Tell Us Your Family Story: the Memory for Your Ancestors
As home assignment we had to write 'Tell us your story essay' as every person has at least one story to share. My story is actually known by a lot of people. You ever heard of the Hatfield and McCoy feud or war? Well either my Great, great, great grandfather or great, great, great, great grandfather was Ellison Hatfield the brother of William Anderson Hatfield, also known as “Devil Anse.” He was the leader, head man, of the Hatfield’s. Just mentioning their names stirs up visions of a lawless and unrelenting family feuding.
Throughout my life I’ve heard these names ever so often from the television or from my family, but I never got the significant meaning of the two-family names and what happened between the two families. Now that I am older and can comprehend what happened and why. Some of the family members got along from each side but for the majority there was always someone or something to fight about.
Every summer I go home to Pike county, Kentucky where a lot of the fighting happened. I see the landmarks and try to picture what happened. One of the places I tend to see a lot of is a cabin next to my grandmothers post office within walking distance from her residence. So, I got curious and did some research on the cabin and it turns out to be where they held the hog trials and the log cabin belonged to none other than Preacher Anse Hatfield. It happened in 1878 where Randolph McCoy accused Floyd Hatfield, a cousin of Devil Anse, of stealing one of his hogs, a must have good to the people because it was a poor area Floyd Hatfield was placed on trial. Where it took place in McCoy territory, but it was taken over by a cousin of Devil Anse, Preacher Anse Hatfield. The trial was led by a thread by the star witness Bill Staton, a McCoy relative married to a Hatfield. Staton testified in Floyd Hatfield’s favor, and the McCoy’s were infuriated when Floyd was cleared of the charges.
To some people it is a pretty cool cabin to look at and take pictures, they read the plaque and say, ‘oh that’s cool or so that’s what happened.’ But when I look at it, I see that’s my family’s history. Everyone on both sides had a reason to be fighting and thought they were right. Some of them may have been right but the way they took matters into their own hand may not have been the right way at the time. When I look back to when I was younger, I see how I reacted or how I handled things and they might not have been the best way to handle it either. So, I can see a pattern in my family.
Over the years in my history classes the Hatfield and McCoy feud always made its way in one way or another in a discussion. And every time I learned something new from what the teacher says or from what my peers thought as well. I also learned a great deal about my past family preparing for this paper. Connecting who was related to who and how they were intertwined. Then of course seeing the marriages and the generations that followed.
One of the main things I’ve learned about my family from Civil War Profiles is that Randolph McCoy and Devil Anse Hatfield served in the same Confederate unit during the Civil War, but their names have not been found on the same roster which is not unusual. The big war between the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s started in 1863 and lasted until 1891.Thw two families shook hands in 1973. But did not fully put the feud between them to complete rest until June 14, 2003, marking the official end to the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s' feud when the families signed a truce. The governors at the time of West Virginia and Kentucky, officially declared that June 13, 2003 to be Hatfield-McCoy Reconciliation Day.
Knowing all of this has helped me come to terms with why it happened but I want to know more. There is only so much you can learn from google. But the more I do google it helps me understand myself a little more. From where my roots are and why I may be what I am or act the way I do. I love it when I go visit because I get to see the landmarks and try to imagine what happened.
I would consider my story very unusual but entertaining. Over the years my family from up home (West Virginia and Kentucky) has had it’s up and downs and a lot of drama. And now I can see why. It is in our blood. Whether we know it or like it. It is what our ancestors did, and we still do. But from what I have learned and experienced, it is because of family. We care for and love our family and would do anything we can for what we think is right.
