Specifically the "Three Forks" area in the mountains around the North, South, and Middle Forks of the Kentucky River?

My dad was from Breathitt County, but he was raised in an extremely isolated area and left home when he was just a teenager.  He did not really know a lot about the local history.  I have recently been reading the book "Bloody Breathitt" and it has some fascinating history.  In the late 1800's and early 1900's newspapers and magazines all over the country wrote about the violence in this area.  It was basically all rooted in political divisions that came to a head during the Civil War, but the national media, and even the urban newspapers in the "Blue Grass" region of Kentucky treated it all like drunken hillbillies shooting each other over petty personal family feuds.

Just wondering if any of you have any old family legends from that area.

My daughter can not believe that my my father's father was born during the reconstruction era (1878).  It seems like ancient ancient history to her.

You mean like the Hatfields and McCoys?


Was your father Devil Anse?

(08-02-2020, 05:40 PM)BengalHawk62 Wrote: You mean like the Hatfields and McCoys?


Was your father Devil Anse?

Interesting that you mention Hatfield's and McCoys.  My step daughter is from Mingo Co. WV, home of the Hatfields of the infamous feud.

(08-02-2020, 06:08 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Interesting that you mention Hatfield's and McCoys.  My step daughter is from Mingo Co. WV, home of the Hatfields of the infamous feud.

Mingo and McDowell counties were also a big part of the WV Coal Wars in the early 1900's... The Hatfields were a large part of that too.

(08-02-2020, 06:28 PM)Synric Wrote: Mingo and McDowell counties were also a big part of the WV Coal Wars in the early 1900's... The Hatfields were a large part of that too.

I believe that is correct.  Our daughter's fiancee was telling me something about it, on vacation last Summer.

(08-02-2020, 06:28 PM)Synric Wrote: Mingo and McDowell counties were also a big part of the WV Coal Wars in the early 1900's... The Hatfields were a large part of that too.

Yep, the Matewan (sp?) massacre.

That was all about labor relations instead of personal vendetta.

(08-02-2020, 05:40 PM)BengalHawk62 Wrote: You mean like the Hatfields and McCoys?


Was your father Devil Anse?

The violence in "Bloody Breathitt" was national news back then, but it was not cemented in history like the Hatfield v McCoy feud which involved a case going to the US Supreem Court.

In Breathitt County there were mutliple judges and political figures assassinated in the streets.  One even shot on the courthouse steps in the middle of the day.  The Courthouse was burned down.  The elections were so out of control that there were not even any results allowed from the county in I believe the 1872 Presidential election.  The ballot box was stolen from the courthouse by an armed band of Republican "election officials".  Newspapers all over the country wrote stories about the violence in Breathitt County, but they painted it as a personal fued instead of political terrorism.  It got to the point that even the people involved in the killing claimed it was personal because they felt the local population would forgive killing for family revenge moreso than killing over politcal power.