08 Wednesday Nov 2017
Posted in Green Shoal
Tags
Albert Jake Davis, Amanda Davis, Annie Davis, Appalachia, Fed Adkins, Florence Davis, Frank Davis, genealogy, Giles Davis, Green Shoal Creek, history, Jones Adkins, Lettie Caldwell, Lincoln County, Matthew Farley, Nancy Elkins, Oma Davis, Rinda Adkins, Roxie Lena Adkins, Samp Davis, Thomas Davis, Tolbert Caldwell, Tucker Fry, West Virginia, William Elkins
Deed Book ___, page ___, Lincoln County Clerk’s Office, Hamlin, WV.
Deed Book ___, page ___, Lincoln County Clerk’s Office, Hamlin, WV.
18 Wednesday Jan 2017
Posted in Big Harts Creek, Chapmanville, Green Shoal, Huntington, Toney
Tags
Appalachia, Arnold Barker, Bill Thompson, Chapmanville, French Butcher, G.S. Ferrell, genealogy, H.T. Butcher, Harts Creek, history, Huntington, John Sanders, Logan Banner, Logan County, Morgan Garrett, Singer Sewing Machine Company, Toney, Tucker Fry, West Virginia
An unknown local correspondent from Chapmanville in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on March 5, 1926:
Arnold Barker spent time last Monday and Tuesday in Huntington on business.
We noticed quite a lot of the Harts Creek boys going down to Huntington the first of the week to see the Hon. G.W. McClintie. Some of them said they did not know just when they would get back.
If we ever incorporate this town our first police is going to be a woman. We know she can make one man be good.
G.S. Ferrell has taken over the contract for grading the lower end of the hard road.
Singing school is getting a good start. It is hard to tell who makes the ugliest faces. At present, it is about a tie between Squire Barker and Morgan Garrett.
Mrs. Mart Bryant who has been quite ill for several days is some better now.
Chin Beard Lucas was dealing in real estate here Monday.
H.T. Butcher, the prohibition man, is attending federal court in Huntington this week.
John Sanders, the truant officer, was in town Tuesday.
Tucker Fry, of Toney, W.Va., was looking after the interest of the Singer Sewing Machine Co., on Tuesday here.
French Butcher says he has decided to make some stump speeches during this campaign.
Bill Thompson has purchased himself a motorcycle.
01 Tuesday Nov 2016
Posted in Big Harts Creek, Big Ugly Creek, Ferrellsburg, Fourteen, Green Shoal, Leet, Little Harts Creek, Rector
Tags
A.H. Sanders, A.P. Sanders, Andrew J. Browning, Appalachia, Big Branch, Big Ugly Creek, Broad Branch, Brooks Summerville, Buck Lick Branch, Cassander Spurlcok, Charles Bowden Brumfield, Chloe Maynard, Climena Lucas, Clinton Spurlock, Daisy Brumfield, Ellen Ferguson, Evermont Ward Fry, F.F. Starcher, Fourteen Mile Creek, Francis Fork, G.H. Chenoweth, genealogy, George F. Miller, Giles Davis, Granville Mullins, Green Shoal Creek, Guyandotte River, Harts Creek, Henry C. Sias, Hezekiah Adkins, history, Hugh Evans, Isaac Gartin, J.H. Meeks, J.W. Breeding, J.W. Stowers, James C. Tomblin, James D. Porter, James I. Kuhn, Johnny Headley, Joseph E. Chilton, Joseph Gartin, Joseph Maynard, Julia Yantis Walker, Kiahs Creek, Koontz Realty Company, L.V. Koontz, Laurel Fork, Lena Ferrell, Leonard Lucas, Lettie Belle Fowler, Limestone Branch, Lincoln County, Lincoln Fuel Oil and Lumber Company, Mary A. Mullen, Mary Maynard, Midkiff, Nary Gartin, Nine Mile Creek, O.J. Wilkinson, Panther Branch, Patsy Ann Porter, Patterson Toney, Philip Hager, Polly Browning, Smith Ferrell, Squire Toney, Sulphur Spring Fork, Sylvanis Neace, Tucker Fry, Twelve Pole Creek, W.C. Mullen, W.L. Rector, W.L. Starcher, W.T. Gillenwater, Wallace Hager, West Virginia, William U. Stollings, Wirt Toney
The following deed index is based on Deed Book 53 at the Lincoln County Clerk’s Office in Hamlin, WV, and relates to residents of the Harts Creek community. Most notations reflect Harts Creek citizens engaged in local land transactions; some reflect Harts Creek citizens engaged in land transactions outside of the community. These notes are meant to serve as a reference to Deed Book 53. Researchers who desire the most accurate version of this material are urged to consult the actual record book.
Hezikiah Adkins to Julia Y. Walker 25 acres on West Side of Guyan River 7 January 1909 Fisher B. Adkins, NP p. 40
Polly Browning to Joseph Maynard 75 acres Laurel Branch of Twelve Pole Creek 14 January 1905 Hugh Evans, JP p. 412-413
Daisy Brumfield to Charley Brumfield 68 acres Big Branch of Big Ugly 7 September 1907 p. 219-220
J.E. Chilton to Lettie B. Fowler 150 acres East Side of Guyandotte River 15 February 1883 p. 365-366
G.D. Davis to Koontz Realty Company 113 3/5 acres (mineral) 8 May 1907 p. 329
Ellen Ferguson to L.V. Koontz 79 4/5 acres on Green Shoal Creek 14 December 1906 p. 304-305
Lena Ferrell to A.H. Sanders 49 acres (oil and gas) 5 December 1906 p. 305-306
D.C. Fry to Koontz Realty Company 4 acres 8 May 1907 p. 320-321
D.C. Fry to Koontz Realty Company 90 acres Green Shoal Creek 8 May 1907 p. 322-323
Joseph and Nary Gartin to W.R. and Mary Lucas and L.C. and Climina Lucas 75 and 15 acres on Sulpher Spring Fork of Fourteen Mile Creek 8 January 1910 p. 45-46
W.T. Gillenwater to Koontz Realty Company 82 acres (mineral) 16 July 1907 p. 315-316
Philip Hager to Koontz Realty Company 136 1/2 acres 17 May 1907 p. 318-319
Wallace Hager to Smith Ferrell 158 acres Broad Branch of Big Ugly 4 April 1907 R.E. Lowe, JP p. 166-167
L.V. Koontz to Koontz Realty Company 799 2/3 acres Big Ugly Creek 24 June 1907 p. 310-311
J.I. Kuhn to Isaac G. Gartin 75 acres Little Harts Creek 1 September 1879 p. 281-284
J.I. Kuhn to Climenia Lucas et al 496 acres on Fourteen Mile Creek 6 June 1880 p. 288-291
James I. Kuhn to William Mann and Isaac Garten 1 August 1879 Francis Fork of Hezekiah Creek p. 285-288
Lincoln Fuel, Oil, and Lumber Company v. A.P. Sanders, W.C. Mullen, and Mary A. Mullen correction to deed 5 October 1910 p. 243-244
L.C. Lucas to Climena Lucas 37 acres on Fourteen Mile Creek 13 December 1909 p. 53
Chloe Maynard to Joseph Maynard 100 acres Twelve Pole Creek 10 October 1907 p. 410-411
Mary Maynard to Joseph Maynard 85 acres Twelve Pole Creek 21 October 1905 p. 409-410
George F. Miller to Koontz Realty Company 33 acres (mineral) 13 May 1907 p. 317-318
Granville Mullins to William U. Stollings 10 acres Limestone Branch 28 March 1910 p. 416
Sylvanis Neace to J.W. Breeding 75 acres on Buck Lick Branch of Guyandotte River (Laurel Hill District) 12 February 1910 p. 133-134
J.D. Porter et ux to W.L. Rector Big Ugly Creek 27 March 1902 p. 333-339
Patsy Ann Porter to Joseph Maynard Tract on Ridge Between Laurel Branch and Wiley Branch 4 August 1908 p. 414-415
W.L. Rector et ux to G.H. Chenoweth 3/16 undivided interest in tracts on Harts Creek and Big Ugly Creek 28 December 1903 p. 340-
W.L. Starcher et ux to F.F. Starcher interest in four tracts on Big Ugly Creek 27 September 1907 p. 347-349
A.H. Sanders et ux to L.V. Koontz Stowers Farm on Green Shoal 10 December 1906 p. 288-291
A.H. Sanders et ux to L.V. Koontz 49 acres on Big Ugly Creek 12 March 1907 p. 301
A.H. Sanders et al declaration of trust to A.P. Sanders 25 July 1907 p. 329
A.P. Sanders to W.C. Mullen 150 acres Big Ugly Creek 2 October 1907 p. 164-165
A.P. Sanders to A.H. Sanders 278 acres Lick Branch of Laurel Fork of Big Ugly 31 October 1907 p. 227-228
Henry C. Sias to John T. Headley 75 acres on Steer Fork of Fourteen Mile Creek 17 February 1909 p. 1-2
Cassander Spurlock et ux to A.H. Sanders 89 1/3 acres on Big Ugly Creek 5 December 1906 p. 307-308
Clinton Spurlock et ux to E.W. Fry et ux 15 acres near Nine Mile Creek on Guyandotte River 3 June 1901 p. 194
Clinton Spurlock to Clinton Spurlock and E.W. Fry 7360 square feet at Midkiff 1 January 1906 p. 195-196
J.W. Stowers et al to A.H. Sanders 144 1/3 acres 7 December 1906 p. 308-309
Brooks Summerville et ux to F.F. Starcher interest in four tracts on Big Ugly Creek 1 November 1907 p. 346-347
James C. Tomblin to Andrew J. Browning Painter Branch, Big Branch of Harts Creek 19 March 1875 Jeremiah Lambert, JP p. 170-171
Patterson Toney et ux to L.V. Koontz 437 acres on Big Ugly Creek 29 December 1906 p. 302-303
Squire Toney et ux to Koontz Realty Company 295 52/100 acres Big Ugly Creek (mineral) 27 June 1907 p. 312-314
Wirt Toney et ux to Koontz Realty Company 203 61/100 acres (mineral) 4 May 1907 p. 324-326
O.J. Wilkinson, commissioner of school lands, to J.H. Meeks, trustee 1 February 1910 Piney Fork of East Fork p. 104-105 [references Abner Vance]
NOTE: I copied all of these deeds.
03 Tuesday Jun 2014
Posted in Atenville, Culture of Honor, Ferrellsburg, Hamlin, Toney
Tags
Arena Ferrell, Atenville, Ben Walker, Chilton Abbott, education, Evermont Ward Lucas, Ferrellsburg, Fisher B. Adkins, Francis M. Vance, Frank Vance, genealogy, George H. Thomas, Guyandotte Valley, Hamlin, history, Huntington, Keenan Ferrell, Lincoln County, Lincoln Republican, Lottie Lucas, Maggie Lucas, merchant, rheumatism, Ripley, Salena Vance, timbering, Toney, Tucker Fry, West Virginia
“Stand-Patter,” a local correspondent from Ferrellsburg in Lincoln County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Lincoln Republican printed on Thursday, April 24, 1913:
Ward Lucas, one of our best citizens, is confined to his room with muscular rheumatism. He improves but slowly.
Mrs. Salena Vance and son, Frank, made a trip to Huntington the first of the week to look after matters of business.
Several law suits were set for trial here last Saturday before Justice F.M. Vance, but for different reasons all were continued.
Peace and quietude now reigns in this part of the Guyan Valley, and in order to perpetuate the same Hon. Geo. H. Thomas, our good citizen and successful timber merchant is preparing to hoist a magnificent white flag over his place of business.
F.B. Adkins, one of our popular school teachers, is home from Ripley, where he has been attending school.
Misses Lottie and Maggie Lucas, popular young teachers of this place, left last Friday for Hamlin where they expect to attend the Normal.
A.G. Adkins, our efficient road supervisor is doing quite a lot of work on the roads, which is needed as a result of damage done by the recent high waters. He uses good judgment in overseeing the work.
Mr. and Mrs. K.S. Ferrell are having quite a lot of work done on their farms. They also enjoy a lucrative trade in the mercantile business.
D.C. Fry, who was shot by Chilton Abbott about two weeks ago has sufficiently recovered as to be out on business.
B.W. Walker, of this place, was at Toney last Saturday on important business.
Several people from here attended church at Atenville last Sunday.
01 Sunday Jun 2014
Posted in Ferrellsburg, Green Shoal, Leet, Logan, Rector, Toney
Tags
Bernie Brumfield, Blackburn Lucas, Blue Creek, Bull Moose Party, Coonie Lambert, Dollie Toney, Elizabeth Lucas, Ferrellsburg, Fisher B. Adkins, genealogy, George H. Thomas, Green Shoal School, history, Irvin Cooney Lambert, Jerry Lambert, Lee Toney, Leet, Lincoln County, Lincoln Republican, Logan, Lottie Lucas, Matewan, Midkiff, Minnie Lambert, Mollie Adkins, Pinch, Rector, Toney, Tucker Fry, West Virginia
“Progressive,” a local correspondent from Toney in Lincoln County, West Virginia, offered the following items, written on October 15, which the Lincoln Republican printed on Friday, October 24, 1912:
Making molasses is the order of the day.
D.C. Fry has returned home from Matewan where he has employment.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Capt. Hill a bouncing girl baby.
Misses Lottie Lucas and Mollie Adkins, of Midkiff, was the guest of the former’s parents Saturday and Sunday.
Geo. H. Thomas, of Ferrellsburg, is making quite a boost for the Progressive party in this vicinity.
Coonie Lambert, of Leet, was greeting friends in this vicinity Sunday, and his broken leg is improving nicely, an injury which he received while working at Blue Creek some time ago.
Burnie Fry is back from Pinch, W.Va., where he has employment.
Toney Lodge No. 7 gave quite an entertainment at the Greenshoal school house Sunday to a large audience.
Jerry Lambert and wife visited Mrs. Minnie Lambert last week.
Mrs. Baisden, who has been sick for some time, is improving.
G.C. Fry and family, of Logan, are visiting home folks this week.
Miss Dollie Toney and F.B. Adkins visited Miss Lottie Lucas Sunday.
Lee Toney, the Bull Moose republican of Rector, was seen on our streets Sunday.
18 Sunday May 2014
Posted in Big Creek, Ferrellsburg, Fourteen, Leet, Sand Creek, Toney
Tags
Anna Laura Lucas, Big Creek, Blackburn Lucas, Catherine Toney, Clerk Lucas, Ed Reynolds, Elizabeth Lucas, farming, Ferrellsburg, Fourteen, genealogy, Georgia Stowers, Hazel Toney, history, Huntington, Isaac Marion Nelson, Jessie Lucas, John Sias, Leet, Lincoln County, Lincoln Republican, Low Gap United Baptist Church, Marie Lucas, Rachel Fry, Republican, Sand Creek, Sarah Workman, Susan Brumfield, Toney, Tucker Fry, W.W. Lucas, Walt Stowers, Ward Lucas, West Virginia, Wilburn Adkins
“Bess,” a local correspondent from Toney in Lincoln County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Lincoln Republican printed on Thursday, May 23, 1912:
The farmers are all glad to see this fine weather. They are all busy planting corn and hoeing potatoes.
Clerk Lucas attended the Republican Convention at Huntington last Wednesday and Thursday. He reports an interesting time.
D.C. Fry spent Saturday and Sunday with his family here.
Some of our people attended church at Low Gap Sunday and heard an interesting sermon delivered by Rev. Nelson.
Mr. and Mrs. B.B. Lucas had as guests Sunday J.W. Stowers and wife, of Ferrellsburg, W.W. Lucas and wife, E.W. Lucas and wife, of Big Creek, and John Sias of Fourteen.
Mrs. Sarah Workman was shopping in Ferrellsburg Saturday.
Mrs. B.D. Toney and granddaughter, Hazel, were visiting on Green Shoal Sunday.
Ed. Reynolds, a hustling republican of Leet, was in our midst Sunday.
Mrs. Rachel Fry is visiting her mother near Leet.
Wilburn Adkins, of this town, was visiting relatives near Sand Creek last week.
Little Marie Lucas is on the sick list this week.
06 Tuesday May 2014
Posted in Barboursville, Ferrellsburg, Green Shoal, Toney
Tags
Anna Davis, Anthony Fry, Barboursville, Catherine Toney, Clerk Lucas, Cleve Fry, Foley, genealogy, George Thomas, Green Shoal, history, Huntington, Jane Lucas, Lincoln County, Lincoln Republican, Lizzie Fry, Logan County, Low Gap, Rachel Fry, Republican, Toney, Tucker Fry, Watson Lucas, Wealtha Bryant, West Virginia
“Bess,” a local correspondent from Toney in Lincoln County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Lincoln Republican printed on Thursday, May 2, 1912:
We are having a great deal of rain at present, to the sad disappointment of the farmers.
A number of our people attended church at Low Gap Sunday. Anthony Fry received immersion in the Christian church. May the dear Brother be faithful in his work recently begun.
Watson Lucas and bride of a few days, have gone to house keeping. We wish them all good luck through this life.
Cleve Fry, wife and children, of Foley, Logan county, were visiting their parents, Mr. and Mrs. D.C. Fry, Sunday.
Mrs. B.D. Toney was calling on friends on Green Shoals Monday.
There was a Republican rally at Low Gap on last Wednesday. The hurrah for Roosevelt was heard above all other candidates.
Clerk Lucas and George Thomas were appointed delegates to attend the convention to be held in Huntington, May 15.
Miss Wiltha Bryant, a popular young lady of Barboursville was visiting her sister, Mrs. T.B. Davis of this town.
18 Friday Apr 2014
Posted in Big Creek, Big Harts Creek, Big Ugly Creek, Ferrellsburg, Toney
Tags
Big Creek, Brooke Adkins, Delia Adkins, Dollie Toney, Edna Brumfield, education, Ferrellsburg, genealogy, Guyan Valley Railroad, history, Irvin Workman, James Brumfield, Leet, Letilla Brumfield, Lincoln County, Lincoln Republican, Logan County, Lottie Lucas, Maggie Lucas, Melvin Kirk, Piney, Toney, Tucker Fry, West Virginia
“Violet,” a local correspondent from Toney in Lincoln County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Lincoln Republican printed on Thursday, March 2, 1911:
As “Ding Dong” seems to be silent of late, thought I would write you a few items from this place.
We are having pleasant weather and welcome it too.
Mrs. Brooke Adkins has returned to her school at Leet after a week’s absence.
Ervin Workman attended the burial of Melve Kirk of Piney last Sunday.
A number of our young men attended a very interesting meeting at Big Creek, Logan county on last Sunday.
A large quantity of ties are being shipped from this place.
Miss Dollie Toney closed a successful term of school at Big Creek on last Thursday.
Miss Lottie Lucas spent last week the guest of friends on Big Creek.
Mr. D.C. Fry returned home last Saturday from a business trip down the G.V. Railroad.
Some of our farmers say they are not going to try and raise tobacco this year, as they had hard luck with their crops last year.
Mr. and Mrs. Jas. Brumfield and Mrs. B.B. Lucas visited the latter’s sister Sunday.
Miss Delia Adkins spent Saturday night at her grandpa’s near Ferrellsburg.
Little Edna Brumfield was visiting Maggie Lucas Sunday.
09 Wednesday Apr 2014
Tags
Bessie Gill, Blackburn Lucas, Clerk Lucas, Ed Reynolds, farming, Fay Gill, genealogy, Gill, Hamlin, history, Leet, life, Lincoln County, Matthew Farley, Norfolk and Western Railroad, Pumpkin Center, Rector, Republican, Toney, Tucker Fry, West Virginia, Wilburn Adkins, Zattoo Cummings
“Ruben,” a local correspondent at Toney in Lincoln County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Lincoln Republican printed on Thursday, October 13, 1910:
Farmers are nearly finished saving their corn and tobacco.
A large crowd of people from different sections attended the funeral of Mr. Adkins on last Sunday. Dinner was served on the ground.
D.C. Fry has just returned from a business trip up the N. & W. Railroad.
Misses Fay and Bessie Gill, from Gill, were visiting at B.B. Lucas’ Saturday and Sunday.
A number of our young people attend the closing of a very successful singing school at Rector, taught by Zatto Cummings.
Wilburn Adkins has purchased a Camera.
Ed. Reynolds, a jovial republican of Leet, spent Sunday with friends in our midst.
Owing to the scarcity of mills, B.B. Lucas is working night and day trying to save the cane crop in this section.
M.C. Farley has just returned from the County Seat.
Clerk Lucas has just returned from “Pumpkin Center” and reports a delightful time.
23 Sunday Feb 2014
Posted in Culture of Honor, Ed Haley, Lincoln County Feud
Tags
Al Brumfield, Billy Adkins, Brandon Kirk, crime, feud, Green McCoy, Green Shoal, history, Milt Haley, Opal Brumfield, Paris Brumfield, Rome Lambert, Stella Abbott, Tucker Fry, Wayne Brumfield, West Virginia, writing
A little later, Brandon and Billy visited Wayne Brumfield at Douglas Branch in Ferrellsburg. Wayne was born in 1926 and is the great-grandson of Paris Brumfield. As expected, Wayne and his wife Opal knew the general story of the Haley-McCoy killings. Wayne said the whole trouble was over someone losing timber but he never heard of anyone named John Runyon or Ben Adams. He said Tucker Fry and Rome Lambert — two residents of Green Shoal who (Brandon discovered) were married to Al Brumfield’s first cousins — supposedly participated in the Brumfield mob. According to Opal, Milt or Green said to the other, “Eat plenty ’cause it’ll be our last meal.” She also remembered hearing that Stella Mullins cooked their dinner, that a pistol was used to kill them, that someone hid under a bed and that chickens pecked at their brains in the yard. Wayne said people were afraid to touch Haley and McCoy’s bodies.
28 Thursday Nov 2013
Posted in Ed Haley
Tags
Al Brumfield, Andy Thompson, Baptist Fry, Bill Brumfield, Dick Thompson, Ed Haley, George Fry, Green Shoal, history, logging, Millard Adams, Tucker Fry, writing
Brandon kept me up to date on his research by writing me incredibly detailed letters. I was becoming a fan of his writing style. In one letter, he identified the “murder house” where Green McCoy and Milt Haley were killed at Green Shoal.
“As you might recall, when we were trying to locate the George Fry home at Green Shoal, old-timers kept mentioning the homes of Tucker Fry and Baptist Fry as well. To avoid any confusion, I want to clarify so that you might keep the three names and the two houses straight. Baptist Fry was an uncle to George Fry. (His wife, Marinda, was the mother of Ben Walker, who helped bury Haley and McCoy.) Baptist’s home stood against the mountain at Fry across Route 10 where a maroon and white house stands today. When he died in 1881, it passed into the hands of his son Tucker Fry, who lived there with his wife and two children in 1889. The George Fry home — the one where Milt and Green were killed by most accounts — stood across present-day Route 10 and just upriver where Lonnie Lambert’s house is today.”
In another package, Brandon sent this scrap of information from the Doris Miller Papers at the Morrow Library in Huntington, West Virginia. “Al Brumfield — Harts,” it read. “Hollena. Logging people. — tied up logs. Kept overnight. Washed and ironed clothes. They went out and broke off tops of winter onions as they went thru garden to creek.”
Brandon also visited Dick Thompson at Thompson Branch of Harts Creek. Dick was a first cousin to Lawrence Kirk and a grandson to Bill Brumfield. He killed a man back in the early ’30s and served time in the state penitentiary. Dick welcomed Brandon into his home, which, incidentally was just down the hill from the site of the 1889 ambush of Al Brumfield.
Every six months or so, Dick said, Ed Haley and his family came to Harts by train. Not long after they arrived in Harts, somebody would haul them up the creek where they stayed all over. Everyone knew Ed, Dick said, and he “had some of the finest boys you ever seen.” He stayed with Dick’s father Andy Thompson and his grandfather Brumfield, two local moonshiners in the Cole Branch area of Harts Creek. (This was an interesting revelation, of course, because it meant that Ed, son of Milt Haley, visited with Bill, son of Paris Brumfield.)
Dick said Ed “could play anything on that fiddle” but he only remembered “Old Dan Tucker”. Ed used to tell a story about how he’d never stay at Old Dan Tucker’s again because he had to sleep in a feather bed that threw him to the floor. Dick said Ed played a lot in taverns with Bernie Adams, an excellent guitar player. Sometimes they made up to one hundred dollars a night. Ed played periodically in Dick’s tavern on Harts Creek. One night, around 1936-37, Dick closed up and took several men (including Ed) to a tavern in the head of nearby Crawley Creek. A little later, Ed got into it with Millard Adams and hit him over the head with his fiddle. (Another variation of the “fiddle over the head story…” Sol Bumgarner had told me that Ed did that to a Stollings, while Dave Brumfield implied that it happened around 1945, not in the late ’30s. Maybe Ed was just fond of using his fiddle as a weapon in fights.)
16 Saturday Nov 2013
Posted in Ed Haley
Tags
Big Ugly Creek, Bill Duty, Billy Adkins, Ed Haley, Green McCoy, history, John E. Fry, Maude Duty, Milt Haley, Tucker Fry, writing
After visiting with Ida, Billy directed us to Maude Duty, who lived on Big Ugly Creek. Born in 1905, Maude was a daughter of John E. Fry, a longtime justice-of-the-peace in the district, and a niece to Tucker Fry, one-time occupant of the “murder house.” At the time of our visit, Maude was bed-fast, physically feeble, and near death. She hadn’t seen Billy for a few years but soon remembered him and began to whisper answers to his questions concerning the murder house and her husband’s family, the Dutys. She agreed with Billy that the murder of Milt and Green had taken place at her Uncle Tucker’s house at the mouth of Green Shoal. She didn’t know anything about Milt living with Bill Duty but remembered that Ed Haley visited him fairly often on Broad Branch. She said she used to dance to his fiddling when he came to her father’s home.
It was a small but crucial bit of information indicating a strong connection between Ed, Milt, and the Duty family that went beyond the 1870 census.
11 Monday Nov 2013
Posted in Ed Haley
Tags
Appalachia, Bill Adkins, Dood Dalton, Doran Lambert, Ed Haley, feud, Green Shoal, Harts, history, Ida Taylor, Jim Brumfield, Tucker Fry, writing
Early the next day, Brandon and I met Billy at his home, with plans to go see the site of the “murder house” at Green Shoal. We found his father, Bill, Sr., seated in a wooden rocking chair very much “in his own world.” He’d been born in 1906, making him one of the oldest citizens living in Harts. Curious, I got my fiddle out and played a few tunes for him. The old gentleman just stared at me like I was crazy. He never said a word. Billy told him we were interested in Ed Haley’s life and he surprised us all when he said Ed used to stay with his father for two or three days at a time. Oh yeah, he said…Ed even slept in the same bed with him and his brothers, who were children at the time. Wow! Bill said Haley was a very serious guy (“not carrying on much”) and had a reputation for being “bad to fight.” He often got with a local fiddler named Dood Dalton and played all night for a house full of people at the Adkins home. Bill also remembered him playing in front of the old Adkins Store/Harts Post Office around 1916 when it faced the railroad tracks. All he could recall about Ed’s technique was that he tapped his feet and pulled a long, smooth bow.
After talking with Bill, Billy, Brandon, and I drove out of Harts Bottom onto Route 10 past the old Adkins store and on up the road to Green Shoal. At that location, standing in a little drizzle, we surveyed the possible sites of the murder house. Suddenly, an older man Brandon and Billy recognized as Doran Lambert came walking down to where we stood on the railroad tracks. A descendant of Paris Brumfield, he lived where the Tucker Fry home stood in 1889. Doran said the murders didn’t happen at Tucker’s place, as Billy thought, but at the present-day location of his father’s garage just up the river between the Guyan River and the C&O Railroad.
We asked Doran more about the Haley-McCoy killings. He said his aunt Ida Taylor, who lived just up Green Shoal, could tell us all about it. A niece to Al Brumfield, her father Jim was Paris’ youngest son. We decided right away to try and see her.
06 Wednesday Nov 2013
Posted in Ed Haley
Tags
Angeline Lucas, Billy Adkins, Boney Lucas, Don Morris, feud, Green McCoy, Harkins Fry, history, Imogene Haley, Milt Haley, music, Paris Brumfield, Sherman McCoy, Spicie McCoy, Tucker Fry, Vinnie Workman, writing
I said, “That’s the very same story that Ed Haley’s people told. They would have just as much shame about the incident as Ed Haley’s folks. I wonder if Spicie and Emma got together and got their stories straight before they went their separate ways? I wonder if Spicie knew Emma Jean?”
Billy said, “Grandmaw I believe said them women come over that night and begged for them men — for them not to kill them. She said her mother was telling her about it. Her mother was the Fry where they lived at there. They wouldn’t listen to them. Now I don’t know if that’s true or not. That’s just what was passed down to her. Now I’ll tell you, that table had bullet holes in it.”
Oh, yeah…the table where Milt and Green ate their final meal. Brandon asked Billy who had it last and he said, “My grandmother, Vinnie Workman. I don’t know whether I can remember it or if I was just told about it.”
I told Billy that it sure would be nice to find that table, so he called up his Aunt Don Morris, who had eaten many meals on it as a child. When he got off the telephone, he confirmed, “The table they had their last meal in ended up with my Grandmother Vinnie (Thompson) Workman. And there were bullet holes in the table. Of course my aunt wasn’t there, but she said she can verify there was bullet holes in the table under the bottom of it — not on the top of it. You know, how side pieces are on a table. But when they’d be under the table as kids playing under the table, they’d see the bullet holes. She doesn’t know where the table is.”
And why did Vinnie end up with the table?
“I don’t know,” Billy said. “Uncle Tucker Fry, the one that owned the house where they was killed at, was my grandmother’s uncle. He may have just give the table to her. They was just probably getting rid of it and she took it.”
After thinking about it for a while, Billy said the table might be stored in his parents’ abandoned house next door. We walked over to the dark house and searched in vain.
Back at Billy’s, we returned to the family histories. I noticed there seemed to be a great deal of musical talent in Green and Spicie McCoy’s family. The Fry history referred to Spicie as a “well-known quartet singer” and featured a photograph of her in a quartet with her son, guitarist Sherman McCoy, and her grandsons, Charles and Raymond McCoy. Whether their talent came from Spicie or Green (or both) I didn’t know, but I took note of the fact that some of the children by Spicie’s second husband were also musical. According to Adkins, Harkins Fry of Huntington was a “song writer and publisher, and music teacher.”
My head was filled with images of Milt, Green and Spicie playing dances around Harts.
There was another surprise: according to the Adkins book, Spicie’s sister Angeline married Monteville “Mounty P.” Lucas (a brother to Mrs. George Fry) – a.k.a. “Boney Lucas.” Boney, then, was a brother-in-law to Green McCoy — making his death closely connected to the troubles of 1889. He and Angeline had several children: Eliza Lucas (1877), Julie A. Lucas (1879), Millard Fillmore Lucas (1880-1971), Blackburn Lucas (1882-1946), Ruth “Spicey Jane” Lucas (1883-1971), Taylor Lucas (1889-1966) and Wilda Lucas, born in 1891. Boney died around 1891, according to the Adkins history, when the “Brumfield brothers killed him by cutting his throat while Angeline watched.” According to Billy’s notes, Boney was “killed by Paris Brumfield while he was running from Paris.”
Writings from my travels and experiences. High and fine literature is wine, and mine is only water; but everybody likes water. Mark Twain
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Genealogy and History in North Carolina and Beyond
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Brandon Ray Kirk 