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Brandon Ray Kirk

Tag Archives: Henderson Dingess

Guyandotte River Navigation (1848)

24 Sunday May 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Coal, Guyandotte River, Timber

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Andrew Elkins, Appalachia, Burbus Toney, coal, Corbin Bryant, David Dingess, farming, flatboats, Francis Browning, genealogy, Guyandotte River, Harvey S. Dingess, Henderson Dingess, Henry Conley, history, James Bailey, Jefferson Thompson, Kanawha County, Logan County, navigation, rafting, Ralph Lucas, sheep, Squire Toney, timber, tobacco, Virginia, West Virginia, West Virginia State Archives, William E. Browning, William Farley, William Toney

The following petition is imperfectly transcribed and will be corrected at a later date:

A Petition of Citizens of Logan County praying for the appropriation of money to clear out the obstruction in the navigation of the Guyandotte River (July 17, 1848)

Petition to the Senate and House of Representatives of the Virginia Legislature by the “citizens of the County of Logan” who “represent to your body that they live in a County of Boundless resources of wealth, with a soil adapted to the growth and culture of all most all the substantial ___ of Life. The Indian corn, Rye, oats, Tobacco, hemp, Flax, potatoes, cabbages, carrots, pumpkins are grown as well perhaps in this county as any other region in the commonwealth whilst there is no county can exceed it on firsts: Particularly Peaches by planting on the North Hill Sides they never fail to yield their fruits and the peaches often measure from 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter, it is believed also that the ___ would grow well and by proper and well directed enterprize and industry ___ may yet be made in our County to gladden the Hearts of the Citizens and strangers. That your Humble body may have some Idea of the Rich character of our County. They respectfully State as cattle can be gotten of the county, better than almost anything else, in which they could spend their capital or employ their time, that many cattle are annually raisen and drove from the County. That these vast herds of cattle live through the winter without being far from the Produce of the farm with the exception of a few days of Heavy snow and __ rains from the rich character of our hills fine grapes will soon upon them it is believed that no portion of the world would be better adapted to the growing of sheep as not much attention hath yet been paid to the growing of sheep there is no fine Breeds in the county yet our sheep are large and very thrifty. There is perhaps no county that can boast of finer growth of timber which now is and must continue to be in great demand upon the Ohio river and we have no doubt our County abounds with valuable minerals of many descriptions. There is every portion of in the county Rich and deep veins of Bituminous coal and several Banks of the Canal Coal have been found and doubtless the county is filled with it, this Coal above if it could be gotten to market would bring in a great resource of wealth.”

“Yet all of these vast resources are locked and remain valueless for the want of outlet or the means of getting them to market and the necessaries of Life brought to the county for Sale owing to the obstruction of the navigation of the Guyandotte river, and taxed something like one cent on the Pound, this on ___ coffee, nails, Tobacco &c, operates verry __ the Guyandotte River is here. Great chance of communication–the articles of salt may be brought across the county from Kanawha But almost everything else must and __ be Brought up the river and there is no other Possible __ of getting out with our lumber and coal and wool and other products.”

The petition hopes the “Honorable Body” will “appropriate a sufficient sum of money together with what may be raised By individuals to remove the obstructions of the navigation of said river By the ___ upheavals and the Flat Boat and Rafts Downwards at the proper stages of the tide.”

Some signatures of interest to me (there were many others):

Ralf Lucas

Burbus Toney

Henry Conley

Corbon Bryant

Squire Toney

Francis Browning

James Bailey

William E. Browning

Andrew Elkins

H.S. Dingess

William Farley

Henderson Dingess

Jefferson Thompson

William Toney

David Dingess

Source: Library of Virginia, General Assembly Legislative Petitions, Logan County, Reel 111,” located at the WV State Archives.

Stephen Hart: Origins of Harts Creek (1896/1937)

07 Thursday Feb 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Boone County, Crawley Creek, Native American History, Roane County

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Tags

Appalachia, Boone County, Crawley Creek, Dick Johnson, Elizabeth Hart, Fred B. Lambert, genealogy, Harts Creek, Henderson Dingess, Henry Clay Ragland, history, Jacob Stollings, James Hart, John Baker, Lincoln County, Little Harts Creek, Logan Banner, Logan County, Logan County Banner, Mud River, Native Americans, Roane County, Smokehouse Fork, Stephen Hart, West Virginia

From the Logan County Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history written by amateur historian Henry Clay Ragland relating to Stephen Hart and the naming of Harts Creek in Lincoln and Logan counties, West Virginia, dated 1896:

Stephen Hart Ragland LCB 04.08.1896.JPG

Logan County (WV) Banner, 8 April 1896.

***

On 13 April 1937, the Logan Banner printed another story about Hart and his relationship to Harts Creek. This latter story was generally derived from Ragland’s 1896 history.

Harts Creek Named After Stephen Hart—A Wanderer And Famous Deer Hunter

Much has been told about Harts Creek in late years, but little is known about the first settler who built his home in the long hollow and gave it a name.

Stephen Hart built a cabin on the farm which Henderson Dingess later owned at the forks of Hart’s Creek. He cared nothing for the soil, but spent his time hunting deer and curing the meat. He didn’t stay long in one place.

Near his cabin he built a house in which to store his cured venison between his infrequent trips to the settlements down the river and was altogether self-sufficient. His neighbors knew little about the man. There is no record of a family reared by him and he told neighbors little of his past history.

His was a roaming nature. He, like the Arabs, pitched his tent where the water was clearest, the game gamest, and the soil most fertile.

To commemorate his short stay at the forks of Harts, neighbors named the creek for him after he had loaded his gun, food stores and skins on a pack mule, and started west.

His few friends heard no more about him, but they remembered him as a “quiet man, a good shot, and a good neighbor.”

Just “around the bend and over the ridge,” Jacob Stollings, John Baker, and Dick Johnson brought their families and built their homes. From descendants of this family comes much of the record of Stephen Hart who gave the creek a name.

Hart’s venison was known for miles around as the tenderest, the most delicately cured meat in the Hart’s section and Stollings, Baker, and Johnson always put in a small supply of Hart’s meat for the winter, sometimes to take an unusually large supply off the hunter’s hands but most times just because they liked the venison.

John Baker married a daughter of Jacob Stollings, and Dick Johnson married a sister of Baker’s. Both men reared large families whose names are familiar in the county’s history.

But Hart left only the name of his beloved deer hunting grounds as a reminder that he had first set foot on Hart’s Creek.

MY NOTE: Of importance, much confusion remains regarding the source for the naming of Harts Creek, essentially relating to the fact that Stephen Hart was born too late to have inspired the naming of the stream. I first attempted to unravel this story when I published a profile of Stephen Hart in a Lincoln County newspaper in 1995/6. Stephen Hart, son of James and Elizabeth Hart, was born c.1810 in North Carolina; Harts Creek appears on a map printed prior to 1824 (Hart was still quite young). In the early 1900s, amateur historian Fred B. Lambert noted that Hart’s father had been killed by Native Americans at the mouth of present-day Little Harts Creek (according to a Hart descendant). Possibly it is Mr. Hart’s father who inspired the naming of the local stream. Problematic to this possibility is the fact that, based on Stephen Hart’s estimated year of birth, his father would have been killed in 1809-1811, which is about fifteen to twenty years too late for an Indian attack in the Guyandotte Valley. Stephen Hart did settle locally. He may well have squatted on Harts Creek land, as Ragland reported in 1896. Based on documentary evidence, he acquired 50 acres on Crawley Creek in 1839. He appears in the 1840 Logan County Census and the 1850 Boone County Census. By 1860, he had settled in Roane County, where he died in 1896–the same year that Ragland published his history. He also left plenty of local descendants in the Mud River section of Lincoln County. How did Ragland garble this section of his history so badly? For those who wish to avoid sorting out this confusing tale, consider this version: at least one early account states the creek was named “hart” due to the prevalence of stags in its vicinity.

Henderson Dingess Deed to Peter Dingess, Jr. (1857)

06 Sunday May 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Crawley Creek, Lincoln County Feud

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Appalachia, Crawley Creek, genealogy, Harvey S. Dingess, Henderson Dingess, history, John J. Besnoist, Julius C. Dingess, Logan County, Peter Dingess Jr., Tim's Fork, Virginia, W.I. Campbell, West Virginia, William Straton

Henderson Dingess to Peter Dingess Jr. Deed 1.JPG

Deed Book C, page 518, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV. This property is located in present-day West Virginia. I descend from Harvey S. Dingess, a brother to Henderson Dingess.

John and Chloe Dingess Heirs Division of Land at Crawley Creek (1855)

14 Sunday Jan 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Chapmanville, Crawley Creek

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Appalachia, Chapmanville, Chloe Dingess, Crawley Creek, David Dingess, genealogy, Guyandotte River, Harvey S. Dingess, Henderson Dingess, history, James Butcher, John Dingess, John Dingess Sr., John Gore, Julius C. Dingess, Logan County, Nancy Chapman, Peter Dingess, Virginia, W.I. Campbell, West Virginia, William B. Chapman, William Dingess, William Straton

Harvey S. Dingess Deed 1.JPG

Deed Book C, page 358, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV. This deed identifies the ten children of John and Chloe (Farley) Dingess, Sr. Harvey S. Dingess is my great-great-great-great-grandfather. The property referenced in the deed is located in present-day Chapmanville, Logan County, WV.

Branson Tomblin Deed to Stephen Lambert (1853)

30 Thursday Nov 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek

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Appalachia, Barney Carter, Branson Tomblin, genealogy, Harts Creek, Henderson Dingess, history, John Workman, Logan County, Stephen Lambert, Virginia, West Virginia, William Straton

Branson Tomblin to Stephen Lambert 1.JPG

Deed Book C, page ___, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV.

Harts Creek Moonshiners (1926)

14 Wednesday Jun 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Shively

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Appalachia, crime, genealogy, Golden Butcher, Harts Creek, Henderson Dingess, Henderson Farris, history, John Butcher, John Shadd, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Marshal Reynolds, moonshine, moonshining, West Virginia

Harts Creek Men Arrested for Still LB 07.30.1926.JPG

Logan (WV) Banner, 30 July 1926.

Henderson and Sallie Dingess graves (2017)

03 Monday Apr 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Cemeteries, Civil War, Lincoln County Feud, Shively, Spottswood, Warren

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Appalachia, Blood in West Virginia, Brandon Kirk, cemeteries, Dingess-Brumfield Family Cemetery, genealogy, Harts Creek, Henderson Dingess, history, Kathy Adams, Lincoln County Feud, Logan County, photos, Sallie Dingess, Smokehouse Fork, West Virginia

IMG_2005

Henderson and Sallie (Adams) Dingess are buried here on Smokehouse Fork of Harts Creek, Logan County, WV. Since my last visit, a tree has pitched over onto their graves. Photo by Kathy Adams. 2 April 2017.

Stephen Hart (1896)

31 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek

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Appalachia, genealogy, Harts Creek, Henderson Dingess, Henry Clay Ragland, history, Logan, Logan County, Logan County Banner, Smokehouse Fork, Stephen Hart, West Virginia

Stephen Hart Ragland LCB 04.08.1896

Logan County Banner (Logan, WV), 8 April 1896.

129th Regiment Virginia Militia (Carter’s Company)

08 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Chapmanville, Civil War, Crawley Creek, Green Shoal, Harts, Little Harts Creek

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129th Regiment Virginia Militia, 34th Battalion Virginia Cavalry, Aaron Adkins, Abbotts Branch, Abijah Workman, Abner Vance, Addison Vance, Admiral S. Fry, Albert Abbott, Alexander Bryant, Alford Tomblin, Allen B. Brumfield, Anderson Barker, Andrew D. Robinson, Andrew Jackson Browning, Andrew Jackson Vance, Arnold Perry, Barnett Carter, Battle of Boone Court House, Battle of Kanawha Gap, Benjamin Adams, Benjamin Barker, Big Branch, Burbus C. Toney, Calahill McCloud, Canaan Adkins, Carter's Company, Charles McCloud, Christian T. Fry, civil war, Crawley Creek, Daniel Bill Nester, David Workman, Douglas Branch, Edward Garrett, Enos "Jake" Adkins, Evermont Ward Brumfield, Fleming Fry, Fulton D. Ferrell, Garland Conley, genealogy, George Bryant, George Godby, Griffin Stollings, Guy Conley, Harts, Harts Creek, Harvey S. Dingess, Henderson Dingess, Henderson Lambert, Henry Conley, history, Hoover Fork, Ira Lucas, Isaac Adkins, Isaac G. Griffith, Jackson McCloud, James Bryant, James Dalton, James Dingess, James Mullins, James P. Ferrell, James Tomblin, Jefferson Thompson, Jeremiah Perry, Jesse W. Carter, John C. Chapman, John DeJarnett, John Dingess, John H. Adkins, John McCloud, John Quincy Adams, John R. Robinson, John W. Workman, Josiah Browning, Lewis Baisden, Lewis Jupiter Fry, Lewis Vance, Logan County, Martin Dalton, Martin Van Buren Mullins, Mastin Conley, Mathias Elkins, Moses Tomblin, Moses Workman, Obediah Workman, Oliver Conley, Peter C. Dingess, Peter Fry, Reuben Conley, Riland Baisden, Robert Bob Mullins, Robert Fry, Rufus Bryant, Russell Fry, Shade Estep, Smokehouse Fork, Spencer A. Mullins, Squire Toney, Thomas Conley, Thompson Perry, Tolbert S. Godby, Weddington Mullins, West Virginia, William A. Dingess, William C. Lambert, William D. Elkins, William S. Dingess, William T. Fowler, William Workman

The 129th Regiment Virginia Militia, commanded by Colonel John DeJarnett, consisted of men primarily from Logan County, (West) Virginia. The 129th existed to protect Logan County. Carter’s Company, captained by Barnett “Barney” Carter, consisted of many Harts Creek men, all of whom enlisted on 27 August 1861 at Logan Court House, Logan County, (West) Virginia. The 129th, including Carter’s Company, participated in the Battle of Boone Court House on 1 September 1861 and the Battle of Kanawha Gap on 25 September 1861. In 1862, Carter’s Company essentially became Company D, 34th Battalion Virginia Cavalry. (This list will be updated periodically.)

Albert Abbott*, Abbotts Branch

Benjamin Adams, Crawley Creek

John Quincy Adams, Harts Creek

Aaron Adkins

Canaan Adkins, West Fork of Harts Creek [Lincoln County Feud]

Enos “Jake” Adkins, 1st Lieutenant, Douglas Branch (Ferrellsburg)

Isaac Adkins, Jr., Harts Creek (Big Branch area)

Isaac Adkins, 2nd Sergeant, Harts Creek (Big Branch area)

John H. Adkins

Lewis Baisden

Riland Baisden

Anderson Barker

Benjamin Barker

James M. Berry

Jacob Browning

Josiah Browning, 4th Sergeant

Andrew Jackson Browning, Harts Creek

Allen B. Brumfield, Big Ugly Creek

Evermont Ward Brumfield, Big Ugly Creek

Alexander Bryant, Harts Creek

George Bryant, Harts Creek

James Bryant, Harts Creek

Rufus Bryant, Harts Creek

Ed Burchett

William F. B_____

Jesse W. Carter

Barnett Carter, Captain, Hoover Fork of Harts Creek

John C. Chapman, 1st Corporal

Garland Conley, Smokehouse Fork of Harts Creek

Guy Conley, Conley Branch (Chapmanville)

Henry Conley, Conley Branch (Chapmanville)

Maston Conley, Chapmanville

Oliver Conley, Crawley Creek

Reuben Conley

Thomas Conley, Conley Branch (Chapmanville)

James Dalton, Harts Creek

Martin Dalton, Harts Creek

Harvey S. Dingess*, Crawley Creek

Henderson Dingess, Smokehouse Fork of Harts Creek [Lincoln County Feud]

James Dingess, 3rd Corporal

John Dingess

Peter C. Dingess, Crawley Creek

William A. Dingess

William S. Dingess

Mathias Elkins

William D. Elkins*, 2nd Corporal

D.J. Estep

Shade Estep, 4th Corporal

Fulton D. Ferrell, 3rd Sergeant

James P. Ferrell, Big Ugly Creek

Samuel Ferrell

Isaac Fleming

William T. Fowler, West Fork/Marsh Fork of Harts Creek

Admiral S. Fry, Green Shoal

Christian T. “Jack” Fry*, Abbotts Branch

Fleming Fry

Lewis “Jupiter” Fry, Big Ugly Creek (Gill)

Peter Fry

Robert Fry

Russell Fry

Edward Garrett, 2nd Lieutenant

Isaac G. Gartin, 2nd Lieutenant, Little Harts Creek

George Godby

Tolbert S. Godby, 1st Sergeant

Isaac O. Jeffrey

Henderson Lambert, Bend of the River

William C. Lambert, Bend of the River area

Ira Lucas

Calahill McCloud, Harts Creek or Twelve Pole Creek

Charles McCloud

Jackson McCloud

John McCloud

B. McNeely

James Mullins

Martin Van Buren Mullins, Harts Creek

Robert “Bob” Mullins, Harts Creek

Spencer A. Mullins, Bridge Branch area (Atenville)

Weddington Mullins, Harts Creek

Daniel “Bill” Nester, Browns Branch

William Owens

Arnold Perry

D.H. Perry

Jeremiah Perry

Thompson Perry

Andrew Robinson, Harts Creek

John R. Robinson

Griffin Stollings

Jefferson Thompson, Thompson Branch of Harts Creek

Alford Tomblin, Sr., Harts Creek

Alford Tomblin, Jr., Harts Creek

James Tomblin

Moses Tomblin

Burbus C. Toney, Green Shoal area (Toney)

Squire Toney, Big Ugly Creek

Andrew Jackson Vance

Abner Vance, West Fork of Harts Creek

Addison Vance

Lewis Vance

James Wills

Abijah “Bige” Workman

David Workman

John W. Workman

Moses Workman

Obediah Workman

William Workman

(*) denotes my direct ancestors

Sims Index to Land Grants (1952)

20 Saturday Jun 2015

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Big Ugly Creek, Fourteen, Green Shoal, Harts, Little Harts Creek, Queens Ridge, Sand Creek

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A.F. McKendree, Abbotts Branch, Abijah Workman, Abner Vance, Admiral S. Fry, Albert Abbott, Alexander Tomblin, Allen Adkins, Allen Butcher, Anderson Barker, Andrew Dial, Andrew Elkins, Anthony Lawson, Archibald Elkins, Arnold Perry, Baptist Fry, Barnabus Carter, Big Ugly Creek, Burbus C. Toney, Cabell County, Charles Adkins, Charles F. Dingess, Charles J. Stone, Charles Lattin, Charles Spurlock, Charleston, Christian T. Fry, Crispin S. Stone, Cultural Center, Dicy Adams, Douglas Branch, Edmund Toney, Elias Adkins, Elijah A. Gartin, Evermont Ward, Fourteen Mile Creek, Francis Browning, Garland Conley, genealogy, George Hager, George Perry, Grandison B. Moore, Green Shoal, Hamilton Fry, Harts Creek, Harvey Elkins, Harvey S. Dingess, Harvey Smith, Henderson Dingess, Henry Adkins, Henry Conley, history, Ira Lucas, Isaac Adkins, Isaac Fry, Isaac Samuels, Isaiah Adkins, Jacob Stollings, Jake Adkins, James Browning, James Butcher, James Justice, James Smith, James Toney, James Wilson, Jeremiah Farmer, Joel Elkins, John Dalton, John Dempsey, John Fry, John Gore, John H. Brumfield, John Rowe, John W. Sartin, John Washington Adams, John Workman, Joseph Adams, Joseph Fry, Joseph Gore, Josephus Workman, Joshua Butcher, Kiahs Creek, Levi Collins, Lewis Adkins, Lilly's Branch, Limestone Creek, Little Harts Creek, Logan County, Lorenzo D. Hill, Low Gap Branch, Mathias Elkins, Meekin Vance, Melville Childers, Moses Brown, Moses Harrison, Moses Workman, Noah Hainer, Obediah Merritt, Obediah Workman, Paris Vance, Patton Thompson, Peter Dingess, Peter Mullins, Polly Vance, Price Lucas, Ralph Lucas, Reese W. Elkins, Richard Elkins, Richard Vance, Robert Elkins, Robert Hensley, Robert Lilly, Royal Childers, Sally McComas, Samuel Damron, Samuel Ferrell, Samuel Lambert, Samuel Parsons, Samuel Short, Samuel Vannatter, Sand Creek, Sims Index to Land Grants, Spencer A. Mullins, Squire Toney, Stephen Lambert, Thomas A. Childers, Thomas Dunn English, Thomas P. Spears, Wesley Vance, West Virginia, West Virginia State Archives, William Brown, William Buffington, William Dalton, William Hainer, William Johnson, William P. Blankenship, William Smith, William Straton, William T. Nichols, William Thompson, William Vance, William Wirt Brumfield

Persons receiving land grants between 1812 and 1860, including acreage totals, for the following streams located in Logan and Cabell counties, (West) Virginia: Big Harts Creek, Big Ugly Creek, Fourteen Mile Creek, Little Harts Creek, Sand Creek, Kiah’s Creek, Green Shoal, Brown’s (Abbott’s) Branch, Douglas Branch, Low Gap Branch, Lilly’s Branch, and Limestone (partial). This list does not necessarily reflect ALL of the person’s landholdings; only land in the Harts Creek community are noted. Also, some persons are duplicated due to receiving grants individually or jointly. Known nonresident landowners are denoted by a (*). My ancestors are placed in bold font. Note: This is a work in progress.

Anthony Lawson*, 6502 acres

Anthony Lawson et al*, 3400 acres

Charles Lattin et al, 2667 acres

John H. Brumfield et al, 2328 acres

Spencer A. Mullins, 2145 acres

John Dempsey et al*, 2090 acres

Isaiah Adkins, 2058 acres

Evermont Ward*, 1800 acres

William Johnson, 1794 acres

Elijah A. Garten, 1620 acres

Charles J. Stone, 1610 acres

Hamilton Fry, 1488 acres

William Johnson et al, 1435 acres

Burbus C. Toney, 1332 acres

William Straton et al*, 1319 acres

Thomas Dunn English*, 1085 acres

Thomas A. Childers et al*, 1050 acres

Samuel Damron et al, 1043 acres

Joshua Butcher, 808 acres

William Straton*, 791 acres

Elijah A. Garten et al, 770 acres

Isaac Adkins, 720 acres

Moses Harrison et al, 700 acres

Abner Vance, Jr., 642 acres

George Hager et al, 600 acres

Isaac Adkins, Jr., 595 acres

Samuel Short et al*, 561 acres

Elias Adkins, 560 acres

George Hager, 520 acres

Crispin S. Stone et al, 485 acres

John H. Brumfield, 480 acres

Moses Brown, 412 acres

Peter Mullins, 408 acres

Robert Lilly, 393 acres

Joseph and Dicy Adams, 384 acres

Charles Lattin, 378 acres

Albert Abbot, 370 acres

Christian T. Fry, 367 acres

Lorenzo D. Hill, 340 acres

Lewis Adkins et al, 325 acres

Enos “Jake” Adkins, 320 acres

Richard Elkins, 311 acres

Obadiah Merret*, 310 acres

Squire Toney, 307 acres

Isaac Samuels et al*, 300 acres

William T. Nicholls et al*, 296 acres

Samuel Lambert, 269 acres

Richard Elkin, Jr. et al, 260 acres

Anderson Barker, Jr. et al, 250 acres

Noah and William Haner et al, 250 acres

William Smith et al, 250 acres

Harvey S. Dingess, 242 acres

Abijah Workman, 239 acres

Samuel Ferrell, 238 acres

Noah Haner et al, 235 acres

Charles F. Dingess & Peter Dingess, Jr., 233 acres

Henderson Dingess, 233 acres

Richard Elkins et al, 230 acres

James Justice*, 220 acres

John Fry, 204 acres

Elias and Allen Adkins et al, 200 acres

James Smith and Harvey Smith, 200 acres

James Toney et al, 200 acres

James Browning, 190 acres

William Buffington et al*, 190 acres

Charles Lucas, 190 acres

James Wilson et al*, 190 acres

James Butcher, 185 acres

Jacob Stollings, 185 acres

A.F. McKendree et al*, 185 acres

Grandison B. Moore, 180 acres

Peter Dingess, 170 acres

Joseph Fry, 162 acres

Robert Elkin, 160 acres

Admiral S. Fry, 157 acres

Robert Hensley, 154 acres

Richard Vance, 153 acres

Levi Collins, 150 acres

Harvey Elkins, 148 acres

James Smith, 148 acres

Reese W. Elkins, 125 acres

John Fry, Jr., 125 acres

Price Lucas, 125 acres

Ralph Lucas, 125 acres

William Dalton, 123 acres

Andrew Dial, 120 acres

Lewis Adkins, 116 acres

Patton Thompson, Jr., 112 acres

John W. Adams, Jr., 110 acres

Charles Adkins, 110 acres

Obediah Workman, 106 acres

Stephen Lambert, 105 acres

John Goare, 104 acres

Moses Workman and John Workman, 100 acres

James Toney, 95 acres

Francis Browning, 94 acres

Alexander Tombolin, 94 acres

Allen Butcher, 93 acres

Ira Lucas, 93 acres

William P. Blankenship, 92 acres

David Robison, 92 acres

Joseph Gore, 90 acres

Archibald Elkins, 87 ½ acres

Anderson Barker et al, 85 acres

Isaac Fry et al, 85 acres

Paris Vance, 84 acres

William Brumfield, 75 acres

Henry Conley, 75 acres

Squire Toney et al, 75 acres

Andrew Dial et al, 73 acres

Burbus C. Toney et al, 73 acres

Henry Adkins, 70 acres

Isaiah and Charles Adkins, 70 acres

John W. Sartin, 70 acres

Barnabus Carter, 65 acres

Mathias Elkin, 63 acres

Patton Thompson, 62 acres

Samuel Parsons*, 60 acres

Harvey and Andrew Elkin, 55 acres

Meken Vance, 55 acres

Joel Elkins, 50 acres

Jeremiah Farmer, 50 acres

Baptist Fry, 50 acres

William Smith, 50 acres

Thomas P. Spears, 50 acres

Charles Spurlock, 50 acres

Samuel Vannatter et al, 50 acres

Edmund Toney, 46 acres

Sally McComas et al heirs, 45 acres

George Perry, 44 acres

Arnold Perry, Jr., 40 acres

William Thompson, 40 acres

John Workman, 40 acres

Josephus Workman, 40 acres

John Rowe, 38 acres

Melville Childers et al*, 37 acres

John Dalton, 34 acres

Polly Vance and William Vance (son), 33 acres

Garland Conley, Jr., 32 acres

Moses Workman, 26 acres

William Brown, 25 acres

Royal Childers*, 25 acres

Wesley Vance, 25 acres

Richard Vance, Jr., 13 acres

Source: Sims Index to Land Grants in West Virginia (Charleston, WV: State of West Virginia, 1952). Thanks to the West Virginia State Archives at the Cultural Center in Charleston, West Virginia, for use of the book.

Henderson Dingess as juror (1866)

26 Tuesday May 2015

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Lincoln County Feud

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Appalachia, Blood in West Virginia, circuit clerk, crime, genealogy, Henderson Dingess, history, Lincoln County Feud, Logan, Logan County, U.S. South, West Virginia

IMG_0763

Henderson Dingess and others serve as jurors (March Term of Court, 1866). Source: Law Orders Book A (1868-1875), p. 146, Logan County Circuit Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV.

Henderson Dingess

05 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Civil War, Lincoln County Feud, Shively, Warren

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Appalachia, genealogy, Harts Creek, Henderson Dingess, history, Lincoln County Feud, Logan County, photos, Smokehouse Fork, U.S. South, West Virginia

Henderson Dingess 1

Henderson Dingess, resident of Smokehouse Fork of Harts Creek, Logan County, WV. Photo courtesy of Lily Ray.

 

Interview with James Davis of Harts, WV (1997)

17 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Culture of Honor, Harts, Lincoln County Feud

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Ben Adams, Ben Walker, Bill Fowler, Billy Adkins, Brandon Kirk, Cat Fry, Chapmanville High School, Charley Davis, Ed Haley, French Bryant, Fry, Green McCoy, Harts Creek, Henderson Dingess, history, Iris Williams, James Davis, John Brumfield, John Hartford, John W Runyon, Kentucky, Lincoln County, miller, Milt Haley, Spring Branch, West Fork, West Virginia, writing

That evening, Brandon and I met up with Billy Adkins and went to see James Davis on West Fork. James lived on Spring Branch of West Fork, a little hollow just across the creek from Iris Williams. A few years back, his older brother Charlie had told Brandon about seeing Ed win a twenty dollar gold piece in a contest at the old Chapmanville High School.

We found the eighty-something-year-old James laying on the couch with a little fuzzy dog crawling all over him like a monkey. He said he didn’t remember Ed, so I mentioned how he was Milt Haley’s son, which got an immediate reaction. He had heard the story of Milt’s death from Cat Fry, although he didn’t immediately offer up any details. Actually, James was hesitant to talk about the 1889 murders — almost as if the participants were still around and living next door. His answers to our questions were very evasive.

We learned from James that it was Bill Fowler (not John Runyon or Ben Adams) who hired Milt and Green to ambush Al. It was all over competition between businesses. Fowler was a saloon operator and a gristmill operator, while Brumfield ran a log boom.

“They was all there making money,” he said. “You know how that stirs up trouble. Some a making a little more money than others. They was bucking one another, like money men does.”

Milt and Green ambushed Al and Hollena one Sunday as they rode down the creek on a single horse after a visit with Henderson Dingess. In the attack, Mr. Brumfield was shot through the arm, while his wife was shot in the face. Milt and Green were soon captured in Kentucky by the Adkinses and Brumfields, who held them them at Fry. Neither man would admit to anything so John Brumfield shot one of them in the head. He reputedly put his toe at the hole and said, “I put a bullet right there.”

Brumfield was himself shot in the head a few years later.

French Bryant, “who was pretty hard to handle,” was also involved in the killings.

Afterwards, people were afraid to touch Milt’s and Green’s bodies until Ben Walker allowed them to be buried on his property. The whole event “shook people up pretty bad.” Fowler sold out at the mouth of Harts and moved away.

Henderson Dingess residence

16 Saturday Aug 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Lincoln County Feud, Shively, Warren

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Appalachia, Blood in West Virginia, Harts Creek, Henderson Dingess, history, Lincoln County Feud, Logan County, photos, Smokehouse Fork, U.S. South, West Virginia

Henderson Dingess residence, Smokehouse Fork of Harts Creek, Logan County, WV

Henderson Dingess residence, Smokehouse Fork of Harts Creek, Logan County, WV

Hugh Dingess

14 Monday Jul 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Lincoln County Feud, Shively, Spottswood, Warren

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Blood in West Virginia, Harts Creek, Henderson Dingess, history, Hugh Dingess, Lincoln County Feud, Logan County, photos, Sallie Dingess, Smokehouse Fork, West Virginia

Hugh Dingess, son of Henderson and Sarah (Adams) Dingess, participant of the Lincoln County Feud

Hugh Dingess, son of Henderson and Sarah (Adams) Dingess, participant in the Lincoln County Feud

Interview with John Dingess 2 (1996)

11 Friday Jul 2014

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

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Al Brumfield, Albert Dingess, Anthony Adams, Ben Adams, Bill Brumfield, Bill's Branch, Billy Adkins, blind, Blood in West Virginia, Boardtree Bottom, Brandon Kirk, Buck Fork, Burl Farley, Carolyn Johnnie Farley, Cecil Brumfield, Charley Brumfield, Charlie Dingess, crime, Ed Haley, Fed Adkins, fiddling, French Bryant, George Fry, Green McCoy, Green Shoal, Hamlin, Harts Creek, Harve "Short Harve" Dingess, Hell Up Coal Hollow, Henderson Dingess, history, Hugh Dingess, John Brumfield, John Dingess, Kentucky, life, Lincoln County Feud, Low Gap, Milt Haley, murder, Paris Brumfield, Polly Bryant, Smokehouse Fork, Sycamore Bottom, Tom Maggard, Trace Fork, Vilas Adams, West Fork, West Virginia, Will Adkins, Williamson, writing

Al rounded up a gang of men to accompany him on his ride to fetch the prisoners in Williamson. Albert and Charlie Dingess were ringleaders of the posse, which included “Short Harve” Dingess, Hugh Dingess, John Dingess, Burl Farley, French Bryant, John Brumfield, and Charley Brumfield. Perhaps the most notorious member of the gang was French Bryant – “a bad man” who “did a lot of dirty work for the Dingesses.” On the way back from Kentucky, he tied Milt and Green by the arms and “drove them like a pair of mules on a plow line.”

“French Bryant run and drove them like a pair of horses ahead of these guys on the horses,” John said. “That’s quite a ways to let them walk. Old French, he married a Dingess. I knew old French Bryant. When he died, he was a long time dying and they said that he hollered for two or three days, ‘Get the ropes off me!’ I guess that come back to him.”

When the gang reached the headwaters of Trace Fork — what John called “Adams territory” — they sent a rider out ahead in the darkness to make sure it was safe to travel through that vicinity.

Waiting on the Brumfield posse was a mob of about 100 men hiding behind trees at Sycamore Bottom, just below the mouth of Trace Fork. This mob was led by Ben and Anthony Adams and was primarily made up of family members or people who worked timber for the Adamses, like Tom Maggard (“Ben’s right hand man”).

As the Brumfield rider approached their location, they began to click their Winchester rifles — making them “crack like firewood.” Hearing this, the rider turned back up Trace Fork, where he met the Brumfields and Dingesses at Boardtree Bottom and warned them about the danger at the mouth of Trace. They detoured safely up Buck Fork, then stopped at Hugh Dingess’ on Smokehouse where they remained for two or three days, not really sure of what to do with their prisoners. They made a “fortress” at Hugh’s by gathering about 100 men around them, fully aware that Ben Adams might make another effort to recapture Milt and Green.

While at Hugh’s, they got drunk on some of the red whiskey and apple brandy made at nearby Henderson’s. They also held a “trial” to see if Milt and Green would admit their guilt. They took one of the men outside and made him listen through the cracks between the logs of the house as his partner confessed on the inside. About then, the guy outside got loose and ran toward Bill’s Branch but was grabbed by “Short Harve” Dingess as he tried to scurry over a fence.

After this confession, the Brumfields and Dingesses considered killing Milt and Green on the spot but “got scared the Adamses was gonna take them” and headed towards Green Shoal.

John didn’t know why they chose George Fry’s home but figured Mr. Fry was a trusted acquaintance. He said they “punished” them “quite a bit there” but also got one to play a fiddle.

“These people that killed them, they made them play their last tune,” John said. “One of them would play and one guy, I think, he never would play for them.  I forgot which one, but they never could get one guy to do much. The other one’d do whatever they’d tell him to do. That’s just before they started shooting them. The tune that they played was ‘Hell Up Coal Hollow’. I don’t know what that tune is.”

After that, the mob “shot their brains out” and left them in the yard where the “chickens ate their brains.”

A neighbor took their bodies through Low Gap and buried them on West Fork.

John said there was a trial over Haley and McCoy’s murders, something we’d never heard before. Supposedly, about one hundred of the Brumfields and their friends rode horses to Hamlin and strutted into the courtroom where they sat down with guns on their laps. The judge threw the case out immediately because he knew they were fully prepared to “shoot up the place.”

This “quick trial,” of course, didn’t resolve the feud. Back on Harts Creek, Ben Adams often had to hide in the woods from the Dingesses. One time, Hugh and Charlie Dingess put kerosene-dowsed cornstalks on his porch and set them on fire, hoping to drive him out of his house where they could shoot him. When they realized he wasn’t home, they extinguished the fire because they didn’t want to harm his wife and children. Mrs. Adams didn’t live long after the feud. Ben eventually moved to Trace Fork where he lived the rest of his life. Charlie never spoke to him again.

John also said there seemed to have been a “curse” on the men who participated in the killing of Haley and McCoy. He said Albert Dingess’ “tongue dropped out,” Al Brumfield “was blind for years before he died,” and Charlie Dingess “died of lung cancer.” We had heard similar tales from Johnny Farley and Billy Adkins, who said mob members Burl Farley and Fed Adkins both had their faces eaten away by cancer. Vilas Adams told us about one of the vigilantes drowning (Will Adkins), while we also knew about the murders of Paris Brumfield, John Brumfield, Charley Brumfield, and Bill Brumfield.

Just before hanging up with John, Brandon asked if he remembered Ed Haley. John said he used to see him during his younger days on Harts Creek.

“When he was a baby, old Milt wanted to make him tough and he’d take him every morning to a cold spring and bath him,” he said. “I guess he got a cold and couldn’t open his eyes. Something grew over his eyes so Milt took a razor and cut it off. Milt said that he could take that off so he got to fooling with it with a razor and put him blind.”

John said Ed made peace with a lot of the men who’d participated in his father’s killing and was particularly good friends with Cecil Brumfield, a grandson of Paris.

Floyd Dingess

10 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Culture of Honor, Lincoln County Feud, Timber, Warren

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Appalachia, Blood in West Virginia, Floyd Dingess, genealogy, Harts Creek, Henderson Dingess, history, Lincoln County, Lincoln County Feud, Logan County, murder, photos, Sallie Dingess, U.S. South, West Virginia

Floyd Dingess, son of Henderson and Sarah (Adams) Dingess, murdered during the Lincoln County Feud

Floyd Dingess, son of Henderson and Sarah (Adams) Dingess, murdered during the Lincoln County Feud

Interview with John Dingess 1 (1996)

10 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Culture of Honor, Lincoln County Feud, Warren

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Al Brumfield, Ben Adams, Blood in West Virginia, Brandon Kirk, Chapman Dingess, Charlie Dingess, Cole Branch, Connecticut, crime, feud, Green McCoy, Harts Creek, Harvey "Long Harve" Dingess, Henderson Dingess, history, John Dingess, John Frock Adams, Joseph Adams, Kentucky, Lincoln County War, Milt Haley, Sallie Dingess, Smokehouse Fork, Thompson Branch, Tug River, Victoria Adams, West Virginia, World War II

That winter, Brandon made contact by telephone with John Dingess, a Connecticut resident who proved to be one of our best sources on the 1889 feud. John was born on the Smokehouse Fork of Harts Creek in 1918. A grandson to Henderson Dingess, he moved away from West Virginia after serving his country in World War II.

John said Henderson Dingess met his wife Sallie while boarding with her father Joseph Adams on Harts Creek. Henderson didn’t care much for his in-laws (he said they were “hoggish”), particularly his brother-in-law Ben Adams. Ben lived over the mountain from Henderson on main Harts Creek where he operated a small store. He and Henderson feuded “for years.” At some point, Henderson’s oldest son Charlie Dingess got into a racket with Ben over a yoke of cattle and “almost killed him in a fight” at Cole Branch.

The feud between Henderson’s family and Ben Adams reached a new level of tension when Ben refused to pay the sixteen-cents-per-log fee required by Al Brumfield to pass logs through his boom at the mouth of Harts Creek. Brumfield “was more of a businessman” than a feudist but “got into it” with Adams at his saloon near the boom. In the scrape, Ben pulled out his pistol and shot Al, who was spared from harm only because of a button on his clothes. Al subsequently fetched a gun and chased Ben up the creek — a very humiliating thing as there was probably a whole gang of people to witness his flight.

Ben soon gathered up a party of men with plans to force his timber out of Harts Creek under the cover of darkness. Before he could put his plan into action, though, the Dingesses caught wind of it and warned the Brumfields who promptly armed themselves with .38 Winchesters and .44 Winchesters and gathered in ambush on the hill at Panther Branch near the mouth of Harts.

Ben, anticipating trouble, put his wife, the former Victoria Dingess, at the front of his gang in the hopes that it might discourage her cousins from shooting at him as they came down the creek. It was a bad idea: the Brumfields and Dingesses shot “her dress full of holes.”

This was particularly horrible since she was probably pregnant at the time.

The next day, she came to her uncle Henderson’s to show him what his boys had done to her dress but he never punished them.

At that point, Ben was probably hell-bent on revenge and arranged for Milt Haley and Green McCoy, who John called two “professional gunmen,” to “bump Al off.”

John was sure of Ben’s role in the events of 1889.

“Ben Adams, my father’s uncle, he gave them a .38 Winchester apiece and a side of bacon to kill Al Brumfield,” he said.

Milt and Green caught Al one Sunday as he made his way back down Harts Creek after visiting with Henderson Dingess. He rode alone, while Hollena rode with her younger brother, Dave Dingess. As they neared Thompson Branch, Milt and Green fired down the hill at them from their position at the “Hot Rock.” Al was shot in the elbow, which knocked him from his horse and broke his arm, while Hollena was shot in the face. Al somehow managed to make it over a mountain back to Henderson Dingess’, while Hollena was left to crawl half a mile down to Chapman Dingess’ at Thompson Branch for help.

Upon learning of the ambush, Harvey Dingess (John’s father) hitched up a sled to one of his father’s yokes of cattle and fetched Hollena, who remained at Henderson’s until she recovered.

Immediately after the shootings, there was a lot of gossip about who’d been behind the whole affair. John said there was some talk that Long John Adams had been involved “but the Dingess and Brumfield people never believed it.” Everyone seemed to focus in on Milt and Green, who’d recently disappeared into Kentucky (where McCoy was from).

“They used to, if you committed a crime in West Virginia, would run away to Kentucky,” John said. “In the hill part of Kentucky there on the Tug River.”

Brumfield put up a $500 reward and it wasn’t long until a man rode up to Henderson Dingess’ claiming to have caught Milt and Green in Kentucky. He was sent to Brumfield’s home near the mouth of Harts where he found Al out back shoeing an ox steed. They talked for a while, then Brumfield told him, “You put them across the Tug River and when I identify them you’ll get your money.”

John W. Runyon 1

30 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Big Sandy Valley, Harts, Inez, Timber, Wyoming County

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Adam Runyon, Adam Runyon Sr., Alden Williamson Genealogy, Aquillia Runyon, Aubrey Lee Porter, Billy Adkins, Bob Spence, Brandon Kirk, Charleston, civil war, Clarence Hinkle, Crawley Creek, Cultural Center, Ellender Williamson, Enoch Baker, Garrett and Runyon, genealogy, Harts, Hattie Hinkle, Henderson Dingess, history, Inez, Izella Porter, James Bertrand Runyon, James Muncy, John W Runyon, John W. Porter, Kentucky, Land of the Guyandot, Lawrence County, Logan County, Logan County Banner, logging, Martin County, Mary Runyon, Milt Haley, Moses Parsley, Nat's Creek, Nellie Muncy, Nova Scotia, Peach Orchard, Pigeon Creek, Pike County, Pineville, Rockcastle Creek, Runyon Genealogy, Samuel W. Porter, Stephen Williamson, timbering, Wayne, Wayne County, Wealthy Runyon, West Virginia, Wolf Creek, writing, Wyoming County

In the late summer of 1996, Brandon and Billy turned their genealogical sights on John W. Runyon, that elusive character in the 1889 story who seemed to have stirred up a lot of trouble and then escaped unharmed into Kentucky. They arranged a biographical outline after locating two family history books titled Runyon Genealogy (1955) and Alden Williamson Genealogy (1962). Then, they chased down leads at the Cultural Center in Charleston, West Virginia; the Wyoming County Courthouse at Pineville, West Virginia; the Wayne County Courthouse in Wayne, West Virginia; the Martin County Courthouse at Inez, Kentucky; and at various small public libraries in eastern Kentucky. Runyon had left quite a trail.

John W. Runyon was born in February of 1856 to Adam and Wealthy (Muncy) Runyon, Jr. in Pike County, Kentucky. He was a twin to James Bertrand Runyon and the ninth child in his family. His mother was a daughter of James Muncy — making her a sister to Nellie Muncy and an aunt to Milt Haley. In other words, John Runyon and Milt Haley were first cousins.

According to Runyon Genealogy (1955), Adam and Wealthy Runyon left Pike County around 1858 and settled on the Emily Fork of Wolf Creek in present-day Martin County. In 1860, they sold out to, of all people, Milt Haley’s older half-brother, Moses Parsley, and moved to Pigeon Creek in Logan County. John’s grandfather, Adam Runyon, Sr., had first settled on Pigeon Creek around 1811. The family was primarily pro-Union during the Civil War.

At a young age, Runyon showed promise as a timber baron.

“The first lumber industry in Logan County of any importance was started on Crawley Creek by Garrett and Runyon during the year 1876,” Bob Spence wrote in Land of the Guyandot (1978). “Garrett and Runyon deserve credit for their efforts in opening the lumber business in Logan County. They were the first to hire labor in this field. It might be of interest to note here that they originally brought trained men from Catlettsburg… In a few years, Garrett and Runyon left Logan [County], and soon Enoch Baker from Nova Scotia came to Crawley Creek to take their place.”

John may have put his timber interests on hold due to new developments within his family. According to Runyon Genealogy, his mother died around 1878 and was buried at Peach Orchard on Nat’s Creek in Lawrence County, Kentucky. His father, meanwhile, went to live with a son in Minnesota. In that same time frame, on Christmas Day, 1878, Runyon married Mary M. Williamson, daughter of Stephen and Ellender (Blevins) Williamson, in Martin County, Kentucky. He and Mary were the parents of two children: Aquillia Runyon, born 1879; and Wealthy Runyon, born 1881. John settled on or near Nat’s Creek, where his father eventually returned to live with him and was later buried at his death around 1895.

During the late 1880s, of course, Runyon moved to Harts where he surely made the acquaintance of Enoch Baker, the timber baron from Nova Scotia. An 1883 deed for Henderson Dingess referenced “Baker’s lower dam,” while Baker was mentioned in the local newspaper in 1889. “Enoch Baker, who has been at work in the County Clerk’s office and post office for several weeks, is now on Hart’s creek,”  the Logan County Banner reported on September 12. Baker was still there in December, perhaps headquartered at a deluxe logging camp throughout the fall of 1889.

After the tragic events of ’89, Runyon made his way to Wayne County where he and his wife “Mary M. Runyons” were referenced in an 1892 deed. Wayne County, of course, was a border county between Lincoln County and the Tug Fork where Cain Adkins and others made their home. He was apparently trying to re-establish himself in Martin County, where his wife bought out three heirs to her late father’s farm on the Rockhouse Fork of Rockcastle Creek between 1892-1895.

In the late 1890s, John’s two daughters found husbands and began their families. On January 3, 1896, Wealthy Runyon married Clarence Hinkle at “John Runyonses” house in Martin County. She had one child named Hattie, born in 1899 in West Virginia. On March 29, 1896, Aquillia Runyon married Samuel W. Porter at Mary Runyon’s house in Martin County. They had three children: John W. Porter, born in 1897 in West Virginia; Aubrey Lee Porter, born in 1899 in Kentucky; and Izella Porter, who died young.

In Search of Ed Haley 323

19 Thursday Jun 2014

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

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Albert Dingess, Alice Dingess, Birdie, blind, Brandon Kirk, Cecil Brumfield, Cripple Creek, Dorothy Brumfield, Ed Haley, fiddler, fiddling, Harts Creek, Henderson Dingess, history, Holden, Hugh Dingess Elementary School, John Brumfield Jr., John Hartford, Kentucky, Logan County, Louisa, Milt Haley, music, Smokehouse Fork, West Virginia, Wildwood Flower, writing

About a half hour later, we drove up the Smoke House Fork of Harts Creek to see Dorothy Brumfield. Dorothy lived in a white one-story home situated on a hillside overlooking the Hugh Dingess Elementary School, just down the stream from the old Henderson Dingess homeplace. Dorothy had been born in 1929 at Louisa, Kentucky, but came to Harts when she was seventeen and soon married John Brumfield, a son of Ed’s friend, Cecil. Her father was a descendant of Albert Dingess, a member of the 1889 mob.

I started the conversation by asking Dorothy about Ed. She said she never knew him personally but heard that he lost his eyesight after his father dipped him in water. She also heard that he was a great fiddler when he got “pretty high” but was mean and eager to fight if he drank too much.

Dorothy knew the story about Ed borrowing a fiddle from her father-in-law Cecil Brumfield; her husband later acquired it. “He had come through here and borrowed a fiddle off of Paw Brumfield, him and Bernie Adams, and went up yonder to Logan and pawned it,” she said. “Paw Brumfield liked to never found it.”

Dorothy said the only time she actually saw Ed was when her husband brought him home early one Sunday morning around 1949-50.

“My husband worked at Holden, and I’d heard tell of Ed Haley but I hadn’t met him,” she said. “So John stopped at the top of Trace Mountain at this place. Back then, they called them saloons. And he was supposed to been in at one o’clock in the morning. He didn’t make it. Oh, did I get mad when four o’clock come in the morning. Here he knocked on the door and I could tell someone was with him, but I couldn’t make out that it was a blind person with him. I thought it was just somebody real drunk that had passed out. He got here in the house with him and I fixed them something to eat.”

“Why didn’t I know you all was over there and got me a babysitter and caught me a ride over there and had me a time?” Dorothy said to her husband. “What would you done if I’d walked in?”

“What, mam?” Ed said.

“All them women John had over there tonight,” she said to Ed.

“Mam, he didn’t have no women,” Ed said.

“Now sir, you told me you couldn’t see,” she said. “How do you know?”

“Well, John sit beside of me,” Ed said.

A little later, Dorothy fixed Ed a bed and she went and asked her husband, “Would you tell me who in the world you’ve brought home with you again?”

John said he’d stopped in at that saloon and found Ed playing music “and a bunch of them women dancing” and he “wouldn’t leave Ed there. When they closed, he brought him here.”

“Well, then they got up the next morning and I said, ‘Now John you help him around and show him around.’ I was already mad at John for laying out. Little bit jealous, too. We hadn’t been married long.”

Dorothy said she cooked a big breakfast for everyone.

“Mam, have you got any onions?” Ed asked her at the table.

“Yes I have but why would you want an onion for breakfast?” she said.

“Don’t you know what onions are good for?” Ed said. “Many a things.”

Dorothy said Ed seemed intelligent by the morning conversation.

After breakfast, Ed went back into the front room and played the fiddle for Dorothy’s kids in front of the fireplace. She said he held his fiddle under his chin and played “Wildwood Flower” and an extremely fast version of “Cripple Creek”.

John said, “Ed, play that there ‘Birdie’ for these children.”

“Well, he stayed around and I think they drunk all the booze up,” Dorothy said. “John, he was wanting more booze, too, so he went off with Ed to Aunt Alice’s or somewhere and got some liquor and he didn’t come back till about dark. I don’t know where all he took Ed. When he come back, he kept telling me why he brought him here. He said that he didn’t want to leave him. If something happened, he wouldn’t forgive hisself. Nobody else wouldn’t take him after all the big time was over with.”

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Feud Poll 1

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

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

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Appalachia Ashland Big Creek Big Ugly Creek Blood in West Virginia Brandon Kirk Cabell County cemeteries Chapmanville Charleston civil war coal Confederate Army crime culture Ed Haley Ella Haley Ferrellsburg feud fiddler fiddling genealogy Green McCoy Guyandotte River Harts Harts Creek Hatfield-McCoy Feud history Huntington John Hartford Kentucky Lawrence Haley life Lincoln County Lincoln County Feud Logan Logan Banner Logan County Milt Haley Mingo County music Ohio photos timbering U.S. South Virginia Wayne County West Virginia Whirlwind writing

Blogs I Follow

  • OtterTales
  • Our Appalachia: A Blog Created by Students of Southern West Virginia CTC
  • Piedmont Trails
  • Truman Capote
  • Appalachian Diaspora

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

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OtterTales

Writings from my travels and experiences. High and fine literature is wine, and mine is only water; but everybody likes water. Mark Twain

Our Appalachia: A Blog Created by Students of Southern West Virginia CTC

This site is dedicated to the collection, preservation, and promotion of history and culture in Appalachia.

Piedmont Trails

Genealogy and History in North Carolina and Beyond

Truman Capote

A site about one of the most beautiful, interesting, tallented, outrageous and colorful personalities of the 20th Century

Appalachian Diaspora

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