Elizabeth Pennington Shirley

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16480340/elizabeth-pennington-s...

YEARS OF SORROW FELL TO HER

A PROGENY OF DESPERADOES WHO DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON

"Aunt" Annie Shirley, an Ex-Slave, Gives Her Recollections of the Family History - Riches Vanished With Dream-Like Suddenness.

Mrs. Eliza Pennington Shirley died yesterday at the residence of Mrs. Charlotte T. Poyner, 636 Pacific Avenue, aged 73 years. She was the mother of Myra Maebelle Shirley "Belle Starr", with the facts of whose tragic death in the Indian territory a few years ago the readers of The News are familiar, and she had another daughter, a Mrs. Thompson, who is supposed to be residing in the republic of Mexico. (Elizabeth was born in Louisville, KY to parents unknown, but the Pennington's were close relatives to the Hatfield family which later became famous for their feud with the McCoys. She married John Shirley in Indiana, and immediately they came to Missouri where they settled on a ranch near the community of Medoc (later named Georgia City)about 10 miles from Carthage. Eliza, was an acomplished semstress and she also brought with her to southern Missouri all of the Kentucky graces she had learned as a child. Her social eloquence, and the fact that she was an accomplished pianist, made Eliza the most popular lady around the region.) For several years previous to her death she found herself without means of her own, but the Methodist churches of Dallas came to her relief, kindly paying her board and supplying her every want until death ended her existence. Those churches will also bear the expenses of her interment. Dallas Morning News, January 5, 1894, and in parenthesis taken from the book "The Real Belle Starr" by Phillip W. Steele.

Find a Grave

The Hatfield-McCoy feud (1878 – 1891) is an account of American lore that has become a metaphor for bitterly feuding rival parties in general. It involved two warring families of the West Virginia-Kentucky back country along the Tug Fork River, off the Big Sandy River. The Hatfields involved in the feud descended from Ephraim (born c. 1765), and the McCoys from William (born c. 1750). Partial family trees for both clans are shown at the end of this article.

The major players

Hatfield clan

   * Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield, the younger, more militant brother of eldest Hatfield, Valentine, led the clan in most of their combative endeavors.

   * Valentine "Uncle Wall" Hatfield, the elder brother of "Devil Anse" was overshadowed by Anderson's ambitions but was one of the eight convicted to end the feud. He died in prison of unknown causes. He had petitioned his brothers to assist in his emancipation from jail, but none came for fear of being captured and brought to trial. He was buried in the prison cemetery which has since been paved over.

   * Doc D Mahon, son-in-law of Valentine and brother of Pliant, was one of the eight convicted to end the feud. He served 14 years in prison before returning home to live with his son Melvin.

   * Pliant Mahon, son-in-law of Valentine, brother of Doc, was one of the eight convicted to end the feud. He served 14 years in prison before returning home to rejoin his ex-wife who had remarried (she left her second husband to be with Pliant again).

The feud

Beginning

According to historian Michel Sellers, the feud began when a Hatfield wanted to marry a McCoy, but the clans disagreed and strife resulted. "Most people believe that the Hatfield-McCoy feud began with the death of Asa Harman McCoy (Randall McCoy's brother) on January 7, year unknown." The uncle of Devil Anse, Jim Vance, and his "Wildcats" despised Hans Hall McCoy because he had joined the Union army during the American Civil War. Harman had been discharged from the army early because of a broken leg; several nights after he returned home, he was murdered in a nearby cave.

The second recorded instance of violence in the feud occurred after an 1878 dispute about the ownership of a hog: Floyd Hatfield had it and Randolph McCoy said it was his. But in truth, the dispute was over land or property lines and the ownership of that land. The pig was only in the fight because one family believed that since the pig was on their land, that meant it was theirs; the other side objected. The matter was taken to the local Justice of the Peace, and the McCoys lost because of the testimony of Bill Staton, a relative of both families. The individual presiding over the case was Anderson "Preacher Anse" Hatfield. In June 1880, Staton Hatfield was killed by two McCoy brothers, Sam and Paris, who were later acquitted on the grounds of self-defense.

Escalation

The feud escalated after Roseanna McCoy began an affair with Johnse Hatfield (Devil Anse's son), leaving her family to live with the Hatfields in West Virginia. Roseanna eventually returned to the McCoys, but when the couple tried to resume their relationship, Johnse Hatfield was kidnapped by the McCoys and was saved only when Roseanna made a desperate ride to alert Devil Anse Hatfield, who organized a rescue party.

Despite what was seen as a betrayal of her family on his behalf, Johnse thereafter abandoned the pregnant Roseanna, marrying instead her cousin Nancy McCoy in 1881.

The escalation continued in 1882 when Ellison Hatfield, brother of "Devil Anse" Hatfield, was murdered by three of Roseanna McCoy's brothers: Tolbert, Pharmer, and Bud. Ellison was stabbed 26 times and finished off with a shot. The brothers were themselves murdered in turn as the vendetta escalated. They were kidnapped and tied to pawpaw bushes, where each was shot numerous times. Their bodies were described as "bullet-riddled".[citation needed]

Between 1880 and 1891, the feud claimed more than a dozen members of the two families, becoming headline news around the country, and compelling the governors of both Kentucky and West Virginia to call up their state militias to restore order after the disappearance of dozens of bounty hunters sent to calm the conflict.[citation needed]

In 1888, Wall Hatfield and eight others were kidnapped by a posse led by Frank Phillips, and brought to Kentucky to stand trial for the murder of Alifair McCoy.[2] She had been shot after exiting a burning building that had been set aflame by a group of Hatfields. Because of issues of due process and illegal extradition, the United States Supreme Court became involved (Mahon v. Justice, 127 U.S. 700 (1888)). Eventually the men were tried in Kentucky and all were found guilty. Seven received life imprisonment, while the eighth was executed by hanging. Public hangings were illegal in Kentucky, but to evade the law the scaffold was fenced, and was placed at the bottom of a hill so as to be visible to the throng above. Thousands attended the hanging in Pikeville, Kentucky.

The feud ends

The families finally agreed to stop the fighting in 1891.

In 1979, the two families united for a special week's taping of the popular game show Family Feud, in which they played for a cash prize and a pig which was kept on stage during the games.

On June 14, 2003, on the initiative of Reo Hatfield, an actual peace treaty was drawn up and signed in Pikeville by representatives of the two families, even though the feud had ended over a century before. The idea was symbolic: to show that Americans could bury their differences and unite in times of crisis, most notably following the September 11 attacks.

Descendants

Assassinated police chief Sid Hatfield and singer-songwriter Juliana Hatfield, Dally Hatfield, .The Producer, Composer, Musician, Engineer, Dole Shaffer are descendants of the Hatfield family.

Tourism

Many tourists each year travel to parts of West Virginia and Kentucky to see the areas and historic relics which remain from the days of the feud.

Bo McCoy, a college student, organized a joint reunion of the Hatfield and McCoy gangs in 2000 which attained national attention, more than 5000 persons attended the reunion dubbed "The Reunion of the Millennium".

Additionally, an entire recreation area, the 500 mile (800 km) Hatfield-McCoy Trails system, has been created around the theme of the Hatfield-McCoy Feud.[8]

Deaths

   * [1] 1865: Former Union soldier Asa Harman McCoy killed January 7, 1865 probably by the 'Logan Wildcats' led by Jim Vance

   * [2] 1878: Bill Staton (nephew of Randolph McCoy - not shown on family tree) was killed in 1878 as revenge for testifying for Floyd Hatfield in his trial for stealing a McCoy hog.

   * [3] 1880: Ellison Hatfield was killed from wounds received on election day in the spring of 1880 (he died in 1882).

   * [4] 1882: Tolbert, Pharmer & Randolph McCoy Jr. tied to pawpaw trees & killed August 9, 1882 (the day of Ellison's death) as revenge for Ellison Hatfield's 1880 election day shooting/stabbing.[12]

   * [5] 1886: 'Jeff' killed fall of 1886 following his murder of Fred Wolford[13]

   * [6] 1888: Alifair & Calvin McCoy killed January 1, 1888 at Randolph's house by 9 attackers led by Jim Vance. The attackers failed in their attempt to eliminate witnesses against them.

   * 1889: Ellison Mounts was hanged on February 18, 1889 for Alifair's murder.