• 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: writers

Image

Poem: “Old Abraham” (1996)

05 Monday Dec 2022

Tags

Appalachia, Barboursville, Bill Herndon, Cabell County, civil war, Huntington, Main Street, Maurice E. Beckett, Morris Harvey College, Old Abraham, poems, poet, poetry, Tanyard Branch, Union Cavalry, West Virginia, writers

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk | Filed under Barboursville, Civil War, Poetry

≈ Leave a comment

The Rainbow End: A Poem (1928)

30 Monday May 2022

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Poetry

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Appalachia, Fred Durham, Logan, Logan Banner, poem, poems, poetry, poets, The Rainbow End, West Virginia, writers, writing

The following poem appeared in the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, on August 7, 1928. The author was Fred Durham, address unknown.

THE RAINBOW END

At the end of every rainbow,

So we always have been told,

If we find its termination

Sits a pot of virgin gold.

There are those who take it serious

And their entire talent bend

To a lifelong ceaseless searching

For the fleeting rainbow end.

Some are harmless near Micawbers.

Some of lawless dangerous trend.

But they all have one objective

The entrancing rainbow’s end.

Some there are who hear the story

With a tolerant knowing smile,

Knowing that these little stories

Help to make life more worthwhile.

And to them life in its fullness

Will an untold blessing lend

They seek not but find contentment

At the phantom rainbow end.

***

This poem was brought to The Banner office last week either by the author or some one else who deemed it worth publishing. The editor, though knowing little indeed of the technique of versification, thinks it meritorious in several essential respects.

Just Wondering: A Poem (1927)

30 Friday Apr 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Guyandotte River, Logan, Poetry

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Appalachia, Guyandotte River, Logan, Logan County, poems, poetry, T.C. Whited, West Virginia, writers, writing

T.C. Whited was one of the more popular citizens in the history of Logan, WV. This poem was found taped inside of Trust Deed Book B at the Logan County Courthouse.

The Hopemont Blues: A Poem (1922)

11 Thursday Mar 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan, Poetry, Women's History

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Appalachia, Hopemont, Logan, Logan Banner, poems, poetry, Sally Godbey, Terra Alta, tuberculosis, West Virginia, writers, writing

The following poem appeared in the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, on July 7, 1922. The author was Sally Godbey, who gave her address as the “State T.B. Sanitarium, Hopemont, Terra Alta, W.Va.”

THE HOPEMONT BLUES

When the golden sun is sinking

Behind the hills of old Hopemont,

When of home and friends I’m thinking

That “what-might-have-been” is not.

When the night birds’ soft notes falling,

Melodies sweet float on the air,

Then my thoughts go back to Logan,

And the friends that I left there.

When the sighing night-winds moaning,

Groaning through the old oak trees

and the strain of “Home Sweet Home”

Carry softly on the breeze,

Then is when my thoughts go roaming,

Filled with memories old and new

Days of gladness, days of sadness,

Nights so happy, nights so blue.

Though there’s many miles between us,

Little town I love you yet,

And I long to hurry back,

For I’m homesick and regret

That I ever left you Logan,

But I had to, so they say.

I’m lonesome for the old home town,

And I’m coming back some day,

They say that you are a dull little town,

They spell it with a capital D.

They wish that they could get away,

But you are all the world to me,

And though the world is a very big place

My home has always been with you.

And I find you quite a nice little town,

With friends both kind and true.

The Banner prefaced the poem with this: “The Logan Banner is the recipient of a constant chain of poems which would fill our columns if we even dared to publish them. People will never learn that poets are born, not made. However, we have just received one which is from a former Logan girl and now a patient at Hopemont. we are pleased to give this publicity and for genuine beauty of expression and sentiment it far excels many of those we see in the public print today. The author is Miss Sally Godbey and she calls the poem “The Hopemont Blues.” We will refrain from further comments but pass the beatufiul lines on to our readers with the request that they write Miss Godbey, care of State T.B. Sanitarium, at Hopemont, W.Va. and tell her what they think of her literary ability.”

Dug and Dad: A Poem (1928)

09 Wednesday Dec 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan, Poetry

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Appalachia, Dug and Dad, justice of the peace, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, poetry, poets, Thomas C. Whited, West Virginia, writers

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this poem by T.C. Whited titled “Dug and Dad”, written on May 30, 1928, and published on June 5, 1928:

DUG AND DAD

The voting now is over,

And I am rather glad

As we will have for J’s and P’s

Our good old “Dug and Dad.”

The other boys were good old “scouts”

Not one of them is bad,

But did not have the pull it seems

Like “Uncles Dug and Dad.”

If we don’t be more careful

Our days will be long and sad

As we pull the time and pay the fine

As fixed by “Dug and Dad.”

The Wanderer: A Poem (1928)

16 Friday Oct 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Man, Poetry

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Appalachia, Harry Durham, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, poems, poet, poetry, Taplin, West Virginia, writers, writing

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this poem written by Harry Durham of Taplin titled “The Wanderer,” published November 20, 1928:

THE WANDERER

I have been in sunny Italy.

I have been in flowery France.

I have seen the silvery moonbeams

On the Alpine mountains dance.

I have been in quaint old China.

I have trod Great Britain’s land.

I have seen the heat elfs dancing

On Sahara’s burning sand.

I have rode the rattling rikas

Thru far Yokohama’s street.

I’ve eaten in snow-clad Igloos

Strips of frozen walrus meat.

I have sailed the broad Atlantic.

I have whaled in Arctic ice.

Steered a bastard thru Magellan.

Rounded bleak Cape Horn twice.

And the wanderlust keepings calling,

Mocking, just around the bend,

Leering me by empty promise

To a homeless, friendless end.

But its call is fainter growing

And its beck no longer thrills

For I’ve found a golden milestone

In the West Virginia hills.

For no matter where I’ve wandered

On a vain and empty quest,

I have left my heart behind me

In the land I love the best.

And when I sign articles

On that last and endless trip,

Let me sail thru-out the ages

On this rugged square rigged ship.

For I ask no sweeter nectar

Than to quaff its crystal rills.

For I’ve known a golden milestone

In the West Virginia hills.

Faithful Rover: A Poem (1915)

09 Friday Oct 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan, Poetry

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Appalachia, hunting, Logan, Logan Democrat, poet, poetry, poets, West Virginia, writers, writing

From the Logan Democrat of Logan, WV, comes this poem written by J. Rush Cook titled “Faithful Rover,” published January 21, 1915:

FAITHFUL ROVER

Old Rover was a faithful dog,

He stuck through thick and thin;

With me he crossed a thousand logs,

We’ve waded a hundred bogs

With the mud up to his chin.

We’ve hunted together, day and night,

He’s treed ten thousand mice;

He never retreated in a fight

Whether in darkness or in light,

And never barked but thrice.

One on the scent, one at the tree–

His gait was swift and strong;

Third, a long–that was for me,

Where e’er I might be,

To hustle and hurry along.

And when I’d reach the long sought spot,

Always on top of the hill,

A lookin’ wise there Rover sot,

Jump up and round he’d hop–

Could never keep him still.

And then, of course, the tree I’d cut

Old Rover sitting night;

Perhaps three, four feet at the butt

Pretty hard to crack such a nut!

But I did it without a sigh.

Down in the top old Rover would go,

To catch the game, you see;

But always in the tree below,

Old Rover would try to show,

Was the game for him and me.

With this repeated till at the foot,

He’d start up t’other side,

And then to me it began to look

As plain as an open book,

That Rover had surely lied.

I don’t think he meant to lie,

His guilt I could not own;

But in his eagerness to try

He always looked too high,

As others I have known.

Old Rover was built for strength,

Was deep across the chest–

His hips didn’t lack for breadth,

Neither his legs for length–

‘Tis needless to tell the rest.

He had a curl in his tail

As nearly all dogs do,

But he straightened it out on the trail–

It might hook on a briar or rail

And get to bleeding, too.

The scent of the game be lost–

The smell of blood is strong,

This he knew at any cost,

If this trail he happened to cross

The game would surely be gone.

Old Rover has passed away

To the happy hunting ground;

And there I hope he’ll stay

And tree his game each day,

And do his own cutting down.

Perception: A Poem (1915)

03 Friday Apr 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan, Poetry

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Appalachia, J. Rush Cook, Logan, Logan Democrat, poems, poetry, poets, West Virginia, writers

From the Logan Democrat of Logan, WV, comes this poem written by J. Rush Cook titled “Perception,” published January 7, 1915:

PERCEPTION

I have seen the rosebuds blowing

In the springtime’s early morn;

The shining dewdrops showing

On the petals newly born.

I have heard the happy bird’s song,

Wafted from the leafy bowers;

I have felt the heart beat strong

As I gazed at bird and flower.

I have seen a grander vision

Than dewdrops on the flowers;

A sweeter song to me is given

Than was wafted from the bowers.

‘Tis a vision of the feature,

When right o’er wrong prevails;

When man, the noblest creature,

No longer each assail.

‘Tis a song of love and duty,

‘Neath a bright or frowning sky;

Like the rainbow in its beauty

And its promise, by and by!

Logan: A Poem (1923)

08 Sunday Mar 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Coal, Guyandotte River, Logan, Poetry

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Appalachia, Don Chafin, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan Wildcats, Mine Wars, New York City, O. Benton, poems, poetry, West Virginia, writers, writing

This poem was written by O. Benton and dedicated to Don Chafin, “a true son of Logan.” The poem relates to the Mine Wars, or as it was called by the Logan Banner, the “armed march.”

There’s a land of “Love thy brother”

By the sky-blue Guyandotte

Where the folks love one another,

And I know God loves the spot.

For he built those mighty mountains

And he touched their tops with blue,

From their sides gush crystal fountains,

Just to quench the thirst of you.

Oaks and poplars, pines and hemlocks,

On the mountainsides they grew.

There’ll be no coal beneath the mountains

For a million years or two.

In this glorious land of blessings

Long before the railroad came

Lived the honest, fighting people

Who have brought the country fame.

Now there’s mines beneath those mountains

And there’s towns most everywhere,

But with all the wealth and greatness

Freedom reigns and all is fair.

Some may say, “You think there’s freedom,”

But I’m saying what I know.

I have crossed the rushing rivers,

I have tramped the mountain snow.

I have sweated ‘neath those mountains

Where the motors screech and hum.

I have worked upon the tipple

Worked with pick and shovel some.

And I swear by all above me

That a man may have his say.

He may tell of any grievance

Unmolested, go his way.

For there is no lack of freedom

When the Court-House clock looks down

On the men who love their neighbors

In the busy coal-gorged town.

When the men from New York City

Told us that they were not free,

It was something quite unheard of,

Something free men cannot see.

If our misinformed brothers

Wish to DO, and not to mock,

Let them stay within the cities

Where there’s Hell in every block.

Let them stay away from Logan,

Where a man can be a man.

Take your creeds and go to New York

Where their brothers understand.

For the famous “Logan Wildcats”

And the lads who fought the Hun,

They are tired of soap-box teachings

And have said there shall be none.

Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 29 June 1923

Home: A Poem (1915)

11 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Poetry, Wyoming County

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Appalachia, J. Rush Cook, Logan, Logan Democrat, poems, poetry, West Virginia, writers, writing

From the Logan Democrat of Logan, WV, comes this poem written by J. Rush Cook titled “Home,” published January 14, 1915:

HOME

Endearing words to us are given,

Endearing thoughts for us they hold.

All for which the heart has striven,

But none so dear to us as home.

When wearied with the cares of life,

With toil and labor, sorrows borne,

There comes a joy amidst the strife,

When e’re we think of home, sweet home.

Home replete with all its pleasure,

Be it a cot or palace grand;

Be it poor or rich in treasure,

‘Tis always home in every land.

If peace and love therein abide,

Reign supremely every hour.

In each heart in faith confides

Like a sweet, unfolding flower.

‘Tis the thought of home we cherish,

As we roam some distant land.

All else for us may perish,

But sweet home in childhood land.

Where dear mother led us gently

O’er the hills, through vale and field;

Where she sang to us so sweetly,

And in prayer so oft did kneel.

Where the songbirds ever singing,

‘Neath a blue sky with music ringing,

Where the hills with music ringing,

And the zephyrs blow at night.

This is home to us forever,

Home, with mother at our side.

Perhaps in thought when ties we sever,

And have crossed beyond the tide.

Appalachian Heritage Day in Logan, WV (2019)

04 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Civil War, Coal, Logan, Music, Native American History

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Albert Gallatin Jenkins Camp, Appalachia, Appalachian Heritage Day, archaeology, bluegrass, Buddy Griffin, Chuck Keeney, civil war, Craig Ferrell, fiddlers, fiddling, flintknapping, Glenville State College, Hatfield-McCoy CVB, history, Logan, Logan County, Logan County Commission, Mine Wars Museum, Native American History, photos, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Southern Coalition for the Arts, Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College, Vinny Mendez, West Virginia, West Virginia Archaeological Society, writers, writing

Appalachian Heritage Day occurred on August 25, 2019 in Logan, WV. The event featured authors, scholars, guest speakers, information tables, a genealogy workshop, a writers’ workshop, numerous old-time and bluegrass music workshops, and an all-day concert. Special thanks to the Logan County Commission, Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College, the Hatfield-McCoy CVB, and the Southern Coalition for the Arts for sponsoring the event. For more information, follow this link to the event website: https://appalachianheritageday.weebly.com/

Buddy Griffin with Bluegrass Music Workshop

Buddy Griffith, who helped develop the world’s first bluegrass music degree program at Glenville State College, hosted a bluegrass fiddle workshop. For more about this amazing artist, go here: http://www.wvculture.org/vandalia/award/2011Griffin.html

DSC_0803

Sons of Confederate Veterans, Albert G. Jenkins Camp, were on hand to educate attendants about Southern history. For more about this group and its activities, go here: https://www.herald-dispatch.com/features_entertainment/memorial-service-held-in-milton-for-confederate-soldier-lt-james/article_44e81ab0-c7a0-550d-af96-c972bf27ca9d.html

DSC_0807

The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum provided information about regional labor history. Dr. Charles Keeney (shown above), a history professor at Southern WV CTC, presented a lecture about heritage tourism. For more about the Mine Wars Museum, go here: https://www.wvminewars.com/

DSC_0818

Craig Ferrell, past president of the Kanawha Chapter of the West Virginia Archaeological Society, demonstrates flintknapping for Vinny Mendez, a local relic hunter who showcased his collection of Civil War artifacts. Craig presented a lecture titled “The Art of Flintknapping and Stone Tool Replication.”

Veola Ann Runyon: Authoress-Poet of Logan County (1922)

08 Tuesday Oct 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Ashland, Coal, Guyandotte River, Man, Poetry

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Appalachia, Ashland, author, authors, coal, Guyandotte Valley, history, Kentucky, Logan Banner, Logan County, physician, poems, poetry, Thomas Dunn English, Three Forks, Viola Ann Runyon, West Virginia, writers, writing

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history about Veola Ann Runyon, authoress-poet of Logan County. The story is dated January 13, 1922:

LOGAN COUNTY HAS AN AUTHORESS-POET

Mrs. Veola Ann Runyon, of Three Forks, Has Had Much of Her Work Published.

We never know in what nook or corner we may find unknown talent or beneath what bushel measure we may and a shining light unless, perchance, we may trip across a clue that may lead us to a welcome discovery. Such was the case with a representative of The Banner on a recent trip to Three Forks, when he fortunately learned of the presence there of Mrs. Veola Anne Runyon, a poet and talented writer of fact and fiction.

Mrs. Runyon was born in Ashland, Ky. Her grandfather was a French physician and author. From him she derived the gifted talent at at the early age of sixteen she began writing stories and for the past ten years she has been a regular contributor to several of the largest magazines of our country. She has in preparation at the present time a romance which will be happily connected with the coal mining industry, while she has in the hands of her publisher two other  books, one dealing with scientifical and botanical work and the other on entomological facts.

The story now in preparation will be eagerly sought by all readers in Logan County, due to the fact that part of the plot will be based upon knowledge gained within this county. Mrs. Runyon was requested by her publishers to write a story closely connected with the mining industry and so not knowing the details connected with the industry she came to Three Forks, and while stopping at the Club House there she is gathering facts that will prove invaluable in her latest work.

Mrs. Runyon is a gifted writer and is filled with the love of the work. She is also deeply interested in botanical work and the study of nature. Through persuasion we were able to secure some of her poems for publication in The Banner, and we are pleased to announce that arrangements have been made with her for regular contributions to the columns of this paper.

Her presence here will recall to mind another author who came to Logan County in years gone by. Dr. Thos. Dunn English recognized the beauty of these mountains and the nearness of true nature and came here during the period between 1850 and 1860. Some of his poems deal with life in the Guyan Valley.

With her ability and fluency of language, Mrs. Runyon should find in these grand majestic mountains and wonderful natural beauty an invaluable aid to inspiration that will enable her to complete a wonderful story that should attract the favorable attention of the most critical.

Note: I cannot locate any biographical information for this writer. Three Forks, according to one source, is also known as Saunders (Buffalo Creek).

Hindman Settlement School (2019)

04 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Music

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Ali Hintz, author, authors, Brandon Kirk, culture, Hindman, Hindman Settlement School, history, James Still, Kentucky, Knott County, music, Sam Gleaves, Uncle Sol's Cabin, writers

IMG_4701

Welcome to Hindman Settlement School! Hindman, Knott County, KY. 1 March 2019 For more information about the school, visit here: https://www.hindmansettlement.org/

IMG_4753

Uncle Sol’s Cabin. Hindman, Knott County, KY. Inside I met Ali Hintz, Community Agriculture VISTA. 1 March 2019 For more about Ali, go here: https://growappalachia.berea.edu/author/alihintz/

IMG_4752

Uncle Sol’s Cabin. Hindman, Knott County, KY. 1 March 2019

IMG_4754

Inside of Uncle Sol’s Cabin. Hindman, KY. Thanks to Sam Gleaves, Traditional Arts Director, for a quick tour. 1 March 2019 For more about Sam, go here: http://www.samgleaves.com/

IMG_4620

Inside of Uncle Sol’s Cabin. Hindman, KY. 1 March 2019

IMG_4692

James Still grave at Hindman Settlement School in Hindman, KY. 1 March 2019 Photo by Sam Gleaves. For more about James Still, go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Still

Loganite Author Returns to Laud Jail Conditions (1926)

06 Wednesday Feb 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

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

God’s Great Gift: A Poem (1927)

25 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Chapmanville, Poetry

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Appalachia, Chapmanville, Charles M. Gore, Christmas, Jesus, Logan Banner, Logan County, poems, poetry, West Virginia, writers, writing

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this poem by Charles M. Gore of Chapmanville printed on December 23, 1927:

GOD’S GREAT GIFT

Far away in a eastern country

About this time of year

There was an expectation ____

___ and fear.

The hope within her had been prompted

By a message she had received

From the messenger Angel Gabriel

And the message she truly believed.

That she and not another

In this sin cursed world below

Straight way would become a mother

Of a son whom men should know.

Knew him as a lowly Saviour

And not as a high browed king,

Know him through loving favors

And the peace and joy he’d bring.

Twas in the little town of Bethlehem,

Near two thousand years ago, Dec. 25th,

God set a new star in the firmament

Which was proof of his great gift.

His son was born, his angels sang

“Peace on earth, good will I bring”

The shepherds heard and the wise men there

Brought gifts of frankincense and myrrh.

They bestowed them on that little babe,

Who in the hay-filled manger laid

To show to the world that what they knew

Of the prophets’ word had sure come true.

Thomas Dunn English (1846-1861)

10 Sunday Jun 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan, Poetry

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

abolitionists, Appalachia, Aracoma, Ben Bolt, Bergen County, Columbian Fountain, Daily Dispatch, Democrat, Democratic Party, history, Logan, Logan County, Lucretia Mott, New Jersey, New York, New York Daily Tribune, poet, politics, Thomas Dunn English, U.S. Congress, Virginia, West Virginia, William and Mary College, writers

From various newspapers come these items relating to Thomas Dunn English, the famous poet who once lived in Logan County, (West) Virginia:

The Columbian Fountain (Washington, DC), 19 September 1846

Thomas Dunn English is to be the Democratic candidate for Congress in the fifth district, New York.

***

New York (NY) Daily Tribune, 27 December 1850

Doctor Thomas Dunn English will lecture concerning Hungarian matters on Sunday the 22d inst. and Lucretia Mott concerning Woman’s Rights upon the 29th of December, Sabbath evening.

***

Daily Dispatch (Richmond, VA), 29 July 1853

Dr. Thomas Dunn English is engaged in making geological exploration for some New York capitalists in Western Virginia.

***

Richmond (VA) Enquirer, 6 March 1855

We have seen the proof-sheets of a selection of the poems of Thomas Dunn English, the author of “Ben Bolt.” The same author is collating and arranging materials for an illustrated history of South-western Virginia.

***

Nashville (TN) Union and American via Richmond (VA) Enquirer, 6 September 1861

THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH MOBBED.–This gentleman was mobbed in Bergen county, New Jersey, on Friday, while on his way to speak at a peace meeting. He was severely maltreated by the Abolitionists, and, though he fought his way boldly, was with difficulty saved from assassination by the sheriff of the county. Dr. English resided in Logan county, Va., for several years. He represented Logan county in the legislature several years ago, and last year he delivered the poem at the commencement of William and Mary College. He is a genial poet and eloquent speaker. Since 1855 he has resided in New Jersey.

C. Russel Christian: The Irish Plowman (1887)

03 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan, Poetry, Wyoming County

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Appalachia, C. Russel Christian, Carl Christian, Huntington Advertiser, Kirbyville, Logan County, Marian Trent, Mick Hurley, Oceana, poems, poetry, The Irish Plowman, West Virginia, writers, writing, Wyoming County

C. Russell Christian (c.1861-1889) was a well known regional poet born in Logan County, WV. A son of B. and E. (White) Christian, he married Marian Trent, fathered at least one son (Carl), and died of typhoid fever at Kirbyville in Wyoming County, WV. He is buried in Oceana, WV.

THE IRISH PLOWMAN

One bright and balmy morn in May,

Ere the sun had kissed the dew,

Mick Hurley trudged the broad highway

In search of aught that he could do.

With heart so light and conscience free,

Each farmer he would ask:

“An’ have ye got a job for me,

No matter phwat the task.”

At last he met a farmer who

Did need a steady working man,

Who asked if he could farming do;

“Begorra,” said Mick, “you’re right I can.”

“Then hitch the horses right away–

You’ll find them in the barn–

The near one’s black, the off one gray–

And start to plowing corn.”

Though Mick spake up in accents bold

When the farmer asked the question fair,

He knew full well a lie he told,

For the beam he wot not from the share.

“Howly mother,” says Mick, “phwat’ll I do?

May the good St. Patrick now kape me from harm.

Begorra, but won’t the ould farmer look blue

When he sees Mick Hurley a-plowing his farm?”

But Mick made a start. In his throat was a lump.

He felt like a man just sentenced to death.

He hadn’t gone far when the plow struck a stump,

And heels over head went Mick, out of breath.

Ne’er daunted by fear, he tried it again.

“Be jabers,” says Mick, “I’m doing immense!”

But to steady the plow his trials were vain,

And each furrow resembled a crooked trail fence.

Old Sol had arisen quite high in the skies

When the farmer concluded to visit poor Mick:

But a glance at the field was such a surprise

That to look at the man you’d think he was sick.

“Stop! stop!” said the farmer, “or you surely will rue it;

To hold a plow with that team is nothing but play.”

“Howld it?” says Mick; “how the devil can I do it,

When two horses are trying to pull it away!”

Source: Huntington (WV) Advertiser, 9 July 1887.

C. Russel Christian: The Mountain Bard (1886-1887)

05 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Huntington, Logan, Poetry, Wyoming County

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Brick Pomeroy, C. Russel Christian, Carl Christian, Epistle to Jefferson Davis, Epistle to Useless Gibson, General Johnston and the Dude, Grover Cleveland, history, Huntington Advertiser, Kirbyville, Life and Adventures of Sam Jones, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Marian Trent, Milton Star, Mountain Bard, Oceana, poems, poetry, The Rebel Holiday, West Virginia, writers, writing, Wyoming County

C. Russell Christian (c.1861-1889) was a well known regional poet born in Logan County, WV. A son of B. and E. (White) Christian, he married Marian Trent, fathered at least one son (Carl), and died of typhoid fever at Kirbyville in Wyoming County, WV. He is buried in Oceana, WV.

C. Russel Christian Poet LB 05.13.1927 4

C. Russel Christian, Logan (WV) Banner, 13 May 1927.

C. Russel Christian has written a card denying that he is the author of an ode to Grover Cleveland which graced the columns of the Milton Star recently. We have not read the ode, but have no doubt that it is much better than the Mountain Bard’s “Epistle to Jefferson Davis.” It could not be much worse.

Source: Huntington (WV) Advertiser, 3 July 1886.

***

THE MOUNTAIN BARD ON THE WAR PATH.

The Mountain Bard has dedicated a poem to one of the editors of this paper and that unfortunate mortal confesses that he regards it as the most calamitous and disastrous thing that ever happened to him in the course of his existence. He does not pretend to understand such figures as “the angry bard for vengeance swarming far years,” and “spying a groveling farm along his path,” but supposes them to be esoteric. Here is the poem, in its naked sublimity, as it appeared in the Commercial last week:

THE CRITIC

WRITTEN FOR THE INSTRUCTION OF AND RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO EDITOR WIATT, OF THE HUNTINGTON (W.VA.) ADVERTISER, JULY, 1886.

BY C. RUSSEL CHRISTIAN

Author of “Epistle to Jeff Davis,” “Epistle to Useless Gibson,” “General Johnston and the Dude,” “The Rebel Holiday,” &c., &c.

When hungry critics quit their lawful prey,

And rise in arms where real Muses stray,

The faithless public greets with loud applause

The first attack–and then its aid withdraws!

Meanwhile, the Bard upon the scene appears–

The angry Bard, to vengeance swarm for years!

Along his path a groveling farm he spies,

And hurls the dart that rankles as it flies!

The stroke once o’er, the victor hides for shame,

And yields the vanquished half of all his fame.

So once a bull attacked a lightning train;

The world applauded, but applause was vain.

The cars, careering, darted o’er the line–

I’m glad Sir Bull was never bull of mine!

Source: Huntington (WV) Advertiser, 21 August 1886.

***

The many friends and admirers of C. Russel Christian will be pleased to learn that that brilliant poetic luminary will not go to North Dakota, as was recently reported, but will continue to lift the torch of poesy upon his native hills. Like the immortal Homer, the Mountain Bard is wandering from house to house–not the songs of love and war, but the praises of the “Life and Adventures of Sam Jones,” for which valuable and interesting book the bard is taking subscriptions. This work, which combines the spicy flavor of Brick Pomeroy’s Democrat with the dignity and humor of a patent medicine almanac, ought to be somewhere about the premises of every householder, and we hope that the bard will be abundantly successful in its distribution.

Source: Huntington (WV) Advertiser, 2 April 1887

***

We publish on the fourth page of this impression a job lot of the “Mountain Bard’s” poetry. This does not necessarily imply that we think the Bard is improving. We publish his poetry as the evidence of a witness of doubtful veracity is given to a jury–for what it is worth.

Source: Huntington (WV) Advertiser, 9 July 1887.

NOTE: To see Mr. Christian’s marriage record, follow this link: http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_view2.aspx?FilmNumber=571278&ImageNumber=41

NOTE: To see Mr. Christian’s death record, follow this link: http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_view2.aspx?FilmNumber=597573&ImageNumber=138

NOTE: To see Mr. Christian’s widow (a “washerwoman”) and son Carl in the 1900 Logan County (WV) Census, follow this link: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-68V3-3TX?i=11&wc=9BWW-L2W%3A1032173901%2C1030658301%2C1033170701%3Fcc%3D1325221&cc=1325221

NOTE: For samples of Mr. Christian’s poety, follow this link: https://archive.org/details/mountainbardseri00chri

Halloween Poem (1916)

31 Tuesday Oct 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Poetry, Women's History

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

C.C. Fraser, Christina Catherine Fraser, Fraser Tytler, Halloween, Huntington Advertiser, Mrs. Edward Liddell, poems, poetry, writers, writing

Halloween Poem HA 10.31.1916 1

Huntington (WV) Advertiser, 31 October 1916. For more about the author, follow this link: http://fannycornforth.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-other-fraser-tytler-girl.html

Halloween Poem HA 10.31.1916 2

Huntington (WV) Advertiser, 31 October 1916.

Thomas Dunn English and “Ben Bolt”

15 Saturday Jul 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Logan

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Appalachia, Ben Bolt, Fred B. Lambert, Huntington, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Marshall University, poems, poetry, Sam Miller, Thomas Dunn English, West Virginia, writers

Thomas Dunn English 6

Fred B. Lambert Papers, Special Collections Department, James E. Morrow Library, Marshall University, Huntington, WV.

Ben Bolt LB 9.25.03 2

Logan (WV) Banner, 25 September 1903.

Ben Bolt LB 9.25.03 3

Logan (WV) Banner, 25 September 1903.

← 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
  • Peach Creek
  • 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
  • Ashland (KY) Daily Independent News Article
  • Author FB page
  • Beckley (WV) Register-Herald News Article
  • Big Sandy News (KY) News Article
  • Blood in West Virginia FB
  • Blood in West Virginia order
  • Chapters TV Program
  • Facebook
  • Ghosts of Guyan
  • Herald-Dispatch News Article 1
  • Herald-Dispatch News Article 2
  • In Search of Ed Haley
  • Instagram
  • 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

  • Sheriff Joe D. Hatfield, Son of Devil Anse (1962)
  • The C&O Shops at Peach Creek, WV (1974)
  • Map: Southwestern West Virginia (1918-1919)

Ed Haley Poll 1

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

Top Posts & Pages

  • Anthony Lawson founds Lawsonville
  • Cain and Mariah (Vance) Adkins
  • Logan Memorial Park in McConnell, WV (1928, 2020)
  • Stone Mountain Coal Company Headhouse is Burned in Matewan, WV (1921)
  • Boling Baker and Princess Aracoma (1937)

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

  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • February 2022
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • 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 2,747 other subscribers

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

  • Follow Following
    • Brandon Ray Kirk
    • Join 749 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Brandon Ray Kirk
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...