Folks who have seen the Kevin Costner movie, or read one of the recent feud tales probably believe that Blackberry Creek had large numbers of both Hatfields and McCoys at the time of the feud violence. But that is not true. My research leads me to conclude that, in 1880, every acre of main Blackberry Creek–both forks–was owned by a person named Hatfield, or someone married to a Hatfield. The McCoys who were at the 1882 election—Randolph, his sons and his brother James lived across the mountain on Blackberry Fork of Pond Creek.
At the time of the feud, there were two justices of the peace in each voting district. From the end of the Civil War until the first feud killings in August 1882, both of those justices on Blackberry were Hatfields. The positions were rotated every four years among four men, Joseph, Tolbert, Matthew and Anderson (Preacher Anse) Hatfield. Each polling place had four election officers, managing the voting. All four of those election officers were named Hatfield in every election between 1865 and 1885.
Many of the Blackberry Hatfields had served in the Union army, and all of them were Republicans. The McCoys from across the mountain were the only Democrats who voted in that election. There were Democrat Hatfields on the scene, but they were the Logan County West Virginia Hatfields—brothers of Devil Anse—who could not vote in Kentucky.
There were dozens of Republican Hafields at that election, but the Democrat McCoys killed one of only two Democrat Hatfields in attendance..
In 1880, the head of Bluespring, about 300 acres, was owned by my great grandpa, Asa McCoy. Asa got that land through his wife, Nancy Hatfield McCoy, who got it from her father, Preacher Anse Hatfield. Asa and Nancy married in 1875. In the same year that Asa and Nancy married, Thompse Hatfield married Mary McCoy, and lived on the Left Fork.
At the time of the purported pig trial–which never happened–Preacher Anse did not live in the house where the marker now stands. The Preacher was living at Bluespring in 1878 and was NOT the Justice of the Peace at that time.
In 1906, Landon Hatfield, son of Floyd, married Annie McCoy. They had two sons, Jonah and Floyd, who married my mother’s sisters, Mabel and Daryl McCoy.
My first cousin, a Hatfield son of Jonah Hatfield, whose mother was Mabel McCoy, now owns much of that land. He got it from his McCoy mother, who got it from her McCoy father, who got it from his Hatfield mother.
This cousin had double first cousins, the children of Floyd and Darryl McCoy Hatfield. Aunt Daryl had a dozen children, eight of them boys. Their mother and grandmother were both McCoys, but their McCoy mother’s grandmother was also a Hatfield.
Having that much Hatfield blood, the boys were, of course, all intelligent. They were also stellar athletes. Ernie, the eldest, was a four year letterman in four sports at Belfry High. James P., named for his two grandfathers, James Landon Hatfield and Phillip McCoy, was outstanding in both baseball and basketball. Floyd Jr. was outstanding in all sports, and was the best high school quarterback who ever played in Eastern Kentucky.
One of my eight great, great grandfathers was a McCoy. THREE of them were Blackberry Hatfields.