I kiddingly tell my husband his family tree is a wreath not a tree since it seems to keep going back to the same people over and over. Take for instance the McCoy's (Yes those McCoy's from the Hatfield and McCoy's.) A few years ago I had started pulling info for his family tree and we found William McCoy and Cordelia Campbell. He is related to these people 3 times once on his mothers side and 2 times on his fathers side. We have the Clines on both sides, and he is also related to the Praters once on each side.
I had never experienced the same people being in a family tree more than once. I guess it is my Midwestern sensibilities that made me wonder how in the world this could be. As I have gotten further in researching I am learning this is actually quite common.
When you are in a remote area and the people back then didn't travel outside of their own "neighborhood". I know a lot of people outside of Appalachia do not understand, these people marrying their cousins or someone related. I admit I was also one of those people who didn't understand. Over the course of the last 5 years I have begun to grasp and even understand how this happened so much.
The funny thing is it makes trying to keep the relatives straight a bit easier but can also make it much more difficult. You get to someone in the family tree and suddenly they pop up again but under someone else. You feel like a dog chasing its tail sometimes, but then you just go back and figure out how they are related.
I have always loved history and even had a passing interest in the people of Appalachia and the feud. Little did I know I would marry a person who has many ties to the area but is also related to many of the key people. Sometimes, I just wish I knew these people in the time they lived so I could ask them questions. My first question would be: what was life really like back then, day to day? Yes, there are many accounts of the events of the feud and some seem to be total fiction. I know in my head I have the fictional way I think some of these peoples lives were. Then again as the years and generations have been born the stories handed down can also get changed, added on to, details forgotten. One of the greatest gifts of this area is story telling. Yes, things may get forgotten or embellished but the basis of the story is there.
I had heard years ago that my husbands great grandmother on his mothers side helped pull out her father from a fire after he had been shot by Devil Anse Hatfield. Actually the story is her mother Elizabeth helped pull her father Charlie out of the fire. Even though the person was wrong the story was right, When I heard this story I thought there is no way this is even remotely true. Well, it is and makes my husbands family story even more interesting. You see Charlie Mounts the man shot by Devil Anse his daughter Elizabeth we believe had at least 2 children out of wedlock with Devil Anse. Also Elizabeth and also her children worked for Devil Anse. In my mind how can you work for and even sleep with someone who killed your father? What I have come to learn is times were very hard and for a single woman with several children you did what you had to do, no matter what to survive.
Yes, to someone that has not been to this area or have family who lived there it is hard to know what is real and what is not. Even someone who was in that area may have parts of the story but not all of it. Unfortunately, the truth died with the actual persons involved died.
