday Sep 2018
Posted in Coal, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Logan, Timber, World War I
Tags
Appalachia, assessor, blacksmith, Bruno, Burl Stotts, California, Cap Hatfield, Christian, Christmas, coal, Devil Anse Hatfield, drum runner, Edith Grimmett, Elba Hatfield, Elk Creek, Ellison Toler, genealogy, Harvey Ferguson, Harvey Howes, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Henderson Grimmett, history, Huff Creek, J.G. Hunter, Joe Hatfield, Johnny Davis, justice of the peace, Logan, Logan County, Mallory, Mallory Coal Company, Matilda Hatfield, McKinley Grimmett, mining, Nancy Grimmett, Osey Richey, politics, pushboats, rafting, Ralph Grimmett, Rum Creek, Sand Lick, sheriff, Smoke House Restaurant, Tennis Hatfield, Thomas Hatfield, timber, West Virginia, whooping cough, Willis Hatfield, World War I
McKinley Grimmett was born on November 30, 1896 to Henderson and Nancy (Hatfield) Grimmett at Sand Lick, Logan County, WV. On May 14, 1916, Mr. Grimmett married a Ms. Plymale, who soon died, in Logan County. One child named Alva died on June 21, 1919 of whooping cough, aged fourteen months. His World War I draft registration card dated September 12, 1918 identifies him as having blue eyes and light-colored hair. He was employed by Mallory Coal Company at Mallory, WV. On November 13, 1919, he married Matilda “Tilda” Hatfield, daughter of Thomas Hatfield, in Logan County. He identified himself as a farmer in both of his marriage records. During the 1920s, he served as a deputy under Sheriff Tennis Hatfield.
The following interview of Mr. Grimmett was conducted at his home on July 17, 1984. In this part of the interview, he recalls his occupations. Tennis Hatfield, Cap Hatfield, Joe Hatfield, Willis Hatfield, pushboats, Logan, World War I, coal, and blacksmithing are featured.
***
What about Tennis and Joe Hatfield?
But now they come out, they paid all their debts and everything and stuff like that. They was honest, as far as I know. I think both of ‘em went broke, they was so good to the people. They had all kinds of things… Tennis had a five thousand dollar ring and he pawned it to the First National Bank and somebody got the ring. I don’t know who did. Tennis didn’t get it back. They both lost everything they had. And not just only them. Osey Richey, he was assessor and J.G. Hunter was assessor, and they lost all they had. People just, after they got elected and everything, thought that they had to furnish ‘em whether they had it or whether they didn’t.
Tennis and Joe were too young to participate in the Hatfield-McCoy Feud.
Oh yeah. That happened before I got big enough, Cap and them. Cap was chief deputy, though, while I was on. I can remember some of it. Just hear-says. I don’t know nothing about it. Ellison Toler was related to them someway and he stayed at my daddy’s and they kept him up for killing somebody over there at Welch and they hung him there at Welch yard on a tree. I remember getting into my daddy’s papers and reading the letters after I was just learning in school about such stuff like that. And I thought that was the awfulest thing ever was, writing to him and telling about it.
What changed in the county for the Hatfields between the feud and the 1920s?
Mostly, they died out to tell you the truth. Joe and Tennis died out and nobody else had guts enough to take it, you see? Now, Willis, he was the youngest brother. Elba, now he was JP and after he got out as JP he pulled out and went to California. And Willis, he died here about a year ago up on Rum Creek. And Tennis and Joe both died. And that was all of ‘em. All of the old people. Harvey Howes married their sister, and they’re all dead.
Did you ever talk to Cap or Willis?
Oh yeah. Willis, they’d hang after me all the time. They knowed I was half-Hatfield, you know. Tennis and Joe would, too. They was awful good to me ever way. Now Cap, I never – Cap just had one word for a person. If he wanted to talk with you, he’d say, well let’s talk a while, and if he didn’t, he’d say, get the hell away from here. That was the way Cap was. Devil Anse, he used to kill a beef and roast it every Christmas, you know. I’ve went there and eat with him a lot. They tell me they wouldn’t know that place now. They’ve cleaned the graveyard up, you know. I ain’t been up there in… Be five years in January since I got down and I ain’t been away … Only one takes me anyplace is my daughter Edith and Ralph and Edith’s working all the time and Ralph’s all the time busy and Ralph takes me to the doctor every month and Edith took me to the store back and forth and Ralph took me last Saturday.
How has Downtown Logan changed since you were young?
Oh, it’s changed a big lot. Built more buildings in it and everything. Used to be you had about three or four policeman and that was it. Now I can remember back whenever they had a wooden courthouse. A boxed building. I was just a big boy then. Daddy followed rafting and pushboating. You know what pushboating is? Well, they had a big long boat. He had two. And one of ‘em was about eight feet wide and about 46 feet long. Other one was about twelve feet wide. And they had to catch water to get that big boat. And sixteen foot wide. And they’d take a pair of mules or horses, whichever they had, and they’d go to Logan and buy groceries. He had a store and he boated most of his stuff. They’d kill hogs and take chickens and catch fish and take it down to Logan and sell it and they’d bring groceries back.
And they’d make these trips how often?
He went every week. It would take two days to make it, very best. You had from daylight to dark.
Tell me more about your work history.
Well I was a blacksmith. Worked in electric force. They knew I was going to fire. Harvey Ferguson was superintendent. Johnny Davis was general manager. They knowed how old I was. They knowed I was going to retire. I left Christian over here. They shut down. Johnny Davis offered me a job and offered me a job and I wouldn’t take it. I met him right at the foot of the hill. He was a boss over some Elk Creek mine. Well, I went and worked about six months lacking two days for Burl Stotts over there in Campbell’s Creek, built a tipple he fell off of and got killed. I come back and Johnny had come in home that week and Johnny and Harvey Ferguson had been up here and they wanted me to come around there and talk with them on Saturday night. I went around there. They said Johnny said he wanted me to come back up and work for him. I said, well you won’t give me enough. He said, how much you getting? I told him. He said, well I’ll give you three dollars on the day more. I said, well I’ll do it. The rates was 24 dollars. Union then. He give me 27 dollars. I wasn’t getting 24 and going over there and paying board, you know. So I said, well I’ll go back over there and work next week and pay my board up. I wouldn’t walk right off the job from him. He was a good fellow. And he was good to me. And he liked me and everything. And he give me all he could give me. They said they appreciated that, Davis and Harvey Ferguson both. That I’d do a thing like that. So I went back and worked that week and paid my board and come back and went up there and stayed with him fourteen years and retired. In November 30, 1962.
Do you remember anything about your last day?
No, they give me a pair of gloves and Johnny told me that he was going to put a ten dollar gold piece in my envelope. And he did.
What about World War I?
Well I was called… I was drum runner. The superintendent come down in the drum house where I was at. The superintendent said I see you are called for service. I said, Yeah, two more weeks will be my last. You better get somebody in here and let me learn him while I can. He said, we were studying about that. Do you want to go? I said, no I don’t want to go but I guess I’ll have to go. Kaiser was his name. He said, We’ll see what we can do about it. I’ll let you know and I’ll keep you posted at all times. Well, that was on Monday morning, I believe it was. On Saturday evening, I had to work six days a week, Saturday evening he wanted me to come over to his office. That was around on Huff Creek, at Mallory 1. And I went over there. He said, I think I’ve got you retired. He said, We’ve got to have coal men as well as army men. Just don’t say anything about it to none of the boys. You’ll not have to go. And that was all of it. I never did have to go. But I registered five different times for the service. Last time I registered, they took everybody. They didn’t get too old—I registered them all. And the company put me in a little old room beside the store and furnished my eatings for that day paid me for my day’s work and the government never did pay me a cent for none of it. Five different times. Now at first start I had to take them, I had to keep a tally of how many registered, had to take them to Logan and send them out, call in to Washington and tell them how many I registered and everything. Now the last time, I didn’t have to do that. A man come and got ‘em the next day.
Who taught you how to blacksmith?
Oh, I taught myself. My daddy used to shoe horses and I used to help him in the shop. That’s the hardest job ever I got in, shoeing horses or mules. Dangerous job, too. I’ve had them kick me plumb over top of… At that time you had belluses you blow. They’d kick me plumb over top of them belluses. Almost kill me sometimes.
Were there any blacksmith shops around Logan when you were a boy?
Oh yeah. There was plenty of them. There in Logan there was a big one. A fellow named White was the blacksmith down there. Boy, he’d whip a mule. He kept big old hickory poles in there and a mule or horse that didn’t hold still or anything he’d throw its leg down and grab one of them poles—I’ve been in there and watched him—and he’d beat that mule… I swear, I’d be uneasy about it. Think he was going to kill it. It would just quiver like a leaf.
Where was his shop?
Right where the courthouse sits now. There was a wooden courthouse. Box building. Two-story high. And his blacksmith shop was right on down the street. I’d say it wasn’t quite down to the Smoke House. Not quite down that far. Over on the right hand side. It was a big old boxed building and a shed to it. He’d get dirty coal. He was too tight to buy the coal or something. And he’d have enough smoke go all over that town. Yeah, I remember all about that.
NOTE: Some names may be transcribed incorrectly.
31 Friday Aug 2018
Posted in Hatfield-McCoy Feud
Tags
Appalachia, Bill Staten, Bob Hatfield, Cap Hatfield, crime, Devil Anse Hatfield, Ellison Hatfield, feuds, genealogy, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Howard Alley, Island Creek, Kentucky, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Mingo County, Nancy Hatfield, Paris McCoy, Pike County, Randolph McCoy, Sam McCoy, Tolbert McCoy, true crime, West Virginia
From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this story by Howard Alley titled “The Hatfield-McCoy Feud” and dated May 10, 1937:
The Hatfield-McCoy Feud…
“Aunt Nancy” Hatfield, Widow of “Cap” Hatfield, Relates That Historic Feud Actually Started Over An Election Argument When “Uncle” Ellison Was Killed Following Argument With a McCoy
Much has been said and many volumes have been written about the historic Hatfield-McCoy feud which took place in Logan and Mingo counties in the latter part of the last century. Lecturers have said the feud started over a razor-backed hog, and novelists have written that it began when a McCoy married a Hatfield lass and deserted her after he learned that she was to bear him a child. Both theories have their foundation in tradition, but neither Hatfield nor McCoy close to the feud has been quoted as saying either was right. Yesterday the mystery was cleared up. Because it seemed so utterly preposterous that two solid, level-headed mountain families with the solidity of the English for a background could wage a ten-year killing spree over a razor-backed sow when the woods were full of the animals, and because it was equally as improbable that the feud started over unhappy marital relationships when it is an established fact that mountaineers let their offspring take care of their own home life, we decided yesterday afternoon to find out what event was the spark which actually set off the powder magazine of mountain passion which rocked the hills of this section for nearly a decade.
And in the warm sunshine of a late spring Sunday afternoon we sat on the porch of the late William A. (Cap) Hatfield’s rambling frame home on the upper stretches of Main Island Creek and talked to “Cap’s” wife, the last survivor of those who were closest to the Hatfield clan in the feud.
“Aunt Nancy”, who has survived seventy winters and admits that she is “young and has the ‘hang’ of it,” but “don’t think I can do it again”, gazed reminiscently out over the newly-turned acres of her husband’s creek bottom estate, and her eyes grew misty as she told us of the closing years of the last century when Hatfield and McCoy alike expected death at every bend of the creek.
“That feud didn’t start over no ‘hog lawsuit’ and it didn’t start over a Hatfield-McCoy marriage,” Mrs. Hatfield said in a tone that showed plainly her disgust for those writers who had written of the feud and by twisting the facts had capitalized on it. “I’ve got a red-backed book two inches thick here that one of my sons brought to me and said: “Read this, Ma, and you’ll find out why we fought the McCoys.’ I read it–two pages of it–and it’s layin’ in there now with dust on its backs. Not a word o’ truth in it.”
She grew repentant.
“But they have to make their livin’, I guess. You want to know how it started? I’ll tell you. The Hatfields was always a political family, and it was their politics which got ’em into this fight. If they hadn’t gone to that election in Pike county in August of 1882, ‘Uncle’ Ellison would never have been killed and Ellison’s brother, ‘Devil’ Anse would never have been drawn into it. But I’m gettin’ ahead of my story. The way it was, ‘Uncle’ Ellison Hatfield was an officer in Logan county in 1882 and was sent out to arrest Sam and Paris McCoy who was supposed to have killed Bill Staten, ‘Uncle’ Ellison’s brother-in-law. These boys warn’t sons of Randall McCoy, ringleader of the McCoys. They were just cousins. He got the two boys and brought them to Logan county jail in Logan and afterwards testified agin’ them in a trial. The McCoys were ‘sent up’ for the killin’. Then in August ‘Uncle’ Ellison went to Pike county to ‘work’ at the polls, and it was so ordered that he was working for a man that the McCoys were agin’. Well, the only thing that could happen did happen. One of Randall McCoy’s sons, just a little twenty-one-year-old shaver, started a argument with ‘Uncle’ Ellison, and Ellison, who was always too high tempered for his own good, slapped him down. The little feller bounced up, and Ellison slapped him down agin’. But this time he jumped on top of him, and ’bout the time he drawed back his fist, aimin’ to end the fight, a shot rung out and ‘Uncle’ Ellison toppled over. He weren’t dead though. He told his friends to call ‘Devil’ Anse, who come a runnin’, and the McCoys ‘cleared out.’ ‘Devil’ Anse took his brother home and he lived from that Saturday until the next Wednesday. Just before he died, he said to Anse: ‘Anse, I want you to give the McCoys the ‘law’.’ And that’s what ‘Devil’ Anse did. He gave ’em the ‘law’ as he knowed it–and that was just about the only law in them days–and lived to see the justice handed out. And, well, you know as much about what happened after ‘Uncle’ Ellison died as I do. I don’t want to add any more tales to the list.”
We took the hint, and willingly began to talk about the celebration of “Aunt Nancy’s” birthday last September when she fell off her back porch and was told by one of her sons that “she shouldn’t have been trying to turn handsprings at her age.”
“I wasn’t hurt bad enough to keep me from cuttin’ my birthday cake. And I gave Bob the smallest piece because he was so smart about me fallin’.”
07 Saturday Jul 2018
Posted in Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Timber, Women's History
Tags
Appalachia, Cap Hatfield, G.W. Morgan, G.W. Taylor, genealogy, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Island Creek, John A. Sheppard, justice of the peace, Little Kanawha Lumber Company, Logan County, Nancy Hatfield, P.A. Farley, Patterson Christian, splashing, timber, timbering, West Virginia
Historians have well-documented Anderson Hatfield’s timber activity. In 1892, Nancy Hatfield, wife of Cap, sued the Little Kanawha Lumber Company. Here are transcriptions of a few court documents.
DOCUMENT 1
Nancy Hatfield
vs.
The Little Kanawha Lumber Company
Civil Action
Summons issued June 29, 1892 by G.W. Morgan, a Justice of Logan County, W.Va., and returnable at the residence of Cap Hatfield on Main Island Creek in Logan District of said County on the 14th day of July 1892. Residence of Cap Hatfield June 14, 1892. Summons returned duly executed by P.A. Farley, a constable of said county. Present the plaintiff in person and by Counsel Jno. A. Sheppard. No person appearing for the defendant. G.W. Morgan the Justice issuing the summons being absent and sick and the plaintiff being ready for trial the undersigned Justice of said county having waited on hour after the time set for trial and the defendant still failing to appear. After hearing the evidence offered by the plaintiff doth find for the plaintiff and assess her damages at $50.00. Judgment is therefore rendered in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant for the sum of $50.00 and her costs in this behalf expended.
Given under my hand this June 14, 1892.
Patterson Christian, Justice
DOCUMENT 2
The Little Kanawha Lumber Company
To Nancy Hatfield
To damage by splashing to bottom creek bank &c of land on Island Creek, $75.00
To fence gate &c splashed away & cost of replacing, $25.00
To timber out, $25.00
Total: $125.00
Cr. by cash on same, $10.00
DOCUMENT 3
APPEAL BOND
Know all men by these presents that we Little Kanawha Lumber Company and G.W. Taylor are held and firmly bound unto the state of West Virginia in the just and full sum of one hundred dollars for the true payment whereof well and truly to be made we bind ourselves heirs and personal representatives jointly severally and firmly by these presents sealed with our seals and dated this the 20th day of July 1892.
The condition of the above obligation is such that whereas on the 14th day of July 1892 a Judgment was rendered by Patterson Christian a justice of the peace against the Little Kanawha Lumber Company in favor off Nancy Hatfield in the sum of $50.00 with interest from date and cost in a cause pending before said Christian J.P. wherein said Nancy Hatfield was plaintiff and said Little Kanawha Lumber Company was defendant and said Little Kanawha Lumber Company desiring an appeal from the decision of said justice in rendering said judgment tenders this bond for that purpose. Now if the above bond Little Kanawha Lumber Company and G.W. Taylor do pay off and satisfy any judgment rendered against them by the Circuit Court of Logan County on said appeal then this obligation to be void otherwise to remain in full force and virtue.
Little Kanawha Lumber Co.
G.W. Taylor
Approved this July 20, 1892
Patterson Christian, J.P.
NOTE: This case had nothing to do with the Hatfield-McCoy Feud.
17 Sunday Jun 2018
Posted in Guyandotte River, Hatfield-McCoy Feud
Tags
Appalachia, Charles M. Turley, Charleston, Cincinnati, circuit clerk, deputy sheriff, Devil Anse Hatfield, Guyandotte, Guyandotte River, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Henry W. Sentz, history, J.B. Buskirk, John R. Browning, Kanawha County, lawyer, Logan County, Logan Court House, M.B. Mullins, Marion Chafin, P.H. Noyes & Company, pushboats, sheriff, steamboats, traveling salesman, W.W. Adams, West Virginia
On October 27, 1891, P.H. Noyes and Company sued Anderson Hatfield and John R. Browning relating to an 1890 debt. The following depositions provide some details about the case:
NOTICE TO TAKE DEPOSITIONS.
To Anderson Hatfield Sr. and John R. Browning. You will take notice that on the 28th day of March 1892, between the hours of 8 o’clock A.M., and 6 o’clock P.M., at the Law office of Adams and Smith’s at the City of Charleston in Kanawha County, we will proceed to take the deposition of P.H. Noyes and others to be read as evidence in behalf of ourselves in a certain suit at Law pending in the Circuit Court of Logan County, West Virginia wherein you are defendant and we are plaintiffs and if from any cause the taking of the said deposition be not commenced on that day, or if commenced and not completed on that day, the taking of the same will be adjourned and continued from day to day or from time to time, at the same place, and between the same hours, until completed.
Respectfully, P.H. Noyes & Co., By Counsel
Executed the within notice on the within named John R. Browning and Anderson Hatfield Sr. on the 2nd day of March 1892 by giving to each of them a true office copy of the same.
J.B. Buskirk, Dept. for F.M. Chafin, S.L.C.
***
DEPOSITIONS of Witnesses, taken before the undersigned authority, in and for the County of Kanawha, in the State of West Virginia pursuant to the annexed notice, at the law office of Adams & Smith at the City of Charleston W.Va on the 28 day of March 1892 between the hours of 8 o’clock A.M., and 6 o’clock P.M., of that day, to be read in evidence on behalf of the plaintiff, in a certain suit pending in the Circuit Court of Logan County West Virginia, in which suit P.H. Noyes & Company are Plaintiff and Anderson Hatfield Sr. and John R. Browning are Defendants.
Present: W.W. Adams for Plaintiff and no appearance for Defendant.
Deposition 1: Henry W. Sentz
Q: State your name, age, residence and occupation.
A: My name is Henry W. Sentz. I am 25 years old. I reside in Charleston, W.Va. and am a traveling salesman.
Q: What connection if any have you with the plaintiffs P.H. Noyes & Co.?
A: I am employed by them as a traveling salesman.
Q: Do you know anything about the matter in controversy in this suit between plaintiffs and defendants?
A: I sold him the bill of goods and he paid me in cash the sum of $400 for the residue. He executed the note upon which this suit is based. Since that time he has paid $100 on this note.
Q: Did you ever have any conversation with the defendant Anderson Hatfield in regard to the claim for which this suit is brought? If so, when and where?
A: I am not positive as to the time, but we had conversations in regard to the claim on two or three different occasions before the institution of this suit. These conversations were had at Logan Court House.
Q: State what was said by you and by him in said conversations.
A: He spoke of the debt, and when the note became due he asked for more time on it. He said if we would give him a little more time he would pay it, and I agreed to it as far as I could and explained the matter to the house. This was before the note was sent to Mr. Turley for collection. At the expiration of the time Mr. Hatfield asked should be given him on the note, I had another conversation with him. He still wanted more time, stating that he had a land deal on foot with M.B. Mullins, and said he thought it would only be a short time until the note was paid.
Q: What if anything did he say in these conversations, about the acts on which this suit was afterwards brought?
A: He said the debt was just and he wanted to pay it.
Q: When did these conversations occur?
A: The first conversation occurred about the time the note was due. The note was for three months, I think. The second conversation occurred about two months after the first. Both of these conversations occurred before the note was placed with Turley for collection.
Q: Has the house ever given Hatfield any other credit than the $100 credit above mentioned on the note?
A: Yes. At the time the goods were sold I figured up the amount of the bill. He paid at that time $400 and then sent in the note in controversy for the residue before the goods were shipped. When the goods were shipped, it was found that the amount of the note and the $400 was in excess of the amount of the bill for the goods, and credit was given on the note for this excess.
Q: What if anything did said defendant say in said conversations with reference to the condition of the goods for which this note was given? I mean their condition when he received them?
A: He said nothing.
Q: When did he first claim that the goods were damaged for which the note was given?
A: I can’t give the exact time but it was after the two conversations above mentioned, and before I had put the note for collection in C.M. Turley’s hands, that the defendant stated to me that some of the flour had been damaged, but that he did not blame P.H. Noyes & Co. for it as the goods had been a long time in transit and he did not get them home as early as he had expected to. Part of the flour had lain at Logan Court House for some time, I think in J.B. Buskirk’s stable.
Q: By what route and conveyance were these goods carried in Logan Court House?
A: They were shipped from Charleston to Guyandotte by steamboat, and from there to Logan Court House by push-boat, which is about 80 miles up Guyandotte River. The flour was shipped from Cincinnati to Guyandotte.
Q: When did you first hear of any claim on the defendant’s part and that he was entitled to an offset because said goods were damaged?
A: It was after the institution of the suit I saw the offset filed with the papers.
Q: Has the defendant made any payments on said note except the one of which you have spoken?
A: None that I know of.
Deposition 2: M.B. Mullins
Q: State your name, residence and occupation.
A: My name is M.B. Mullins, Logan County, West Virginia, Real estate dealer.
Q: Did you ever have any conversation with the defendant Anderson Hatfield in regard to the claim of P.H. Noyes & Co. v. him which is in controversy in this suit?
A: Yes.
Q: When and where?
A: I think it has been some nine months ago at Logan C.H. We first had the conversation in Buskirk’s store and then in Turley’s office.
Q: What did he say about said debt in that conversation?
A: He and I were on a trade for some land. He said he owed this debt and asked me in connection with the trade to pay it. This I agreed to do provided he could make good title to his land.
Q: At that time, who held this note for collection?
A: C.M. Turley said he had the note for collection. He is an attorney at Logan Court House. And part of the above conversation with Mr. Hatfield was had in the presence of Mr. Turley.
Q: Do you remember anything else Mr. Hatfield said to you about this debt on that occasion?
A: He asked me to write P.H. Noyes & Co. and ask them to give him a little time on this debt until this trade went through and he would pay it, and not to sue him. I did this.
Q: How long ago do you say this conversation occurred?
A: Nine months or more and I think I wrote the letter before I left Turley’s office. The date of the letter will show the date of the conversation.
Q: Did C.M. Turley take part in said conversation between you and Hatfield?
A: Yes, sir. My recollection is that Mr. Turley said he would give us time and hold up on the suit until the title to the land for which we were dealing was examined. Turley also wanted me to write P.H. Noyes & Co. so that they would understand why he had not brought suit v. Hatfield.
Q: Did Mr. Hatfield say anything about the goods Noyes & Co. had sent him being damaged or having any offset against said claim?
A: He did not at that time and I don’t remember of his having ever told me so. My recollection of his language is that he said “it is a just debt and I want to pay it.”
***
Additional notations derived from the Logan County Circuit Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV:
Law Orders Book G, p. 277 (27 October 1891): initial entry
Law Orders Book H, p. 112-113 (24 November 1892): case continued
Law Orders Book H, p. 113 (25 November 1892): jury could not decide, jury discharged
Law Orders Book H, p. 254 (28 April 1893): no notation
Law Orders Book H, p. 254 (28 April 1893): plaintiff wins $321.95 with interest
NOTE: This case does not appear to have any connection to the Hatfield-McCoy Feud.
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