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Brandon Ray Kirk

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Brandon Ray Kirk

Tag Archives: North Carolina

Tom Dula: Ann Melton Grave (2020)

08 Sunday Mar 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Cemeteries, Tom Dula, Women's History

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Ann Melton, Appalachia, cemeteries, crime, Elkville, genealogy, history, James Melton, Laura Foster, Melton Cemetery, North Carolina, photos, Tom Dula, true crime, Wilkes County

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Ann Melton, a married woman, was involved in a love triangle with Tom Dula and her cousin, Laura Foster. Up this way to Melton Cemetery, Elkville, Wilkes County, NC. 7 January 2020

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Anne Melton was charged with the Laura Foster murder, but was cleared by Tom Dula’s note shortly before his execution. Melton Cemetery, Elkville, Wilkes County, NC. 7 January 2020

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Ann Melton died a few years after Tom Dula. A Foster descendant suggested that I not put flowers at Ann Melton’s grave, but I did anyway. 7 January 2020

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Sources disagree as to Ann Melton’s cause of death. Family members recently placed this headstone. 7 January 2020

Tom Dula: Dula Cemetery (2020)

03 Tuesday Mar 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Cemeteries, Civil War, Tom Dula

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42nd North Carolina Regiment, Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, cemeteries, civil war, Confederate Army, Dula Cemetery, Elkville, history, Iredell County, Laura Foster, North Carolina, photos, Tom Dooley, Tom Dula, Whippoorwill Academy and Village, Wilkes County

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Looking for Tom Dula’s grave in Elkville, Wilkes County, NC. 7 January 2020

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Up this way to the Tom Dula grave! 7 January 2020

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The Dula family cemetery is located here, but only Tom Dula’s grave is marked by a headstone. 7 January 2020

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Tom Dula was a Confederate veteran. 7 January 2020

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Sadly, visitors have chipped away part of Tom Dula’s headstone. Note: His death date is erroneously recorded as 1866. 7 January 2020

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This was the highlight of my trip. Tom Dula’s original headstone is housed at nearby Whippoorwill Academy and Village. 7 January 2020

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Tom Dula’s correct year of death is noted on his footstone. 7 January 2020

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Here is a glimpse of the landscape near Tom Dula’s grave. 7 January 2020

Tom Dula: Trial and Hanging in Statesville, NC (2020)

29 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Tom Dula

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Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, Depot Hill, fiddle, fiddler, fiddling, history, Iredell County, North Carolina, photos, Phyllis Kirk, sheriff, Silas Alexander Sharpe, Southern Railway Depot, Statesville, Tom Dooley, Tom Dula, William Wasson

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Iredell County Courthouse, Statesville, NC. The courthouse that hosted Tom Dula’s trial between 1866 and 1868 is gone; this courthouse was built in 1899. 7 January 2020

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Col. Silas Alexander Sharpe House. Spectators here saw Tom Dula ride by from the courthouse to the gallows…supposedly playing a fiddle. 7 January 2020

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Col. Sharpe House. 7 January 2020

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Southern Railway Depot, built c.1911. Tom Dula was taken to a gallows near the original depot at what is called Depot Hill and hanged in 1868. The original depot stood 300 yards to the northeast. 7 January 2020

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Tom Dula was hanged somewhere in this vicinity. Perhaps as many as 3000 spectators attended the hanging. 7 January 2020

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Tom Dula was hanged somewhere in this vicinity. Sheriff William Wasson had never executed anyone prior to Dula. Photo by Mom. 7 January 2020

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Tom Dula was hanged somewhere in this vicinity. For some reason, no historical markers are here to help tourists find the spot. Photo by Mom. 7 January 2020

Tom Dula: Zebulon Vance Home (2020)

26 Wednesday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Civil War, Tom Dula

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Ann Melton, Appalachia, civil war, Confederate Army, history, Iredell County, lawyer, North Carolina, photos, Statesville, Thomas Dooley, Tom Dula, Wilkes County, Zebulon Vance

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Zebulon Vance (1830-1894), Confederate officer and wartime governor of North Carolina, briefly occupied this home in 1865. Federal troops arrested him here at the end of the Civil War.

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The Vance house is currently located at 501 W Sharpe Street in Statesville, NC. It does not stand in its original location.

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Gov. Vance was Tom Dula’s attorney between 1866-1868.

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Because Dula and Ann Melton did not believe they would receive a fair trial in Wilkes County, Vance had their trials relocated to Iredell County.

Tom Dula: Wilkes County Jail, Part 2 (2020)

16 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Tom Dula

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Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, crime, Elkville, history, justice of the peace, Laura Foster, North Carolina, photos, Phyllis Kirk, Pickins Carter, Tom Dula, true crime, Wilkes County, Wilkes County Jail, Wilkesboro

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The Wilkes County Jail was built in 1859. Here’s our guide showing us the jail cell on the lower floor. 8 January 2020

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All three cells have the original doors, wood, and iron bars. The keys still operate the door! 8 January 2020

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The jail was used until 1915, when it was converted into apartments. It was scheduled for demolition in 1968 but a local group saved it. It began operation as a museum in the 1970s. Here’s the lower floor cell before restoration… 8 January 2020

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This way to the two cells upstairs… 8 January 2020

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Was a knife like this one used to kill Laura Foster? 8 January 2020

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In June of 1866, Justice of the Peace Pickins Carter wrote the warrant for Tom Dula’s arrest from this desk in Elkville, NC. 8 January 2020 For more info, go here: http://www.kronsell.net/the_story_3.htm

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No known photographs of Tom Dula exist, but here is one local artist’s rendition of him. Photo by Mom. 8 January 2020 For information about the fake Tom Dula picture, read this article: https://www.statesville.com/news/local/joel-reese-column-who-s-the-soldier-in-the-photo/article_48eb0f0c-4c93-11e8-8455-abac2bbbaf82.html

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Through these bars is Tom Dula’s jail cell. 8 January 2020

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Looking inside of Tom Dula’s cell… 8 January 2020

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Tom Dula’s jail cell… 8 January 2020

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Inside of Tom Dula’s jail cell with the guide. Photo by Mom. 8 January 2020

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Inside of Tom Dula’s jail cell… 8 January 2020

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Tour happening! Photo by Mom. 8 January 2020

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Side window inside of Tom Dula’s jail cell… 8 January 2020

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Looking out of the front window inside of Tom Dula’s jail cell… 8 January 2020

Tom Dula: Wilkes County Jail, Part 1 (2020)

11 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Tom Dula

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Appalachia, crime, history, jailer, North Carolina, Old Wilkes Jail Museum, photos, Tom Dula, Wilkes County, Wilkesboro

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Wilkes County Jail (built 1860) in Wilkesboro, NC. The jailer residential space was to the left. Tom Dula was kept in the top right corner cell. Dula was kept here from July to October 1866. 7 January 2020

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The Wilkes County Jail before renovation… The entrance door to the jailer residential quarters is shown at right.

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Here’s the entrance door to the jail. Just inside, at left, is the jailer’s living quarters. At right and upstairs are three cells. 7 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (downstairs, front room). 7 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (downstairs, front room). 8 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (downstairs, front room). 8 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (downstairs, dining room). 8 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (downstairs, dining room). 8 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (downstairs, dining room). 8 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (downstairs, dining room). 8 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (stairs). 8 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (stairs). 8 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (upstairs, front bedroom). 8 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (upstairs, front bedroom). 8 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (upstairs, front bedroom). 8 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (upstairs, front bedroom). 8 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (upstairs, front bedroom). 8 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (upstairs, back bedroom). 8 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (upstairs, back bedroom). 8 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (upstairs, back bedroom). 8 January 2020

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Jailer’s quarters (upstairs, back bedroom). 8 January 2020

Tom Dula: Caldwell County, NC (2020)

09 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Tom Dula

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Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, Caldwell County, crime, Elkville, history, Laura Foster, North Carolina, photos, Tom Dula, Wilkes County, Yadkin Valley

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Laura Foster’s murder in the vicinity of Reedy Branch at Elkville, NC, resulted in Tom Dula’s hanging. Driving from Elkville (Wilkes County) toward Yadkin Valley (Caldwell County) on Highway 268, the Laura Foster grave is located at left; the Laura Foster memorial is located up ahead at right. You park at the memorial. 8 January 2020

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Laura Foster Memorial near Yadkin Valley in Caldwell County, NC. 8 January 2020. The marker is located across Highway 268 from the Foster grave.

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Laura Foster’s grave is located at the edge of a field. The pasture is surrounded by an electric fence. 8 January 2020

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Laura Foster’s grave. A white fence encloses the grave so as to protect it from cattle. 8 January 2020

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When Laura Foster was buried here, locals marked her grave with white stones from the creek. Today, white gravel still marks her grave. 8 January 2020

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Laura Foster’s headstone shows an incorrect death date and includes the name of her killer, Tom Dula. Since her burial, the grave site has been nearly lost and her marker disappeared for a time. Thankfully, the grave site is well-preserved today. 8 January 2020

Tom Dula: Ferguson, NC (2020)

08 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Civil War, Music, Tom Dula

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Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, civil war, Confederate Army, Elkville, Ferguson, fiddler, Frank Proffitt, Grayson and Whittier, history, Kingston Trio, music, North Carolina, photos, Phyllis Kirk, Sharyn McCrumb, The Ballad of Tom Dooley, Tom Dooley, Tom Dula, Wilkes County

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Reading Sharyn McCrumb’s masterpiece “The Ballad of Tom Dooley” sent us down to find historical sites in the vicinity of Ferguson in Wilkes County, NC. 7 January 2020. Most anyone will remember this 1958 mega-hit by the Kingston Trio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhXuO4Gz3Wo

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Tom Dula (1845-1868), a Confederate veteran and fiddler, lived in Elkville, just above Ferguson, NC. Few sites remain from his time; most of the old buildings are gone. 7 January 2020. Here’s the first recording of “Tom Dooley” by Grayson and Whittier (1929): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWd1rNmDAgg

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Finding this sign in Ferguson meant that we were basically at Ground Zero. More discoveries to come! Photo by Mom. 7 January 2020. Here’s a personal favorite version of “Tom Dooley” by Frank Proffitt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfPdCveqQRw

Loganite Author Returns to Laud Jail Conditions (1926)

06 Wednesday Feb 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan

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Appalachia, author, authors, Footprints from City to Farm, From the Rio Grande to the Rhine, genealogy, George Martin Nathaniel Parker, history, jails, John B. Wilkinson, Kentucky, Kingsport, Lights in the Old Home Window, Logan, Logan County, Mt. Nebo, North Carolina, Princeton, prison reform, Reservoir Hill, teacher, Tennessee, Tennis Hatfield, West Virginia, writers

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history about author George Martin Nathaniel Parker, dated 1926:

WELL KNOWN AUTHOR FINDS LOGAN JAIL BEST MANAGED IN WEST VA.
EATS UNUSUAL DINNER OF PRISONERS

Having inspected more than 100 jails in West Virginia as a humanitarian effort to better conditions for his fellow man, G.M.N. Parker, author, editor, and former Logan school teacher, this week visited the Logan county jail and highly commended the administration of the institution under the jurisdiction of Sheriff Hatfield and the management of Jailer Kummler.

He wrote a description for The Banner giving his impressions of the Logan county institution. The writer was born in Mt. Nebo, N.C., and became a school teacher in his youth. Forty years ago he was persuaded by Judge John B. Wilkinson to come to Logan from Kentucky, where he then was teaching, to take charge of the school here in the old wooden building on Reservoir Hill. He taught here a year.

From the school work, Parker devoted himself to writing books in connection with editorial newspaper work. Of late years, he has made his home at Princeton, W.Va.

Published books of this writer include “From the Rio Grande to The Rhine,” “Lights In The Old Home Window,” and “Footprints From City to Farm.” His latest volume is “The Key to Continent,” now on the press.

“In this connection,” said Parker, “at Kingsport, Tenn., in the back woods one of the largest book publishing plants in the United States. Here my books are published. The plant turns out one and one-half million volumes monthly. The paper, cloth, and other materials used in the books are manufactured in one big plant. It ought to be a matter of pride to the South to realize that the biggest bookmaking plant in the nation is in Tennessee.

“I came back to Logan for a brief visit with old friends being hungry for the hills. I was born in the hills and like to come back to them from time to time.

“In addition to noting the remarkable change in the Logan county jail, I note other remarkable progressive changes in Logan.

“Of the 100 or more jails in West Virginia I have inspected, I find that the Logan county institution is the most progressive and best type and best operated institution of its kind.”

The article dealing with his visit at the Logan county jail follows:

Even at its best, human life ever has been and ever will be a continual battle; education battling against ignorance, society against selfishness, democracy against aristocracy, right against wrong.

Right is synonymous with law, and law is synonymous with legal master. As the rod is to the parent in the home, so is the prison to the legal master in the country. As the rod is to the home, so the prison is to correct disobedient men and women in the county.

Some prisons correct them only with punishment. These are usually political plums passed out as rewards for campaign activities, and those to whom they are passed go on the philosophy that the more the punishment, the more successful in the correction.

Under this philosophy, prison keepers swell their bank deposits by shrinking the prisoners’ food and by furnishing an inferior quality; a quality so poorly prepared that only the half-starved can eat it; so poorly prepared that the most consecrated Christian could not consistently say grace over it.

The prisons are no better. I have visited some whose floors were common cuspidors so thickly covered with tobacco quids that their sickening fumes almost knocked me back as I entered the door. On my way along the corridors, I have heard prisoners beg for bunks that were free from lice, and have seen green flies swarming in the cells.

We measure the strength of the chain by its weakest link. We measure the morale of the county by its prison. This measurement is an enviable tribute to Logan. In the management of the prison the county sees more than money; sees men. Sees more than punishment; sees purity. Seeing we are all human chameleons in that we absorb our surroundings; that suggestions are the steps in the mental and moral stairs; that cleanliness is the rising road. Logan county has adopted cleanliness as a creed and requires all prisoners to live up to it so that the air circulating through the cells is as free from offensive odors as the breezes that fit the leaves on the surrounding forest peaks.

A word about the way the jail food is prepared. Though a stranger and visitor, an unexpected one at that, I went to the prison when the court house clock was striking 12, and asked the keeper to let me eat dinner with the prisoners. He unlocked the iron door and passed me in—at the same time saying that dinner would be sent in directly.

I was not expecting roast lamb, quail on toast, an English pudding—neither did I get them. All I got were the old familiar Bs: bread, bacon, and beans. But they were good, as good as my mother prepared, way back when I plowed corn in Logan’s hills. In fact, while chasing a chunk of bacon around through my pan of beans—trying to make it stop long enough to cut off a mouthful with my spoon—I seemed again to be a plowboy—happy because I had more than I had when plowing barefooted on the backwoods farm.

Amid the rattling of spoons on the tin pans I watched the prisoners, most of them young, some good and some bad—some are good or better than you or I. All qualified and encouraged to go forth like the graduates from a school and bless the country with ideal citizenship.

I said then that Logan’s prison ought to become as famous as Denver’s juvenile court; that what Denver’s juvenile court was doing for boys and girls, Logan’s prison was doing for young men and young women.

Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 24 August 1926

History of the West Virginia Penitentiary (1901), Part 1

31 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in African American History, Civil War, Culture of Honor, Timber

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African-Americans, Alabama, Appalachia, Arthur I. Boreman, civil war, history, J.W. McWhorter, Moundsville, North Carolina, Ohio River, Potomac River, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, West Virginia State Penitentiary

HISTORY OF THE WEST VIRGINIA PENITENTIARY.

WRITTEN BY A PRISONER.

In 1863 the state was admitted as one of the constellation of states of the union. Virginia had seceded from the union by a majority vote. The strong and indomitable minority citizens of the Old Dominion residing in the western part of it, many of whom were Scotch and Irish descendants and natives of the adjoining states, who had taken up their homes in the valleys and on the hillsides, were loyal to the Union, loved well the flag, and reverenced with an undying affection the builders of the union of states for the greater blessing of the people, and stood firm and unyielding for an indivisible united country. By their hands and brave hearts they built a state stretching from the Potomac to the Ohio river, carved out of the Old Dominion. The war-born daughter of the historical commonwealth proved, in subsequent years, to be rich in the production of materials in active demand in the marts of commerce, and she now outstrips her mother state in the race for greatness, prosperity, and happiness.

Many regions of the state are mountainous, and the principal industries are lumbering, mining, and oil production. Many of the white people are typical mountaineers and somewhat rough and uncouth in manner, while the negroes, many of them, have drifted from North and South Carolina, Alabama, and other southern states to be employed in the development of these industries.

There are very many respectable farmers, professional and business men, and cultured ladies residing in these almost inaccessible parts; but the rough element in many places predominates, and the order of the day and night is drinking and brawling, ending as a rule in desperate encounters and murder. Most of the white and black inmates of the penitentiary have been and are now composed of the lawless men from these regions, from the time it was only a stockade of ten acres in 1866, when Hon. J.W. McWhorter of the Tenth Judicial District was appointed warden by Governor Boreman. He resigned this position after viewing it. In a letter to Warden Hawk he states it was for the reason that there was not so much as a building erected for the shelter of the inmates, and he thought he could not work the convicts to advantage under the circumstances. The penitentiary has been improved from time to time to the present, by additions, until it is a massive structure of stone and iron, with a high stone surrounding wall. It has 695 inmates at the present writing.

The center, or main building, is built after the old baronial castellated style of architecture, and with its several stories height, it makes an imposing appearance. It is flanked on the north and south by the stone and strongly-barred buildings, wherein the old and first built stone cells and the modern steel ones–900 in all–are placed. Entrance is to be had into the prison proper by means of a round turning iron-barred cage in the main hallway of the central building.

Source: E.E. Byrum, Behind the Prison Bars: A Reminder of Our Duties Toward Those Who Have Been So Unfortunate as to Be Cast Into Prison (Moundsville, WV: Gospel Trumpet Publishing Co., 1901), pp. 73-75.

History for Boone County, WV (1927)

28 Saturday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Boone County, Civil War, Native American History

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Albert Allen, Appalachia, Ballardsville Methodist Church, Boone County, Cabell County, Charleston, civil war, Coal River, crime, Crook District, Daniel Boone, Danville, Edgar Mitchell, Frankfort, French and Indian War, genealogy, history, Jack Dotson, Johnson Copley, Kanawha County, Kanawha River, Kanawha Valley, Kentucky, Lee Sowards, Lewisburg, Logan Banner, Logan County, Madison, Missouri, Nathan Boone, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Peytona District, Point Pleasant, Pond Fork, Ruckers Branch, Scott District, Sherman District, Spruce Fork, St. Albans, Virginia Assembly, Washington District, West Virginia, West Virginia Synodical School, Yadkin Valley

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history about Boone County in a story dated December 9, 1927:

BOONE COUNTY

Boone county was created in 1847 of parts of Kanawha, Cabell and Logan counties. Its area is 06 miles, 65 miles larger than Logan, and in 1920 its population was 18,145. It is divided into five magisterial districts, as follows: Crook, Peytona, Scott, Sherman and Washington.

Boone county commemorates in West Virginia the name of Daniel Boone, the pathfinder to the west. It is an honor worthily bestowed, for who has not heard of Daniel Boone and the story of his efforts as an explorer, hunter, land-pilot and surveyor. His was a romantic life, picturesque and even pathetic. For more than a century he has he has been held as the ideal of the frontiersman, perhaps for the reason that his course in life was not marked by selfishness and self-seeking. He fought with the Indians, but was not tainted with the blood-lust that so often marred the border warrior and made him even more savage than the red man whom he sought to expel; he built and passed on to newer fields, leaving to others the fruits of his industry and his suffering. As a man needing plenty of “elbow room,” his places of residence mark the border between civilization and savagery for a period of fifty years. And there was a time, a period of nearly ten years, when his cabin home was on the banks of the Kanawha, a short distance above the present City of Charleston.

Daniel Boone was born in the Schulykill Valley, Pennsylvania, on November 2, 1734, but in 1750 removed with his parents to the Yadkin Valley, in North Carolina. Here he grew to manhood, married and reared a family, but was active as an Indian trader, frontiersman and defender of the feeble settlement. He was with Braddock’s army at its defeat on the Monongahela in 1755, and a few years later became the founder and defender of Kentucky. He strove with the red man with force and stratagem, and many are the fire-side tales recounted and retold in West Virginia homes of his prowess with the rifle; his ready plans and nimble wit that helped him out of situations that seemed almost impossible. Many, perhaps, are without foundation of fact; others contain enough of truth to leaven the story. Of his service to the western settlers, records preserved in the archives of state and nation show that he was indefatigable. At the Indian uprising in 1774, Boone was sent out to warn the settlers and surveyors, ranging from the settlement on the Holston river throughout all of what is now southern West Virginia to Lewisburg. In 1788, after he had lost his property in Kentucky through defective titles and failure to properly enter land grants, Boone and his family removed to Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the Great Kanawha, where they remained about one year. Contrary to his habit, his next move was toward the east to a site near the City of Charleston. When Kanawha county was formed in 1789 Boone was a resident and was named the first Lieutenant Colonel of the militia, and the following year, 1790, was elected a member of the lower house of the Virginia assembly. Colonel Boone left the Kanawha valley in 1799, removing to Missouri where he had been granted a thousand arpents of land by the Spanish government and had been appointed a Syndic for the Femme-Osage district–a local office combining the duties of sheriff, jury and military commandant. Colonel Boone died at the home of his youngest son, Colonel Nathan Boone, on the Femme Osage river, Missouri, September 26, 1820. His remains, with those of his wife, were some years later taken to Frankfort, Kentucky, and re-interred with pomp and ceremony. A monument erected by the state marks his last resting place.

Madison, the present county seat, is located at the junction of Pond Fork and Spruce Fork, which form Coal River, is 603 feet above sea level and in 1920 had a population of 604. It was incorporated as a town by the circuit court of that county in 1906. At the organization of the county in 1847, the seat of justice was located on the lands of Albert Allen, at the mouth of Spruce Fork, opposite the present town of Madison. The original court house was burned by Federal troops during the Civil War, and for a time thereafter the seat of justice was located at the Ballardsville Methodist Church. In 1866 the court house was re-located on the lands of Johnson Copley, opposite the old site, and the public buildings erected, which were used until 1921 when the present fine court house was erected.

The West Virginia Synodical School maintained and operated by the Presbyterian church, occupies the site of the original court house, opposite the present county seat.

Danville, another incorporated town in that county, had a population of 327 in 1920.

Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 9 December 1927.

Old Trees at Boone Courthouse, Hangings LB 03.22.1927.JPG

Logan (WV) Banner, 22 March 1927.

Hugh Toney Letter to Edward Chapman (1861)

24 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Chapmanville, Civil War, Giles County

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11th Virginia Cavalry, Appalachia, Camp Narrows, Chapmanville, civil war, Confederate Army, Edward Chapman, Giles County, history, Hugh Toney, J. Green McNeely, Logan Banner, Logan Country Club, Logan County, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia

Rev. J. Green McNeely (1871-1943) located the following letter written by Hugh Toney to Edward Chapman when he razed a log cabin situated on the property that later became the Logan Country Club, near Chapmanville.

Camp Narrows, Va.

March 26, 1861

Dear Friend:

I saw the officers of the 11th Virginia Cavalry about your horses. Col. French and Maj. Smith both say that your horse shall be give up if the horse can be found.

I have not been able to find out anything about who got your horse yet. The horses were sent off to North Carolina. If I have any chance to get your horse, I will attend to the matter for you. If you know the man’s names or any of the men’s names that was present when your horse was taken, write to me their names.

I have made careful inquiries about Ira Woodram’s horse. I have not been able to find out anything about his horse, also John’s. I can’t bear that horses were taken.

I can’t find out who took them, it being uncertain about getting your horse or pay for him the way matters stand at this time.

Your friend,

Hugh Toney

Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 25 June 1941.

Wife of Logan Banner Editor George A. Dean Disappears (1912-1913)

20 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Huntington, Logan, Matewan, Tazewell County

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Albermarle, Appalachia, Bluefield, Buchanan, Collier's Weekly, Dry Fork, genealogy, George A. Dean, Henry Clay Ragland, Herald-Dispatch, history, Huntington, Iaeger, Imperial Order of Redmen, J.B. ellison, Jefferson Hotel, Kentucky, Keyes Sisters, LaRoy Stock Company, Lena Boyd Nelson, Lena Gross, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Logan Democrat, Logan Nest 1442, Matewan, Modern Maccabees, Norfolk and Western Railroad, North Carolina, Order of Owls, Sayersville, Silver Cloud Tribe 138, Tazewell County, Virginia, W.L. Richardson, West Virginia, Williamson

In 1912, Logan Banner editor George A. Dean married the former Lena Gross, who soon thereafter disappeared. Here are a few stories about the event:

Editor Dean Married

On Monday, Nov. 11 in the minister’s study, Geo. A. Dean and Miss Lena Gross of Virginia, were united in marriage by Rev. W.L. Richardson.

Mr. Dean is the hustling editor of the Logan Banner and is well-known in this city and surrounding country as a man of push and energy, while the bride was one of the charming dining room girls at the Hotel Jefferson.

Mr. and Mrs. Dean will be at home to their friends after Nov. 18.

Source: Logan (WV) Democrat, 14 November 1912.

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George A. Dean Logan Banner LB 01.24.1913.JPG

Logan (WV) Banner, 24 January 1913.

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Editor of “Most Fearless Weekly” on the Trail

West Virginia editors who have failed to receive the Logan Banner on their exchange tables during the past three weeks, no doubt, marveled at its absence. But there is a reason–a tragic, gnawing reason which has caused the editor, Geo. A. Dean to suspend temporarily editorial duties and to embark upon a quest which means more to him than journalistic honors or the mere touch of hollow gold.

Readers of the Banner will remember that there appeared graven upon its front page four months ago Mr. Dean’s and his wife’s own announcement of their marriage. The paragraph attracted more than usual attention, partly because of its unique construction and partly because of the unusual manner of its presentation, but more than all because Mr. Dean was very prominently in the editorial limelight because of recent rather prominent mention in Collier’s Weekly. But that is history, and in mere prelude to the situation which now confronts him: to-wit: that of a married man, wifeless, disconsolate, yearning for the things that were.

Mr. Dean, who has been in Huntington and vicinity for two days seeking a trace of his evanished spouse, speaks frankly of his bereavement, and is importunate that the home-loving public shall, if possible, assist him in finding and restoring his lost treasure. In brief, Lena Boyd Nelson Dean has gone away and, some fear, forever departed. She went without the tender formality of a farewell husband’s kiss. She went away surreptitiously, mysteriously. She went, and Mr. Dean, who has sounded the very depths of heaven and earth, is no whit the wiser whither. Descriptive circulars, telling her height, weight, complexion, color of eyes and hair, manner of dress, and all that pertains to accurate and dependable description have been scattered broadcast all over the territory in which it might be surmised that she would be obscuring herself from the eyes of love and yearning. Mr. Dean stated last night, in conversation with the Herald-Dispatch, that he had absolutely no heart for business, that he had known no rest, no surcease from the terrible heart-longing that had seized upon him and held with tenacious grip from the morning of his wife’s departure. He has searched high and low. He has communicated with every known relative of his wife, without being able to get even the shadow of a clue tending to lead to the discovery of her whereabouts. He gives the following verbal photograph, which is almost as good as the ordinary studio product, and much better than a tintype:

Lena Boyd Nelson Dean, formerly of Williamson and Matewan and Bluefield. Four months ago she served as waitress, cook, and house girl at Logan, W.Va. Last seen at Kenova on Sunday morning, March 2. Physical description: Age 26. Height 5 ft. 2. Coal-black eyes given to starry twinkle. Raven black hair. Rather full lips. Gold filling in front teeth. Deep, well modulated musical voice, with a tendency to coarseness in time of cold. Can not read or write much as her early education was neglected. Her costume is described as being strict in the style of today. Raincoat, drab-colored; blue-serge, two piece coat suit. Beaver hat, embellished with four black ostrich plumes. Leather suitcase, canvass trunk and gold-headed umbrella.

Mr. Dean feels that his wife may have returned to one of the three occupations ascribed to her in the opening paragraphs.

He has important mail for her, both registered and ordinary, and is awaiting anxiously any news of her, and his arms are open to her return. The Logan editor’s plight is positively pitiful. He has grown emaciated, hollow-eyed, faded, wan. The tireless vigil, the ceaseless search, the anxious waiting hours, have all played their part in preying upon his splendid vitality. He is discouraged but not defeated, and will continue the search as long as human endurance will permit, or else sooner find the partner of his joys and immediate cause of his great and overpowering grief. His plight has elicited much sympathy. For what is life without a partner?

Source: Huntington (WV) Herald-Dispatch via Logan (WV) Democrat, 13 March 1913.

***

George A. Dean's Wife Missing LB 03.21.1913 1

Logan (WV) Banner, 21 March 1913.

George A. Dean's Wife Missing LB 03.21.1913 2

Logan (WV) Banner, 21 March 1913.

George A. Dean's Wife Missing LB 03.21.1913 3

Logan (WV) Banner, 21 March 1913.

George A. Dean's Wife Missing LB 03.21.1913 4

Logan (WV) Banner, 21 March 1913.

George A. Dean's Wife Missing LB 03.21.1913 5

Logan (WV) Banner, 21 March 1913.

George A. Dean's Wife Missing LB 03.21.1913 6

Logan (WV) Banner, 21 March 1913.

History for Boone County, WV (1928)

15 Sunday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Boone County, Huntington, Logan

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Appalachia, Boone County, Camp Creek, Charles L. Estep, civil war, Coal River, Coal Valley News, Cumberland Gap, Danville, education, Hadalton, history, Huntington, Isaac Barker, Jackie Dolin, John E. Kenna, John Halstead, John Morris, Kanawha River, Kentucky, Kinder Hill, Little Coal River, Logan, Logan Banner, Madison, Marshall A. Estep, Maysville, Mud River, North Carolina, Ohio River, Olive Branch Baptist Church, Spruce Fork, Spruce Ridge, Texas, Thomas Price, Turtle Creek, W.H. Turley, W.W. Hall, West Virginia, White Oak Creek, Wilderness Road

A story titled “Old Times in Boone County Told About By Historian” and printed in the Logan Banner in Logan, WV, on April 20, 1928 provides some history for Boone County:

Old-timers and students of local history should be interested in the following excerpt from the history of Boone county by Prof. W.W. Hall. The family names mentioned are familiar ones.

What is here reproduced was taken from the Coal Valley News:

About the year of 1798 Isaac Barker reared a pole cabin on the brow of the hill on the lower side of White Oak Creek, near old lock seven. This was the first white man’s home established in Boone county. The second settler in the county was Johnson Kinder, a brother-in-law of Barker. He settled on Kinder Hill a few months after Barker came. The first settler on Little Coal River was John Halstead, who settled at the mouth of Camp creek about 1800. A few months later Jackie Dolin was married to Isaac Barker’s daughter and led his blushing bride, attired in her homespun, through the trackless forest up Brush creek and over the hill to a scantily furnished home on Camp creek. Not long after this Thomas Price, a daring hunter from North Carolina, wandered over the Wilderness Road through Cumberland Gap to Maysville, Kentucky, where he embarked in a canoe, ascended the Ohio, the Kanawha, the Coal and the Little Coal rivers to the present site of the town of Danville, and became the first settler there.

For some years after the coming of the white men there were no churches, but when an Old Baptist or Methodist preacher would arrive in the settlement, word was passed around to the neighbors and that night earnest prayers, exhortations and hallelujahs would ascend from those rude homes. The first church erected in the county was the Olive Branch Baptist church at the mouth of Turtle creek. The first term of the circuit court held in the county after its organization in 1847 was held in this church. The grand jury made its investigations while seated on the framing in Ballard’s old water mill near by, and the petit jury retired to the paw paw bushes below to consider their verdicts.

The daring hunters, adventurous pioneers and brave soldiers who came from the best families in the east to establish home in the wilderness, were not contented to let their children grow up without the rudiments of an education, so they established Old Field schools in the slave cabins, tanneries, country churches and abandoned dwellings, when an itinerant teacher who could read, write and cipher a little came along. The first free school in the county was taught by John Morris, just after the Civil War, in an old house abandoned by Dr. Church. The old house stood across the hollow from W.H. Turley’s present residence in Madison. Within the next year or two a log school house was erected near the upper end of Danville and another on the point across the river from Hadalton. The children of Madison had to go to Danville or Hadalton to school until 1885, when the people of Madison, by mandamus, compelled the board of education to give them a school. The first school house erected in Madison is now used by Dr. Smoot for a barn. While the course of study in these early schools was meager and the work crude, yet they did succeed in inspiring a few boys to strive for higher education. Former United States Senator John E. Kenna was born in Boone county and attended his first schools in a log house on Big Coal river. Dr. Marshall A. Estep, an eminent physician of Texas, and his brother, Judge Charles L. Estep, of Huntington and Logan, were reared in the “Promised Land,” the name of their father’s mountain home on the summit of Spruce Ridge, and attended their first schools in a log house on the Spruce Fork. One of these early log school houses still stands on the head of Mud river, remote from the highways frequented by trade and travelers. Two of the most recent prosecuting attorneys of the county, two clerks of the circuit court, two of the clerks of the county court, four county superintendents of schools, chief U.S. Marshal for the southern district of West Virginia, and two prosperous dental surgeons attended school when boys in that little log school house on the head of Mud. The attendance in it was never large.

Civil War Letter Found at Hinton, WV (1886)

23 Thursday Nov 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Civil War

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Appalachia, civil war, Hinton, history, Huntington Advertiser, John D. Reed, John Hamilton, Mountain Herald, New River, North Carolina, Summers County, Sumter, West Virginia

Civil War Letter Found at Hinton HuA 07.17.1886.JPG

Huntington (WV) Advertiser, 17 July 1886.

Narrows, VA (2017)

25 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Civil War, Giles County, Native American History

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Abraham Wood, Appalachia, Blacksburg, Brandon Kirk, Confederate Army, George Crook, Giles County, history, John McCausland, MacArthur Inn, Monroe County, Montgomery County, Mountain Lake, Narrows, Native Americans, New River, Norfolk and Western Railroad, North Carolina, Phyllis Kirk, Stonewall Jackson, Tazewell County, The Crooked Road, Thomas Batts, Union Army, Virginia, West Virginia, William B. Giles, Wood's River

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Plenty of my ancestors once lived in Giles County, VA. 10 August 2017.

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Here we are near Narrows, VA. 10 August 2017. Photo by Mom.

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Entering Narrows, VA. 10 August 2017. The New River is visible on the right.

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I enjoyed this little section of old buildings in Narrows, VA. 10 August 2017.

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Narrows, VA. 10 August 2017. For more info, follow this link: http://townofnarrows.org/history/

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Confederate victory here in Narrows, VA. 10 August 2017. Photo by Mom.

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The MacArthur Inn in Narrows, VA. 10 August 2017. For more info, follow this link: http://www.macarthur-inn.com/

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Bluegrass music every Thursday at MacArthur Inn in Narrows, VA. 10 August 2017. Photo by Mom. For more info, follow this link: https://www.myswva.org/tcr

William Lucas, Revolutionary War Veteran of Giles County, VA

20 Sunday Aug 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in American Revolutionary War, Big Creek, Giles County, Native American History

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Abraham Trigg, American Revolution, Anthony Lawson, Botetourt County, Cabell County, Charles Lucas, Christian Snidow, Crump's Bottom, Culbertson's Bottom, David Price Lucas, Evan Shelby, Farley's Fort, Fort Chiswell, Giles County, Greenbrier County, Hezekiah Adkins Jr., Hezekiah Adkins Sr., James Burns, James Johnston, John Lucas, Joshua Butcher, justice of the peace, Kathleen Lucas, Logan County, Logan Court House, Lucas' Fort, Margaret Elizabeth Price, McGriff's Fort, Monroe County, Montgomery County, Muddy Creek, Muddy Fort, Nathaniel Mullins, Native Americans, New River, North Carolina, Parker Lucas, Parker Lucas Sr., Pittsylvania County, Ralph Lucas, Rich Creek, Sinking Creek, Summers County, Thomas Burke, Thomas Farley, Virginia, William Campbell, William H. Snidow, William Lucas, William Preston, William R. Lucas, Woods' Fort, Wythe County

William Lucas was born on 25 July 1749 to Charles and Kathleen Lucas in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. He married Margaret Elizabeth Price. They lived on Sinking Creek in present-day Giles County, Virginia. Lucas served in the American Revolutionary War (see pension records below). He was my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. I descend through two of his grandsons, David Price Lucas (born c.1811) and William R. Lucas (born 1825).

***

Pension Application of William Lucas (R6507 VA)

***

Logan County November the 9th 1832

We the undersigned Justices of the peace for the County of Logan and State of Virginia, do hereby certify, that at the request of William Lucas, who from age and infirmity, is at present unable to attend at the courthouse of said County; We attended at the house of his son where he now lives; And he the said William Lucas, being duly Sworn, according to Law, made the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of an act of Congress in favour of revolutionary soldiers, passed on the 7th day of June 1832. That he enlisted in the company of Virginia Militia commanded by Captain Abraham Trigg in
Montgomery County Virginia; (The regiment was then Commanded by Colo. [Evan] Shelby; at an early period in our revolutionary War; and served in said Company and in said Regiment under the orders of General [William] Campbell in Carolina until the end of his eighteen months tour of Service [see endnote], when he again enlisted into Captain [James] Burns Company in the Regiment commanded by Colo [William] Preston Lieutenants name Snidow [Christian Snidow, pension application S17112] for some time, when he was discharged. He also Joined with his two Brothers in Montgomery County, in hireing men as Substitute, as the Law required, and he has never received any remuneration for his services. he is now 82 years of age, very infirm & poor & certainly well entitled to his Country’s aid; for he is intirely dependent on Charity for his support. Given under our hands & seals this 7th day of September in the year eighteen hundred & thirty two.

[signed] Nath’l Mullins [and] Anthony Lawson

***

Giles County To Wit [18 Jan 1833]

We Ralph Lucas and Wm H. Snidow two of the Justices of the peace in and for the said County of Giles do hereby certify that James Johnston [S5640] & Parker Lucas [S8868] appeared personally before us in said county and each being duly sworn according to Law the said James Johnston deposeth and said that in the year 1781 he served as a private in the army of the revolutionary war under the command of Capt James Burns on a call of the militia from the county of Montgomery that the company in which he served continued in Service about two months and he further sayeth that Wm. Lucas (who he understands now resides in the county of Logan and State of Virginia) Served as a private with him in the said company commanded by Capt James Burns which tour Served by Lucas he believes was about two months and further this Deponent sayeth not

James hisXmark Johnston

***

And the said Parker Lucas doth state that William Lucas he understands and believes now resides in the County of Logan and State of Virginia Served as a Private in the Virginia Militia Company in the Revolutionary war which Company was Commanded by Capt. James Burns which tower of Service he believes was about three months and Rendered in the State of North Carolina and he states further that the said William Lucas served Three months at Culbertson’s Bottom under Capt Thomas Burk which tour of Duty the said William Lucas served with this deponent and further this Deponent sayeth not.

Parker hisXmark Lucas

***

Virginia Giles County to Wit [28 Jan 1833]
We Ralph Lucas and Wm. H Snidow two of the Justices of the peace in and for the said County of Giles do hereby Certify, That Christian Snidow Sen personally appeared before us in said county and he first being duly sworn according to Law the s’d Christian Snidow deposeth and says that in year 1776 he served as a private under the command of Capt Thomas Burke on a call of the militia from the County of montgomery that the company in which he served continued in service about three months. And he further sayeth that that Wm. Lucas (who he now understands resides in the county of Logan) and State of Virginia served as a private with him in the said company commanded By Capt Thos. Burke which tour served by Lucas he believes was about three months, and he further sayeth that he served as Lieutenant in the year 1778 under the command of Cap James Burns that the company in which he served continued in service about two months and the said Wm Lucas served as a private under the command of Capt James Burns the same period above mentioned.

***

Virginia Giles County To Wit [28 Jan 1833]
We Ralph Lucas and Wm. H Snidow two of the Justices of peace in and for the said County of giles do hereby certify that Thomas Farley [W7244] appeared personally before us in said county and being first sworn duly according to law the said Thomas Farley deposth and said that in the year 1781 he served as a private in the army of the revolutionary war under the command of Capt Beirnes [sic] on a call of the militia from the county of Montgomery, and that he belives said Tour lasted about two months, and that he also knows that the said William Lucas served a Tour of Three months under the Command of Captain Thomas Burk, and Further this deponant sayeth not

Thomas hisXmark Farley

***

State of Virginia } To Wit
Logan County }
On this 16th day of February 1833 Personally appeared before me a justice of the peace for the County aforesaid William Lucas a resident of the county of Logan and State of Virginia aged Eighty three years on the 25th day July 1832 who first being duly sworn according to law doth on his Oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provision made by the Act of Congress passed the 7th day of June 1832 That he was drafted in the Militia service in the year 1781 by the order of Col. William Preston and that he served three Months in a company commanded by Capt Thomas Burk at Culvertsons bottom in the County of Montgomery Virginia and was then marched to Muddy fort [probably one of the forts on Muddy Creek] Greenbrier County and served their three months under the same Capt Burk against the Indians and was then ordered by Colo Wm Preston to march in the company commanded by Captain James Burns to fort Chissel [sic: Fort Chiswell in present Wythe County VA.] and then marched into North Carolina in the same company of Capt James Burns and Lieutenant Snidow and after serving two months was discharged by Colonel William Preston in North Carlina in the year 1781 – He hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pension or an annuity (except the present) and he declares that his name is not on the pension Roll of any agency in any state. Sworn to and subscribed the day and year aforesaid before me. Joshua Butcher, J. Peace.

William hisXmark Lucas

***

Virginia Giles County to wit
This day Parker Lucas Se’r personally appeared before the undersigned justices of the peace in and for said County, and made oath in due form of law, that William Lucas now of the County of Logan who he understands is now applying for a Pension, that the said William Lucas was forted at McGriffs Fort in the year 1772 to the best of his recollection, for a term of something like three months, and that in the year 1773 the said Lucas was forted at Lucas’s Fort [John Lucas’s Fort on New River] For a term of about three months, and in the year 1774 the said Lucas was forted at Bargers Fort [possibly Barager’s Fort, then and now in Montgomery County] for a like term of about three months, and that in the year 1777 to the best of this affiants recollection the said Lucas was stationed at Farleys Fort [at present Crumps Bottom in Summers County WV] and that in 1778 (as he believes) the said Lucas was stationed at Woods’ fort [Wood’s Fort on Rich Creek in present Monroe County WV] for the term of three months, and that the foregoing services were rendered in defence of the white People against the Indians, and that in the year 1781 (as this affiant believes) the said Lucas served a tour of Service in the militia under the command of Captain James Burns in the State of North carolina which tour he thinks lasted for the term of three months.

Parker Lucas Sr

We do certify that the foregoing affidavit was sworn to before us in the County of Giles and State aforesaid this 18th day of April 1834

Ralph Lucas J.P. [and] Wm. H. Snidow J.P.

***

Virginia Cabell County to wit

This Day Came Hezekiah Adkins, Sen’r [R290] personally appeared before me the under signed Justice of the peace in and for said County and made oath in due form of law that William Lucas now of the County of Logan who he understands is now applying for a pension that the said William Lucas he believes was forted at Mcgriffs fort but dont recollect how long the foresaid H Adkins to the best of his recollection the said Lucas was forted at Lucas fort for a turm about Three months and that the said Lucas was forted at wood and fort for the turm about three months and that the foregoing services ware rendered in defence of the white people against indians and this affiant believes that the said Lucas served two towers and believes one of them under preston and dont recollect how Long

Hezekiah Adkins

I do certify that the said Hezekiah Adkins Senr is a or dained preacher of the gospel and do also certify that the forgoing affidavid was sworn to before me in County of Cabell and state of Virginia this 13th day of October 1834 Hezekiah Adkins Jur

***

Logan County Va. November the 1st day 1834
We the undersigned Justices of the peace for the County of Logan in the State of Virginia Do hereby certify that at the request of William Lucas who, from old age and infirmity, is unable to attend at the Courthouse of said County; We attended at the house of his son John Lucas, where he now lives, and the said William Lucas, being duely Sworn, in form of Law, made the following, declaration, in order to obtain, the benefit of an Act passed by Congress on the 7 day of June 1832. That he was drafted, in the year 1772 to go on a tour of Service; to protect the frontier of Virginia, a gainst the Indians, and also in 1773 and a gain in 1777 he was drafted, for the same Service, & was stationed at Farleys fort on New river for 3 months; and in 1778 he was Stationed at Woods fort for 3 months; He was shortly after drafted into the Virginia Militia, & served a tour of three months, in the Regiment Commanded by Colonel Shelby; in the Company of Captain Abraham Trigg, was with the army under Gen’l. Campbell in Carolina, at the end of this tour He enlisted into the regiment Commanded by his neighbour Col. Preston, and served a tour of three months, in the Company of James Burns; Lieut Snidow, when he was discharged. He also enlisted with his brothers in hiring substitutes, as the Law required; and alltho’ his brother in Giles County [Parker Lucas], in better circumstances has received a pension, he has received nothing in payment for his services, whatever; He is now 84 years of Age, and very infirm, and poor; and certainly well entitled to his Countrys aid; in the time of his great need; and utter inability to help himself–: He relinquishes every other Claim except the present, to any pension; & his name is on no pension Roll whatever in any State–

William hisXmark Lucas

Sworn to, and subscribed before us this 1st day of November 1834
[signed] Anthony Lawson J.P.  Nath’l. Mullins JP

***

The following interogatories were then put by us as are required by the War office:

Agent of pension

1. Question. Where and in what year were you born?
Answer I was born in Pittsylvania County Va. in the year 1749.

2. Question Have you any record of your age &c?
Answer. I have no record of my age, nor do I know of any.

3. Question. Where were you living when called into service, where have you lived since, and where do you now live?
Answer. I was living in Botetourt County Va. – I have lived Chiefly since in Montgomery
County; and now, & for 7 years last past in Logan County Virginia –

4. Question. How were you called into service, were you drafted, or were you a Substitute, and if a substitute for whom?
Answer. I was drafted frequently & also volunteered –

5. Question. State the names of some of the regular officers, who were with the troops where you served; such continental and Militia Regiments, as you can recollect & the general circumstances of our services.
Answer. I remember the names of Col Shelby, Col Preston; Capt Trigg, Capt [Thomas] Burke, Capt. [John] Lucas; Capt Burns; & Lieut Snidow.

6. Question. Did you ever receive a discharge from the service, & if so; by whom was it given; and what has become of it?
Answer. I believe that I received a discharge from Col. Preston but have lost it many years ago–

NOTES:
A letter in the file explains that Lucas’ first declaration was questioned by the Pension Office because the claim for a militia tour of 18 months was out of the ordinary. The claim for a pension was ultimately rejected because Lucas’s later declarations were inconsistent with each other and the supporting statements. In his own pension application James Johnston did not claim to have served in 1781.

Early Newspapers of Lincoln County, WV

03 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Hamlin, Huntington

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Appalachia, B.H. Oxley, C.M. Hall, C.W. Campbell, Cairo, Charleston, Cincinnati, Clipper Publishing Company, David Laird, Dunlow, E.S. Zeveley, Edward I. Holt, Elbert R. Hoffman, Greensboro Beacon, Hamlin, Henry Clay Ragland, Henry H. Hardesty, history, History of Logan County, History of Ritchie County, Hu Maxwell, Huntington, Huntington Advertiser, J. Jerome Haddox, Jamestown, John H. Sanborn, Joseph E. Chilton, Lincoln Citizen, Lincoln Clipper, Lincoln County, Lincoln Guidon, Lincoln News, Linnie Haddox, Logan County Banner, Minnie Kendall Lowther, newspapers, North Carolina, Parkersburg Sentinel, Pennsboro, Populist Party, R.E. Hardwicke, Republican Party, Ritchie Democrat and Beacon Light, Spencer, T.C. Miller, T.T. McDougal, The Institute Daily Lincoln News, Van Zeveley, Virgil H. Mahone, W.M. Workman, Wayne County, West Virginia, West Virginia and Its People

The following newspapers have existed in Lincoln County, WV:

Lincoln Clipper (1881-

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

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

 

Lincoln Citizen (1886-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lincoln News (1894-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Institute Daily Lincoln News (1895-

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

Lincoln Guidon (1895-

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

 

Hearts of the Blue Ridge: A Feud Play (1899)

01 Monday May 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Huntington

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Appalachia, Blue Ridge Mountains, Cabell County, Davis Theatre, Dorothy Lewis, Hal Reid, Hearts of the Blue Ridge, Huntington, Huntington Advertiser, North Carolina, play, West Virginia

Play about a Feud HA 10.07.1899

Huntington (WV) Advertiser, 7 October 1899.

Patton Thompson

24 Friday Mar 2017

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

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34th Battalion Virginia Cavalry, Abbotts Branch, Appalachia, Branson Tomblin, Chloe Thompson, constable, David Thompson, Delana Thompson, deputy sheriff, Feriba Tomblin, genealogy, Green Shoal, Guyandotte River, Harts, Harts Creek, Henry H. Hardesty, history, Jenks Thompson, John F. Thompson, Lincoln County, Logan County, Margaret Thompson, Martha J. Thompson, Mary A. Thompson, North Carolina, Patsy Thompson, Patton Thompson, Susan Kirk, Susan Thompson, Tazewell County, Virginia, West Virginia, William Thompson

From “Hardesty’s History of Lincoln County, West Virginia,” published by H.H. Hardesty, we find this entry for Patton Thompson, who resided near Green Shoal in Lincoln County, West Virginia:

Patton Thompson and Delana Tomblin were united in the holy bonds of matrimony in Logan county, (now) West Virginia, October 1, 1845, and they have been blessed with nine children, born as follows: William, August 24, 1846; John F., March 11, 1849, died in 1858; Martha J., September 3, 1851; Chloe, January 24, 1854, died in 1864; Margaret, July 27, 1856; David, December 4, 1858; Albert G., September 10, 1861; Mary A., May 15, 1864; Susan, June 15, 1868. Mrs. Thompson was born in Tazewell county, Virginia, in 1826, and her parents are Branson and Feriba (Lewis) Tomblin, natives of North Carolina. Patton Thompson is a native of Logan county, born May 28, 1834, and his parents, William and Patsy (Wilkins) Thompson, came to this county in 1823. Mr. Thompson owns 100 acres of farming land on Guyan river, and 300 acres in Logan county on Hart creek. The land produces well and is highly cultivated. Patton Thompson is deputy sheriff of Lincoln county, and is also constable of Hart Creek district. He is a man of considerable means and ability, is tilling the soil in this district, and receives his mail at Hart, Lincoln county, West Virginia.

Source: The West Virginia Encyclopedia, Vol. 7 (Richwood, WV: Jim Comstock, 1974), p. 138.

NOTE: Most likely, when this history was compiled about 1883, Patton Thompson lived at what has been called “the Baisden farm” on the Guyandotte River above present-day Abbotts Branch near the Logan County line.

NOTE: Patton Thompson, a veteran of Company D, 34th Battalion Virginia Cavalry, is my great-great-great-grandfather. I descend from his daughter, Susan (Thompson) Kirk.

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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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Who do you think organized the ambush of Al and Hollene Brumfield in 1889?

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