• About

Brandon Ray Kirk

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

Brandon Ray Kirk

Tag Archives: Smokehouse Fork

Thomas Conley Survey (1840)

05 Friday Feb 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Anthony Lawson, Appalachia, genealogy, Harts Creek, history, Isaac Conley, John Lawson, Logan County, Robert Hensley, Robert Scott, Smokehouse Fork, Thomas Conley, Virginia, West Virginia

Thomas Conley, 59 acres, Smokehouse Fork of Harts Creek, Surveyors Record Book B, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV.

Garland Conley, Jr. Survey (1850)

27 Sunday Dec 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Anthony Lawson, Appalachia, Charles I. Stone, Garland Conley Jr., genealogy, Harts Creek, history, Israel Canfield, James Lawson, John Conley, John Hopkins, Logan County, Robert Hensley, Smokehouse Fork, surveyor, West Virginia, William Farley

Garland Conley, Jr. Survey (1850), 32 acres, Smoke House Fork of Harts Creek, Logan County, VA. Surveyor Record Book B, Logan County Clerk’s Office, Logan, WV. This land is located in present-day West Virginia.

Whirlwind News 02.16.1923

12 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Shively, Spottswood, Twelve Pole Creek, Whirlwind

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Appalachia, Bud Richards, Cherry Tree, genealogy, Grover Adams, Harts Creek, Harvey Smith, history, Hoover Fork, Horatio Rush Adams, hunting, James Robert, Joe Kirk, John Fillinger, John H. Mullins, Logan County, merchant, Mollie Robinson, Mount Gay, Pete Dalton, Pusher Blair, Samuel Vance, singing schools, Smokehouse Fork, Sol Adams, Trace Fork, Twelve Pole Creek, Van Mullins, Victoria Kirk, West Virginia, Whirlwind

A correspondent named “Bluebird” from Whirlwind at Harts Creek in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on February 16, 1923:

Quite a number of people are on the sick list in this vicinity at this time.

Grover Adams has been busily engaged in the hunting business this winter.

Sol Adams of Mount Gay has been visiting relatives on Hoover recently.

Wonder if James Robert has ever let Pusher Blair ride his grey anymore?

The singing school on Trace is progressing nicely.

Victoria and Joe Kirk were out horseback riding Sunday.

Mr. and Mrs. John H. Mullins have been visiting relatives on Hart.

Mr. Samuel Vance of Twelve Pole was a business visitor to this community recently.

Mr. Pete Dalton was calling on Mrs. Mollie Robinson recently.

Harve Smith and John Fillinger have been having some fine sport fox hunting this winter.

Everybody has been wondering what has become of Ichabod Crane.

Van Mullins of this place is at Cherry Tree on the sick list. We hope that he will soon recover and return home.

Bud Richards is going into the mercantile business near the mouth of Smoke House.

Ratio. Don’t be afraid. The bull dog won’t hurt you.

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

≈ 1 Comment

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.

Queens Ridge News 09.03.1926

31 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Chapmanville, Harts, Logan, Queens Ridge

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Annie Dingess, Appalachia, Ashland, Bob Dingess, Bulwark School, Bunt Dingess, Burl Farley, Carey Dingess, Chapmanville, Charlie Harris, Cole Adams, David Dingess, deputy sheriff, Ed Brumfield, Enos Dial, Ewell Mullins, genealogy, Harts, Harts Creek, history, Howard Adams, Inez Barker, Inez Dingess, Isaac Marion Nelson, J.W. Renfroe, Jeff Baisden, Jonas Branch, Kate Baisden, Kentucky, Lewis Farley, Lincoln County, Liza Mullins, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Lucy Dingess, Mary Ann Farley, Maudie Adams, Mud Fork, Queens Ridge, Rachel Keyser, Roach, Rosa Workman, Sally Dingess, Sidney Mullins, Smokehouse Fork, Sol Adams, Trace Fork, Ula Adams, Ward Brumfield, West Virginia

An unknown correspondent from Queens Ridge (Harts Creek) in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on September 3, 1926:

We are having much rainy weather at this writing.

David Dingess made a business trip to Chapmanville Monday.

Miss Inez Barker of Chapmanville has been visiting Miss Ula Adams of Queen’s Ridge for the past week.

Sidney Mullins made a flying trip to Logan last week.

Edward Brumfield and Enos Dials of Harts were the guests of Misses Inez and Lucy Dingess Saturday and Sunday.

The people of this place enjoyed a fine meeting Saturday and Sunday when fine sermons were delivered by Rev. I.M. Nelson and Revs. J.W. Renfroe and Short from Ashland, Ky. There were a number of conversions.

Ward Brumfield, deputy sheriff of Lincoln county, attended church here Sunday.

Mrs. Rosa Workman of Mud Fork was the guest of her mother, Mrs. Sol Adams last week.

Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Harris of Mud Fork were visiting relatives of Smoke House Fork, Sunday.

Miss Maudie Adams and Rachel Keyser were seen out walking Sunday.

R.L. Dingess is teaching school at Bulwark this year. We wish him much success.

Mr. and Mrs. Howard Adams are raising water melons this year.

Times are very lively on Trace now since Mr. Dials made a visit up the left fork.

Born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dingess, a fine son, named J. Cary Dingess.

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Farley made a trip to Roach last week, visiting the former’s parents.

Wonder why so many boys visit Mr. Baisden’s now?

Cole Adams looks lonely these days. Cheer up, Cole. Bessie has come back again.

Wonder who the barber is on Jonas Branch nowadays?

Some combinations: Howard and his wash bowl and pitcher; Liza and her flowered dress; Ewell going to Harts; Maudie and her powder puff; Kate and her bobbed hair; Sally and Bunt packing beans.

Albert Dingess Family Cemetery (2018)

04 Friday May 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Cemeteries, Shively, Timber

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Albert Dingess, Albert Dingess Family Cemetery, Appalachia, cemeteries, Charleston, genealogy, Harts Creek, history, James Bryant, Logan County, Martha Ann Dingess, Minerva Adkins, Shively, Shively Post Office, Smokehouse Fork, West Virginia, West Virginia State Archives, Works Progress Administration

IMG_9139

Albert Dingess Family Cemetery, Shively, Smokehouse Fork of Harts Creek, Logan County, WV. You can see the old Shively Post Office down past the trees and along the road. 28 April 2018.

IMG_9136

Albert Dingess Family Cemetery, Shively, Smokehouse Fork of Harts Creek, Logan County, WV. 28 April 2018.

Albert Dingess Grave 1

Albert Dingess was an important splasher and timberman on Harts Creek in Logan County, WV. His sister, Minerva (Dingess) Adkins, is my great-great-great-grandmother. 8 March 2013.

Martha Ann Bryant Dingess Grave

Martha Ann (Bryant) Dingess was Albert’s second wife. 8 March 2013.

Albert Dingess Cemetery Map

Here’s an old WPA map of the cemetery that shows graves for Albert Dingess and his father-in-law, James Bryant. Courtesy of the WV State Archives, Charleston, WV.

Joshua Butcher Deed to John Workman (1851)

19 Thursday Apr 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Harts Creek, James Tomblin, John Workman, Joshua Butcher, Logan County, Smokehouse Fork, Virginia, W.I. Campbell, West Virginia, William Straton, Wolf Pen Hollow

Josh Butcher to John Workman 1852 1.JPG

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

Conley Cemetery (2018)

31 Saturday Mar 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Cemeteries, Shively

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, cemeteries, Charley Conley, Conley Cemetery, Garland "Bock" Conley, Garland Bogue Conley, genealogy, Harts Creek, history, Lee Conley, Logan County, Mollie Conley, photos, Smokehouse Fork, West Virginia, White Oak Fork

IMG_6949

Heading up the mountain to the Conley Cemetery, located on a ridge between Smokehouse Fork and White Oak Fork of Harts Creek, Logan County, WV. My young guide was a Conley descendant. 26 March 2018.

IMG_6836

Conley Cemetery — beautiful! Several of Garland and Mollie (Farley) Conley’s children are buried here. I descend from two of Mollie’s siblings. 26 March 2018.

IMG_6843

Conley Cemetery. I mapped at least 74 graves. 26 March 2018.

IMG_6857

Conley Cemetery. “Garland Bock Conley section.” 26 March 2018.

IMG_6950

I first heard of Charles Conley in the early 1990s; it was great to finally locate his grave. 26 March 2018.

IMG_6945

I was sure to place flowers at the grave of Charles Conley. 26 March 2018.

IMG_6953

Lee Conley grave. 26 March 2018.

IMG_6905

Garland Bock Conley grave. 26 March 2018.

Bearwallow Gap at Piney Fork and Hugh Dingess Hollow (2018)

28 Sunday Jan 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Cemeteries, Halcyon, Lincoln County Feud

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Appalachia, Auglin Watts, Bearwallow Gap, Bill's Branch, Blood in West Virginia, Brandon Kirk, Bryant-Dingess Cemetery, Burl Bryant, cemeteries, French Bryant, genealogy, Harry Kirk, Harts Creek, history, Hugh Dingess Hollow, Lincoln County Feud, Logan County, Mosco Dingess, photos, Piney Fork, Smokehouse Fork, West Fork, West Virginia

IMG_4065

Dad and I recently cleared the Bryant-Dingess cemetery at Bearwallow Gap in the head of Piney Fork and Hugh Dingess Hollow on Harts Creek, Logan County, WV. I last visited this cemetery over twenty years ago. 27 January 2018.

IMG_3938.JPG

The cemetery was overgrown with saplings. Four persons are buried here: French Bryant, Burl Bryant, Auglin Watts, and Mosco Dingess. 27 January 2018.

IMG_3945.JPG

French Bryant (1855-1938), son of Rufus Bryant, is a major character in my feud book, “Blood in West Virginia: Brumfield v. McCoy.” My Kirk family liked French. 27 January 2018

IMG_4067

Burl Bryant grave (lower) and Auglin Watts grave. 27 January 2018.

IMG_3955.JPG

Looking downhill toward cemetery. 27 January 2018.

IMG_4071

Up above the cemetery are these magnificent rocks. 27 January 2018.

IMG_4074

Looking from the rocks down into Hugh Dingess Hollow of Smokehouse Fork of Harts Creek. 27 January 2018.

IMG_4075

The ridge above the cemetery. 27 January 2018.

 

Garland B. Conley Grave (2018)

08 Monday Jan 2018

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

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

129th Regiment Virginia Militia, Appalachia, Brandon Kirk, cemeteries, civil war, Confederate Army, Garland Conley Family Cemetery, genealogy, Harts Creek, history, Logan County, Phyllis Kirk, Smokehouse Fork, West Virginia

IMG_2654

Garland B. Conley (d.1895) was a veteran of Carter’s Company, 129th Regiment Virginia Militia. I recently revisited his grave on Smokehouse Fork of Harts Creek, Logan County, WV. 7 January 2018. Photo by Mom.

← Older posts

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?

Categories

  • Adkins Mill
  • African American History
  • American Revolutionary War
  • Ashland
  • Atenville
  • Banco
  • Barboursville
  • Battle of Blair Mountain
  • Beech Creek
  • Big Creek
  • Big Harts Creek
  • Big Sandy Valley
  • Big Ugly Creek
  • Boone County
  • Breeden
  • Calhoun County
  • Cemeteries
  • Chapmanville
  • Civil War
  • Clay County
  • Clothier
  • Coal
  • Cove Gap
  • Crawley Creek
  • Culture of Honor
  • Dingess
  • Dollie
  • Dunlow
  • East Lynn
  • Ed Haley
  • Eden Park
  • Enslow
  • Estep
  • Ferrellsburg
  • Fourteen
  • French-Eversole Feud
  • Gilbert
  • Giles County
  • Gill
  • Green Shoal
  • Guyandotte River
  • Halcyon
  • Hamlin
  • Harts
  • Hatfield-McCoy Feud
  • Holden
  • Hungarian-American History
  • Huntington
  • Inez
  • Irish-Americans
  • Italian American History
  • Jamboree
  • Jewish History
  • John Hartford
  • Kermit
  • Kiahsville
  • Kitchen
  • Leet
  • Lincoln County Feud
  • Little Harts Creek
  • Logan
  • Man
  • Matewan
  • Meador
  • Midkiff
  • Monroe County
  • Montgomery County
  • Music
  • Native American History
  • Pearl Adkins Diary
  • Pecks Mill
  • Peter Creek
  • Pikeville
  • Pilgrim
  • Poetry
  • Queens Ridge
  • Ranger
  • Rector
  • Roane County
  • Rowan County Feud
  • Salt Rock
  • Sand Creek
  • Shively
  • Spears
  • Sports
  • Spottswood
  • Spurlockville
  • Stiltner
  • Stone Branch
  • Tazewell County
  • Timber
  • Tom Dula
  • Toney
  • Turner-Howard Feud
  • Twelve Pole Creek
  • Uncategorized
  • Warren
  • Wayne
  • West Hamlin
  • Wewanta
  • Wharncliffe
  • Whirlwind
  • Williamson
  • Women's History
  • World War I
  • Wyoming County
  • Yantus

Feud Poll 2

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

Blogroll

  • Ancestry.com
  • Appalachian History Article
  • Ashland (KY) Daily Independent News Article
  • Author FB page
  • Beckley (WV) Register-Herald News Article
  • Beyond.com
  • Big Sandy News (KY) News Article
  • Blood in West Virginia FB
  • Blood in West Virginia order
  • branded.me
  • Chapters TV Program
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Herald-Dispatch News Article 1
  • Herald-Dispatch News Article 2
  • Lincoln (WV) Journal News Article
  • Lincoln (WV) Journal Thumbs Up
  • Lincoln County
  • Lincoln County Feud
  • Lincoln County Feud Lecture
  • LinkedIn
  • Logan (WV) Banner News Article
  • Lunch With Books
  • Our Overmountain Men: The Revolutionary War in Western Virginia (1775-1783)
  • Pinterest
  • Scarborough Society's Art and Lecture Series
  • Smithsonian Article
  • Spirit of Jefferson News Article
  • The Friendly Neighbor Radio Show 1
  • The Friendly Neighbor Radio Show 2
  • The Friendly Neighbor Radio Show 3
  • The Friendly Neighbor Radio Show 4
  • The New Yorker
  • The State Journal's 55 Good Things About WV
  • tumblr.
  • Twitter
  • Website
  • Weirton (WV) Daily Times Article
  • Wheeling (WV) Intelligencer News Article 1
  • Wheeling (WV) Intelligencer News Article 2
  • WOWK TV
  • Writers Can Read Open Mic Night

Feud Poll 3

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

Recent Posts

  • Absentee Landowners of Magnolia District (1886, 1889)
  • Elias Hatfield Indictment for Unlawful Retailing (1889)
  • Significant Tracts in Magnolia District (1867, 1886-1889)

Ed Haley Poll 1

What do you think caused Ed Haley to lose his sight when he was three years old?

Top Posts & Pages

  • Jack Dempsey’s Broadway Restaurant Location in New York City (2019)
  • Paw Paw Incident: Ellison Mounts Deposition (1889)
  • William Lucas, Revolutionary War Veteran of Giles County, VA
  • The Smoke House Restaurant in Logan, WV (1927)
  • Logan Memorial Park in McConnell, WV (1928, 2020)

Copyright

© Brandon Ray Kirk and brandonraykirk.wordpress.com, 1987-2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Brandon Ray Kirk and brandonraykirk.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Archives

  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,696 other followers

Tags

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!

Blog at WordPress.com.

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

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×