INTRODUCTION
Since about 1995, I’ve been researching my Mother’s American Family – her maiden name was Woolard. I have been researching carefully through her line back to a John Woolard in 1752 in Fort Valley, Shenandoah – and this John Woolard may have had potential links back to Woollards in North Farnham Parish, Richmond, Virginia in the late seventeenth century.
As the years have passed, I have made contact with many Woolard Family members, who have been helpful in supplying information, photographs and documentation to support my research. All was going well with my research until late 2017 when I took a DNA test with Ancestry. The results of my test did not marry with anything that I’d found in my detailed research on the Woolard Family.
My Ancestry site was soon inundated with countless numbers of links to 2nd/3rd/4th “cousins” who had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the Woolard Family that I’d been investigating in Virginia and particularly in Ohio. Obviously, somewhere along the way, one of my ancestors had not been wholly truthful about the father of her child – my suspicions led me to conclude that my English-born maternal Grandmother, who emigrated to Canada in 1919 and crossed into the US in November 1922, was where I should be looking again.
My Grandmother was Mary Elizabeth Cain – born in 1898 in Blackpool, England. It would seem from my more recent investigations, that she was almost certainly pregnant when she finally crossed the US/Canadian Border in November 1922. She met and was soon living with a James Albert Woolard – she married him in Ohio in early February 1923, and my mother was born in Philadelphia, PA in July 1923. The marriage didn’t last more than a few months, and my Grandmother left her husband and returned briefly – with her seven month old daughter, to England – where my mother grew up in the care of her Grandmother and four aunts.
As a result of my Ancestry DNA test, I made contact with many of my new “cousins.” I have since followed up quite a number of their family trees – and similar surnames have kept “cropping up.” The most frequent being Hatfield – but also Lowe, Ball, May and Whitt. Virtually all of them emanating from the Appalachia area of Southwest Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. The Most Common Recent Ancestor in most of their trees seems to be a George Hatfield (1804-1883) and his wife Nancy Jane Whitt (1810-1891).
Since 2019, I have been researching the Hatfield Family – in what will probably be a vain hope to establish who my birth-Grandfather might be. As with almost all Family History research, it has been a lengthy, interesting, and sometimes very frustrating investigation – with incomplete records, transcription errors, variations of dates for the same event, multiple marriages, large families, children seemingly attributed to incorrect parents, wives apparently married to the “wrong” husbands, the same christian names occurring within several different generations of the same branch of the family – and the fact that I have come across many instances where some so-called “genealogists” have “bent” information and dates to fit their own research.
Originally, most researchers believed that the Hatfield line went from a John Hadfield (born c1564) in England, through to a Thomas Hatfield (born c1600) in Yorkshire. Thomas fled religious persecution to Leyden, Holland where he married Anna Cox. The line then went through Matthias Hatfield – who died in 1687 in Elizabethtown, New Jersey – through Abraham Hatfield (1670-1706) and Phoebe Ogden, to Abraham George Hatfield (c1695-1745) . Then through George Hatfield (born c1715) in Lee County, VA, to Joseph Hatfield (c1740-1832) and Elizabeth Vance, through Ephraim Hatfield (1765-1847) and on through Valentine Hatfield (1790-1867) and so on – into the twentieth century.
In reality, no one actually knows who the original Hatfield ancestor was. More recent detailed research had suggested that there are, in fact, three main Hatfield families. These include the “feuding” Hatfields of Southwest Virginia, the “Pennsylvania” line of Hatfields,, and the Matthias Hatfield Family. There’s also one additional potential source that seeks to link Jurian or Georgius Hatsvelder to the Pennsylvania Hatfields – as the father of John Hatfield.
Further professional investigation using y-DNA testing of Hatfield men however, has proved that the “feuding” Hatfield family of southwest Virginia is not related to the “Pennsylvania” Hatfield, nor to the Matthias Hatfield family – and the Pennsylvania Hatfields are definitely not related nor descended from Jurian/Georgius Hatsvelder.
From my DNA results and the information provided by my close “cousins” on Ancestry, my birth-grandfather seems to come from within the “feuding” Hatfield Family of Southwest Virginia. How he might be linked specifically to the infamous Hatfield/McCoy Feud that took place in the Tug Valley area of West Virginia and Kentucky between 1863 and 1891, remains yet to be seen.
What follows here, are the results (so far) of my research and best-guesses into the branch of the Hatfield Family that my birth-grandfather probably came from. My research is by no means complete, and will need further updating, as more information becoming available.
SETTING THE SCENE
The Southwestern part of Virginia was the last part of the state to be settled by a flow of Europeans that consisted mainly of English, German, Scots and Irish immigrants. The main route into this area was via the Great Wagon Road through the Great Appalachian Valley. The Great Wagon Road split into two forks: one branch through the Blue Ridge, the other branch called the Wilderness Road went southwest to Tennessee and Kentucky.
The lands south of the Ohio River had long been claimed by the Iroquois Confederacy of Indian Nations – though they were not the only Indian tribes that hunted there. “Ownership” of this area was one of the causes of the Seven Years War between France and Britain – which was ended by the 1763 Treaty of Paris – in which France ceded its control over the area. In the Treaty of Stanwix in 1768, Britain acquired land south of the Ohio River from the Iroquois – though many other Ohio Indians refused to accept the terms of the Treaty – in particular the powerful Shawnee Nation.
The 1768 Treaty led to a huge infiltration of white European colonial explorers, surveyors and settlers into the area. There were often skirmishes as the white settlers were moving onto lands that Indian tribes had hunting rights. These incursions led to frequent attacks by bands of Indian warriors. This led to war being declared to pacify the “hostile” Indian war bands – it became known as Lord Dunmore’s War.
John Murray, the 4th Earl of Dunmore, was the Governor of Virginia – he asked the Virginian Legislature to declare a state of war on the Shawnee and Mingo Indian nations and call out the militia. Prior to the Dunmore War there were no real palisaded forts – the inhabitants depending on widespread strongly built fort houses with port holes for warding off surprise Indian attacks.
Following the Lord Dunmore Declaration, seven major forts were built – four on the lower Clinch River under the command of Captain William Russell’s militia command, and three on the upper Clinch under the command of Captain Daniel Smith. Of the seven forts: Fort Preston, Fort Christian, Moore’s Fort, and Blackmore’s Fort were on the lower Clinch. Those on the upper Clinch were: Elk Garden Fort, Witten’s Fort, and Maiden Springs Fort.
These seven forts were manned by a mixture of military personnel, Indian Scouts (spies), and male settlers. The Muster Rolls of some of these Forts are revealing – especially the distances that some were obliged to travel to get to their allocated Fort.
Within the bigger Forts, it was usual to divide the men into 2, 3 or 4 companies, and when the spies came in to report Indian signs, it was the duty of the companies to go out in turns in pursuit. Looking down the Muster Lists, it is striking how many have a later additional note attached to their name: “killed by Indians”
These seven major Forts, were in addition to the twenty-eight other smaller localised forts that had been built across a wide area. The smaller forts had a wide variety of names – some named from the family whose land they were built on – others named after the topography of its location. These forts were as follows:
New Garden Station, Tate’s Fort, Rye Cove Fort (aka Crissman’s Fort), Carter’s Fort, Houston Fort, Rocky Station, Martin’s Station, Mump’s Fort, Priest’s Fort, Owen’s Station, Yokum’s Station, Gibson’s Station, Davidson’s Garrison, Richland’s Station, Dump’s Creek, Guest Station, Fort Patrick Henry, The Anderson Blockhouse, Jeremiah Harrison’s Fort, Vance’s Station, Benham’s Fort, William Wynn’s Fort, Scott County Fort, Duncan’s Fort, Porter’s Fort, Dorton’s Fort, Scott’s Fort, and Chadwells Station – they were manned largely by local settlers who could be summoned into action.
The War ended after Virginia’s victory at the Battle of Point Pleasant on the 10th October 1774. The Treaty of Camp Charlotte was signed by the national chieftains – it determined that the boundary between the thirteen Colonies and the Indian lands would be the Ohio River. Many within the Indian tribes “felt they had been sold short” with this Treaty, and when the Revolutionary War broke out between the Colonists and the British in 1776, war parties within the various Indian nations used it as an opportunity to attack white settlers. The Shawnee were the most vociferous group of the Iroquois Federation Indians – they joined forces with renegade Cherokee, and were soon facing the Virginian militias in the Cherokee-American wars of 1776-1794.
Over the years, concerns were expressed by many settlers in the Militia, over the large distances they were expected to travel to perform their duties – sometimes across difficult terrain. Records for Washington and Russell County , VA, include a petition dated 9th December 1785, presented to the Virginia House of Delegates by the inhabitants of Clinch River, Moccasin Crest, Powell’s Valley and others, requesting that the Militia Districts be redrawn, “such that citizens will more easily perform militia duties without long travel away from their defenceless families.”
RUSSELL COUNTY, VA – COURT – Petition to form Russell County, Dec 1785
The petition of sundry inhabitants of Clinch River, Moccasin Creek, Powells Valley, and other citizens of Washington County humbly represent that your petitioners are situated from the line of Montgomery as it crosses near the source of the Clinch River, down the same eight miles; thence to the extreme settlements of Powells Valley fort more. The greatest portion of your petitioners have to travel from twenty five miles and some eighty or an hundred; moreover are generally interrupted by Clinch Mountain and the north branch of the Holstein River; the former affording very difficult passes; the latter much danger and difficulty in crossing it in spring and after considerable rains; continuous to its southern bank, a chain of hills as difficult as Clinch Mountain, so that great difficulty arises to your Petitioners not only in attending Courts, but Courts Martial. And from the extent of schism between our small settlements, make it exceedingly difficult to arrange companies, without subjecting some, to travel 15 and 20 miles to private mustery. There are two difficulties in the militia law that principally affect your Petitioners. There are evils small indeed to the feelings we constantly undergo when obliged to leave our helpless families exposed at so very great distances to obey the laws of our country. And however evident the danger may appear to us, will not certainly on our failure of duty, plead our excuse. Circumstance alone is sufficient to claim the human respect of the Legislature to remove the grievance. We therefore pray your Honorable House will take our case into consideration and divide the county. We further pray a line may be fixed along Clinch Mountain to the Carolina line; or with the line at present dividing the county into two regiments to the aforesaid Carolina line; then with the said line to Cumberland Mountain including that existing county between Cumberland Mountain and Montgomery line and Clinch Mountain, or the aforesaid regimental line for the new county and southeast of the said Clinch Mountain remain Washington County; and we your Petitioners as in duty will ever pray.
The document was then signed in alphabetical order by several hundred citizens.
*(Dunmore’s War. The last Conflict of American Colonial Era – Glen F Williams 2017) *(The Border Wars of the Upper Ohio Valley 1769-1794 – Wilm. Hintzen 2001) *(Frontier Forts of Southwest Virginia – Emory L. Hamilton 1968)
This then is the background from where the Southwest Virginia Hatfield Family emerged.
GEORGE HATFIELD [Snr] (1715 -1795)
It was once believed that George Hatfield of the “Southwest Virginia” Line, was the son of Abraham Hatfield and Margaret Winans of the “Matthias Hatfield of New Jersey” Line. Subsequent DNA testing has proved that the two lines are separate and distinct. There have been multiple suggestions as to George’s wife – whether she was Margaret Winans, Margaret Logan or even Martha Thoms – all three however, have been subsequently proved as being incorrect.
This George Hatfield was born about 1715 in Virginia. He was one of the early pioneers that settled the area along the Clinch River, in southwest Virginia. Records do not reveal the names of his parents or his wife – though there are four known sons, who between them, had many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
George is mentioned only a few times in official records. The earliest is on the 1771 Tax Record for Botetourt County, Virginia – a mountainous area of the state, bordered by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Appalchian Mountains. Listed as tithables on the 1771 List are “George Hatfield and sons George and Jeremiah.” Under Virginian law, everyone listed by name, had to be 21 or older – so sons George and Jeremiah had to have been born around or before 1750. Sons, George and Jeremiah also later appear on records regarding land in Montgomery Co. VA – and in Washington/Russell Co. VA after the Revolution.
George also appears on Robert Doach’s muster list for the Clinch River area. He appears on this list with Jeremiah Hatfield – and are therefore possibly brothers and therefore probably sons of George Hatfield Sr.
Records of early land surveys made on 6th December 1774 in Fincastle Co., Virginia, place George and Jeremiah on the North Fork of the Holstein River. It has been suggested that George (Snr.) lived in the same area – possibly on the same parcel of land, though his name does not appear on any survey.
His signature does appear on the Petition (mentioned above) dated 9th December 1785, which was presented to the Russell County, Virginia Court
George is known to be the father of at least four sons: *JOSEPH (born c1740), JEREMIAH (c1750 – c1832), GEORGE (c1752 – c1810), and JOHN (born c1755). It is not known whether George had any daughters.
For the purpose of these notes, I’m going to consider each of the sons in turn, though not necessarily in the order of birthdate – the reasoning for this, is that from the last son in my notes (JOSEPH – born c1739) comes the direct line to all my close “cousins” identified on Ancestry
1] GEORGE “Gof” HATFIELD (c1752 – 1810)
As mentioned above, George was one of four brothers – born about 1752 – probably in Botetourt County, Virginia, to George Hatfield (Snr).
George Hatfield is often referred to as George “Gof” Hatfield. The term “Gof” was not ever part of his name – it has been added incorrectly by researchers from a deed made in Russell County, VA., on 28th November 1809. The wording within the document has the following statement:
“This indenture made 28th day of November 1809 between George Gof Hatfield [NOTE: the “Gof” is very clearly crossed out by the clerk who copied the deed into the Deed Book] of Lee County and the State of Virginia of the one part and Abner Hatfield of the same County and State of the other part . . . .”
The procedure of processing this deed in the early 19th Century, would have been as follows: George and Abner had privately agreed the sale and had then gone to the Courthouse where they stood and declared the sale in open court. As neither Gorge nor Abner could write, the clerk wrote out the deed. It was witnessed by the open court, and George signed by making his mark. Abner then took the deed to the clerk – who had to copy it into the County’s Deed Books. The clerk has to make an exact copy of the original deed in the Deed Book – and then return the original deed to Abner. When this deed was written in 1809, there were no means of altering any copying mistakes – the clerk could have torn out the page and begun writing it out again, but books were expensive and removing pages couldn’t really be done – and anyway, writing with a quill takes time. The clerk’s only other option was to cross out his error with a squiggle or line (in those days, this was called “interlining”) – and this is exactly what the court clerk did. The clerk actually made quite a number of other errors in his copying of this particular deed – amongst them was the spelling of the name “George.”
George certainly did not acknowledge himself as “George Gof Hatfield” at the bottom of the document either – he only made his mark acknowledging that he was “George Hatfield.”
George Hatfield features in a number of documents in Virginia relating to tax lists and the purchase and selling of land from 1771 onward. He’s on Tax Lists for Lee County for 1795, 1797, 1798, 1801, 1803-1807, 1809, and 1810 too – and none of them name him as George “Goff” Hatfield
There is some doubt as to whom he married – some researchers suggest he married a Sarah Bishop – others believe she was Sarah Ann Morgan, whilst others say she was Sarah Ann Lynch. Just as there is confusion regarding whom he married, there are also various marriage dates and locations suggested by researchers – some sources state he married in about 1779 in Washington, Culpeper, Virginia., whist others say he married in 1781 in Montgomery, VA. All we can be certain of – from documents of the time – is that George’s wife’s christian name was Sarah.
George and Sarah are said to have had the following sons: Abner (1781-1866), Joseph (b. 1787), Ralph (1788-1870), Lynch (1790-1860), and Davis (1793-1865)
George died in Lee County Virginia c1811 aged 59
2] JOHN HATFIELD (1755 – 1850)
There is little information about John Hatfield – he is supposed to have been born in c1755 in Lee County, VA – the son of George Hatield (Snr). He is said to have married Rebecca Bottom in 1774 in Virginia. She was apparently born in 1753 and is said to have died in 1851. Researchers say that she and John Hatfield were the parents of at least eight sons and five daughters.
John Hatfield registered for military service in 1812. He died in 1850 in Marion County Tennessee, at the age of ninety-five.
3] JEREMIAH HATFIELD (c 1750 – 1832)
As with a lot of the Hatfield family, because of similar names and dates, there is much confusing information online – most of which is supposition and inaccurate. There is little in the way of primary sources, and therefore what follows here, is of a doubtful nature.
He was born about 1750 to George Hatfield (Snr) and his unknown wife – some sources say he was born in Grayson County, Virginia. There is supposition that Jeremiah’s wife was Frances “Fanny” Holland (1759 – 1861), whom he married in Virginia. Some so-called records suggest that he and his wife had as many as eighteen or twenty children.
As mentioned previously, Jeremiah features in several Virginian tax lists and documents – together with his brother George (1752 – 1810) and their father George Hatfield (Snr)
4] JOSEPH HATFIELD (between c1739 and 1750 – 1832)
Some sources suggest that Joseph was born about 1739/40 – others suggest it could possibly be nearer 1750. There are several reasons for considering this later date:
a) There is no mention of a son named Joseph on any Land Tax records of George Hatfield (Snr) – just mention of two sons: Jeremiah Hatfield and brother George. If Joseph had been around as early as 1739/40 – where was he ?
b) The huge gap between a 1739 birth year for Joseph and the birth years of his supposed brothers (George and Jeremiah) – who were apparently born between 1752 and 1755. I would suggest that this childless period between c1739 and 1752 seems rather unlikely !
c) To be on any Tax Lists, Joseph would have to be at least 21 years of age. As there doesn’t seem to be such a record until 1775, one might assume that if he was born 1739/40, then he would probably show on a Tax List in about 1762/3 – and he doesn’t !
Joseph Hatfield is said to have been born in Russell County, Virginia – though Russell Co. didn’t come into existence until 1785/6. He died on the 29th August 1832 in Campbell County, Tennessee – and according to records, he was apparently aged 92.
Joseph features in a number of official records from about 1776 onward – mostly concerned with the purchase or sale of land. However, there’s a record of a warrant for his arrest – issued in Fincastle, Montgomery County on 11th June 1779. This was to answer to a damage debt of £23-5-2d owed to an Israel Christian – presumably that matter was resolved eventually to everyone’s satisfaction.
Joseph was one of those settlers who signed the December 1785 Petition – to form Russell County, VA., and to reorganise the militia districts.
His name is also recorded in the Personal Property tax List for 1787 for Russell County – it shows that Joseph owned 3 horses and 8 cattle – but no slaves.
He settled on the Clinch River, in the part of Fincastle County (which is now Russell Co., VA). He is known to have bought 50 acres – on which he lived – on 17th April 1782. The Land Survey Book of Washington Co., VA, shows that in December 1782, Joseph also owned property on the Thompson Creek Branch of the Cinch River – and in July 1795, he owned land at New Garden on the Clinch River.
On 18th December 1783, it was minuted in the County Court in Washington Co., VA., that Joseph was grantee of 50 acres on Thompson Creek
Joseph served in the Revolutionary War in the Virginia Militia, between 1778 and 1782 – he was a Private and also an Indian spy. His Pension Papers record that he was “the best Indian spy and woodsman on the western frontier.” He served at various times under Captains Thompson, Sevier, Scott, Dickenson and Colonel Chrisman. He also served under Captain William Campbell at Kings Mountain. Joseph’s name appears on a plaque honouring veterans of the Revolutionary War erected in Scott County, Tennessee. After the War, Joseph and his wife continued to live in Lee County, VA. (1795 Lee County, VA., Tax Lists) – he moved to Greene County, Tennessee in about 1790.
Most records suggest that Joseph married twice – Joseph’s War Pension records show his second wife (Rachel Smith Hatfield) received a war pension of $40 per year from 4th March 1843 – this was increased to $80 per year after 1 June 1854.
Joseph’s first wife is said to be Elizabeth Hoge “Deliz” Vance – the daughter of Ephraim Vance and Theodosia Vause. Elizabeth Vance is said to have been born in Isle of Wight County, Virginia – she died in December 1778 in Washington County, Va.
*Some researchers have expressed doubts about the validity of Elizabeth Vance being Joseph’s wife – it’s interesting to note however, that at a much later date – William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield (of the Hatfield/McCoy Feud) referred to Elizabeth Vance (incorrectly) as his grandmother in an interview with a newspaper journalist – she was in fact his great-great-grandmother – he may have had the wrong generation, but there’s no doubt that he accepted her as his ancestor !!
Joseph and Elizabeth Hatfield had at least six children – and some records suggest there were actually seven: They are listed as follows – though dates seem to vary depending on source:
EPHRAIM (1765 – 1847), VALENTINE (1767 – 1840), MARY (b. c1768 ), *GEORGE (b. 1771), *ANDREW WARREN (b. 1776 – 1854), JOSEPH (b. 1777 – 1854), and ALE HATFIELD (1778 – 1841)
*(Various dates for George include a birth year of 1766). Andrew Warren Hatfield has also been suggested by some – as a son of Joseph and Elizabeth)
*I shall deal with each of these children in more detail – just a little further on in these notes
After the death of Elizabeth Vance in 1778, Joseph married a Rachel Smith on 28th October 1779 in Washington Co. (later to become Russell Co., Virginia). Rachel was a daughter of Ericus Smith (who died in Russell Co. c1792). and his wife *Bridget Anderson. Ericus’s father (Hans Smid) had come to America from Fahlun, Sweden in 1720. Rachel’s oldest brother was Ale Smith, who served as an Indian spy during the Revolution alongside Joseph Hatfield. Rachel had two other brothers: Andrew, and Ericus (Jnr) – and a sister Mary, who is said to have married Joseph’s son Ephraim (1765 – 1847) [by his first marriage to Elizabeth].
*Some sources suggest Ericus Smith’s wife was called Roseanna Puckett – though I would have thought it more likely that he’d probably marry a Scandinavian girl – after all, he was the son of a Swedish immigrant, apparently spoke Swedish growing up, had Swedish neighbours – and he and his brother had a Swedish christian names.
Some researchers suggest that Joseph Hatfield and Rachel Smith may have had anywhere between five and seven – or even eight children together. Some of them are listed below -but the list is by no means complete and therefore inaccurate:
1) JEREMIAH (b. c1780 – 1840) – married Martha Evans (1785 – 1850) in about 1808 in Cabell Co., VA. They had four sons and two daughters – they were:
William Hatfield – was subject to epileptic fits. He married Lizzie Hayes and they had four sons: Greenlee, Emanuel, Andrew and Jerry Hatfield.
Eric Hatfield (born 28th April 1811 in Roane County, Tennessee on the 28th April 1811. At age 22 He married Polly Snow and they lived on a small farm near Crab Orchard Creek, Morgan County, where they reared cattle, hogs and sheep. Soon after the Civil War, Eric sold his land (c1866) as the town of Rockwood began to be built. He eventually died (aged 83) on 24th April 1895. His wife died later that year on the 21st November 1894. Eric Hatfield and Polly had ten children – five boys and five girls.
Joseph Hatfield married Nancy Summers and they reared three children: Samuel, James and Caroline. Joseph Hatfield died suddenly following a convulsion of his son William. After Joseph’s death, Nancy waited until her two sons had grown up before moving to Kentucky – where she lived until her death in 1874.
David Hatfield – the youngest of Jerry Hatfield’s children – was powerfully built and had a reputation for fighting and drinking- and was often in trouble with the law. When the Civil War came, he joined the Union Army. After the War had ended, he married Ellen Bell – they had one daughter, Nancy. David died of pneumonia at his home in Kentucky
Celia Hatfield – she married Brantley Golliher
Fannie Hatfield – drowned whilst crossing a stream in a canoe.
2) JOHN HATFIELD (b. 1785)
3) NANCY HATFIELD(b. 25th October 1786 – died 18th January 1870 in Reynolds Co. MO) – she married Aaron Whitecotton on 2nd July 1807 in Wayne County, Kentucky.
4) PHOEBE HATFIELD (b. 1791)
5) WILLIAM HATFIELD(b. c 1790 – 1800) Census
6) JOSEPH HATFIELD (b. 1796) – he’s on 1850 and 1860 Census
Other children attributed to Joseph and Rachel by some researchers include:
James (1782 – 1838), Stanley (1782 – 1827), Reuben (1786 – 1860), James Wiley (1790 – 1860) and Phariba (1795 – 1840)
*For the purposes of these notes, I shall consider in turn, the children of Joseph Hatfield and Elizabeth Vance – for it is through them, that the route leads towards the area of the family that contains my potential birth-grandfather.
EPHRAIM “Eaf of ALL” HATFIELD was born in Russell County, Virginia in about 1765 – he died on the 13th October 1847 (aged 82 years) in Blackberry Creek, Pikeville, Kentucky – though there are some variations as to the precise date of his death.
In about 1787, Ephraim is said to have married Mary “Polly” Smith in Russell County, Virginia. Mary was born on the 25th November 1754 in New Castle, Wilmington, Delaware. She and Ephraim apparently had five children together and she is said to have died shortly after the birth of her last child (Lydia Bridget).
The five children born to Mary were: ALY “Eli”, JOSEPH B., ERICUS “Aik”, VALENTINE “Wall”, and LYDIA BRIDGET.
A) ALY “Eli” HATFIELD was born on 29th October 1778 in Washington, Russell County, Virginia. He is said to have married twice: first to Millie Gibson, and then on the 7th April 1836, to Elizabeth Young. The children from his marriage to Millie were Andrew, Sarah, James, Ale Campbell and Nancy. The children from his marriage to Elizabeth were: Emanuel, Armistead Apperson, Rachel Arena, George Washington, Mordecai Ale and Kiziah Hatfield. He died in 1841 in Greene County, Indiana.
B) JOSEPH B. HATFIELD was born c1787 in James City, Russell Co., Virginia. He died on 16th April 1854 in Pike Co., Kentucky. He was a farmer and married Martha Evans, of Russell County. They had ten sons and one daughter: Joseph, William, Ferrell, Ephraim, John, Valentine, Richard Thomas, James, Seth, McGinnis, and Phoebe.
C) ERICUS “Aik” HATFIELD was born about 1788 in Russell County – he died about 1810 – the cause of death was severing an artery whilst skinning a deer.
D) VALENTINE “Wall” HATFIELD was born on 17th July 1789 in Russell Co., Va. He died in May 1872 in Justice, Logan, Mingo Co., West Virginia. He married Martha “Mattie” Weddingron in about 1805 in Horse Pen Creek, Mingo County. Martha had been born in 1789 in Washington Co., Virginia, and died in 1867 in Sprigg, Logan Co., West Virginia.
Valentine had served in the War of 1812 and received a Land Grant of 50 acres in Floyd County, Kentucky in 1821 .
Valentine was one of the most prominent men in Mingo County. Like his brother Joseph in Pike Co., Kentucky, Valentine sired a large and prolific family: he was said to be the father of eight boys and three daughters – though some records suggest it was more. He became the founder of the Hatfield dynasty in West Virginia. His family settled nearby:
Eli and Ephraim (Big Eaf), settled in Mate Creek, James G “Old Slater” and his brother John plus sister Phoebe, settled in what is now Wyoming County: Jenny lived near the Wyoming/Mingo County Line at Justice, West Virginia (opposite the mouth of the Little Huff Creek). In 1855, Valentine took up about 75 acres of land in the “Roughs” of the Guyandotte River, near Justice, where he died on the 16th June 1867.
Valentine and “Mattie” may actually have had as many as thirteen or fourteen children – depending on a variety of sources – they are listed below:
i) Joseph B. Hatfield born c1805 in Russell Co., Virginia and died on the 10th March 1893 in Logan Co., West Virginia. He married Nancy Evans and they appear to have had at least four children: Annie, Jane “Jennie”, Mary Ann and Mitchell Hatfield.
ii) Andrew James Hatfield was born on the 9th January 1809 in Russell Co., Va., and died on the 22nd October 1891. He married Susannah Trent and they had at least two children: Clarissa and Anderson Hatfield.
iii) Eli “Ali” Hatfield was born on the 24th May 1809 in Virginia – he died in March 1870 in Logan Co., West Virginia. He married Edith Cline, and together they had at least seven children: Andrew, Sandford, Leander, Molly, Anna, Martha and Mitchell.
iv) Ephraim “Big Eph” Hatfield was born on the 11th April 1812 in Sprigg, Logan Co., West Virginia. He is said to have been a big man – well over six-and-a- half feet and weighing about 20 stone – but his military record apparently says that he was only six feet tall. He died on the 30th June 1891 in Mate Creek, Mingo Co., West Virginia. He married Nancy A. Vance – she was born on the 2nd May 1813 in Russell Co., Virginia – and died in 1895 in Logan Co., West Virginia.
Nancy and Ephraim had somewhere between ten and twelve children – though who they were, seems to vary according to which document is viewed. The list below, is a “best- guess” from all sources that give lists of their potential children:
Martha “Mattie” Hatfield,
Valentine “Wall” Hatfield,
Elizabeth “Betty” Hatfield,
William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield,
Ellison Mounts Hatfield,
Elias Prater “Good Lias” Hatfield,
Emma Hatfield,
Bridget “Biddy” Hatfield (1850-1900),
Patterson “Pat” Hatfield, and
Smith Hatfield.
* It is from these offspring (above) that the infamous Hatfields came from, who were involved in the Hatfield/McCoy Feud that began in about 1863, and lasted until 1891 – with nine Hatfields imprisoned (including seven for life), and one executed. More on The Hatfield/McCoy Feud, later in these notes.
The rest of Valentine Hatfield and Mattie Weddington’s children were:
v) John Hatfield was born c1811 in Logan County, VIrginia – and died in 1867. He is thought to have married twice – first to Catherine Cline – but there were no children from this marriage. His second marriage was to Isabella Tabitha Vance. Records seem to suggest that their children were:
Mary Hatfield (born c1834), John Wesley Hatfield (born c1839), Celia Sena Hatfield (born c1839), Harriet Hatfield (born 1843), Malinda Hatfield (born 1845), Floyd Hatfield (born 1847), Hannah Hatfield (born 1849), Ephraim S. Hatfield (born 1851), Melvina Hatfield and Phoebe Hatfield.
vi) Virginia Jane “Jenny” Hatfield was born on the 10th January 1813 in Pike Co., Ky.
vii) Thomas Whitfield Hatfield was born c 1813 in Pike Co., – he died in 1880.
viii) Jacob “Jake” Hatfield was born in 1820 in Cabell Co., WV. He died in 1867.
ix) Cecelia “Sena” Hatfield was born in 1824 in Pike County, Kentucky.
x) James G. “Old Slater” Hatfield was born on 19th May 1824 and died in 1900.
xi) Alexander “Alex” W. Hatfield was born 1827 in Russell Co., Virginia.
xii) Phoebe Hatfield was born in November 1828 in Pike Co., – she died in 1924.
xiii) Valentine Hatfield was born in 1831 in Pike Co., Kentucky
xiv) Elizabeth Hatfield was born 26th February 1836 in Logan Co.,, West Virginia.
E) The youngest child of Ephraim and Mary “Polly” Smith born shortly before her death was: LYDIA BRIDGET “Biddie” HATFIELD – she was born in about 1792. I haven’t as yet found any further information about her
ANNIE McKINNEY and EPHRAIM “Eaf of All” HATFIELD
After the death of Mary Smith (his first wife), it is said that Ephraim moved in with Anna “Annie” McKinney Bundy Musick. They had actually been living together from about 1800 and had at least five or six children together – coupled with his five from his earlier marriage. Apparently after spending a few days in jail for “living in sin,” Ephraim decided to marry her on his release – he eventually married her on the 28th November 1830 in Pike County, Kentucky.
Annie had been born c1765 in Rutherford County, North Carolina – she died, aged 95 years on the 21st January 1859 in Pike Co., Kentucky. I am very sceptical of the few official records that give Annie a birth year as early as 1754 – thus making her an unlikely 105 years old at death !
It is thought that Annie may have been married possibly three times altogether – her first marriage was to David Musick – he had been born in 1753 in Spotsylvania Co., Virginia to Elexious Musick (1718-1798) and his wife Lydia Thompson (1728-1798).
It’s thought that David and Annie had five children together: Elijah Musick, Samuel Musick, Elexious (also spelt Electious) Musick, Abraham Musick and Phoebe Musick.
They lived together on a farm near the present town of Honaker – their farm was the scene of a brutal Indian attack . . . . . . . It all began on the morning of the 12th August 1792 whilst Abraham Musick and his brother Elijah were bringing in the milking cows and searching for firewood to prepare breakfast, when they were surprised by a party of Shawnee Indians. They managed to reach home and the doors were barred and defence of their house began. David Musick’s flintlock rifle, damaged earlier in a house fire, was useless – despite efforts by him and Annie to make use of it. David was shot through the thigh by an arrow, and fainted – as a result of loss of blood. The Indians broke in and killed and scalped David – Annie and her children were captured and kidnapped by the Indians. She and her children were forced to embark on a long journey back to the Ohio Valley. Apparently the Indians took a liking to Abraham’s reddish-coloured hair and treated him well. His younger brother Elexious however, cried a lot because he wouldn’t eat raw meat – it’s said that because he was crying so much, one of the Indian braves permanently scarred his face by rubbing it into the bark of an oak tree.
Annie, her children and their captors, followed a trail over Big A Mountain, and down what later became known as Indian Ridge to Indian Creek, on to Russell Fork River, and down to the junction with Russell Prater Creek, where the present town of Hays now is. Here the Indians were overpowered by a posse of settlers – said to have included Ephraim Hatfield. At least one of the Indians was killed, and others were wounded and managed to escape. Annie and her children were rescued without further mishap.
Without a house or a husband, Annie and her children are said to have lived for a time in the loom-house in the yard of a Mr Belcher. She is also said to have later married a Mr Bundy (Mundy ?), but there seem to be no records of a marriage – though there are suggestions that there was a daughter from this liaison – named Nancy Bundy. Mr Bundy too, is said to have later been killed by Indians.
By 1800, Annie was living with Ephraim Hatfield – though they didn’t actually get married until 29th November 1830. The final list of Annie’s children seem to be: Abraham Musick, Elijah Musick, Samuel Musick, Elexious Musick, Phoebe Musick, Nancy Bundy, Mary “Emzy” Hatfield, George Hatfield, Jeremiah Hatfield, Ake Hatfield and Margaret Hatfield
* All the Hatfield’s from the Tug Valley Area between Kentucky and Virginia are descendants of Ephraim “Eaf of All” Hatfield (1765-1847) and Annie McKinney Bundy Musick (1765-1859).
When settlers first moved here in the 1820’s, life was hard. The soil was too rocky to farm much, so they lived off grazing stock, hunted small game, and foraged. Only the hardy stayed on. By the 1860’s, the numbers of families living in the area could be counted on two hands. So cousins marrying cousins, was not uncommon – and when kith-and-kin married outside the clan, they most often married into one of only a few local families.
From marriage records, it would seem that a characterization of many Hatfield men then, was that they didn’t seem to stay in relationships for very long – the number of flings, trysts and affairs seems remarkably high.
Records vary as to how many children Ephraim and Annie McKinney actually had together – some suggest there were four – and some suggest there were at least five – they were : Mary, George, Margaret, Jeremiah, and Anna.
*From my particular viewpoint – the most significant of their children are Mary and George Hatfield:
MARY “Emzy” HATFIELD was born on the 14th July 1800 in Thompson Branch, Honaker, Russell County, Virginia. She died on the 19th July in 1880 in Greenup, Greenup County, Kentucky – though some records suggest she died in 1870. She married Conrad Riffe – he was born in July 1794 in Wythe County, Virginia, and died in Greenup, Kentucky on the 27th October 1855.
Mary and Conrad had at least eleven children – they were:
Gabriel Riffe – born on 9th September 1817 in Russell Co., Virginia and died 3rd May 1897.
Elexious Riffe – born on 2nd January 1819 in Russell Co., – he died on 28th May 1898.
Daniel Riffe was born on the 10th May 1821 in Russell, Virginia.
Sarah Jane Riffe was born 21st July 1823 in Boyd Co., Kentucky – she died 11th January 1866 in Jenkins County, Ky.
Anna Riffe was born in 1824 in Logan County, Virginia.
Phoebe Riffe was born on the 5th Sept. 1826 in Virginia – she died on Christmas Day 1907.
George W. Riffe was born on the 5th November 1829.
Gordon C. Riffe was born in 1832.
Jeremiah Riffe – born 8 Jan. 1836 – he died on 16th Jan. 1915 in Yatesville, Lawrence Co., Ky.
Mary Anne Riffe was born 22nd May 1838 in Greenup Co., Ky – she died on 10th December 1904 in Putnam, WV.
Anthony A. Riffe was born c1837 in Kentucky.
GEORGE HATFIELD was born on the 6th January 1804 in Honaker, Russell County, Virginia. He died on the 21st March 1883 in Blackberry Creek, Pike County, Kentucky – he was 76 years old. In about 1826, he married Nancy Jane Whitt – she’d been born on the 18th July 1810 in Russell County, Virginia. She died on the 13th December 1891 in Pike County, Kentucky – when she was 81 years of age.
*It is from George and Nancy’s children, that the vast majority of my 2nd/3rd/4th “cousins” (who were identified following my Ancestry DNA test) have come from
George Hatfield (b. 1804) and Nancy Whitt (b. 1810) had at least 13 children – but maybe as many as 15. The names listed below are their children as shown on the 1850, 1860 and 1870 Federal Census – but there could be others children not accounted for:
James Madison Hatfield (1850 Census)
Ransom Hatfield (1850 Census)
Elexious Hatfield (1850 Census)
Andrew (Anderson) Hatfield (1850 Census)
Johnson Hatfield (1850, 1860 Census)
Bazwell (Basil) Hatfield (1850 Census)
George Hatfield (1850, 1860 Census)
Jeremiah Hatfield (1850,1860 Census)
Lydia Hatfield (1850, 1860 Census)
Wallace Hatfield (1850, 1860 Census)
Nancy Hatfield (1850 Census)
Elias Hatfield (1860, 1870 Census)
Floyd Hatfield (1860, 1870 Census).
Some sources suggest that two other children might be also be attributed to George and Nancy Hatfield – they are Mary Hatfield (1829 – c1906) and James Hatfield (1831 – 1911) -though there seems to be no real evidence to support this.
What follows are the salient features (where records seem to exist) of George and Nancy Jane‘s children:
JAMES MADISON HATFIELD was born on the 9th May 1827 in Pike County, Kentucky – he died on the 30th April 1895 in Mingo County, West Virginia. In about 1847, he married Nancy Jane Ferrell (born c1829). On the 1850 Federal Census, James (aka Madison) is stated to be a Farmer with real estate valued at $500.
According to the 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 Federal Census, James Madison and Nancy Ferrell had a least eleven children – they were:
Harrison Hatfield – born April 1848 and died 27th Jan. in Red Jacket, Mingo, West Virginia.
Fulton A. J. Hatfield – born 28th Oct. 1849 in West Virginia – and died in 1939. He was married to Rebecca Musick.
Anthony Hatfield – born October 1851 in West Virginia and died in 1900.
Lydia Jane Hatfield – born c1854
Robert Lee Hatfield – born 10th August 1857 in Varney, Virginia, and died on 22nd August 1956. He married Yantis Jane Chafin.
Joseph Barrett Hatfield was born 20th May 1859 in Varney, Virginia.
America Hatfield was born 1863 and died in 1930.
Sarah Matilda Hatfield was born in 1860. She was married to Rice Browning.
Crockett S. Hatfield was born on 22nd September 1867 in WV – he died on 15th April 1925.
James Elva Hatfield was born 26th March 1871 in WV and died 11th March 1926.
RANSOM HATFIELD Birth records suggest he was actually born on 20th June 1830 in Pike County, Kentucky – though the 1850 Federal Census suggests an 1824 birth-date – but his parents were not married by then. Ransom died on the 6th December 1910 in Ashland, Boyd County, Kentucky.
Ransom married Tabitha Louise Levicey Taylor on 28th November 1850 – she had been born on 2nd April 1835, and died on the 5th March 1894. Ransom and Tabitha’s children were:
Lydia Esher Hatfield (1852 – 1909)
Sarah Martha Hatfield (1854 – 1922)
George Hatfield (1856 – 1926)
Columbia Hatfield (16th April 1858 – 23rd July 1948)
William A. Hatfield (1860 – 1938)
Johnson Hatfield (24th November 1862 – 3rd January 1889)
Lewis Hatfield (1864 – ?)
Anderson Hatfield (1867 – 1943)
America Hatfield (1872 – 1950)
Ireland Hatfield (1874 – 1927)
Louise May Hatfield (1878 – 1908)
Seven years after his first wife died, Ransom married a second time – to Sophia Eastham in Boyd County, Kentucky, on 30th July 1901. They remained together until his death in 1910.
ELEXIOUS “Leck” HATFIELD was born on the 7th October 1834 in Pike County, Kentucky. He died on the 26th November 1914 in Lawrence County, Kentucky. He married Lydia Musick – she’d been born c1834 in Russell County, Virginia. Elexious and Lydia had at least five children – they were:
Maria Hatfield born in 1856
Montreville Hatfield was born on 28th December 1858 – he died in May 1902. He was married on the 8th April 1879 to Rebecca Chaffin.
Emily Hatfield – born 1862
Marjorie “Maggie” Hatfield was born on 20th December 1864 – she died 23rd October 1940 in Pike County, Kentucky. She was married to a Thomas Wagner.
Lydia Hatfield was born about 1868 and died in 1945.
Rev. ANDERSON C. HATFIELD “Preacher Anse” was born on 25th September 1835 in Logan County, Virginia (now in West Virginia). He died on the 6th March 1920 in Pike County, Kentucky. Some records suggest that he married twice – his first wife (unnamed) apparently died young and without children. On the 2nd August 1856, he married Mary “Polly” Runyon – she had been born on 25th January 1839 and died on the 15th March 1920 – just nine days after her husband.
The Obituary of “Preacher Anse” Hatfield reads as follows:
Elder A. Hatfield He was born September 25th 1835 and died March 6, 1920, lived 84 years, 5 months and 10 days. Elder Hatfield received a hope in Christ in 1853 and joined the Primitive Baptist Church, called Enon, located at Mate Creek, Logan County, West Virginia and was baptised by Elder John Ferrell on the 5th day of July 1853. Elder Hatfield had a call to the ministry and the church gave him a license to preach on the tenth day of November , 1868. he then moved his membership to the old Pond Creek Church, Pike County, Kentucky, then was ordained by the Elders John Ferrell and James Williamson on the eleventh day of July , 1869. Elder Hatfield preached 51 years and 5 months. The last text he uses was Genesis, second chapter and seventh verse: “The Lord God formed man in the dust of the ground, etc.” He was wonderfully blessed to preach Jesus and the resurrection of the dead. Brother Hatfield was a faithful minister; he would always leave his worldly affairs and go to his meetings.
He was married to Polly Runyon, August 2nd, 1855, and unto them were born fourteen children, twelve living, two dead. Brother and Sister Hatfield lived to see their fourth generation. Their grandchildren were one hundred and eighteen in number, their great-grandchildren, one hundred and fifteen, and their great-great-grandchildren, fourteen.
To fill a request of their children, I will say a few words about their mother, Polly Hatfield. She was born January 25, 1839, and died March 15, 1920; lived 81 years, 1 month and 10 days. She joined the Primitive Baptist Church, September 18, 1892, and was baptised by Elder W. J. May.
These two old people lived together 64 years, 6 months and 2 days. Their home was a home for the brethren and sisters. While we miss them here, we feel sure that our loss is their gain, for we believe that when the last trumpet shall sound that their mortal bodies will be raised immortalized and be just like Jesus to dwell with Him forevermore.
J. D. Riffe
Whilst Preacher Anse‘s Obituary states that he and Polly Hatfield had fourteen children – with twelve surviving, – records differ as to whom they actually were. Below is a list from various sources of their potential children – though it may need further revision:
Jane Hatfield was born in 1856 and married twice: first to Epp Scott and then to John Hunt – she died in 1929.
Nancy Hatfield – born on 31st May 1858 and died on 4th June 1904. She married Asa McCoy.
George Washington Hatfield was born c1861 – his wife was Maretha. He died in 1941.
Adron R. Hatfield was born in 1863 and married Jenny Miller. He died in 1925.
Pricey Hatfield was born on 11th May 1865 – she died on the 2nd May 1920. Her husband was Benjamin Alley.
Vicy Ellen Hatfield was born on the 9th March 1868. She died on the 1st December 1943 in Pike County, Kentucky. She was married to Abner E. Justice.
Leah Hatfield was born in 1870 and was married to Jess Dotson.
Rena E. Hatfield was born on the 9th April 1872. She died on the 6th July 1909 in Pike Co., Kentucky. She was married to George Alley.
William Jefferson Hatfield was born on the 30th July 1875 – he died on the 1st May 1956. He married Polly Margaret Runyon.
Sally Taylor Hatfield was born on the 14th August 1876. She married Elias Dotson .
Anderson “Bud” Hatfield was born on the 6th May 1878 in Pike County, Kentucky. He died on the 19th March 1926 in Pike Co., – he was aged 47. He married Melissa Alley on the 2nd July in Mingo County, West Virginia.
Robert “Bob” Hatfield was born on the 8th December 1879. He married Linda E. Alley.
Ransom Hatfield was born on 8th December 1881 – he died on the 29th October 1956. He married Dixie Scott.
Polly “Sissy” Hatfield was born on the 24th March 1884. She married Julius Scott.
JOHNSON “Johnse” HATFIELD was born on the 21st November 1837 in Pike County, Ky. He died on the 9th January 1926 in Wayne County, Virginia. He was married to both Mary Elizabeth “Polly” Scott and also to Columbia Phillips. Johnson Hatfield had at least five children with them – they were:
Albert Hatfield was born in 1906 and died in 1920 – there is no record of a marriage or children.
Theodore Roosevelt Hatfield was born in 1907/8 – he died on 31st July 1931.
Walter Hatfield was born on 24th September 1914 in Wayne Co., West Virginia. He died on the 5th December 1979 in Madison Co., Ohio. In 1968, he married Goldie Elaine Ailiff.
Virginia “Jennie” Hatfield was born on 22nd April 1916 – she died on 28 January 1997.
Reynolds Frasier Hatfield was born on the 27th February 1918 – he died on 29th April 1991.
“Deacon” BASIL (BOZWELL) BORDEN HATFIELD was born on the 17th November 1839. He died on the 9th July 1926 in Coal Run, Pike County, Kentucky. He married Nancy Jane Lowe on the 17th October 1858 in Pike County, Kentucky.
They may have had as many as 12 children – they were:
Polly Hatfield – she was born on 7th October 1860 and died on 1st November 1942. She married Granville Smith.
Matilda Hatfield born May 1863 and died on the 15th February 1934. She married David Reese Gillespie.
Jeremiah Hatfield was born in 1864 and died on the 30th March 1890 in Logan, West Virginia.
George F. Hatfield was born 12th November 1865 and died 1st May 1925 in Ross, Ohio.
Orrison R. Hatfield was born in 1867 and died in 1942. On the 1st October 1884, he married Elizabeth Adams.
Emily (Emley) Jane Hatfield was born in 1869. On the 15th January 1885, she married John C. May (born in 1865).
Nancy Jane Hatfield was born in 1872 – she died on 15th January 1883 in Pike, Kentucky.
Lydia Octavia Hatfield was born on 20th October 1872 in Pike County, Kentucky. She married Orlando Weddington on 15th August 1888. He had been born in April 1867 in Kentucky. Lydia and Orlando had four children: Gracie Norine Weddington (born Jan. 1890), Viola Toy Weddington (born Sept. 1892), Emma Birtina Weddington (born 21st April 1895), Gertrude Marie Weddington (14th April 1897 – 21st March 1960) – she married James Morgan Davidson in 1920.
After Orlando’s death in 1902, Lydia married Samuel Nunnery on the 18th July 1903. She died in Prestonburg, Kentucky on the 15th July 1955.
Thomas Jefferson Hatfield – born in 1875. He married Sylvia Hall and had a daughter name Lola.
Hayes Hatfield – born c1877.
Lundy B. Hatfield – born July 1879 and died in Boyd Co., Kentucky on 1st December 1973.
Emma Hatfield – born 1881 and died 1962.
Ransom Hatfield – born 1882 and died 1942.
Louisiana Hatfield – born 19th September 1883 and died 23rd February 1906.
GEORGE HATFIELD was born on 15th June 1841 in Pike County, Kentucky. he died on the 4th April 1863 at Peach Orchard, Pemiscot, Missouri. His enlistment date was the 1st November 1862 – he was enlisted as a Private in Company E of the 39th Infantry Regiment on the 16th February 1863 – it is said that he died of Typhoid.
JEREMIAH HATFIELD was born on the 12th March 1843. He died on the 10th May 1863. he was a Private in the 39th Kentucky Infantry (in the Union Army) and is buried in the New Albany National Cemetery, Indiana. It is said that he also died of Typhoid.
LYDIA HATFIELD was born in Kentucky on the 26th April 1845. She died on 14th August 1863 – apparently from Typhoid after washing infected clothing.
WALLACE “Wallas” HATFIELD was born on 15th May 1847 in Pike County, Kentucky – he died on the 9th June 1932. His wife was Melvina Ann Farley whom he married on 21st January 1869. Melvina had been born in Pike, Ky., on 15th November 1849 – she died in Cabell County, West Virginia, on the 30th August 1927. Melvina and Wallace had a total of 10 children:
Columbus Hatfield (born c1868),
Leah Hatfield (born c1870),
Caley Hatfield (born c1871),
Granville H. Hatfield (born 21st Feb. 1875 and died 1st Dec. 1957 in Pike, Ky.),
Epperson Hatfield (born c1877),
America Hatfield (born September 1879),
Hubbard (Hibbert) Hatfield (born 3rd February 1884 and died 5th May 1938),
Cumberland Hatfield (born November 1889),
Evermint Hatfield (born November 1889),
Howard Hatfield (born on 5th March 1892 and died 15th August 1945).
NANCY HATFIELD was born on the 16th April 1850 and died on the 14th August 1863 – some researchers believe she may have married Asa Wilson – but this seems unlikely because of her age.
ELIAS “Bas Lias” HATFIELD was born on 6th July 1853 – he died on the 10th January 1926 aged 72.
He married Eliza Jane “Jennie” Chaffin – they had eight children:
Floyd Hatfield (1878 – 1966),
Daniel Boone Hatfield (1879 – 1931),
Walter Hatfield (1882 – 1908),
Kentucky Hatfield (1884 – 1906),
Kenner Hatfield (1886 – 1906),
Virginia “Jennie” Hatfield (1888 – 1927),
James Hatfield (1891 – ?),
Lydia M. Hatfield (1893 – 1981).
Elias “Bad Lias” is mentioned in a book by Otis Rice called “The Hatfields & the McCoys” with regards to events surrounding the 1882 Election on Blackberrty Creek, Pike County, Kentucky:
“When the polls opened at the Blackberry Creek precinct on Monday August 7th 1882, at the home of Jerry Hatfield, the West Virginia Hatfields appeared, as was their custom. Among them were Elias and Ellison, brothers of Devil Anse. Also present was another Elias, “Bad Lias,” the brother of Deacon Anderson Hatfield. “Bad Lias,” a hard drinking and a contentious man, lived about two miles up Blackberry Creek. Early in the day, after the whiskey had begun to flow, Tolbert McCoy, the son of Randolph McCoy, accused “Bad Lias” of owing a small sum of about $1.75 for a fiddle, but Hatfield angrily protested that he had paid Tolbert about three years previously.
With a fight in the making, Tolbert’s younger brothers, nineteen year old Pharmer and fifteen year old Randolph Jnr., backed up his accusation. Deacon Anse, however, broke up the argument. As the day wore on, trouble flared anew, but the constable, Matthew Hatfield, was able to reduce the weapons from guns to fists …….
Later in the day hostilities continued, resulting in the fight that mortally wounded Ellison Hatfield, a brother of Devil Anse. After Ellison died from his wounds a few days later, the three McCoy brothers were then killed by the Hatfield’s escalating the feud between the two families.”
FLOYD HATFIELD was born on the 7th January 1858 in Pike Co., Kentucky. He married Anna V. Pinson on the 17th February 1876 in Pike. She had been born about 1851 and was aged 25 at the time of the marriage – Floyd was 18 years old when he married Anna – they had five children:
Elias M Hatfield (1877 – 1973),
Wayne P. Hatfield (1880 – 1976),
James Landon Lawson Hatfield (1883 – 1968),
William Pinson “Willie” Hatfield (1886 – 1974), and
George Hatfield (born 1887 – ?)
Anna Pinson died in 1898 and it seems that Floyd married again quite quickly to Jennie Hunt – though the exact date is unknown. Jennie was the daughter of Elsin Hunt and Nancy Lovely – she had been born in Kentucky on 26th January 1876. Floyd and Jennie Hunt had only one child – Sherman Hatfield (1899 – 1968). Jennie died on the 27th November 1952 in Fayette, Kentucky.
Who’s Who and When
To summarise all the significant names and approximate dates of the Southwestern Virginia Hatfield Family mentioned up to this point, the following Family Tree hopefully simplifies how they fit together.
Those children from Ephraim “Eaph of All” Hatfield and his first wife, Mary “Polly” Smith, were the main protagonists involved in the Hatfield/McCoy Feud. The direct link to those “cousins” identified on Ancestry as being related to me, come from the children from Ephraim’s second marriage to Annie McKinney.
The FEUD between the HATFIELD and the McCOY FAMILIES
The Hatfield-McCoy Feud is perhaps the most famous family conflict in American History. it has become a mythical tale of jealously, rage and revenge. Yet the events that took place towards the end of the 19th Century in Central Appalachia are part of a much richer and more complex story – a story of a people’s way of life slipping away, and their struggle to adapt to forces beyond their control. It’s a story of how industrialisation impacted rural communities in America.
What I have set down below is an amalgam of the story of the Hatfield-McCoy Feud – or the Hatfield-McCoy War, as some papers at the time called it. The information comes from a variety of sources – the problem is that no one source knows the real story of what took place between these two rural families during the years 1863 and 1891. Records of various incidents and the personalities involved, often conflict – duplication of names from different generations add to the confusion. Different sources attribute particular photographs to different people – thus making it almost impossible to claim factual accuracy with any of it. My story of the Hatfield-McCoy Feud is no better, nor worse than any previous attempts that have been made to tell that story – but searching through sources (official and otherwise) for both information and photographs, has been an interesting experience.
The Tug Fork Valley, deep in the mountains of Central Appalachia, was the edge of the American frontier in the early 1800’s. The Hatfields and the McCoys were among the earliest white settlers in the valley, a rugged and remote region filled with thick forests, rocky streams and steep ridges.
The Hatfields and the McCoys were absolutely identical to thousands of other families and extended families that lived in the mountains at the same time. People who had the run of the woods and forests, and took from them all sorts of things which they lived on and which they sold. They would hunt deer and bear. They kept hogs and would let their hogs go out in the woods to forage before they would take them in in the Fall and slaughter them – that’s what would keep them living through the winter.
The Tug Fork formed the border between the States of Kentucky and Virginia. The Hatfields, McCoys and other families settled in the Tug Valley on both sides of the shallow waterway – a tributary of the Big Sandy River that fed into the Ohio.
The Hatfields were led by William Anderson Hatfield, born in 1839 on the Virginian side of the Tug. He was a son of Ephraim “Big Eaf” and Nancy (Vance) Hatfield – one of eleven children. Anderson Hatfield was known as a fierce hunter – he reportedly killed a mountain lion as a boy, and was said to have been given the name “Devil Anse” at an early age.
William McCoy, the patriarch of the McCoys, was born in Ireland around 1750 and many of his ancestors hailed from Scotland. The family now were led by his grandson Randolph McCoy (also known as Randall or “Ole Ran’l), who grew up in a family of thirteen children living a hand-to-mouth existence on a farm neighbouring the Hatfields. More than a decade older than Anderson Hatfield, McCoy later moved with his wife and family across the Tug to Kentucky.
The Tug Valley region was a tight-knit community. Family was always important. You took care of your family first, but you also took care of your neighbour’s too. The families intermarried, they worked together, they did business together. There was a lot of harmony and strength in the valley. In April 1861, however, everything changed – the outbreak of the Civil War ripped apart the bonds of harmony in the Tug Valley – between and even within families.
On the Virginian side of the Tug, Anderson Hatfield and many of his neighbours enlisted in the Confederate Army when the state decided to secede. Across the river, Kentucky eventually sided with the Union. In the McCoy family, Randolph signed up with the Confederacy – while two of his brothers joined the Union. Families and individuals made decisions for themselves – very often oppositional decisions very close to one another. A pro-Union family could find itself living next door to a pro-Confederate family.
Divisions in the Tug Valley became even more complicated when voters in western Virginia elected in 1863 to leave the Confederacy and join the Union as the new state of West Virginia.
Being on the borderlands, the Tug Valley became a battleground. Guerilla fighters from both sides went back and forth, looting, killing livestock, burning down homes, in large part terrorizing the local population.
To protect his family from outside raids occurring on the border, William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield deserted the regular army and joined a local Confederate militia. He soon earned a reputation for fearlessness.
The first real violence in the Feud were the events during the period from late 1863 – culminating in the death of Asa Harmon McCoy in early January 1865. Asa McCoy had joined the 45th Kentucky Infantry on October 20, 1863. According to his Compiled Service Records, he was “captured by Rebels” on December 5, 1863, and was released four months later to a Union hospital in Maryland. At the time of his capture, he was recovering from a gunshot wound to the chest. During the early months of the Civil War, Asa had joined a company of the Pike County Home Guards, under the command of Uriah Runyon – it’s thought he sustained the wound while serving in this unit. William Francis also led a company of Pike County Guards during 1862 and a group of his guards attacked and shot Mose Christian Cline, a friend of “Devil Anse” Hatfield. Although Mose Cline survived his wounds, “Devil Anse” Hatfield vowed to retaliate against the responsible parties. Some time in 1863, a group of Confederate Home Guards ambushed and killed William Francis as he was leaving his house, and Anse Hatfield took credit for the deed. Uriah Runyon later joined the 39th Kentucky Infantry and was killed on May 7, 1864, in Pike County, Kentucky. His Compiled Service Records say “Killed by Rebels”. On muster rolls beginning on May 6, 1864, Asa Harmon McCoy is reported in a Lexington hospital, suffering from a leg fracture. He was soon back in action again for his Regiment’s march on Lexington in August. Beginning in December 1864, the 45th Kentucky Infantry began mustering its regiments out of service. Asa Harmon’s Company E was mustered out on December 24, 1864, in Ashland, Kentucky. Asa Harmon McCoy was killed near his home on January 7, 1865, just thirteen days after leaving the Union Army. A group of Confederate guerrillas called the Logan Wildcats (said in some quarters to have been actually part of Company D of the 36th Virginia Infantry) took credit for the killing, and his wife’s pension application states that he was “killed by Rebels”. There are no existing records of events surrounding his death and no warrants were issued in connection with the murder. “Devil Anse” Hatfield was a suspect at first., but was later confirmed to have been sick at home at the time of the murder. It is widely believed by members of the McCoy family that Jim Vance, an uncle of “Devil Anse” Hatfield and a member of the West Virginia Militia group, the Wildcats, committed the murder.
After the fighting had stopped, and Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield came home from the Civil war, he was still living on his father’s land. His father had quite a few sons, but for some reason, the only son he didn’t leave land to was Anderson.. Anderson settled into family life with his wife and two sons, and decided to start a timber company – he started cutting down trees along Grapevine Creek on the West Virginia side of the Tug.
As Tug Valley residents worked to reconstruct their community, industrialisation in the United States was increasing apace. The new economy was dominated by large corporations that hired labourers to work in their factories.
To fuel the growing economy, investors began eyeing Central Appalachia for its natural bounty of timber and mineral reserves – “The hills and valleys are full of wealth, which only need development to attract capitalists – like bees round a honey pot.”
The forests no longer became a place where you got your sustenance – they were now something that you had to destroy to make a profit. Anderson Hatfield began logging on property that he claimed was his father’s – but two relatives of Randolph McCoy living nearby (Perry Cline and his brother) asserted that Hatfield was trespassing and illegally timbering on their land – a 5,000 acre tract they had inherited from their father.
“Devil Anse” Hatfield, because of having been in the war, was respected and probably feared too. Despite the protest of the Cline brothers, Hatfield refused to leave. They accused him of taking their inheritance “by the muzzle of a gun.” Whether he was bullied or taken advantage of, Perry Cline eventually signed over part of the family property to “Devil Anse.” Cline never forgot the loss of his land to Anderson Hatfield.
Now one of the largest landowners in the area, “Devil Anse,” despite being almost illiterate, proved to be a savvy and opportunist businessman. He borrowed money from local merchants using his new land as security, purchased equipment on credit, and hired relatives and neighbours to man his timber crew. His workers floated logs down the Tug Fork to the Big Sandy, and on to the Ohio River where sawmills cut the timber that was building America.
“Devil Anse” Hatfield became a huge job-creator in the region – a lot of young men were leaving their farms and becoming wage-earners under him. It became a relatively extensive familial network – one that was based as much on economic relationships as it was on kinship. For Randolph McCoy, who owned a 300 acre farm, Anderson Hatfield’s success fed a growing and deep-seated bitterness. Randall McCoy was known to be a somewhat testy, cranky man. He was a little bit more of a follower – less of a leader than “Devil Anse” Hatfield. Ran’l McCoy’s only involvement in timbering had been a failure, when he’d joined his father in a logging venture. His father was accused of cutting trees on a neighbour’s land. In order to settle the court case, Ran’l had to sell the land he did own – thus impoverishing his family even more ! The Hatfields were now more affluent than the McCoys and were well-connected politically – and Randall was obviously jealous and had an enormous “chip on his shoulder.”
According to legend, the animosity between Anderson Hatfield and Ran’l McCoy, having quietened down after the shooting of Asa Harmon McCoy in January 1865 by alleged Confederate guerillas, may have flared up again in the fall of 1878 after a dispute into the ownership of a hog.
William “Devil Anse” Hatfield’s cousin, Floyd Hatfield drove his hogs into pens for fattening on the Kentucky side of the Tug Fork River. The hogs had roamed the hills around the Tug and Blackberry Forks throughout the spring and summer, though each hog bore its owner’s marking because of the animal’s value as a commodity and food source. Soon after Floyd Hatfield had rounded up his hogs, Randolph “Ole Ran’l” McCoy was near Hatfield’s pigpen and claimed one of the hogs bore his mark. Wasting no time to hear an explanation, McCoy accused Hatfield of theft and brought a law suit against Floyd Hatfield. The Reverend Anderson Hatfield, one of the local Justices of the Peace, convened a jury of six Hatfields and six McCoys to adjudicate the situation. Many witnesses were called, but the key testimony came from William Stanton, a McCoy relative with two Hatfields as brothers-in-law. Stanton claimed he saw Hatfield’s mark on the hog. Stanton’s testimony was enough to persuade juror Selkirk McCoy – he voted to acquit Floyd Hatfield.
William Stanton was eventually killed by Sam and Paris McCoy, nephews of Randolph McCoy. The circumstances of his death are tied up in legend, but Stanton’s body was left in the woods after the McCoy brothers fatally shot him while hunting. Sam McCoy was tried for murder, but a Hatfield-picked jury ruled that Sam acted in self-defence. The overlapping loyalties demonstrated by people like William Stanton, who had family and friends on both sides of the conflict, complicate the simplistic idea that the feud can be explained solely by family animosities and hint at the personal relationships involved.
The feud was further escalated after Roseanna McCoy entered into a relationship with “Devil Anse” Hatfield’s son Johnson (known as “Johnse), leaving her family to live with the Hatfields in West Virginia. Roseanna eventually returned to the McCoys, but when the couple tried to resume their relationship, Johnse Hatfield was arrested by the McCoys on outstanding bootlegging warrants. He was freed from McCoy custody only when Roseanna made a desperate midnight ride to alert “Devil Anse,” who organised a rescue party.
The Hatfield party surrounded the McCoys and took Johnse back to West Virginia before he could be transported the next day to the county seat in Pikeville, Kentucky. Despite what was seen as her betrayal of her own family on his behalf, Johnse then abandoned the pregnant Roseanna for her cousin, Nancy McCoy – whom he wed in 1881. Roseanna gave birth to a daughter, Sarah – but the child died of measles later that year.
The prospect of developing Appalachia’s natural resources took a dramatic turn in 1881, when a Philadelphia industrialist by the name of Frederick Kimball, arrived in Central Appalachia along the Virginia and southern West Virginia border. Kimball was the vice-president of the newly formed Norfolk & Western Railroad – and he’d heard rumours of a 13 foot seam of coal in the area. He came to investigate and was able to confirm the rumours. He convinced the N & W Railroad’s board to build a spur into the huge rich coalfields that ran through much of southern West Virginia. They were never going to be able to extract enormous amounts of resources from the area without the railroad – and to get the coal, you needed big chunks of timber to lay the railway track on. The Tug Valley which had previously been predominantly agricultural – began to change rapidly as industry quickly spread.
On the 5th August of 1882, families from both sides of the Tug gathered for Election Day at a polling place in Blackberry Creek, Pike County, Kentucky. Like election days all around the country, it was always a festive and volatile occasion . Drinking was rife that day, and those with old grudges were carrying chips on their shoulders. It seemed that everyone was looking for trouble. Beneath a big tree was a table, and at it sat the election officials. One by one voter’s choices were publicly stated to the poll clerks – this made for more ill-feeling amongst the onlookers.
A week or two before, Tolbert McCoy and several of his brothers, had arrested the oldest son of “Devil Anse” Hatfield, on a concealed weapons charge. They were taking him to a jail in Kentucky, when “Devil Anse” and a gang of armed men intervened – nobody was killed, but apparently “Devil Anse” made Tolbert get down on his knees – he then called Tolbert “all the names under the sun” – completely humiliating him in front of his family and friends. If you were seen to be weak man in the Tug Valley – then that was probably one of the worst things that could be said about you.
Late in the afternoon of Election Day, an open quarrel flared up near the polling place. It seems that “Bad Lias” Hatfield (a relation of “Devil Anse”) and Randolph McCoy’s son Tolbert, were arguing about an alleged debt of $1.75 which Tolbert said was owed to him, for a fiddle he’d sold to “Bad Lias”.
A crowd gathered as Tolbert and “Bad Lias”continued to argue – then Ellison Hatfield intervened. Ellison was bigger and stronger than Tolbert. Tolbert saw in Ellison Hatfield all the things that he would like to be – Ellison had land, and was an extremely respected member of the community. Putting that together with Tolbert’s humiliation by “Devil Anse” a week or two previously – then the rage within him was emerging in a deadly way. After being confronted by Ellison Hatfield, Tolbert McCoy attacked him with a knife. Though unarmed, Ellison fought back. Two of Tolbert’s brothers – Pharmer and Bud McCoy joined in – stabbing Ellison 27 times. Then as Ellinson picked up a rock to hit Tolbert on the head, Pharmer McCoy shot him in the back – severely wounding him.
The McCoy brothers were quickly apprehended and Justice of the Peace, Preacher Anse Hatfield, ordered Hatfield constables to take the McCoy brothers to the Pikeville jail in the next morning, to face charges. The wounded Ellison Hatfield was carried to the home of Anderson Ferrel in Warm Hollow, to be looked after
Although “Devil Anse” wasn’t there that day, he was soon informed. The problem for him was that this had happened on the Kentucky side of the river, and if the McCoy boys were taken to Pikeville for trial, then they would probably be found “not guilty.”
The constables had stopped at Floyd McCoy’s house for food and decided to spend the night further up Blackberry Creek. “Devil Anse” Hatfield had his own band of 20-plus men who worked the timber around his home place – and that pretty quickly became an armed militia. Loyalty was everything – his timber crew were seen as his family. The fact that they came to “Devil Anse’s” support so quickly and without question says a lot about what they thought of him. The next morning they arrived on the scene, and took charge of the McCoy boys – and locked them up in an abandoned schoolhouse. “Devil Anse” warned his captives that they would die – if Ellison died.
That night, in the pouring rain, Sally McCoy – mother of the three boys – crossed the rain-swollen Tug Fork to plead for mercy on her boys. Sally was a strong woman – she went straight to “Devil Anse” and begged for her sons’ lives – she wanted justice to take place in a Pike County Court – but it wasn’t going to turn out that way.
Ellison Hatfield died two days later on the 9th August 1882. Under cover of darkness, “Devil Anse” and his posse marched the Mc Coy brothers to the Kentucky side of the river. They blindfolded them and tied them to some pawpaw bushes on the riverbank – and then opened fire. The shots rang through the mountains – each was shot numerous times with a total of fifty shots fired. Their bodies were described as “bullet-riddled.” Randolph McCoy’s oldest son said later “We found my three brothers tied together – my little brother was on his knees, the top of his head shot off.” Ran’ll McCoy tried to raise a posse to get revenge on the Hatfields – but his wife Sally said “Let it go. It’ll just make things much worse.”
A lot of people looked upon the killing of the three boys as pretty much “an eye for an eye.” Not many came to the defence of the McCoys – either they didn’t want to get involved or they felt it was justified. At the time, the Hatfield-McCoy conflict was reported in the New York Times newspaper – along with similar conflicts “way our West” – such as the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Jesse James etc. Back in the Tug Valley, even though the Hatfields and most inhabitants of the area believed that their revenge was warranted, anything up to about twenty men, including Anse, were indicted. All the Hatfields however, managed to elude arrest – and this angered the McCoy family – who took their grievances to Perry Cline. There’s little doubt that Cline, who was married to Martha McCoy, used his political connections to reinstate the charges and put up rewards for the Hatfields’ arrest as an act of revenge. A few years earlier, Perry Cline had lost a lawsuit against Anse Hatfield over the ownership to thousands of acres of land, subsequently increasing the animosity between the two families.
In 1884, two years after the murder of the McCoy brothers, the Norfolk and Western Railroad Company , made its first shipment of coal from southern West Virginia – but Frederick Kimball – who by now was president of the railroad – had bigger ambitions. He soon announced the building of an extension line west to the Ohio River, and though the actual route had still to be determined, it was heading directly towards the Tug valley. Outside investors saw their chance to make money, and began negotiating for titles to land in the area – in some places, land was going for as little as a dollar an acre.
One local Pike County entrepreneur called John Mayo, recognised just how much untapped wealth was lying under the surface of the mountain farms where he had grown up.. He persuaded many families to sell him the mineral rights to their land – without them realising it, Mayo was granted rights to all natural resources in, on and under the land. These families were happy to be paid something for the coal beneath their feet – and were told they could stay there and live there very much as before. What they didn’t understand, was that the coal companies could use any measures they saw fit, to get the coal out of the ground – they could build roads, cut down trees – and even mine right up to the doors of the cabins of the families.
Land prices in the Tug Valley soared in anticipation of the coming of the railroad – and large corporations began competing against each other to acquire property. The increased competition undercut “Devil Anse’s” timber business. The merchants in Logan County who had been so willing to fund his timbering operations when it benefited them, now began to see him as a problem – especially as they were now trying to attract larger companies from outside to the area. The took him to court to collect what “Devil Anse” owed them – and that really hurt his business.
As Anse Hatfield began to face increased financial pressure, an old nemesis sought to take advantage of his situation. It had been nearly fifteen years since Perry Cline had lost a lawsuit against “Devil Anse” over the ownership to thousands of acres of land. Cline had moved out of the Tug Valley to Pikeville, where he had started a number of businesses and served as deputy sheriff before becoming an attorney. Perry Cline had also been a member of the Kentucky state legislature, and was now part of the inner circle of the Pike County elite. Cline, by this time, must have realised that the Norfolk and Western railroad was likely to run its line along the Tug Fork in West Virginia – the very land that “Devil Anse” had taken from him just over a decade before.
In late Novenber 1886, after four years of relative calm, violence between the Hatfields and the McCoys surfaced again when twenty-two-year old “Cap” Hatfield – known to have rather a dubious reputation – and one of “Devil Anse’s sons, stirred things up. In 1886, Jeff McCoy had killed a mail carrier named Fred Wolford – and the man who went to pursue him for his crime was acting constable “Cap Hatfield.” Hatfield and a friend, named Tom Wallace, shot Jeff McCoy while he was on the run on the banks of the Tug Fork – he had apparently been trying to swim across. In retribution, Tom Wallace was soon found dead in the spring of 1887 – killed by an unknown killer.
Randall McCoy had lost another relative – so he turned to Perry Cline for help – and Cline was looking for any opportunity to get revenge. Instead of issuing an arrest warrant for the recent killing, it is generally thought that Cline used his political connections to revive the five year old case against Anderson Hatfield and his posse – for the murder of the three McCoy brothers. Perry Cline needed authority to pursue the Hatfields across state lines – so he turned to Kentucky’s newly elected Governor, Simon Bolivar Buckner.
Within days of Buckner’s inauguration, Perry Cline met with him, and convinced him to pursue the case against the Hatfields – and to increase the reward for their capture to $500 each. Buckner agreed, and a few days later sent an extradition request to the Governor of West Virginia, requesting that “Anse Hatfield” and his posse should be detained, and handed over to face charges in Kentucky. News soon spread of the attempt to extradite the Hatfields – Logan County residents lobbied on their behalf – one saying that the “Hatfields were the very best and law abiding citizens of that country.” After several weeks of deliberation, West Virginia’s governor denied Kentucky Governor Buckner’s request.
Perry Cline, frustrated and without any legal authority, sent a “special deputy” by the name of Frank Phillips” into West Virginia – his role was to capture the Hatfields. “Bad” Frank Phillips had a reputation as being both relentless and aggressive. He started making raids across the Tug – and arrested two of Devil Anse’s associates and brought them across the river to Pikeville jail . “Bad” Frank was determined to do whatever it took to bring the Hatfields to Justice –
it was a “game-changer” for the Hatfields. Though it wasn’t really sanctioned by the state, “Devil Anse” saw it that way – it seemed to him that the State of Kentucky was after them.
Hoping to leave no witnesses, on the night of New Years Day 1888, a nearly full moon illuminated the fresh snow blanketing the ridges and hollows of the Tug Valley Fork. The events of that evening would mark a turning point in tensions between the Hatfield and McCoy families. At the McCoy home, Randolph, his wife Sarah, and some of their children and grandchildren had gone to bed. Suddenly their watchdog started barking.
A voice – thought to have been Ellison “Cotton Tops” Hatfield – yelled out for McCoy to give himself up. A group of armed men, made up of “Devil Anse’s” sons, led by “Cap” Hatfield and Jim Vance, and some of the more aggressive Hatfield crew members surrounded the house.
It’s likely that “Devil Anse was not aware what his oldest son had planned – hoping that by taking Randall McCoy out of the equation, “Cap” thought that that would somehow end the feud.
Gunshots ripped into the cabin. Randolph started firing back and a firefight ensued. The attackers then set fire to the McCoy cabin. Randolph McCoy’s daughter Alifar, and his son Calvin were shot down as they tried to escape the flames. Randolph’s wife Sally, was severely beaten with a rifle butt as she attempted to reach her wounded daughter, Alifair – some have suggested that the beating was done by Jim Vance.
Randolph McCoy himself, managed to escape with some of his children into the woods. The Hatfield party withdrew as the house burned to the ground – they must have realised that there would be trouble over what had just taken place !
Randolph returned to find two of his children dead in the snow, and his wife critically injured. This violent event was way beyond anything he’d seen before – the feud was now at another level of brutality and violence.
A few days after the New Year’s Massacre, a posse led by Pike County Deputy Sheriff Frank Phillips rode out to track down “Devil Ance’s” group across the border into West Virginia. The posse’s first victim was “Crazy” Jim Vance, who was killed in the woods after he refused to be arrested. James Vance has often been portrayed down the years as a psychopathic killer – one of the leading protagonists of the violence which was often a feature of the Feud. Some historians suggest that “Cap” Hatfield witnessed the execution of the wounded Jim Vance on the 10th January, at the hands of Frank Phillips, – and it was that, which led to “Cap’s” decision to flee the region. Following the death of “Crazy” Jim and the disappearance of “Cap” Hatfield, the violence of the feud subsided briefly. “Devil Anse” however, the presumed leader of the Hatfield clan, remained free.
Deputy Sheriff “Bad” Frank Phillips then made successive raids on Hatfield homes and those of their supporters – they captured three more before cornering the rest in Grapevine Creek on 19 January. Unfortunately for Phillips, “Devil Anse” and other Hatfields were waiting for them with an armed group of their own. A battle ensued between the two parties, and the Hatfields were eventually apprehended. Two Hatfield supporters were killed, and a deputy, Bill Dempsey, was executed by Frank Phillips after they surrendered. “Wall” Hatfield and eight others were arrested and brought to Kentucky to stand trial for the murder of Alifair McCoy, killed during the New Year’s Massacre.
The raids angered the West Virginia Governor Emmanuel Willis Wilson, and many thought there might be another Civil War breaking out along the Tug Fork between factions in the two states. Apparently both states actually ordered their National Guard units to prepare to defend their borders.
A war of words ensued as West Virginia’s governor fought vigorously with Kentucky’s governor to block the extradition of the Hatfields from West Virginia. He sued Kentucky for the unlawful arrest of nine prisoners – stating that Hatfield had been carried across state lines illegally. Governor Wilson unsuccessfully appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court in April 1888. The court ruled by 7-2 in favour of the Hatfields having to stand trial in Kentucky – whether or not, the original arrests by “Bad Frank” Phillips were legal.
On 24th August 1888, eight of the Hatfields and their friends were indicted for the murder of Alifair McCoy – killed during the New Year Massacre. Seven received life imprisonment – they were “Cap,” “Johnse,” Robert and Elliot Hatfield, French Ellis, Charles Gillespie, and Thomas Chambers. The eighth, Ellison “Cotton Tops” Mounts, was executed by hanging.
“Cotton Tops” Mounts was a rather strange young man – he was never fully accepted by the Hatfields – he was the butt of their jokes and rough horseplay. He was apparently illegitimate, and has been described as being ” rather slow and developmentally challenged.” In his desire to be accepted, “Cotton Tops” would do bad things for the Hatfields – either as they directed, or if he thought it would bring him acceptance. Following the New Year Massacre, he’d boasted that he’d shot Alifair McCoy with his Winchester – he later tried to retract his confession, but his retraction was rejected – he stated that “the Hatfields made me do it.” “Cotton Tops” was said to have been buried in an unmarked grave within sight of the gallows.
As well as worrying about his family, “Devil Anse” was also fighting for his financial survival. He owed hundreds of dollars – payable immediately – on old debt cases that had been rushed to trial. He was forced into selling his land – which he did for very little – compared to what he would have got just a few years later, when the railroad came through and the coal mines came in. This is what Perry Cline and his friends in Pikeville had been hoping for all along. Just four weeks after the New Year’s Day raid on the McCoy home, “Devil Anse” sold all his lands by the Tug River to a coal agent, who also agreed to pay off all his debts. Like many of his neighbours, “Devil Anse” lost his land to outside capitalists.
“Devil Anse” moved higher up in the mountains to land he had purchased twenty miles north of the Kentucky border in Logan County. There he built a sturdy windowless fort near his cabin, and posted armed men around the property.
In the late summer of 1888, six months after selling his land, “Devil Anse” heard that a reporter from New York City wanted to interview him. The journalist was T. C. Crawford, who hoped by meeting Hatfield and seeing his fort and armed guards – he would have secured the “scoop of the century.” The meeting took place and the first of three articles appeared on Sunday 7th October 1888 in the press. It wasn’t so much an accurate factual account of life in Tug Valley – Crawford wrote an elaborate entertaining story of his ten days in “Murderland” – describing it as a “barbarous, uncivilised and wholly savage region.” The story reached hundreds of thousands of readers – and other newspapers began “picking up the story.” Soon “Devil Anse” Hatfield was being called “the Outlaw King” across the nation – with much the same degree of notorious publicity as “Jack the Ripper” had in England.
The Hatfield-McCoy Feud was a newspaper sensation – everywhere, people wanted to read about what was going on in that little part of America. Crawford realising he was onto a “good thing” published a book called “An American Vendetta” – which told the “true” story of the Hatfield-McCoy Feud . Unfortunately the publicity was a bit of a disaster for the people in the Tug Valley area – it unfairly painted them as savages, living in the past, backward, inbred and uneducated – a description that still lingers – to an extent – even today.
By 1890, the Norfolk and Western construction crews were laying track for their new extension line to the Ohio River – as expected, it ran right along the Tug Fork in West Virginia, cutting through “Devil Anse” Hatfield’s former land. Massive timbering operations began turning the mountains into an alien landscape – company-owned coal camps spread along the creek bottoms and hillsides where there had once been farms. Notices in local papers warned people not to trespass on recently acquired lands – including more than 1300 acres on the Tug river bought from Anderson Hatfield.
As industry invaded the Tug Valley, the Hatfields, McCoys and other mountain families found ways to adapt to the new way of life – or chose to move out of the Appalchia area altogether, and seek jobs in the cities or look for opportunities out west.
Randolph McCoy lived out his remaining years in Pikeville – he died at the age of eighty-eight in 1914. Some seven years later, thousands of people attended Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield’s funeral – many who attended were Hatfields who, in the intervening years, had re-invented themselves – and were now part of the area’s middle class as company employees, politicians and lawyers.
POSTSCIPT
Animosity between the Hatfield and McCoy Families eased somewhat following the hanging of “Cotton Tops” Mounts. Trials continued for years until the 1901 trial of “Johnse” Hatfield – the last of the feud trials.
The families announced a truce in 1891 – which held “on and off” until the mid-1970’s when the annual Hatfield-MCoy Re-union Festival in Pikeville was organised by cousins Ron and Bo McCoy.
There have been the odd “skirmishes” over land rights from time to time since, including in 1977, agitation in Pikeville about the proposed removal of graves in Dils Cemetery to build a new civic centre and sports arena – the cemetery was the last resting place of Ran’l McCoy, his wife Sarah and some of his relatives.
There was a legal battle in 2000 over access to a cemetery that held the remains of six McCoys – including the three – who legend says – were tied to pawpaw trees and executed by Hatfields in 1882. The cemetery was on land owned by Hatfield descendant, named John Vance. Whilst the cemetery hadn’t been used for a burial for more than 114 years, access had always been unrestricted. Vance heard that Ron McCoy and his cousin Bo McCoy, wanted the cemetery to be part of a tour that would highlight points of interest related to the feud – an idea that was supported by Development Officials in Pikeville. Vance accused the family of trying to capitalize on its tourist potential by charging admission – so he put up “No Trespass” signs on the access driveway. The lawsuit was finally resolved.
Right at the beginning of this piece, I mentioned that after taking my Ancestry DNA test, I had notification of several 2nd “cousins,” scores of 3rd “cousins” and even more 4th “cousins” that I’d never known about. I contacted about thirty of my closest “cousins” to try to discover how we might be related – unfortunately some felt unable to respond – but from those that did, with their help, I was able to draw up family trees. From a genetic viewpoint, how closely “cousins” are related, is dependant on the number of centimorgans that they share – centimorgans (cMs) are a unit devised for measuring genetic linkage. Though there are variations on various DNA charts that one might consult – generally 3rd cousins are likely to share anywhere between 90 – 180 cMs
One of my new 3rd “cousins,” with whom I share 150 centimorgans, is Reo Bentley Hatfield. He and I have exchanged a number of emails regarding his family tree – and it is Reo Hatfield – together with Ron and Bo McCoy, who drew up the Hatfield-McCoy Formal Truce which they signed in Pikeville, Kentucky, on “The Morning Show” on CBS on the 14th June 2003. Reo said he wanted to show that if two families could resolve their problems – then others could too
It was signed by more than sixty descendants from both families during the fourth Hatfield–McCoy Festival. Governor Paul E. Patton of Kentucky and Governor Bob Wise of West Virginia signed proclamations declaring “14th June Hatfield and McCoy Reconciliation Day.”
The Formal Truce
At the time of writing, though I have several 2nd/3rd “cousins” with whom I share more cMs than with Reo Hatfield – regrettably it has not yet been possible to identify who my birth-grandfather might have been. If you are reading this – and think there’s a possibility that we might be close “cousins” – then don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Jerry Dorber May 2021
Dorber Family History 
Interesting Read very worth the read. Ralph Hatfield is my 5th Great grandfather .Anderson Hatfield is my 4th cousin 4 x removed .
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Thank you for doing all this work. My wife is a granddaughter of the Sherman Hatfield that you mention (only son of Floyd Hatfield and Jenny Hunt).
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Really enjoyed reading this – finding it very helpful. Devil Anse Hatfield is my 1st cousin 4x removed. My Great-great Grandmother, Jane Varney, is the niece of John Varney who married Martha Hatfield, sister to Devil Anse. Another uncle of Jane’s, Alex Varney Jr, married Phoebe Hatfield, sister of Eprahim Hatfield and aunt of Devil Anse. Those are my closest relatives to the feuders. Lots of Hatfields and McCoys in later generations but too many to list here. Thanks for the great read/info! Deborah Cochran (b Iaeger, WVa 1953)
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We may be distant relatives. My great grandmother was Sarah Ann Hatfield b.1877 and her great great grandfather was Ephraim Hatfield b.1765.
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