Charles Goble McCoy was distantly related to the McCoys in the Hatfield-McCoy feud. Randolph "Ranel" McCoy and Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield were the main figures in the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud.  Randolph McCoy was the leader of the McCoy family in this historical feud and he was a first cousin twice removed to Charles Goble McCoy.  Samuel McCoy had 18 children and one of them was Sarah (Sally) McCoy born in 1829.  She married Randolph "Randel" McCoy.  Another one of Samuel's sons was Asa McCoy, born in 1810. Asa was Charles Goble McCoy's granddad.  The picture to the left is one of the four main people involved in the stories. 

Per other research, John McCoy and his brothers, William, Daniel, Alexander II and possibly James and Angus migrated to Belfast, Antrim County, Ireland and worked as mercenaries for an English Lord.  They came to America October 07, 1772 (according to records on his great uncle William).  It is believed all the brothers were born on the Estate of the Earl of Angus, Sutherland, Shire, Scotland.  Old William's Great Uncle, Alexander, married Frances Katherine Sutherland, the daughter of Angus Sutherland, Earl of Sutherland Shire.  Another daughter, Christina, married Daniel McCoy, son of William, and first cousin one time removed to Old William.  Per Dody (Fire3821) on 8-23-03, she obtained this info from a distant cousin William Henry McCoy, Jr.         

I found the following info from an article of lineage that was mailed to me that stated "Excerpts from the McCoy-Hatfield book by Otis K. Rice. The University Press of KY..copyright 1982:

William McCoy lived in MD on the site of the battlefield at Antietam, according to tradition, before moving to Montgomery Co. VA and in 1804 he and his family settled on John's Creek, in Kentucky at the present Gulnare.  His son, Daniel, married Margaret Taylor in Floyd Co. Ky., probably in the part that in 1821 became Pike Co. In 1840 Daniel and his wife moved to Logan County, WV where they lived until they died. Several of them lived for a time in Logan Co. WV and then back to Pike Co. just across the border, across the Tug Fork. They are described in general as tall and lithe and handsome, possibly of Lowland Scottish stock, but intermarried with the Highland Celtic strain. Some of them had a slightly olive complexion and either dark or auburn hair. 

1881 Logan Co. WV included present Mingo Co. Most of the Hatfields and the McCoys leaned toward the Primitive or Hardshell Baptist Church. Both the Hatfields and the McCoys had intermarried with other prominent families of the Tug Valley, including the Whitts, Weddintons, Scotts, Blackburns, Justices, Clines, Staffords, Blankenships, Charles, and Chattins. 


There have been many publications on the Hatfield-McCoy Feud, and the reasons for the feud.  The Hatfields lived on the West Virginia side of the Tug Fork River and the McCoys lived on the Kentucky side of the river.  The families lived in crude log cabins in the remote recesses of heavily forested valleys.  Many descriptions of William Anderson (Devil Anse) Hatfield have been along the lines of "huge, raw-boned, shaggy haired - six feet of devil and one hundred eighty pounds of hell."  Randolph (Ran'l) McCoy, the leader of the McCoy clan, was born in 1825 and had many of the same physical characteristics as Anse, which included a full beard, sullen gray eyes and broad shoulders.  Both men were purported to have been prosperous yeoman farmers, although their crude cabins and lifestyle gave little indication of their wealth.  Both families were supposedly involved in the manufacture and sale of illegal whiskey.

Both men were heads of large families.  Devil Anse and his wife, Levicy, were thought to have had 13 children and Randolph and his wife, Sarah, had 18 children.  Both men were hard working and adept at surviving the harshness of mountain life. Both were men with profound senses of duty and justice.  Both heeded the call to war and fought for the Confederacy.  Both sensed the changing tide of Appalachia as West Virginia seceded from Virginia and timber, railroad and mining interests began working their way into the region.

Known as a gregarious storyteller and gracious host, Devil Anse was also an able outdoorsman and excellent marksman.  As a young man, his pen chance for hunting bear earned him his nickname when, after one three-day long encounter, he declared himself ready to take on the devil himself.

Randolph McCoy was 15 years older than his counterpart, and he was  said to be a more introverted, sullen man.  Randolph  was a man resolutely committed to his family, quick to defend against what he perceived as injustices done to his family.  He was also a strong believer in the legal system.  When others were quick to take up arms to settle disputes, Randolph was often the sole voice of reason, steadfastly pursuing legal resolutions to his problems.  There were some stories that there were some lumber disputes in the beginning, but the following chronology of events are the uppermost points of the feud.

CIVIL WAR

In 1863, Devil Anse, a southern sympathizer, formed the Logan Wildcats to patrol the Tug Valley against guerrillas from both sides who stole animals and horses.  The first victim of the feud was a Union veteran, Asa Harmon Mccoy, a younger brother of Randolph McCoy.  Harmon broke his leg and was mustered out of service on December 24, 1864.   Asa returned home to a chilly reception, both with the McCoys and Hatfields.  The McCoy and Hatfield families had been in the Confederate Army.  James Vance, an uncle of Devil Anse, told Asa that the Logan Wildcats would soon pay him a visit.   Fearing for his life, Asa hid out in a nearby cave on Blue Spring Creek.  His black slave, Pete, carried provisions to him.  The Logan Wildcats, most of them West Virinians, traced Pete through the snow to the cave.  There they found Harmon and shot him on January 7, 1865.  His service in the Union army was considered an act of betrayal by the southern sympathizers.  No suspects were brought to trial.

HOG TRIAL

One day in 1873, Randolph McCoy stopped to visit Floyd Hatfield, a cousin of Devil Anse.  Floyd lived in Stringtown on the Kentucky side of the Tug River.  Randolph happened to see a hog which he said bore the McCoy marking on his ear.  McCoy immediately accused Floyd of penning up one of his hogs.  Floyd denied stealing the hog.  Randolph went to Preacher Anderson Hatfield (Preacher Anse), a Baptist minister and a justice of the peace.  There he brought suit against Floyd for the recovery of his hog.  On the day of the trial at the home of Preacher Hatfield,  both McCoys and Hatfields heard the case.  Bill Staton, a nephew of Randolph and brother-in-law of Ellison Hatfield, swore to Floyd Hatfield's ownership of the hog.  Floyd won!  Staton was marked for death and within months, he was killed by Paris and Sam McCoy.  The hatred grew and the feud was on!!

SPRING ELECTIONS - A LOVE MATCH

Next was the Spring elections in Pike County, Kentucky in 1880 in McCoy country.  To mountain people, an election was a great social event.   But Anse Hatfield and his two oldest sons, Johnse and Cap, appeared at the election.  Johnse was a likeable Hatfield and a stylish dresser and popular with the girls.  Johnse met Roseanne that day, who was the daughter of Ran'l McCoy.  Johnse and Roseanne fell in love immediately, and she went to live with Johnse.  

Devil Anse had no inclination to allow his son to wed a McCoy.  In years to come, it was a decision for he which he voiced regret.  In the ensuing months, a still-angry Randolph sent Roseanne's sisters as emissaries to bring her home. Finally, a disheartened Roseanne left the Hatfield homestead and went to live in Stringtown with her Aunt Betty, widow of Allan McCoy, the brother of Sarah.

An infatuated Johnse still made regular visits to see Roseanne.  Word of these visits reached the McCoys and they engineered an ambush.  Jim McCoy, a Pike County deputy, alleged that Johnse would be carried back to Pike County to face moonshining charges.  Roseanne, fearful that her lover was being led away to be killed, performed one of the most daring acts in feud history.  She made her way to Tom Stafford's farm,  borrowed a horse and sped through the night over the rough mountain terrain to warn the Hatfields.  Devil Anse, Cap Hatfield, Jim Vance and others mounted up and navigated familiar shortcuts until they surrounded the McCoy forces and negotiated the release of Johnse.

Following his capture, a fearful Johnse discontinued his visits into Kentucky. A grieved Roseanne was now faced with a greater injustice.  Deprived of the man she loved, she was now pregnant with his child. Some stories state that Roseanne gave birth to a daughter, Sarah Elizabeth, whom she named after her mother and her aunt. Other stories state that she contracted measles and miscarried a daughter that she named Sarah Elizabeth, who is buried in the cemetery next to her Aunt Betty in Stringtonw, KY.  Other stories are that the child soon fell ill and died at eight months of age.   A grieved Roseanne would make daily visits and prostrate herself in anguish over the grave of her child.

A broken Roseanne finally returned to the home of her parents in 1888 to tend to the recovery of her ailing mother. Lost in depression and despair, Roseanne found her health gradually slipping away. Despite repeated assurances by doctors that she bore no illness, Roseanne finally passed away at the age of thirty. She was the first of her family to be laid to rest in Dils Cemetery.  The story of Roseanne's tragic life soon became a staple of Appalachian folklore.  It is said that as her story was recounted, whenever her name was mentioned, they spoke of her in whispers.

WAR DECLARED


Things were pretty much settled down for a time, but then there was another Pike County election on August 7, 1882.  Corn whiskey flowed plentifully.  Early in the day, Tolbert McCoy, son of Randolph, accused "Bad Lias" Hatfield, brother of Preacher Hatfield, of owing him a small sum of money for a fiddle, but "Bad Elias" angrily protested that he paid Tolbert previously.  

Soon, Ellison Hatfield insulted Tolbert McCoy, and then attacked him.  Tolbert and one of his brothers drew knives and stabbed Ellison and a third McCoy brother shot Tolbert.  Ellison, bleeding from 26 stab wounds and a bullet in his back, was taken away.  The three McCoy boys, Pharmer, Tolbert and Randolph, Jr.,  ran off and hid in the woods.  They were captured and put in custody of a justice of the peace and a constable for a trip to the Pikeville jail.  Ellison Hatfield was taken on a stretcher to his home in West Virginia.  The next day, before the McCoy boys could be taken to Pikeville, Devil Anse organized a posse and took the McCoy boys away from the guards. 

Crossing theTug River at the mouth of Blackberry Creek, the Hatfields took the three boys to an unused schoolhouse on Mate Creek.  Sarah McCoy, hearing of the capture of her sons, lost no time riding to Devil Anse across the river.  Sarah demanded to know why Devil Anse was holding her sons in West Virginia when they should be in jail in Pikeville.  Devil Anse replied "I'm holding them to see if Ellison dies.  If he dies or gets well, I promise to bring them back to Kentucky alive."

REVENGE TAKEN

Two days later, on August 9, 1882, Ellison died.  At the schoolhouse, the three McCoy boys (all sons of Ran'l) were tried and marched off to Kentucky.  At the mouth of Mate Creek, they crossed the Tug River to the Kentucky side.  There they bound the McCoys to some pawpaw trees.  In the space of a few seconds, some 50 shots were fired into the brothers.  Devil Anse had kept his promise ot bring the boys back to Kentucky alive.  There was a funeral held on one side of the river for Ellison Hatfield and on the other side for the three McCoy boys on the same day.  The three brothers, Tolbert, Pharmer and Randolph, Jr. were buried in a single grave in the McCoy Cemetery on the side of a hill on Blackberry Fort of Pond Creek.

FIRE

With the threat of arrests now looming over them and the continued forays into West Virginia increasing, the Hatfields devised a plan that was daring even by mountain standards. Cap, Jim Vance and Johnse had now returned to Kentucky, rounded up a cadre of more than twenty men that included Ellison "Cotton Top " Mounts, the illegitimate, mentally retarded son of Ellison Hatfield. Declaring himself too ill to participate, Devil Anse sent the party by night on a raid that intended to put an end to the struggle once and for all.

As the party surrounded the cabin of Randolph McCoy, Jim Vance called out for the McCoys to surrender.  Randolph and his son, Calvin, took up position to defend the homestead as Sarah and her daughter, Alifair gathered up the smaller children.  Suddenly, the first shot rang out as Johnse fired accidentally, perhaps as a warning intended for his former love, Roseanne, who he mistakenly believed to be in the cabin.

A massive onslaught of gunfire followed but proved ineffective against the double-logged walls of the cabin.  Frustrated by the futility of the attack, Vance set fire to the cabin. As the fire quickly spread throughout the cabin, Alifair opened up the kitchen door and called out to Vance.  Knowing that Appalachian code would never permit the shooting of a woman, Alifair boldly stepped into the darkness to plead with the attackers.  In an instant, she was shot and killed. Sarah, running out after her daughter, met the butt of a rifle, with the rifle/pistol whipping her until her skull was broken and she slipped into unconsciousness.  

With the fire collapsing the cabin around them, Calvin offered a plan of escape.  He would provide a distraction by running to a nearby woodpile and providing cover for Randolph and the children to escape.  A reluctant Randolph agreed.  Snatching up one of the younger children, Randolph ran for the woods as Calvin made a dash for the woodpile. It was a run that he would not complete.  He, too, was killed as a bullet pierced his skull.

By the light of morning, Randolph returned to the cabin to find his wife miraculously clinging to life, her grandchildren gathered about her.  Alifair lay dead beside her, her long hair frozen to the ground.  Friends and neighbors once again performed a solemn duty as they buried two more of Randolph's children in the McCoy Cemetery.  The rest of the nation was stunned by the whirlwind of violence unleashed by Anse Hatfield and his family.  For the first time, stories of the feud became front page copy in newspapers across the country.

THE END

Public opinion shifted against the Hatfields.  More stories were generated when the governor of WV turned down the Kentucky governor's petition to arrest Anse Hatfield and some of his kin.  Bands of heavily armed McCoys, sometimes numbering upwards of 50 men, staged more raids across the border.  Within a few weeks, two more Hatfields had been killed and another eight were captured to stand trial for murder in Kentucky.  The governor of WV, infuriated, called up the National Guard, as did his counterpart in KY.

WV began legal proceedings to head off the impending trials of the Hatfields.  The attorneys charged that the Hatfields had been kidnapped without due process.  The case went to the United States Supreme Court, which ruled there was no legal way to mandate the restoration of prisoners abducted from one state to another.  So the eight Hatfields had to stand trial in KY after all.  All were found guilty of murder and seven were sentenced to life imprisonment, the eighth defendant received the death sentence for the murder of Alifair McCoy.  Ignoring a state law prohibiting public executions, the authorities decided to hang Ellison Mounts publicly as a warning to the other Hatfields  Thousands of people attended the execution.

The bloodshed had sorely decimated both families.  New money was flowing into the area, attracted by rich deposits of coal and the investors needed a more stable social climate, and police authority was increased accordingly.  Anse started a logging operation, found religion, and lived to see his nephew, Henry, become governor of WV, and then later a United States senator.  Anse died of pneumonia in 1921, and is buried in the Hatfield Cemetery at Sarah Ann, West Virginia.  

His home gone, a beaten Randolph and Sarah  moved from the valley to the relative safety of Pikeville 25 miles away, to  get away from the Hatfields.  Randolph  and Roseanne reached a peace by necessity as she moved into the home to help care for her mother.  They lived in the last house on Main St. at the corner of Scott Avenue.  

Randolph spent the remainder of his years operating a ferry crossing the Chloe Branch of the Big Sandy River.  For his involvement in the feud, Randolph paid a great price.  Five of his children were gunned down and a sixth, Roseanne, died at the age of thirty.  "Ol' Randell", now broken and driven nearly mad by grief,  was known to walk the streets of Pikeville recounting the story of the feud to whoever would listen.  Randell died March 28, 1914,  when he was almost 90 from burns he suffered when he fell into a fire.   Sarah died first, date unknown.  Both are buried in the Dils Cemetery along with Randolph's son, Sam and his wife, Martha. 

Many people have misconceptions as to what started the "Hatfield-McCoy Feud", and this is just a brief outline of the reasons.  

1863

1865

1878

1880

1881

1882

1887

1888

1889

1890

1891

CHARLES GOBLE MCCOY ANCESTORS:

1.  John McCoy, Jr. - Born about 1700 in Ireland - Died 1762 in MD?
2.  Archibald McCoy - Born 12/17/1732 in MD - Died 1810 in KY
3.  William (Old) McCoy - Born about 1753 in Washington County, MD - Died 1822 in Floyd County, KY
4.  Samuel McCoy - Born 1782 in MD - Died 07/28/1855 in Stringtown, Pike County, KY (Buried in McCoy Cemetery)
5.  Asa McCoy - Born 1810 in KY - I have no death date or burial information.  We think Asa may have been named after Asa Harmon McCoy who was killed in the cave soon after the Civil War.
6.  Uriah McCoy - Born 07/23/1847 in Mingo County, WV - Died 05/17/1900 in Tazewell (Buried in Tazewell Cemetery) VA 
7.  Charles Goble McCoy - Born 05/10/1871 in Floyd County, KY or Logan County, WV - Died 09/23/1942 in Tazewell, VA  

Charles Goble McCoy is buried in the Maplewood Cemetery in Tazewell, Va with his wife, Nannie Virginia Hubble McCoy and other family members.

9-23-98
Chuck and I went up to North Tazewell, VA and took pictures again of the cemeteries with McCoys from our families and that information is listed below in the 

MAPLEWOOD CEMETERY - NORTH TAZEWELL, VA

First Row - Left to Right

Charles R. McCoy 
Feb. 18, 1903
Dec. 7, 1918

Charles G. McCoy
May 10, 1871
Sept. 23, 1942

Nannie V. McCoy
Jan. 15, 1883
Oct. 20, 1922  

Romalou L. McCoy
Oct. 28, 1910
Oct. 20, 1922 

Second Row - Left to Right

Edward D. McCoy 
Oct. 19, 1921
Apr. 28, 1930

Acie J. McCoy
Virginia
Tec4 508 Engr. Co.
World War II
Apr. 4, 1907
July 4, 1948

Robert Jack Witten
Virginia
PVT-US Marine Corps
World War II
June 23, 1928
Feb. 19, 1949
June 23, 1928 -????

Richard Harris Washler 
Virginia
PFC Army/Air Forces
World War II 
June 28, 1926
Jan. 16, 1973

Third Row - Left to Right

Edward W. Helmandollar
Sept. 10, 1914
May 4, 1940
Killed in automobile accident
He was honest, true and brave

James E. Helmandollar 
Pennsylvania
PVT. 7 Cav. (Inf.)
Korea PH
May 24, 1933
Oct. 5, 1951

Beloved Mother
Velva M. Witten
August 26, 1905
Dec. 20, 1978
Beloved Father
Cecil B. Witten
Dec. 16, 1896
Dec. 8, 1979

Additional information on Charles Goble McCoy on Mary Elizabeth McCoy-Helfrich's page.

A side note here is that several of the girls in future generations were named "Alifair," probably after the Alifair who was killed in the log cabin fire and shooting.  In fact, one of Betty McCoy Helfrich's sisters, Julia (June), had the middle name of  " Alliaferro."  We have seen it spelled so many different ways in the records.

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Charles Goble McCoy's 2nd Page

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