08 Thursday Dec 2022
Posted in Atenville, Banco, Beech Creek, Big Creek, Big Harts Creek, Big Sandy Valley, Big Ugly Creek, Boone County, Breeden, Chapmanville, Clothier, Cove Gap, Crawley Creek, Dingess, Dunlow, East Lynn, Enslow, Ferrellsburg, Fourteen, Gilbert, Gill, Green Shoal, Guyandotte River, Halcyon, Hamlin, Harts, Holden, Kermit, Kiahsville, Kitchen, Leet, Little Harts Creek, Logan, Man, Matewan, Meador, Midkiff, Pecks Mill, Peter Creek, Queens Ridge, Ranger, Rector, Sand Creek, Spurlockville, Stiltner, Stone Branch, Toney, Twelve Pole Creek, Wayne, West Hamlin, Wewanta, Wharncliffe, Whirlwind, Williamson, Wyoming County, Yantus
Tags
Appalachia, Big Sandy River, Boone County, Guyandotte River, Hamlin, history, Lincoln County, Logan, Logan County, Madison, map, maps, McDowell County, Mingo County, Pineville, Polk's State Gazetteer and Business Directory, Tug Fork, Twelve Pole Creek, Wayne, Wayne County, Welch, West Virginia, Williamson, Wyoming County
04 Sunday Dec 2022
Posted in Logan, World War I, Wyoming County
Tags
A.J.S. England, Appalachia, Arline England, Athens, attorney, attorney general, Attorney Generals Association of the United States, Barbour County, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Charleston, Concord Normal College, Edward Theodore England, Francis M. England, Grand Chancellor, history, Huldah Lenburg, Huntingdon, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Jackson County, Junior Vice Grand Chancellor, Kiwanis Club, Knights of Pythias, Logan, Logan County, Louisiana, Loyal Order of the Moose, Majorie England, Mary Elizabeth England, masons, Methodist Church, minister, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Moulton, Oceana, politics, Post Office and Postal Committee, Republican Party, senator, Shriners, Southern Normal University, State Council of Defense, Tennessee, Thea Springs, U.S. Congress, West Virginia, World War I, Wyoming County
From West Virginians, published by the West Virginia Biographical Association in 1928, comes this profile of Congressman Edward Theodore England of Logan, WV:
Edward Theodore England, congressman from the sixth district of West Virginia, made a reputation, which finally took him to Congress through his singularly able and efficient administration as attorney general of the state, 1916-1924. Mr. England was born in Jackson County, W.Va., the son of A.J.S. and Mary Elizabeth (Welch) England. His father was a native of Barbour County, W.Va., and a minister in the Methodist Church. He spent a boyhood and youth of mingled labor and effort to advance and improve himself. His education was largely derived from the opportunities he created. He attended public schools, the Concord Normal at Athens, W.Va., graduating therefrom in 1892 and was also graduated with the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Law from the Southern Normal University, Huntingdon, Tenn. He began the practice of law at Oceana, then the county seat of Wyoming in the spring of 1899. From there, seeking a larger field for his activities, he removed to Logan, county seat of Logan County in 1901 and from that county, his abilities as a successful lawyer gained him recognition throughout the state. He served as mayor of Logan in 1903 and again in 1908 and in 1912 was elected to the state senate. He was a leader in that body for eight years and in 1915 was elected president of the senate, an office in which he represented West Virginia and presided over the first meeting of state lieutenant governors, held at Rhea Springs, Tennessee, in 1916. In 1916, Mr. England was elected on the state Republican ticket as attorney-general and in 1920 was re-elected by an increased majority. It was during his administration, that the Virginia-West Virginia debt settlement was negotiated and finally cleared up, Mr. England handing West Virginia’s interests in the affair. He also represented the state in the cases of Ohio and Pennsylvania vs. West Virginia, involving the constitutionality of an act passed by the West Virginia legislature affecting the transportation of gas out of the state. During his term as attorney general occurred the World War and there were many matters growing out of the war period that were assigned to his office. He was a member of the State Council of Defense and as a four-minute man, his services were enlisted as a speaker in war drives and campaigns. In 1923, Mr. England was elected president of the Attorney-Generals’ Association of the United States at a meeting in Minneapolis, Minn. He was a candidate for governor of the state in 1924, being defeated by a small majority, in the primary. He is known all over West Virginia as a loyal member of the Knights of Pythias. During 1920-21 he was Grand Chancellor of the state order and was also Junior Vice Grand Chancellor in 1923. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and Shriner, and is otherwise affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows., Elks, Loyal Order of Moose, and the Kiwanis club, of Charleston. He is also a member of the Methodist church. Mr. England was elected to Congress November 2, 1926, and has looked after the interests of the state faithfully. The sixth congressional district which he represents comprises the counties of Boone, Fayette, Greenbrier, Kanawha, Pocahontas and Raleigh, and in committee appointment he holds place on the Post Office and Postal Committee, being one of a fewto be honored with appointment to a major committee during first term. He was renominated without opposition in the Republican Primary in May, 1928. Mr. England was married to Huldah L. Lenburg, of Moulton, La., December 25, 1901. They have three children, Arline, Francis M. and Majorie England.
30 Saturday Oct 2021
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Logan, Matewan, Women's History
Tags
Appalachia, attorney, attorney general, Big Sandy River, Bill Smith, Cap Hatfield, Catlettsburg, Devil Anse Hatfield, feuds, genealogy, Georgia, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, history, Howard B. Lee, Huntington, Jim Comstock, Joe Glenn, Kentucky, Logan, Logan County, logging, Mate Creek, Matewan, Mingo County, Nancy E. Hatfield, Ohio, Ohio River, Portsmouth, Tennessee, timbering, Tug Fork, University Law School, Wayne County, West Virginia, Wyoming County
Howard B. Lee, former Attorney General of West Virginia, provided this account of Nancy Hatfield (widow of Cap) in the early 1970s:
“Mrs. Hatfield, we have talked much about an era that is gone. Feuds are ended, railroads and paved highways have come, the huge coal industry has developed, churches and schools are everywhere, and people are educated. Now, I would like to know something about you.”
This is the brief life-story of the remarkable and unforgettable Nancy Elizabeth Hatfield, as she related it to me.
She was Nancy Elizabeth Smith, called “Nan” by her family and friends, born in Wayne County, West Virginia, September 10, 1866. (She died August 24, 1942). In her early years, she lived “close enough to the Ohio River,” she said, “to see the big boats that brought people and goods up from below.” She attended a country school three months out of the year, and acquired the rudiments of a common school education, plus a yearning for wider knowledge.
While she was still a young girl her parents moved by push-boat up the Big Sandy and Tug rivers into what is now Mingo County, then Logan County. They settled in the wilderness on Mate Creek, near the site of the present town of Matewan.
“Why they made that move,” said Nancy Elizabeth, “I have never understood.”
In her new environment, in the summer of 1880, when she was 14 years old, Nancy Elizabeth married Joseph M. Glenn, an enterprising young adventurer from Georgia, who had established a store in the mountains, and floated rafts of black walnut logs, and other timber, down the Tug and Big Sandy rivers to the lumber mills of Catlettsburg, Ky., and Portsmouth, Ohio.
Two years after their marriage Glenn was waylaid and murdered by a former business associate, named Bill Smith–no relation to Nancy Elizabeth. Smith escaped into the wilderness and was never apprehended. The 16-year-old widow was left with a three-weeks old infant son, who grew into manhood and for years, that son, the late Joseph M. Glenn, was a leading lawyer in the city of Logan.
On October 11, 1883, a year after her husband’s death, at the age of 17, Nancy Elizabeth married the 19-year-old Cap Hatfield, second son of Devil Anse.
“He was the best looking young man in the settlement,” she proudly told me.
But at that time Cap had little to recommend him, except his good looks. He was born Feb. 6, 1864, during the Civil War, and grew up in a wild and lawless wilderness, where people were torn and divided by political and sectional hatreds and family feuds–a rugged, mountain land, without roads, schools, or churches.
When he married, Cap could neither read nor write, but he possessed the qualities necessary for survival in that turbulent time and place–he was “quick on the draw, and a dead shot.”
“When we were married, Cap was not a very good risk as a husband,” said Nancy Elizabeth. “The feud had been going on for a year, and he was already its most deadly killer. Kentucky had set a price on his head. But we were young, he was handsome, and I was deeply in love with him. Besides, he was the best shot on the border, and I was confident that he could take care of himself–and he did.”
Nancy Elizabeth taught her handsome husband to read and write, and imparted to him the meager learning she had acquired in the country school in Wayne County. But, more important, the she instilled into him her own hunger for knowledge.
Cap had a brilliant mind, and he set about to improve it. He and Nancy Elizabeth bought and read many books on history and biography, and they also subscribed for and read a number of the leading magazines of their day. In time they built up a small library or good books, which they read and studied along with their children.
At the urging of Nancy Elizabeth, Cap decided to study law, and enrolled at the University Law School at Huntington, Tennessee. But six months later, a renewal of the feud brought him back to the mountains. He never returned to law school, but continued his legal studies at home, and was admitted to the bar in Wyoming and Mingo counties. However, he never practiced the profession.
Nancy Elizabeth and Cap raised seven of their nine children, and Nancy’ss eyes grew moist as she talked of the sacrifices she and Cap had made that their children might obtain the education fate had denied to their parents. But her face glowed with a mother’s pride as she said:
“All our children are reasonably well educated. Three are college graduates, and the others attended college from one to three years. But, above everything else, they are all good and useful citizens.”
As I left the home of the remarkable and unforgettable Nancy Hatfield, I knew that I had been in the presence of a queenly woman–a real “Mountain Queen.”
Source: West Virginia Women (Richwood, WV: Jim Comstock, 1974), p. 153-154.
15 Tuesday Dec 2020
Posted in Coal, Guyandotte River, Wyoming County
Tags
Appalachia, coal, Elmore, Gulf Smokeless Coal Company, Guyandotte River, history, L.A. Anderson, Logan, Logan Banner, Mullens, Pineville, pollution, W.P. Tams Jr., West Virginia, Wyco, Wyoming County
From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, in a story dated May 22, 1925, comes this bit of history about pollution in the Guyandotte River:
Making Hard Drive To Remove Pollution From Guyan River
Game Protector L.A. Anderson, of Pineville, Wyoming county, under the supervision of the game and fish commission of West Virginia, arranged a number of parties before a local justice of the peace at Mullens, W.Va., the other day on charges of violation of the law against the pollution of streams.
It seems that a restaurant keeper, a tailor, a barber shop, a pool room, all of Mullens, had been guilty of throwing trash boxes and papers and refuse from the restaurant into the Guyan river at that point, but the chief point of interest to the coal industry was the arrest of the Gulf Smokeless Coal Company, operating at Wyco, a point above Mullens, on the Guyan river. At this operation a very modern plant for the cleaning of coal by the screen and air method has been installed and the particular charge against this coal company, which is one that affects the entire industry in Wyoming county, was that they were discharging coal laden water from the mines into the Guyan river.
Both Major W.P. Tams, Jr., president of the Gulf Smokeless Coal Company, and Superintendent Lynch were present at the trial of the case and paid the small nominal fine imposed, explaining to the court that at no time in the past had they been advised that they were violating any provision of the fish and game laws, and moreover, were not aware that they were doing so.
Officer Anderson also swore out a warrant against the Virginian Railway Company for polluting the water at Elmore, W.Va. by throwing cinders from shops and yards. By agreement of both parties the trial of this case was set forward a few days.
The final outcome of these cases will be watched with interest by the coal industry in Wyoming county. If the officials of that county are to construe the law as prohibiting the draining water from the mines in that section into the waters of the Guyan river, then the further development of that country should cease. It would be extremely difficult to interest capital in any form to invest in the mining business, which at best is beset with many difficulties, if it is made practically impossible to effect the drainage of the properties.
25 Saturday Apr 2020
Posted in Coal, Timber, Wyoming County
Tags
Appalachia, coal, history, Kopperston, logging, museums, Oceana, photos, Ritter, timber, timbering, West Virginia, Wyoming County, Wyoming County Museum
The Wyoming County Museum located in Oceana, WV, is one of the region’s best museums…and one of America’s greatest small town museums. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Here is a link to the museum website: https://wyomingcountymuseum.webs.com/
Top object: “Cross cut saw, 1938: This saw was used to cut the mine timber used to construct the Koppers mine in Kopperston, WV, in 1938.” Bottom object: “Antique plane, circa late 1890s to early 1900s: This plane, manufactured by the Chapin Stephens Co., was used to flatten and impact a smooth surface to a rough piece of lumber or timber.” 29 October 2019
Logging tools, including a chain dog. 29 October 2019
“Ritter railroad spike: Railroad spike from the old Ritter railroad which ran through Oceana and was used to transport timber.” 29 October 2019
29 October 2019
24 Friday Jan 2020
Posted in African American History, Civil War, Coal, Guyandotte River, Huntington, Logan, Man, Timber, Women's History, Wyoming County
Tags
African-Americans, Alfred Beckley, Anna Brooke Hinchman, Bruno, Buffalo City, civil war, Claypool, Clean Eagle Coal Company, coal, Combs Addition, Confederate Army, Cyclone, Cyclone Post Office, Davin, Elk Creek, Forkner, genealogy, Guyandotte River, history, Hollow A. Davin, Huntington, John L. Lewis, Lake Claypool, Laura Hinchman, Logan, Logan County, logging, Lorenzo Dow HInchman, Mallory, Man, Man High School, Morris Harvey College, Oceana, Paul Hinchman, Pete Toler, postmaster, rafting, Raleigh County, Rosa Hinchman, splash dams, timbering, Ulysses Hinchman, United Mine Workers of America, Vic McVey, Walter Hinchman, West Virginia, Woodrow Hinchman, Wyoming County
Laura C. Hinchman was born on March 22, 1919 to Walter and Anna Brooke (McVey) Hinchman at Mallory in Logan County, WV. She was an educator for over fifty years and was very active in civic affairs. For more information about her background, see her obituary at this location: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/140834185/laura-caryl-hinchman
The following interview of Ms. Hinchman was conducted on July 16, 1984. In this part of the interview, she discusses her ancestry, community history, timbering, and coal mining.
***
Miss Hinchman, how did your family first come to this area?
Well, when West Virginia was being settled, people who were willing to come here were given land grants by governors of Virginia over different periods of years. This property was given by the governor of the commonwealth of Virginia at that time, Governor Nicholson. It was given in 1815 to my great grandfather, Dr. Ulysses Hinchman, who was a member of the legislature. He had land holdings in Wyoming County, and he laid out the town of Oceana. He is recorded in a lot of the books of the history of Wyoming and Logan Counties. According to the West Virginia Blue Book, that is how Man got its name. At first it was called Buffalo City. Then they decided to change the name. They thought Hinchman was too long and there was already a place called Hinch, so they named it Man in honor of my great grandfather. Now, that’s according to the West Virginia Blue Book.
Do you remember what your grandparents were like?
Now, both my grandfather and grandmother Hinchman died before I was born, so I don’t remember either of them. At that time, this was all timber land. My grandfather Hinchman, whose name was Lorenzo Dow Hinchman, was a timberman. We have a lot of records here in the house where he kept books of how much he paid the men and how much he sold, and all that. After this was cleared, then, of course, it became farmland. Now, they had no way of getting the logs that were cut to a market. So down there just below Woodrow’s, and this happened several places, they built what was called splash dams. They made a dam and dammed the water up and filled it with logs. Then there would be a great big lot of excitement. Everybody would gather and they would tear the dam lose and let the logs float down to the Guyan River. There were men who went with them, I suppose on rafts, and rafted the logs together, and floated them down the Guyan River to the Guyandotte. Now, my mother’s father, who came from Raleigh County, was Uncle Vic McVey. Of course, I remember him well, he lived here with us until he died at the age of ninety-four. He was one of the men who followed floating those logs down the river, and then they would walk back from Huntington. They had places that they stayed on their way back. I don’t know how many days it took.
Now, my grandmother Hinchman was a Chambers, which is also one of the early settler families in this area. She was a schoolteacher. At that time, it was possible to teach school when you got through the eighth grade, you were given a certificate. All first teachers in the one room schools here were just graduates of the eight grade, because the high school at Man was not built until 1919 or 1920, and that’s all they had. Now some people taught after they finished the eighth grade, and then went on when it was possible. I have a cousin Lake Claypool–that’s another old family in this area for which Claypool is named–that she taught after she finished the eighth grade then she went on to Man and finished high school and then went to Morris Harvey. But all the older teachers were just eighth grade. There was a one room school down here at Claypool. There was a one room school up at Vance’s. There were several one room schools on Buffalo Creek. There was a one room school up–what’s that creek up Bruno called–Elk Creek. My grandmother was a teacher, but as I say, both died before I was ever born. Now then, this place was called Cyclone. This is where Cyclone was. My grandmother Hinchman kept the Cyclone Post Office here for forty years. After she passed away, my mother–she was a McVey–and she married my father, Walter Hinchman, in 1910, and came here. I had Aunt Rosa Hinchman, who had never married at that time, who helped her keep the post office. The mail was carried on horseback from Huntington and the West, came that way, and from Oceana, from that direction they carried it. The postmasters met here, and they ate dinner here every day. My mother–ever who all was here, and at that time, you never knew who might be there for dinner… But when this house was built, this part wasn’t part of it. The kitchen and the dining room were in separate buildings. Now, of course, in the south they had slaves and all, but I do recall their talking about on black man, by the name of Sam. I don’t remember much about him but that’s the only black person that they ever had here, you know, on the farm.
I do remember my granddad McVey quite well, and my great-grandfather came to Raleigh County with General Beckley and settled there. Then my mother’s grandfather was a Confederate soldier in the Civil War. His name was Zirkle, which is the German word for circle. He ran away from home during the Civil War and joined the Confederate Army. After the war he came here and settled. He also lived with us until he was in his nineties. But my mothers’ mother, my grandmother McVey, died when my mother was only, maybe two years old, so I never knew any of my real grandparents except, you know, my granddad McVey.
Were you born here, at this house?
I was born here on March 22, 1919. My father passed away in February of 1920 when I was eleven months old. There were three of us Hinchman children: Woodrow, Paul, and I was the youngest, of course. I don’t remember my father, but Woodrow does. Then my mother married Pete Toler when I was twenty-three months old, a year after my father died. I remember his as my real father because he reared me. He worked this farm and I remember the first time I called him Daddy, now I don’t know how old I was.
There was a mine at Davin that was first called Forkner, and it was changed to the name of Davin after Hollow A. Davin, a prominent man in Logan who probably owned the mine, and that started in 1923. Then the post office was taken up the creek and then we had a post office at Davin. Then my dad ran a coal cutting machine. Men took those jobs by contract and they were paid for the number of cars that they cut. They could work as many hours as they wanted. The men who loaded the coal–they may have loaded themselves, I don’t know–they loaded the coal into wooden cars. Now, in order to get credit of the coal car that they had loaded they had a–what was it called? Well, it was a little round piece of metal with a number on it that they hung on that coal car. The coal was hauled out of the mine by mule or ponies. There was a tipple and everything there at Davin. Then the Clean Eagle mine went in later, I don’t remember when, but my dad worked there, and he also worked at Mallory. But when we were children, we never saw our dad until the weekend because he went to work before daylight, before we ever thought of getting up and he never came in until after we had gone to bed. That sort of thing kept up with miners until John L. Lewis, you see, organized the union.
04 Tuesday Jun 2019
Posted in Wyoming County
Photograph dated May 5, 1908.
04 Monday Mar 2019
Posted in Civil War, Pecks Mill
Tags
129th Regiment Virginia Militia, 12th Regiment Virginia Militia, Abner Vance, Adam Browning, Appalachia, Barney Carter, Big Creek, Calvary Hatfield, Chapmanville District, Charles Staton, civil war, David Mullins, Eli Gore, Evans Ferrell, genealogy, George Avis, George Bryant, Gilbert Creek, Gordon Riffe, Granville Riffe, Green A. Clark, Guyandotte River, Hardy District, Harts Creek, Harvey Ellis, history, Huff's Creek, Jack Dempsey, James H. Hinchman, James J. Hinchman, John Chapman, John DeJournett, John Dempsey, John Hager, John Hatfield, John Starr, Joseph B. Browning, Joseph Hinchman, Logan Banner, Logan County, Louis White, Magnolia District, Martin Doss, Mingo County, Nathan Elkins, Pecks Mill, physician, Reece Browning, Triadelphia District, Ulysses Hinchman, Union District, Virginia, West Virginia, Wheeling, William Dempsey, William McDonald, William Stollings, Wyoming County
From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history for Logan County printed on November 3, 1936:
Time-Dimmed Record of Early Logan County Families in 1852-1877 Period in Old Books Found at Pecks Mill
Thumbing the now-dimmed pages of a yellowed book which recently came to light in old Peck’s Mill, members of Logan county’s oldest families may read in a painstakingly-kept record of the years 1852 to 1877 how their forefathers were brought into the world, married, educated, governed.
The record is written in pen and ink with the quaint flourishes and old-fashioned double letters of the 1800s by James J. Hinchman, who was clerk of the 12th regiment of the Virginia militia from 1852 to 1858; and by one, Ulysses Hinchman, who was clerk of the 129th regiment from 1858 to the Civil War; and later pastor, doctor, and trader.
The first entry, dated Nov. 3, 1852, records the meeting “at the house of Wm. McDonald near the mouth of Huffs Creek” of the Twelfth regiment of the Virginia militia in the days when Logan county was the property of Virginia.
Among the officers present were Major John Hager and Capt. James J. Hinchman, who was also clerk.
Most of the records at the first, which deal entirely with the regiment, are devoted to the salaries paid for “drumming and fifing,” the fines of 50 cents each for failure to report at meetings, and the excuse of members from duty “because of physical infirmities.”
Among the interesting entries is one relating, it is believed, to an ancestor of ex-champion Jack Dempsey, which reads:
“William Dempsey for fifing one day in Capt. Miller’s company.”
Two dollars, according to numerous accounts, was the regular salary paid for a day of fifing or drumming. For three days training, officers received $10.
Among regiment members mentioned are Calvary Hatfield and Reece Browning, forefathers of the Hatfield and Browning families of today.
On Sept. 10, 1858, the record is transferred to that of the 129th and is kept by Ulysses Hinchman. His first entry tells of a meeting at which John De Journett was elected colonel; K. McComas, first major; Reece Browning, second major; and Ulysses Hinchman, clerk. Officers attending were Captains George Avis, James H. Hinchman, John Starr, John Hatfield, John Chapman, and Barnabus Carter; and Lieutenants Martin Doss, George Bryant, Granville Riffe, Louis White, Charles Staton and Green A. Clark.
Interesting in these pages are the forming of new companies in which the names of the creeks and localities are for the most part the same as today. Among the familiar names are Huffs, Gilbert, Harts and Big Creek, Guyandotte river, and Trace Fork.
There is no mention of the Civil War, but it is mutely attested to by two entries, the first, dated 1862 at the bottom of one page and the second dated 1866 at the top of the next, which read:
“Apr. 5, 1862—Abner Vance and Nathan Elkins received their claims.
1866—Rec’d of Eli Gore, county treasurer for my last year’s services, $50.
“Ulysses Hinchman, superintendent of schools.”
The next year, we are gratified to learn, his salary has increased to $300.
We learn that Logan, which then included Mingo and Wyoming counties, was at that time composed of five districts, Union, Triadelphia, Hardy, Chapmanville, and Magnolia; and that the county’s finances were all handled through Wheeling, then the only city of size in West Virginia.
The records contain long lists of certificates awarded to teachers for $1, among the recipients being John Dempsey, Eli Gore, Joseph Hinchman, Harvey Ellis and Evans Ferrell.
In the midst of the records of 1866 and ’67 we come upon the terse paragraph which informs that:
“The sheriff failed to settle for taxes of 1861.”
The board of education’s budget for 1869 was $2077.60 and was apportioned to these clerks of the various townships; Union, David Mullins; Triadelphia, Gordon Riffe; Magnolia, Joseph B. Browning; Hardy, Adam Browning; and Chapmanville, Wm. Stollings. Increased expenses that year made it necessary to levy a tax of “5 cents on $100.”
An enumeration of all children “between the ages of 6 and 21” in 1868 totaled 2139.
In 1871, our patient scribe becomes “Dr. U.S. Hinchman” and the record his personal account book. We learn much of the practices and hardships of the first country doctors and that his troubles in collecting the pitifully small fees of those days were as great as those of any “specialist” of today.
Dr. Hinchman had no set rates, but based on his charges upon the number of miles traveled (usually 50 cents per mile); the number of days and nights spent, and—quite evidently—the circumstances of his patient.
His customary charge for a delivery, if it chanced to come in the day time, appeared to be $5.50; but if the child arrived in the night and required many miles of travel it was a more expensive proposition—the fees sometimes reaching as high as $9.
The birth of one of these $9 babies is graphically recorded as follows:
“Labor two nights and days–$7
10 miles at 50 cents–$5
Administering–$1
Received $5.”
The doctor’s highest charge was one of $10 on a case which required three days and nights.
Interspersed freely with the accounts of births, and sicknesses are frequent entries of marriages at $2 each.
Toward the last of the book, in 1877, the author’s handwriting becomes more labored and the fine shadings and flourishing gradually disappear—evidence that his years of soldiering, school teaching, and doctoring were taking their toll.
At this time, too, he begins to record not only his receipts, but his expenditures and trades, and we read, not without envy, of purchases of “one bushel of sweet potatoes, 50 cents,” and “one and a half bushel of Irish potatoes, 75 cents.”
One of the last entries, dated Aug. 1877, tells of his receiving for his professional services a large amount of coffee which he traded for $5 cash, a suit, and a round of shoes,” the latter evidently referring to horseshoes.
As, regretfully, we close the book; we feel that we know that patient and prolific old settler of Logan County, Ulysses Hinchman—his honor as a soldier and officer, his strict accounting of himself as a public official, his hardships and struggles as a country doctor; and through all, his conscientious, faithful keeping of records. And we share, with his descendants, a great pride in him.
Somehow we know that when, with failing hand, he concluded his long accounts in another book; his record was clear and straight—his house was in order.
03 Sunday Mar 2019
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Huntington, Matewan
Tags
Abner Vance, Alexander Varney, Ali Hatfield, Andrew Hatfield, Appalachia, B.H. Justice, Bettie Vance, Big Sandy River, Cabell County, Celia Hatfield, Ephraim Hatfield, Ferrell Evans, Frank Evans, genealogy, Guyandotte Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Henry Clay Ragland, history, Humphrey Trent, Jacob Hatfield, James Hatfield, James Justice, John Justice, John Toler, Joseph Hatfield, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Logan County Banner, Logan Court House, M.A. Hatfield, Matewan, North Spring, Peter Cline, Phoebe Hatfield, sheriff, Thomas Hatfield, Thomas Smith, Valentine Hatfield, West Virginia, William E. Justice, Wyoming County
From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history for the Hatfield family, printed on May 11, 1937:
History Of Hatfield Clan Recorded In Banner Files
Ephraim Hatfield Was One of The Quietest Men In The County—Yet He Was Father Of Those Engaged In Famous Feud
Henry Clay Ragland, editor of The Logan Banner in 1896, was, among other things, a genealogist for Logan county.
He lived at a time when most of the children and grandchildren of Logan county’s first settlers were still alive and he had access to a wealth of first-hand information that has served as the basis for family histories in Logan county up to the present.
An account of the entrance of the Hatfield family into this section of the country is clipped verbatim from a Logan County Banner dated Wednesday, April 29, 1896.
“At what is still known as the Hatfield place on Horsepen, Valentine Hatfield, of Washington county, Va., settled at quite an early day. He was the father of nine sons and three daughters, and from them have sprung many of the Hatfields of the Guyandotte and Sandy Valleys.
“Valentine Hatfield married a Miss Weddington, and he was a half brother of Thomas Smith. His sons were Ali, who married a daughter of Ferrell Evans; Joe, who also married a daughter of Ferrell Evans; Ephraim, who married Bettie Vance; (This Ephraim was one of the quietest men in the county, and was for a long time a justice of the peace, yet he was the father and grandfather of the Hatfields who were engaged in the Hatfield-McCoy feud) Andrew, who married a daughter of Humphrey Trent, and whose descendants live in Wyoming county; Thomas, who married a daughter of Frank Evans; John, who married a daughter of Abner Vance; James, who married a daughter of John Toler; (Squire M.A. Hatfield and James Hatfield are the sons of this marriage) Jacob, who married a daughter of Peter Cline; and Valentine, who was never married.
“Of his three daughters, Phoebe married Alexander Varney; Celia married James Justice, who was at one time sheriff of Logan county, and who was the father of John Justice, a prominent merchant in Logan Court House (the name of the city at that time), B.H. Justice, a merchant and timber dealer of Cabell county, and William E. Justice, a merchant at North Spring and at one time a member of the West Virginia legislature.
“Joseph Hatfield, a brother of Valentine Hatfield, settled about the same time at Matewan.”
07 Friday Sep 2018
Tags
Accoville, Appalachia, Bill Mosely, Bruno, Buffalo Creek, Burl Christian, Cap Hatfield, coal, crime, Cub Creek, Democratic Party, deputy sheriff, Devil Anse Hatfield, Don Chafin, Elech Luster, Elech Steven, Elk Creek, genealogy, Harve Grimmett, Henderson Grimmett, history, influenza, Italian-Americans, Joe Browning, Joe Hatfield, justice of the peace, Logan County, Logan Lumber Company, Mallory, Mallory Coal Company, Matilda Hatfield, McKinley Grimmett, Nancy Grimmett, Phil Elkins, Sand Lick, Scott Browning, sheriff, Spice Creek, Tennis Hatfield, Thomas Hatfield, Watt Elkins, West Virginia, World War I, Wyatt Belcher, Wyoming County
McKinley Grimmett was born on November 30, 1896 to Henderson and Nancy (Hatfield) Grimmett at Sand Lick, Logan County, WV. On May 14, 1916, Mr. Grimmett married a Ms. Plymale, who soon died, in Logan County. One child named Alva died on June 21, 1919 of whooping cough, aged fourteen months. His World War I draft registration card dated September 12, 1918 identifies him as having blue eyes and light-colored hair. He was employed by Mallory Coal Company at Mallory, WV. On November 13, 1919, he married Matilda “Tilda” Hatfield, daughter of Thomas Hatfield, in Logan County. He identified himself as a farmer in both of his marriage records. During the 1920s, he served as a deputy under Sheriff Tennis Hatfield.
The following interview of Mr. Grimmett was conducted at his home on July 17, 1984. In this part of the interview, he recalls his occupations. The post-World War I flu pandemic, early Bruno residents, timbering, the Hatfields, politics, and crime are featured.
***
Do you remember the flu that came along after World War I?
Oh yeah, I’ve seen ‘em up here in my graveyard bury as high as three or four in one day. Buried a man and his wife and kid all in one day there. It was bad. I was running a drum at Mallory for the company. I went there well that morning and at 10 o’clock they hauled me back in a jo-wagon. I couldn’t walk with the flu. I was down for four days and the mine didn’t run. I got over it awful quick. The doctor come… Dr. Shrewsbury, used to be at Mallory. Next day was Saturday and Sunday and he told me to stay off for Monday. And he said he’d send after me. Come and get me, bring me back in the evening. All he wanted me to do was run the drum. Not get hot or anything. I got over mine. My sister come there to see me. She had seven kids. She come there and took it. And all her kids come to see her and they all took it. And her husband come to see about them and he took it. And her husband couldn’t talk plain. Keenan Walls was her husband. He called onions “inghams.” My mother would say, Keenan, what do you want to eat today? They fried them. She’d fry them onions. He said, I don’t know hardly unless you fry me some more inghams. Yeah, they’s about 250 graves in that graveyard of mine.
Tape stops.
There’s a lot of people up this creek. Used to be there wasn’t about six families when I was a boy growing up. Wyatt Belcher lived down below the mouth of the creek. And Burl Christian lived up here a little ways. And Watt Elkins lived over there. And my daddy lived next. And my daddy’s brother Harve Grimmett lived next. Phil Elkins lived next. Now in the head of the creek where this backland was, that was before McDonalds got a hold of it. They lived on it, built log houses and everything else. I couldn’t tell you who all… Mountses there. I made several caskets. I made my mother’s coffin. I bought my daddy a steel coffin and I had to take some straw out of it. He was a pretty good sized man like myself. They both had the flu. And she had a lot of chickens here. I lived up at the old homeplace and they lived here. She wanted to know where that straw come from. I told her the truth about it. I told her I had to take it out of Daddy’s casket. It was a little too tight on him and I wouldn’t put him away that way. And said, Kin—she called me Kin, my nickname—said, whenever I die I want you to make my casket. She’d seen me make so many, you know. She wanted me to do that. And so I made it. I went to Logan and I bought the handles. It cost me $105 dollars. Looked like silver. And I bought plush stuff and lined it and everything. And I went down here to this planing mill and I bought the first class lumber. Didn’t have a knot in it. Logan Lumber Company run it then. And I made it. Oh, I’ve made oodles of ‘em. I made the old man Joe Browning’s in Spice Creek up here one time… And he’d sawed beech lumber now for me to make that casket out of. And old man Scott Browning, I got him to help me. And I bet you he weighed about 300 pound. And that beech lumber was 22 inches wide and I still had to put a slab on each side up at his hips down about four inches wide on each side. They couldn’t get enough men around that to lift it. I don’t see how they ever got it down in the grave. I didn’t go to the grave with ‘em. I made the casket and that was all.
Would you rather work with timber or coal?
Well, it’s according to what kind you do with lumber. I believe I would rather work in the mines because I’ve always had a good job in the mines. I worked 44 years and two months around the mines and I never was laid off. Born and raised here in Logan County. Never been in jail. Never been arrested. Never been sued. I never bothered nobody’s business only my own. I’ve been honest with everybody.
Were you ever politically active?
Yeah, I was, whenever them Hatfields was in there. They’d make you, whether you wanted to or not. Tennis and Joe and all of them. You get in that bunch of Hatfields at that day and time you couldn’t get away from ‘em. They’d claim me as their cousin all the time, ‘cause I was half-Hatfield myself. I don’t reckon my mother was any relation to any of them. She didn’t know nothing about them. She was from Wyoming County up on Big Cub Creek, you know. Now she heard lots of talk about Devil Anse and Cap and all of them. She was afraid for me to be with them all the time.
Did you like politics?
Yeah, I liked it pretty good.
Did you ever run for office?
Yeah, I run for JP one time. ’52. Bill Mosely run against me. And I beat Bill over here at his office precinct but he beat me up at Buffalo. Yeah, I run for JP one time. I never did run any more.
Who has impressed you the most in politics?
I reckon Tennis has been the one. Now Joe is a man that was still kind of sulky like. He didn’t seem like that he appreciated what you’d done or something like that. Either that or he thought hisself a little bit higher than you was. Something like that. I don’t know. I couldn’t figure him out. But Cap now, he’d cuss them out and everything else.
Do you remember the ’32 election?
Oh yeah. I remember. Why, coal companies, they went in with the Democrats and they fired us off of the deputy force. The coal companies put us on as guards. And we stayed that way for about three months. And Democrats come in and they cut that law out. And we went on back to work and that didn’t change nothing. I tell you, it was a sight whenever Chafin was in there. Lord, they killed people and everything. Up Buffalo at Accoville, they was building a railroad up through there. Well, that day and time they built camps for their men to stay in and they rode horses, the bosses did, ride him right out on the job. And they’d get up in the morning, Elech Steven and Elech R. Luster was the two bosses—one was superintendent, one was boss—and they’d go around, one had a ball bat and a hole drilled through it and a strap of leather in it and it was a small ball bat now and if them colored people or hunkies and Italians wasn’t up they’d knock the window lights out and then nail the window up instead of buying them a window and putting it back in. And they killed them two, the hunkies and Italians. They come out on ‘em and shot ‘em both and killed ‘em. About eight of them. Well, they killed three of ‘em before they got out of sight, the Americans did, up Accoville Hollow there. And the rest of ‘em come through and they shot one right over the Huff Knob and he rolled plumb from the top of that ridge down just like a dog bouncin’ plumb into the river. That made four of ‘em they got. Then they got two more up here on Elk Creek. Then they got two more up at Spice. Made the eight. Well, they killed them all. And they brought them—I was up there at the store at Elk Creek whenever they brought them two Italians down there… Now, this old raw bacon. Slabs that come that wide and be that long, grease would be running out. And they would cut them off raw meat and throw it to them like throwing it to a dog and they’d eat it.
NOTE: Some names may be transcribed incorrectly.
31 Friday Aug 2018
Posted in African American History, Coal, Dingess, Guyandotte River, Holden, Logan, Man, Timber, Wyoming County
Tags
African-Americans, Alva Grimmett, Appalachia, Austin Grimmett, Baileysville, Big Cub Creek, Bruno, Buffalo Creek, Christian, Cole and Crane Company, Devil Anse Hatfield, Dingess, Edith Grimmett, education, Elk Creek, Ettie Grimmett, farming, genealogy, general store, Green Perry, Guyandotte River, Guyandotte Valley, Henderson Browning, Henderson Grimmett, history, Holden, Horse Pen Mountain, Johnny Grimmett, Landsville, Lilly Grimmett, Logan, Logan County, logging, Madison Creek, Mallory, Man, McGuffey Readers, McKinley Grimmett, Mingo County, Mud Fork, Nancy Grimmett, rafting, Ralph Grimmett, Rose Grimmett, Sand Lick, Sanford Grimmett, Slater Hatfield, Tennis Hatfield, Thomas Hatfield, Tilda Hatfield, timber, timbering, Travis Grimmett, Verner, Walter Buchanan, West Virginia, whooping cough, World War I, Wyatt Belcher, Wyoming County
McKinley Grimmett was born on November 30, 1896 to Henderson and Nancy (Hatfield) Grimmett at Sand Lick, Logan County, WV. On May 14, 1916, Mr. Grimmett married a Ms. Plymale, who soon died, in Logan County. One child named Alva died on June 21, 1919 of whooping cough, aged fourteen months. His World War I draft registration card dated September 12, 1918 identifies him as having blue eyes and light-colored hair. He was employed by Mallory Coal Company at Mallory, WV. On November 13, 1919, he married Matilda “Tilda” Hatfield, daughter of Thomas Hatfield, in Logan County. He identified himself as a farmer in both of his marriage records. During the 1920s, he served as a deputy under Sheriff Tennis Hatfield.
The following interview of Mr. Grimmett was conducted at his home on July 17, 1984. In this part of the interview, he recalls his family background and early occupations. Logging and rafting in the Guyandotte Valley are featured.
***
Would you mind telling me when and where you were born?
Right here. I was born about a mile up above here. I was borned in Logan County. The post office was Christian at that time. Christian, WV. It’s changed now. They throwed Christian out – it was over here at Christian – and they throwed it out and moved it over here to Bruno. Christian went… The mines stopped over there. And that’s where I was born, right here at Bruno, Logan County. Been here all my life.
What day were you born?
November 30, 1896.
Who were your parents?
Henderson Grimmett and Nancy Hatfield Grimmett.
What kind of work did they do?
They did logging work. All they had that day and time. Mule teams and ox teams.
Where did your dad do his work?
All over Logan County.
Did he have his own farm?
Oh yeah. Yeah.
How big was his farm?
It was about 287 acres.
Can you describe his house?
Well, the house was a two-story building. But he never did get… He took the fever and he never did get the upper story, all of it completed. He died at a very early age of 74. He put him up a little store. Got ahead a little bit. Had a store here. Come down and bought this place off Walter Buchanan and he deeded his five kids the homeplace up there. And then he stayed on it from ’21 to ’29. He died 19th day of January, 1929.
Who were your mother’s parents?
Oh, Lord, I can’t… Slater Hatfield was her daddy’s name. And I don’t know my grandma. My daddy, now they both was born in Wyoming County. Baileysville or somewhere in there. I think my mother was born over there in Big Cub Creek. She was a Hatfield. I don’t know where…
How many brothers and sisters do you have?
I had three brothers and three sisters. Sanford was the oldest one. Austin and Johnny. They’re all dead. I’m the only one that’s living. All my three sisters… Lilly was the oldest one, and Rose was the next one, and Ettie was the youngest. They’re all dead. All of ‘em but me.
Were you educated in Logan County schools?
Yeah, that’s all we got. Free schools. I believe we started off about three months out of the year. Right over there where that first house is sitting – a one-room school house. All of us kids.
What was the last year of school you completed?
I believe it was about 1914, I’m not right sure. ’15.
Did you use the McGuffey Readers?
That’s all we had. And the spelling books. And in the late years, why we had a U.S. history… A small one. Most of it was just about West Virginia. It wasn’t about the whole United States. And geography, we had that. Arithmetic. That was about all we had in free schools. We had to buy them all then. They weren’t furnished.
How did you meet your wife?
She was born and raised over here at Horse Pen in Mingo County. And that’s how we met. We were just neighbors.
What was her maiden name?
She was a Hatfield, too. But now they were… There’s three or four sets of them.
Was her family related to Devil Anse Hatfield?
Well, they was some… Not very close, though, I don’t think.
Which church did you belong to?
I don’t belong to any.
Did you belong to a church when you were younger?
No, never did. If I ever would have joined, I’d have stayed with it.
Do you remember the year of your marriage?
Yeah, I sure do. November 13, 1919.
How many children do you have?
Four. We have two boys and two girls. Travis Grimmett is the oldest. And Ralph, Edith, and Nancy.
What was your wedding like?
Well, we just got married and come right home. At that time, they didn’t have such things, to tell you the truth.
Who was the preacher?
Green Perry. Rev. Green Perry on Elk Creek. Rode a horse back when I went up there to get married. A pair of mules. I rode them mules.
Where did you first live after you married?
Right about a mile above here at the old homeplace.
You have lived here all of your life?
All of our life.
Was it always this populated?
No, no. Wasn’t three or four houses on this creek at that day and time. It was farm land. It’s all growed up now. All them hills was put in corn, millets, and stuff like that. If they couldn’t get a machine to it, they cut it by hand. Some of them raised oats and some of them raised millet, corn. Raised hogs and cattle and sheep and selling ‘em.
Who owned this property back then?
Burl Christian owned this here, but I don’t know… My daddy bought his… A fellow by the name of Wyatt Belcher. Wait a minute. Browning. I can’t think of his name. He lived over here on Christian and he bidded in… It sold for back taxes and he bidded in. Henderson Browning.
What kind of work did you do after you married?
Just the same thing as I worked at before I got married. I first started out – my daddy was a boss for Cole and Crane on this river. I first started out working in the log business. I worked two years at that and then I decided… Mule team – I worked about eighteen months at that. Then in 1913 the coal company started in and I went to work in carpenter work. I helped build all of these houses down here at Landville. The superintendent, we got done, they was wanting to hire men, he give me a job keeping time for a while. And he wanted me to learn to run the drum – that’s letting coal off the hill. I learned it and about the third day I was up there, a preacher was running it, and he told me they’d just opened up and they didn’t have much coal to run off the hill, he told me, that preacher, he rolled out two cards and he said if that preacher fails to go out and work on that side track today you give him one of these cards. Well, I didn’t give him a card. But he come out that evening, the boss did. And he said, did the preacher work. And I said, no he refused. He said, I’ll fix him. He fired him. And I took the job and stayed with it four years and then I got married and then I went to work over here at Christian running a drum and I stayed there 34 years.
When you worked for Cole and Crane, did either of those men ever come up here?
Oh yeah. One of them was. Cole was. I don’t think Crane was ever here. A little slim fella.
Did you get a chance to talk to them?
No, they wouldn’t talk to us working men. They’d talk to the boss. They’d go away from us and talk to theirselves. We just got a $1.10 for ten hours. Eleven cents an hour.
What kind of a person did Cole seem to be?
Well, he knowed how the men was. They’d raft timber and go down this river to Guyandotte. Had what they called locks and dams there to catch the logs. This river was full of logs. He bought timber everywhere. Plumb at the head of it.
Did you ever ride a raft?
Oh, yeah. I went with my daddy. I wasn’t grown.
Can you describe it?
Oh, they’d raft the logs, poplar. Now they didn’t raft hardwoods. They’d sink on them. Some rafts, a big one would be 160 to 200 feet long, about 24 to 26 feet wide. Oar on each end of it. If it was a big raft, they had two men up front all the time plumb in to Guyandotte. I was the second man on it when I got to go out on it. My dad had timber and he rafted it, took it there and sold it. Took what they called dog wedges and cut little basket oaks and rafted them, stringers across ‘em, you know. Lots of people get drowned, too.
Were you ever in an accident?
No, I never was in no big one. I’ve seen about six or eight drown.
Could you describe how it happened?
Oh, if he couldn’t swim, sometimes the best swimmer drowned, you know, if he got under a lot of logs or something. According to whatever happened there with him. He could get out if there wasn’t no logs on top of him no where to hold him under, you know. If logs were on top of him, he was gone. Now about the last ones I seen drowned was two colored people. They was building a railroad from Logan to Man up Buffalo Creek. So we was working on a log gorge down there at the lower end of Landville. And there was four colored men… 1921. Had a saloon up here at Verner. They wouldn’t allow one in Logan County. And they went up there on the 21st day of December to get ‘em a load of whisky. And they come back… They’d seen white people ride these logs. Some county people would get on one log and ride it plumb to Logan, as far as you wanted to go. And they thought they could ride it. And they got on. Rode ‘em off the gorge and they was running into eddy water and they would hit the back end, it would, and the other end would swarp out and they’d pull out that way. And they got on ‘em with their whisky and everything and two of ‘em got out and two of ‘em drowned.
When you rode the raft to Guyandotte, how did you get back to Logan?
Oh, we had to walk. We’d get a train up to Dingess over here. You know where that’s at? We’d ride down up to there. And then we’d have to get off and walk across the hill there and come right straight out at the mouth of Mud Fork, Holden there, and up another little drain and down Madison Creek down here. And walk… Man alive, our feet would be so sore, I’d be up for two or three weeks I couldn’t walk, my feet would be wore out so.
NOTE: Some names may be transcribed incorrectly.
23 Monday Jul 2018
Posted in Coal, Native American History, Wyoming County
Tags
A.F. Wysong, Appalachia, architecture, Baileysville District, Barkers Ridge District, Center District, Charleston, Clear Fork District, coal, crime, Early Brothers, Gertrude of Wyoming, Guyan Heating and Plumbing Company, history, Huff's Creek District, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Maughwaiwama, Mingo County, Mullens, Native American History, Native Americans, Oceana, Oceana District, Pineville, Princeton, Slab Fork District, Thomas Campbell, West Virginia, Wyoming County, Wysong & Bengston
From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history about Wyoming County, dated 1927 and 1928:
Wyoming County In the Public Eye
Now that three railroads are contesting for the authority to build a branch line across Wyoming county, increased interest is shown in the probable early development in that bailiwick.
Wyoming has coal resources equal to those of any other county in the state, it is said, and it has wide valleys of fine farming land, and an unusually picturesque mountain country. Like Mingo, it was carved out of Logan territory, its formation having been authorized by an act of the general assembly passed January 26, 1850. With an area of 507.30 square miles it is more than 50 miles larger than this county, yet its population in 1920 was only 15,180.
That county’s valuation for taxation purposes exceeded $28,000,000 last year.
Wyoming county is divided into seven magisterial districts, as follows: Baileysville, Barkers Ridge, Center, Clear Fork, Huff’s Creek, Oceana and Slab Fork districts.
Wyoming county was stricken off from the older county of Logan, which took its name from a celebrated Indian chief. Another county was formed from Logan, many years later, and to this was given the name of Mingo, the tribe to which Logan belonged. Logan, Mingo and Wyoming are the three counties in West Virginia whose names are derived from the original settlers.
Wyoming county bears the name of an Indian tribe, and this tribe was later honored by having its name adopted by one of our great western States. While the derivation of the name, in its application to the county, seems to be clear, the origin of the name itself is veiled in obscurity. By some authorities it is said to be a corruption of the Indian Maughwaiwama, signifying a plain, or open space. Others assert that it is a creation of Thomas Campbell, the poet, and author, of “Gertrude of Wyoming.”
Pineville, the present county seat, is located near the center of the county. It has an elevation of 1,323 feet above the level of the sea and had a population of 304 in 1920. Later estimates do not greatly increase this figure. Pineville became the county seat years ago, having secured the removal of the seat of justice from the older town of Oceana.
Mullens, a prosperous town and center of the coal industry, had a population of 1,425 in 1920.
Oceana, long the county seat before its removal to Pineville, had at the last census a population of 90.
Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 25 November 1927.
***
WYOMING COUNTY HAS NEW JAIL–NATIVE STONE USED–COST $150,000
Wyoming county’s new jail at Pineville has been accepted by the architects and will be formally turned over within the next few days.
Erected at a cost of approximately $150,000, the new bastille is perhaps one of the finest buildings of its kind in the southern part of the state. It is built of native stone throughout, and is a most imposing and beautiful building and one of which the county may well pride itself, says the Mullins Advocate.
It is three full stories high above the basements, heated by vapor, containing room for 70 prisoners with comfort, and can accommodate twice that number, if necessary. The cells and jail construction is of tool proof steel, equipped with the latest locking devices. A prisoner when confined in a cell, must go through three sets of tool proof steel bars to make an escape.
The building contains a large and comfortable residence for the jailer, including a large, well furnished and equipped kitchen, is supplied with hot and cold water throughout, including shower baths on the inside corridors of the jail, padded cells for the insane, hospitals for the sick and detention rooms for juveniles of both sexes.
In the basement there is an incinerator, together with a laundry and large supply rooms.
The building was formally approved on January 9th by A.F. Wysong of the firm of Wysong & Bengston architects, of Charleston, who had the construction of this building in charge. Early Brothers, of Mullens, contractors, constructed the building, while the heating system was installed by the Guyan Heating and Plumbing company, of Mullens. The plumbing was done by Wickline of Princeton. Mr. Wysong, after going over the jail carefully, approved the construction and recommended payment of the balance due on the several contracts.
Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 17 January 1928.
28 Monday May 2018
Posted in Big Creek, Gilbert, Guyandotte River, Logan, Timber, Wyoming County
Tags
Appalachia, Betty Shoals, Big Branch Shoal, Big Creek, Big Cub Creek, Blackburn Mullins, Burrell Morgan, Byron Christian, Chapman Browning, Charley Toler, Copperas Fork, Ed Robertson, Eli Blankenship, Eli Morgan, Elk Creek, Ellis Toler, Epson Justice, Fred B. Lambert, Fred B. Lambert Papers, G. Pendleton Goode, genealogy, Gilbert, Guyandotte, Guyandotte River, H.C. Avis, Hickory Shute, history, Hugh Toney, Humphrey Cline, Huntington, James A. Nighbert, James Pine Christian, Jesse Belcher, John Buchanan, John Justice, justice of the peace, Lane Blankenship, Lark Justice, Leatherwood Shoal, Lewis Mitchell, Little Kanawha Lumber Company, Logan County, Logan Court House, logging, Marshall University, Mingo County, Morrow Library, Paren Christian, Peter Cline Jr., Peter Cline Sr., Peterson Christian, Pineville, pushboats, rafting, Raleigh County, Roughs of Guyan, Salt River Shute, Sanford Morgan, Simon, Spice Creek, Staffords Mill, West Virginia, White Oak Cliff, Wyatt Toler, Wyoming County
Recollections of A. Peterson Christian of Simon, WV, provided by G. Pendleton Goode of Pineville, WV, January 1, 1944:
I was born on Spice Creek, Logan Co., now Mingo County, West Va. on Oct. 12, 1857 — Now 86 years of age, Son of Rev. Byron Christian, and grandson of James Pine Christian (1800-1892), one of the justices who organized Logan County in 1824.
About 1867, people began what we called saw-logging. Dr. Warren from Big Creek brought the first six yoke ox team to our neighborhood, used them two years and then sold them to Chapman Browning who lived on Spice Creek. There sprang up among us, what we called timber merchants, among those were Paren Christian, Chapman Browning, Col. John Buchanan, H.C. Avis, Blackburn Mullins and Epson Justice and many others. Besides hauling and rafting their own timber, they would buy rafts of other parties and run them to Logan Court House and sell others to John and Lark Justice and afterwards to Ed Robertson and James Nighbert.
I entered the logging business in 1875, on a small scale. Lewis Mitchell and I bought some timber and made up a raft, and when the river reached rafting stage, Brother Mont Lewis and I started down the river with the raft which swung across the head of “Island 16,” but when the big July 12th freshet came it swept our raft away and we lost it. My next adventure in logging was in the spring of 1876, when Mont and I bought some timber in the bluff opposite the mouth of Elk Creek and with some loose logs in “Island 16,” we made up two rafts, but there was no rafting stage that summer, but when the ice went out the next winter, both rafts went with it and we lost them also.
Rafting down Guyandotte River from Reedy to Logan Court house was a great art during the 1870s and 80s. There were different opinions about the bad places along the stream. People at Logan Court house thought that the river from Spice down was real bad; but the river men around Spice did not mind running from there down, but said that up Copperas Fork, the Betty Shoals, Staffords Mill, and the White Oak Cliff was too bad for anybody to run a raft. The river men around about Gilbert said that the river from there down was a little rough but they didn’t mind it, but from Epson Justice’s up to Reedy was so rough that no person had any business trying it. But when you came up to Big Cub, Long Branch and Reedy and talked with the old pilots, such as Jesse Belcher, Lane Blankenship, Peter Cline Jr., Humphrey Cline and Peter Cline Sr. and numerous other persons such as oar carriers and seconds they would say something like this, “Well, the river for a few miles is pretty rough, especially at Wyatt Toler’s mill dam, the Fall Rock, near Charley Toler’s mill dam, the Hickory Shute, the Leatherwood Shoal, the Big Branch Shoal and the Salt River Shute, but if a man has good judgment about the drain and the water he will have but little trouble.” So you see all depends on whom you are talking to as to where the rough is on the Guyandotte River. The only way to find this out is to go through on a raft yourself.
I remember very well the thrill I got the first time I went through the “Roughs” on a raft. I got on at the mouth of Big Cub Creek; in a few minutes we were at the upper end of Leatherwood Shoal. We worked the raft to the proper position in the hole of water just above the shoal. We could look along the top of the water to the upper end of the shoal but there was such a fall there we could see the water until we dropped over the upper end of the shoal. The bow of the raft struck a wave and the water flew over our heads. I was carrying the oar and held the stern down on the raft while my second held my clothes to keep the oar from throwing me off. From there on to the lower end of the shoals (about ¼ mile) as soon as the raft would rise on one wave, it would plunge into another until we got through the shoal. From that time (1876), I followed running from Reedy to Guyandotte until about 1890.
It took 4 men to run a raft from Reedy or Cub to Spice. Then 2 men could take it from there to Logan C.H. Then we would latch two of those rafts together and 2 men would take those rafts through to Guyandotte.
In 1889, the Little Kanawha Lumber Co. came to Wyoming County and began logging on a big scale. The winter was warm and rainy. All goods and supplies were hauled from Prince Station on the C. and O. Ry. The roads through Raleigh were so muddy that a four-horse team could pull only 1000 or 1200 pounds, so in April Alec, Henry Blankenship and I made a push boat 50 feet long and 6 feet wide and 18 inches deep. We landed it at the mouth of Reedy Creek and started to Guyandotte with five men. I had about $95.00 in money, and the men from here to Elk sent money by me to buy flour. When I left Elk, I had about $260.00. Among the men that sent money by me to buy flour were Burrell Morgan, Ellis Toler, Eli Blankenship, Eli Morgan, Sanford Morgan and Chapman Browning and the only one alive now is Burrell Morgan. We reached Guyandotte the 3d day, where I bought 45 lbs of flour, 300 lbs of bacon and a lot of other things and after laying over at Capt. Toney’s for 2 days on account of high water, we arrived at the mouth of Spice Creek in 8 days from Guyandotte. I received $125 per 100 lbs. freight which gave me a nice profit for my trip. At that time and long before the people of Logan brought their goods up on push boats.”
Source: Fred B. Lambert Papers, Special Collections Department, Morrow Library, Marshall University, Huntington, WV.
03 Tuesday Apr 2018
Posted in Logan, Poetry, Wyoming County
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.
24 Saturday Mar 2018
Posted in Logan, Poetry, Wyoming County
Tags
Appalachia, C. Russel Christian, Carl Christian, history, Kirbyville, Logan Banner, Logan County, Marian Trent, Oceana, poems, poetry, typhoid fever, West Virginia, 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 SONG OF WAR
Of War to overturn a thousand thrones–
War to establish Barbarism and Night–
Loud War to drown a thousand victims’ groans.
Sing–fiery Muse!–and guide the strains aright!
The voice of War–to say the least–is doom;
The tread of War is Death’s most horrid plume;
The rights of War are written in the sand;
War roars–and horrid thunder shakes the spheres!
War sleeps–and Peace attempts to heal the wound;
War speaks–and vengeance of a thousand years
Urges the gray, and scatters bale around:–
Thus hath it been–shall be–since War began.
Foe to the world–to Science–and to man!
Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 13 May 1927.
12 Monday Mar 2018
Posted in Big Sandy Valley, Cemeteries, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Huntington, Logan, Wyoming County
Tags
A.J. Shepherd, Appalachia, Calico, Devil Anse Hatfield, Dewey Boaz, Elias Hatfield, genealogy, Greenway Hatfield, history, Horse Pen Fork, hunting, Huntington, Island Creek, jailer, Joe Hatfield, John Totten Vance, Joseph Hatfield, Logan Banner, Logan County, Logan County Banner, Logan Democrat, M.K. Diamond, Melvin Runyon, Mingo County, Moundsville, New River, Omar, Stirrat, Tennis Hatfield, Thacker, Tom Hatfield, West Virginia, West Virginia Coal & Coke Company, Willard Hatfield, William E. Glasscock, William Hatfield, Williamson, Willis Hatfield, Wyoming County
From the Logan County Banner, the Logan Banner and the Logan Democrat of Logan, WV, come the following items about the Hatfields:
In some way our watchful jailor Elias Hatfield learned that some week or to days ago, the wife of Melvin Runyon, who is confined in jail here for the murder of John Vance at Thacker had been trying to get a pistol in the jail to him. On Monday, Mrs. Runyon, with a brother of Runyon, and Mr. A.J. Shepherd came over to see him. Mr. Hatfield thought it was his duty to search Mrs. Runyon before she was allowed to go into the jail, which he did at once, and found a hatchet under her dress. The hatchet was taken from her and she was not allowed to go in. Mr. Shepherd and Mr. Runyon were, however, allowed to go in and talk with the prisoner. The jailor is commended by all for his action.
Source: Logan County Banner, 17 April 1895.
***
Tennis Hatfield is reported on the sick list.
Source: Logan Democrat, 23 January 1913.
***
Tennis Hatfield, who has been confined to his room for several weeks, is improving under the care of Dr. Steele.
Source: Logan Democrat, 30 January 1913.
***
Tennis Hatfield who has been confined to his room for two months at Calico left last week for New River.
The many friends of Willis Hatfield here are glad to hear that Gov. Glasscock paroled him from a four year sentence at Moundsville for killing Dr. Thornhill in Wyoming county.
Source: Logan Democrat, 20 March 1913.
***
Mr. Hatfield caught five ground hogs Tuesday and said that it was not a good day for them either.
Source: Logan Democrat, 24 April 1913.
***
Joe Hatfield, of New River, visited his parents at Calico last week.
Source: Logan Democrat, 15 May 1913.
***
Logan Banner, 22 July 1927.
***
HATFIELD HELD
Postmaster Willard Hatfield of Williamson was bound over to court yesterday following a row in which Police Officer Dewey Boaz was shot in the foot. Hatfield waived examination and his bond for $1,000 was signed by his father, Greenway Hatfield.
Source: Logan Banner, 5 August 1927.
***
Logan Banner, 6 September 1927.
07 Wednesday Mar 2018
Posted in Logan, Poetry, Wyoming County
Tags
Appalachia, C. Russel Christian, Carl Christian, history, Kirbyville, Liberty Bell, Logan County, Marian Trent, Oceana, poems, poetry, typhoid fever, West Virginia, 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.
LIBERTY BELL.
The aged bell-man sat aloft,
Revolving in his soul full oft
The varied fortunes of the band
Warring for his native land.
While in the rugged hall of State
The new-born Congress proudly sate
Advising in the face of Death
Freedom or the open heath.
Ev’n as the Sun with kindling light
Dispels the horrid dark of Night,
So Freedom when her time had come
Claimed her own Columbian home.
The great assembly gave the word
That broke the reign of George the Third;
And thousand Ages paled before
Sights they had not seen of yore.
And friendly gods beheld the sight
Of Freedom’s Eagle bathed in light;
“Ring! ring!” the small boy shouted forth;
The grand evangel shook the earth!
And shouts of Freedom broke upon
Yankee snows and Dixie’s sun.
And voices cried from out the Past,
“Ye shall have reward at last!”
Source: The Logan Banner, 13 May 1927.
05 Monday Feb 2018
Posted in Huntington, Logan, Poetry, Wyoming County
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, 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
15 Monday Jan 2018
Posted in Timber, Wyoming County
Tags
Appalachia, Catlettsburg, Charles Cook, Guyandotte Herald, H.H. Cook, history, Kentucky, logging, New York, timber, timbering, West Virginia, Wyoming County
Huntington (WV) Advertiser, 21 May 1887.
03 Monday Apr 2017
Posted in Civil War, Logan, Native American History, Wyoming County
Tags
Appalachia, Aracoma, archaeology, civil war, G.W. Lawson, history, Julia Altizer, Lincoln County, Logan, Logan County Banner, Logan Court House, Mouth of Sycamore, Native American History, Native Americans, Oceana, Stone Coal, West Virginia, Wyoming County
Logan County Banner (Logan, WV), 10 August 1893. At the time of this story, Logan was known as Aracoma or Logan Court House.
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