Hatfields and McCoys Historical Society Inc.

03/06/2026

With Hatfield and McCoy Feud – I'm on a streak! I've been a top fan for 5 months in a row. 🎉

02/03/2026

With Hatfield and McCoy Feud – I'm on a streak! I've been a top fan for 4 months in a row. 🎉

02/03/2026

This weathered portrait is of Ruth “Reese” McCoy Farley (1833-1894), sister of Randolph “Ran'l” McCoy (1825-1914), patriarch of the feuding McCoys. She was born in 1833 in Pike County, KY.

Reese was a daughter of Daniel McCoy and Margaret Peggy Taylor McCoy. Her spouse was William Anderson Farley (1835–1902).

In addition to Ran'l McCoy, her other siblings included John McCoy (1819–1863); William Pleasant McCoy (1822–1869); Harriett McCoy Duty (1824–1903); Asa Harmon McCoy (1828–1865); Samuel McCoy (1830–1862); Nancy McCoy Dempsey (1837–1922); Thomas Pharmer McCoy (1840 – ?); James M. McCoy (1843–1917); and Levisa McCoy Stone White (1844–1917).

Her children included Elizabeth Jane Farley Ferrell (1857–1920); Martelia Farley Curry (1861–1880); Polly Ann Farley Curry (1862–1953); Laura Belle Farley Curry (1870–1908); Minnie Farley White (1872–1894); and Matilda Farley Curry (1874–1955).

Reese died at age 60 years of age in Logan County, WV, and her burial likely took place at Upper Curry Cemetery in Mingo County, WV. Sadly, she died within a week of her daughter Minnie Farley White.

12/30/2025

According to a hand written description on the back of this rare photograph, this is Levisa "Levicy" Hatfield—also known as Louvicey (1842-1929), the widow of Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield. She is shown holding to her squirmy great-grandson, Coleman Caldwell Hatfield, the grandson of Cap Hatfield and great grandson of Devil Anse and Levicy. Levicy was 85 at the time this snapshot was taken.

As an adult, Dr. Coleman Caldwell “Colie” Hatfield (1926-2008) would graduate from Logan High School, Concord University, and Illinois College of Optometry. At Illinois College of Optometry, he became a professor and chairman of the vision therapy and children’s clinic.

Coleman was also a historical researcher and author of several bestselling books: The Joy of Optometry; The Tale of the Devil: The Biography of Devil Anse Hatfield; and The Feuding Hatfields & McCoys. Hatfield was considered an Appalachian historian and authority of Hatfield history. Circa 1928.

12/02/2025

Today’s Goldenseal flashback is from an article and photo essay by LeRoy G. Schultz in our Spring 1983 issue. For the most part, West Virginia’s historic barns are a product of German culture. Even the Scots-Irish immigrants in our area often built in the German tradition. They learned this technique from German immigrants when they all lived in Pennsylvania shortly after migrating to America.

Author LeRoy G. Schultz states the importance of the log barn, “A sound barn was the heart of any farm. The first barn was built before the settler’s house went up, and then served as the family’s temporary dwelling. Most early barns were built six to eight feet tall, with roofs of straw or tree boughs held in place by saplings or stones. To ward off the wind, a mixture of mud and horsehair was used as chinking between logs.”

Unfortunately, many of our oldest barns have disappeared in recent years. The author notes, “West Virginia log barns, once a measure of rural welfare in their unsophisticated splendor, are now on the brink of extinction. The death of horse and ox agriculture has contributed to their destruction, as have new hay storage methods, and fire, flood, wind, insects, the tax collector, and simple age.”

All photos are by the author, LeRoy G. Schultz.

10/10/2025

10/08/2025

JOHNSON “JOHNSE” HATFIELD: Here is an image of Johnse “Johnse” Hatfield, as published in 2016 in Goldenseal Magazine. He pauses briefly to pose for a photographer, shown here in late middle age.

Johnse “Jonse” was the first child of William Anderson "Devil Anse" and Levicy Hatfield of Logan County, WV. He’s often been described by historians as one of the most violent and unpredictable of the Hatfield clan, only second to his brother, Cap Hatfield.

As a very young man, Johnse was romantically linked with Roseanna McCoy, daughter of Randolph “Ol’ Ran’l” McCoy, of Pike County, KY. Johnse eventually called off the relationship and, surprisingly, married Roseanna’s first cousin, Nancy McCoy, the daughter of Asa Harmon McCoy.

As fate would have it, Nancy later divorced him to marry Bad Frank Phillips, Pike County deputy, gunslinger, and archenemy of the Hatfields.

Johnse was born in 1862, being called one of the Hatfield “War Babies” since he was born during the early part of the American Civil War.

He passed in 1922, presumably of a heart attack. Johnse was interred with his kinfolk at Hatfield Family Cemetery at Sarah Ann, Main Island Creek, Logan County, WV.

06/01/2025

Photos from our Hatfieds and McCoys Historical Society Memorial Day Event, Scholarship Award, New Gate Awards and Volunteer Certificate Awards.