Devil
Anse Hatfield Cemetery
| As
there is a wealth of information on the Internet about the famous
Hatfield & McCoy feud, this page is dedicated mostly to the
Devil
Anse Hatfield Cemetery near Sarah Ann WV. |
About 15 miles south of Logan on Rt 44.
Entrance to the cemetery
The road to the cemetery is very steep and rocky.
Wear appropriate shoes.
1921
Williamson, W. Va., Jan. 7. -
Reports reaching
Williamson tonight were that Devil Anse Hatfield, leader of the clan in
the
Hatfield-McCoy feud in the 80's and 90's, had died at his home on
Island Creek,
Logan county, of pneumonia last night. Relatives here were without word
of the
death.
|
The
monument marking the grave of William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield in
the Sarah Ann Hatfield Cemetery is highly unusual, if not unique, in
this area of the state. Soon after the death of the Hatfield family
patriarch in 1921, his surviving children commissioned a live-size
sculptured statue and monument for their father's grave. Photographs
and physical descriptive data were sent to a sculpturing firm in Italy
which executed the life-size figure of "Devil Anse", in Carrara marble,
that has marked his final resting place since 1926.
Capt. Anderson Hatfield
1839-1921
Levicy Chafin-Hatfield
1842-1929
|
Adjacent
to the "Devil Anse" monument is the grave of his son
Johnson "Jonse" Hatfield. His grave is marked by the familiar draped
urn motif atop a column.
It is said that the statue cost $3,500 in the 1920s.
An automobile at that time was around $700
This photo was taken by Life Magazine in
1944
The names of the couple's 13 children are listed on the front of the
monument: Johnson, William A., Robert L., Nancy, Elliott R., Mary,
Elizabeth, Elias, Troy, Joseph O., Rose, Willis E., and Tennis. (Troy's
real name was Detroit and Tennis's given name was Tennyson. William A,
was commonly called "Cap."
The man and boy viewing the monument
are Devil Anse's son Joe, a former sheriff of Logan County, and
grandson Willie Joe, aged 4
|
Elias
and Troy Hatfield's graves.
Devil Anse and wife in front of the same monuments.
Elias
and Troy Hatfield
| Elias
(left) and Troy Hatfield, sons of
"Devil Anse." Both became involved in the saloon business in Boomer
and were killed on October 17, 1911 in a dispute over liquor
distribution. I find this interesting on several levels:
They both had moved to Fayette County, a long way from the
Tug
Fork Valley. My grandmother was born & raised in
Boomer. She
would have been 15 at the time of this incident, and I wish I had asked
her about this before she died 10 years ago. The following account appeared
in the Beckley Messenger Oct 1911. |
The
Hatfield Cemeteries of southwestern West Virginia consists of two
cemeteries, both called "Hatfield Cemetery" located approximately 7
miles from one another in Logan and Mingo Counties, West Virginia.
These two cemeteries are significant as the burial place of members of
the famous Hatfield family, participants in the world famous
Hatfield-McCoy feud of the late nineteenth century. This
family
is also significant as being among the early settlers in this region
and for having had a significant role in the political events of the
this period, as well as later periods. The life-size statue of Anderson
"Devil Anse" Hatfield that marks his grave is also significant as an
unusual work of funerary sculpture for this region of the state.
The
two Hatfield Cemeteries, the oldest being located near New Town in
present day Mingo County and later one 7 miles away near Sarah Ann in
Logan County, are the final resting place of nearly all the major
figures of the Hatfield Family, participants in the world famous
Hatfield-McCoy feud. This famous feud between the Hatfields of West
Virginia and the McCoys of Kentucky flared into murderous fury with the
murder .of Ellison,. Hatfield on August 7, 1882 by three McCoy
brothers, and the subsequent,"execution" of the three McCoy brothers,
by Capt. Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield, brother of the slain Ellison,
and others of the Hatfield family. The feud,soon gained national and
international,attention, started a bitter exchange of,letters of
recrimination between West Virginia Governor E. Willis Wilson and
Kentucky Governor Simon Bolivar Buckner, and brought about the
stereotype of the "feuding hillbilly", the image of which lingers
today. This feud has been the source of innumerable books, scholarly
articles, newspaper accounts, stage plays and several motion pictures
and is unquestionably the most well known family feud in American
history. There is, therefore, no need to go into the details of the
various events leading up to and occurring because of this feud.
Rather, we will deal with, briefly, some of the more prominent
individuals involved who are buried in the Hatfield Cemeteries.
It
has been determined that for the principal Hatfield family members who
participated in the feud, no extant structures, excepting their,
graves, remain of the buildings that were associated with their lives.
The
Hatfield Cemetery near New Town in Mingo County was the first
Hatfield Cemetery and contains the older burials. There are
21
burials in this cemetery, which, when aid out in the early 1880's, was
in Logan County (Mingo County was formed from Logan in 1895). Ephraim
Hatfield (1812- 1881) was the first Hatfield buried here. He was the
father of Anderson "Devil Anse" and Ellison Hatfield, both of whom
played central roles in the feud. Their mother, Nancy Hatfield, is also
buried here among others.
The Hatfield Cemetery at Sarah
Ann, in Logan County, is the result of Captain Anderson "Devil Anse"
Hatfield's removal from the Tug Fork Valley to Sarah Ann around 1906.
"Devil Anse" Hatfield, a captain in the Confederate army during the
Civil War, was the principal figure, along with his enemy Randolph
McCoy, in the famous feud. Head of the "clan" and patriarchal-like
leader, "Devil Anse" Hatfield (1839-1921) lived a long and, in
his
later years, peaceful life until his death at 82, in 1921. Both of his
homes, the one in Mingo County and his Sarah Ann residence, are no
longer extant. His funeral was attended by a vast throng of relatives,
friends, and curiosity seekers and he was buried in the solid steel
coffin he had purchased for $2000.00 some years prior to his demise.
Other
Hatfield family members buried in the cemetery include: Levicy Chafin
Hatfield (1842-1929), wife of "Devil Anse", Johnson "Johnse" Hatfield
(1862-1922), eldest son of "Devil Anse" and Levicy and a central figure
in the feud being, among other things,the lover of Roseanna McCoy of
romantic legend fame, Dr. Elliot R. Hatfield, M. D. (1872-1932), a
locally prominent physician, and "Devil Anse's" two sons, Detroit
"Troy" Hatfield (1881-1911) and Elias M. Hatfield (1878-1911) both of
whom were shot to death in a gun fight over liquor sales in Boomer,
Kanawha County, West Virginia. Several other Hatfield relatives are
also buried here.
Hatfield's were among the early
settlers of this region. Ephraim Hatfield I settled in this area, near
present day Matewan, Mingo County, in the late 1790's. His son
Valentine "Wall" Hatfield married Elizabeth Vance and their children
included Ephraim Hatfield II (1812-1881). Ephraim Hatfield II raised 10
children to adulthood, among them William Anderson "Devil Anse",
Ellison Hatfield, and Elias Hatfield. Elias was the father of Gov.
Henry D. Hatfield (1875- 1962) . As indicated above, the feud sparked a
controversial exchange of correspondence between Gov. S. B. Buckner of
Kentucky and Gov. E. Willis Wilson of West Virginia, with the former
demanding the extradition of the Hatfields to Kentucky and the latter
refusing to do so. One result of this exchange was that "Devil Anse's"
youngest son, born in 1888, was named
Willis after the West Virginia governor.
Several
members of the Hatfield family, in addition to Gov. H. D. Hatfield,
rose to local prominence, several holding office as county sheriff,
several ministers and several physicians.
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