Funny you should call the Hatfield’s of those days, murdering hillbillies. What would you call the McCoy boys who murdered a Hatfield?

Thanks for all the other info on these families and pointing me to the episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcibt4eNy3I

Odd thing about history, you can never really know what happened since every account is some degree removed from reality.

“History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren’t there.”
– George Santayana

Come on Lakawak . . . Don’t you have anything better to do than troll the web?

I see you’re one of those anti-journalist/anti-media types.

Nevertheless . . . Facts are facts. Your opposition does not change that.

LOVE this. I love when peopel jsut post one side as fact. Shows that you are not interested in the least bit about being taken seriously as an adult.

So seriously…your life is just that you make shit up, and then when people call you on your bluff you say “Yes it is!”

So basically…you still have the mind of a 5 year old. No WONDER your mom is ashamed she carried your full term. She has always considered you her biggest failure in life.

Yes…”all your sources”…of which you provided NONE. Because, like all “journalists” you like to spew bullshit without linking to any actual proof.

I can say with 100% certainty that NO child has ever said “When I grow up, I will write for boomtron!”

Sorry but he told more truth than most Hatfields know and or would ever admitt. He only told a small percentage of how rotten Devil Anse and his allies actually were. Hatfields could never hide the guilt although it has been tryed for several years. You would be amazed how intelligent Cotton Top actually was if you would take the tie to read his testimony. He forgot or misunderstands that Hatfields and McCoys each had allies when he did the count on how many were killed on each side. It was not only Hatfields and McCoys although most people thinks it was and measures and weights the feud that way. There is 2 sides to the story but there is only one truth which has began to be revealed. If McCoys had anything to be guilty of they would have writen many books to try and cover up such false acusations such as the Hatfields have been doing for centuries. I think the time will shortly come and the world will get to see the McCoy version of the feud in a TV movie such as the Hatfield version previously aired on the 3 day mini series. Asa Harmon McCoy’s death was NOT civil war related. Devil Anse comitted many murders prior to the death of Asa Harmon McCoy. The Asa Harmon McCoy you have read about is a Hatfield ally story. Truda Williams McCoy’s forefathers sided with the Hatfields. Don’t forget that Asa Harmon McCoy married Perry Cline sister and that Perry Cline was a child of 13-14 when the Devil stole his property which was another childess act of The Ole Devil. Bet you never heard of the story of Devil Anse killing and BBQing a McCoy ally’s COW prior to Asa Harmon McCoy’s death and how that the murderring of Asa left a family of orphans including Nancy, Mary, Jeff and Larkin. Bet you never knew that Larkin McCoy killed ole Jim Vance and that Bad Frank Phillips got the credit such as most government officers do today. Frank made a vow as a child that he would kill the man that killed his father Asa Harmon McCoy/The Only Real McCoy families because Ole Randolf and Devil Hatfield were the betrayers that left there Northern civil war families in Blackberry Ky and joined the confederacy in Wv. Over 95 % of Hatfields and McCoys fought for the union and lived in Kentucky. If you think not read the civil war rosters other than all these false profit book writers opinions.

RHH,
I just read your posts and you seem to be fair in some of your comments. The one thing that McCoy’s don’t want to hear is when Hatfield’s try to make Devil Anse out to be a hero. Sorry he wasn’t no more of a hero than Sadaam Hussein was to the Iraqi’s. The same feeling that those who lost family at the hands of Osama Bin Laden in the World Trade Centers are the same feeling’s Randolph McCoy had. Maybe not on that big of a scale. I don’t think you’ll ever see Americans looking at Osama as a hero and neither will the McCoy’s look at the Devil Anse that way. He was the master mind behind a lot of pain to the Randolph McCoy family who I am related too. Hatfield’s need to realize that and quit gloating over the seven McCoy’s that died during the feud. I won’t go into detail how they beat up a 62 year old grandmother and killed her daughter.
The Hatfield’s of them days were a bunch of murdering hillbillies. The McCoy’s were a family that never got justice and very seldom do in the media today. Then when someone like Matthew comes along’s writes an article that doesn’t favor the Hatfield’s here you go again defending a murderer.

Did you even think that the Hatfield’s could have this too since the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s have intermarried since the 1700’s.
Trivia for you.
Q. Which direct family member of the feud from the Hatfield’s or McCoy’s died of a brain tumor?
A. Cap Hatfield.
It’s in his sons book, Coleman C. Hatfield.
Brenda, anybody in your family ever had a temper or tumors? If you look hard enough you will find that tumors and cancer are not just a McCoy problem.
Again Mathew, that’s why McCoy’s don’t talk because just to many lies over the years to fool with. Be prepared for more they hate people seeing them for what they are.
90% of the Hatfield’s TODAY are good people. then you have those 10% that are from the Devil Anse family that are complete idiots.
Who else would brag for over 100 years about killing law abiding citizens and beating up a 62 year old grandmother?

I am a McCoy and laughed when I read this. Finally somebody that see’s Devil Anse Hatfield for who he was. A coward who takes advantage of innocent woman and children and runs behind the pack and lets others do his dirty work.

I also knew that it wouldn’t take long for some Hatfield’s to let you have it. They are fine with publicity until it’s not in their favor.

By the way if any McCoy’s come on here and bad mouth you it’s probably Hatfield’s posting as McCoy’s.

Some of them are still a bunch of wimps. Instead of hiding behind trees they hide behind keyboards.

Keep writing with courage and tell it like you see it.

I am going to address the lies of RHH later. He fed you a bunch of bull. The Hatfield authors tell one side and the media adds their touch to it and that’s why the facts of the feud are so one sided.

I figured you weren’t necessarily trying to say the spill or the Wildcats had anything directly to do with the feud, just found it interesting.  Didn’t know you were a Wildcat fan!!  GO CATS!!!   I also could tell you did more than a google search, but thought maybe whichever source you used was one-sided.  As for the reunions, they are held every year in June.  There is a marathon for adults and kids, tours of the sites, and several other things.  One of these days I’ll make it up there.  You might find it interesting that people from both families quit watching the movie because they thought it portrayed their family poorly.  Just thought that was kind of funny after all the jokes that have been made over the years.  I thought the movie was pretty well made.    So how should we shorten Matthew (which, btw, is my son’s name too.  Good name.)?

Haven’t been able to talk to my mom yet or access her records (she’d kill me if I got into them without permission! lol)  My great great grandmother was Parthena Hatfield, whose father was John Wesley Hatfield.  When I tried to research John Hatfield (J.W.’s father), I couldn’t find anything.  I’m going to call her again tonight and see if I can get any more info on the Hatfield side.

Thank you. I will keep checking this page for any information you can forward on. Again Thanks

Outstanding commentary! I always like to hear from sources even more involved than myself.

1. Very cool to learn of the origin of Devil Anse’s name. As a side note, I always enjoyed their style of shortening the moniker, like “Anse” and “Johnse.” That should come back in style.

2. Yeah, it would be more accurate to say that the pig incident ignited the feud outside the immediate context of the war.

3. Massey spill has little to do with the actual feud, just with the condition of the Big Sandy’s stretch. I wanted to call attention to it, as it seemed weird enough and relevant given the location. 

4. As with the Massey spill, I just found the connection to be intriguing. And as a Wildcat fan, I thought it bore mentioning. I reckon it the team name has a whole lot more to do with the local lore about fauna than it does about the feud, but there you go.

5. Thanks for the fresh slant on the Johnse/Roseanna story. Your final sentence sums up my opinion best. Heck, that was the cause of much of the feud.

6. Yep, that’s about what I know too.

7. Mounts’ demise is, I feel, a fitting final tragedy – really representing that things had got to about as low as they could get, morally. Sad all around.

8. I’d agree that they both lost. It’s petty to keep a tally in something like this. Then again, I was looking to stir it up.

9. What fun! Keep me posted if another comes down the pike.

As for my tone, I was going for provocative. “12 Objective Facts about the Feud” just wouldn’t have played as well. That isn’t to say I have the courage of my convictions: I certainly never claimed to be the last word on the subject, but I did do my research beyond a mere Google search. I’ve been fascinated by the feud for years and was thrilled to see it back on the cultural radar. 

I was aiming to continue the dialogue and I’m glad I hit the mark enough to get folks like you into the comment thread.

Thanks for helping her out, RHH. I very much look forward to reading your comment above.

As for the role of tumors and what not, it brings to mind Charlie Whitman, who flipped out and gunned down all those folks in Texas back in the day. People blamed it on the tumor, then on his upbringing, then just on genetics. It’s tough to say. But it is an intriguing notion, I’ll give you that.

My mom and her friend have done extensive research on both sides of the family.  Let me see what she says when she gets back from Eastern KY.

 Expand RRR, I  am trying to find the European roots for the Hatfields and for the McCoys. Any help from you or anyone who knows would be appreciated.Thanks

RRR, I  am trying to find the European roots for the Hatfields and for the McCoys. Any help from you or anyone who knows would be appreciated.Thanks
.

excuse the typos;  I was typing fast and overlooked them.  

3.  Not sure what the Massey spill has to do with the actual feud, other than a fact about the river, and you’re right about it not being recognized.  I have a vague recollection of hearing about it, but it’s not a topic that comes up when you hear about the big spills.   Hate when these spills destroy our precious lands.

4.  Interesting that you would tie the Kentucky Wildcats into the Hatfields.  Never really thought about it.  I know they are named that after someone said the football team “fought like wildcats”, and the name stuck (man, that had to have been a while ago, huh?  That cannot be said about the football team now, unfortunately.)

5..  There are several different versions of the Johnse/Roseanna story.  This is what I know:  Johnse was 18 and Roseanna was somewhere around 21 when they headed for the bushes that election day.  She did get left behind by her brothers and moved in with the Hatfields, although Anse disapproved.  Her sisters came to retrieve her from the Hatfield’s, then she moved in with her aunt.  The 2 resumed their affair there, but when her brothers found out, they got Johnse, supposedly to take him to the Pikeville prison (which of course was not their intentions).  That’s when Roseanna rode to the Hatfield home.  After that, Johnse stayed away from her, probably for fear of getting killed.  Their baby lived for about 8 months, and both parents are listed on her tombstone.  The records I have say that Johnse married Nancy about 4 months after the baby’s death, but other reports say different.  All I can chalk that situation up to is being young and stupid on all accounts.

6.  Don’t have anything to say here, except that in Australia the papaya is also called the pawpaw, so there ya go.  Hey, I was already sitting here, so may as well look it up, right?

7.  You’re right about it being mostly kids/young adults.  I have shed tears while reading about the deaths on both sides, including Ellison Mounts, who was mentally-disabled and many, if not most, believe was wrongly charged with murder and hanged.  

8.  The McCoys had more deaths, true, but I’d say both sides lost on this one.  It’s sad that things got so out of control from families that were once friends, worked together, and married.  

9. While I have yet to attend a Hatfield/McCoy reunion, my mom and her best friend, a McCoy, have an over 40 year friendship, and have attended several reunions, including the peace treaty signing.  I would like to be able to go, and take my kids.  They sound like a lot of fun.

Your information seems quite one-sided, which makes me curious about your sources.  Even most articles found online are more middle-grounded.  My source of knowledge on this is based on family history, visits to the area, and books written on the subject, presenting both sides of the story.   While no one will ever know the whole every-word-spoken-play-by-play, there is a wealth of information out there, and you need to be able to take it all in, not just what you want to present.  Thank you for taking the time to read all this, and maybe someday I will see you at the reunion.  😉  

Way to rehash the lamest sarcastic tone since, “Yeah, right.”