Appalachian History

"The log cabin no longer adorns the landscape. Instead, is the stately mansion, indicative of wealth, of taste and of hospitality. There are spacious, nicely painted barns, hedges, orchards, well-fenced, well-tilled fields. Steel bridges span the turbulent streams, and macadamized roadways wind among the valleys and skirt the rising hills. Where the wigwam once stood, temples dedicated to the deity now dot the surrounding scene.

"The farmer has become a prince. The telephone has put him in touch with all his neighbors. The daily paper with the markets of the world, is regularly at his gate, and ere he goes afield he may scan its pages, and know the commercial history of the universe.

"The sickle, the hoe, the cradle, the flail, are the ancient farm implements about which he tells his grandchildren. All the modern scientific, up-to-date methods of farming are employed in Harrison County. Instead of bathing at the back porch pump of an evening, the farmer now adjourns to his porcelain bath tub.

"The gas grate has succeeded the back log: the swinging crane and the Dutch oven, the spinning wheel, and the perforated cream skimmer have disappeared. The tallow candle is regarded as the 'light of other days.' Where the rifle once adorned the chimney piece is a portrait in crayon or oil of 'mother' or of 'father.'

"In the parlor are music and books; in the kitchen sunlight, conveniences and comfort. The farm today, in Harrison County, is a scene of art, of taste, of plenty, of comparative ease, and delightful independence. Gone are the 'good old times,' and the Harrison County farmer has fulfilled the poetical idea ---

“The farmer’s the chief of the nation;
The oldest of nobles is he,
How blest beyond others his station,
From want and envy, how free.”


HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF HARRISON COUNTY, OH
1909 Souvenir edition of the Harrison County Democrat
source: www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohharris/scan0001_1.pdf

"The celebrated mountain lands, of which Mark Twain writes in the Gilded Age, lie in Fentress County; and the picturesque village he describes under the name of Obedstown is none other than its county site.

"The court-house, on the fence surrounding which the male population of the village were sitting, chewing tobacco and spitting at bumble-bees and such other objects of interest as appeared within their wide range, while they waited the arrival of the mail; and to which one of them referred, when he observed that, "if the judge is a gwine to hold cote,' he reckoned he would have to "roust" his sow and pigs out of the court-house, was the same in which this singular case was tried.

"It seems that an old man by the name of Stout, who lived on Obeds River, was arrested for bewitching the beautiful daughter of a certain man, named Taylor, who lived on the mountain. The defendant was treated with much rigor, and his person abused by the various experiments to which he was subjected, for the purpose of establishing his guilt.

Fentress County Courthouse about 1910.

"The guards had taken the precaution to remove the lead from their guns, and to load them with silver, which was considered the only metal to which a wizard is not impalpable.

"The accused was carried before Esquire Joshua Owens, a leading magistrate of the county, whom Judge Goodpasture knew intimately for many years afterwards. The prosecutor and many of his neighbors were introduced as witnesses on behalf of the State, and proved, in addition to the particular facts charged, that the defendant had frequently been seen to escape out of houses through the key holes in the doors; and that he had on divers occasions not only operated on the bodies and minds of human beings, and that at a distance of ten or fifteen miles, but also on horses, cattle and other stock.

"On this evidence the defendant was found guilty and bound over to the next term of the Circuit Court. When the grand jury met, General McCormick being of opinion the prosecution could not be sustained, refused to prefer a bill of indictment. The defendant was accordingly discharged amid great excitement, some of the mountaineers boldlv declaring that it would be better to live without laws, if such offenders could escape with impunity."


Source: A Genealogy of the Family of James Goodpasture, by A.V. and W.H. Goodpasture, Nashville: Cumberland Presbyterian Publishing House, 1897



appalachia, appalachian history, mountians witchcraft, Fentress County TN

[27a. I. If any person fight a prize fight in this State, or act as second or trainer, or time-keeper, or referee, or umpire, to any persons so fighting, or if any person assist or in any way aid or abet another to fight a prize fight in this State, he shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof shall be confined in the penitentiary not less than two nor more than ten years.
Chapter 144, section 27a of the
Code of West Virginia
Fourth Edition, 1899

On June 29th of 1899, the boxing match that led to a ban of prize fighting in West Virginia got underway at Fries Park in Parkersburg, WV. The match between local boxer George 'Kid' Wanko and Felix Carr of St. Albans was falsely represented to officials as a boxing contest and not a prize fight. (In the former the gloves must weigh over five ounces and the fight is for points with no purse. In the prize fight the gloves weigh five ounces or less, there is a purse to fight for and the fight is kept up until one of the men is knocked out. The boxing contest lasts only for a certain number of rounds.)

Fight referee J. H. Nightingale later told police he’d been informed the Wanko/Carr fight was to be a twenty round contest, for points only. He’d been approached by E. E. Wright, a saloon keeper of Huntington, who backed and managed Carr. Nightingale said he did not agree to referee until he had talked with Carr, who assured him that there was "no money up and that it was a glove contest for scientific points only."

Furthermore, said Nightingale, before the fight began he called the two contestants, Ben Anderson (Carr’s second), Ben Morrison (a Commercial Hotel bartender who backed and trained Wanko), and Wanko’s second to the ring, and asked for the articles of agreement. He said none were produced, and that the contestants agreed with him that it was a friendly twenty round scientific contest.

The fight organizers understood among themselves, however, that the fight was to be for a decision and that the winner should take the gate receipts.

Both men weighed in at 151 pounds. According to the Parkersburg Sentinel, "about two hundred of the sporting fraternity and several women from the lower end of town" attended the fight.

The fight began at 11 p.m. In the second round honors were even. Though the blows were not brutal, they were hard. In the third round, Wanko slipped on the canvas and fell on the floor and rolled under the ropes. In the fourth, Carr was weak and appeared discouraged.

Early in the fifth round Wanko landed a long left-handed blow to Carr alongside the head which sent him to his knees, while he grasped the ropes with one hand and rested the other hand on the floor. The referee counted off the ten seconds. Carr fell forward on his face and made several wobbly attempts to rise. He couldn’t. Nightingale decided in favor of Wanko, and Carr's seconds assisted him to his corner. They rubbed him down, and no one supposed that he was seriously hurt. Moments later he began vomiting and then went into convulsions. His condition was so alarming that his handlers dispatched a messenger for a physician.

But before Dr. W. J. Davidson could arrive Carr’s handlers carried him into a cab and headed downtown to the Commercial Hotel. From midnight, when they placed Carr in a room there, he slipped into unconsciousness, dying an hour later. Wanko was bedside with Carr the whole time. Others interested in the fight were also in the room. Wanko took it greatly to heart and did not make any attempt to escape. He later told police investigators he did not know that the governor had written Parkersburg officials to have the fight stopped, but he was aware that a prize fight would not have been permitted in the city.

In October 1899, Wanko was convicted of manslaughter. Following an autopsy, it was determined that Carr had several health problems that contributed to his death. The charges against Kid Wanko were dropped.


Sources: www.wvculture.org/history/sports/prizefight01.html
www.wvculture.org/history/sports/prizefight02.html
www.wvculture.org/history/sports/prizefight03.html


Kid+Wanko Felix+Carr boxing Parkersburg+WV Fries+Park appalachia appalachian+history appalachian+mountians+history

Listen to the Coon Creek Girls play "Flowers in the Wildwood"


On the evening of June 8,1939 limousines began to deliver the cream of Washington D.C. society to the East Room of the White House. President and First Lady, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were entertaining King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of England and had arranged a command performance in their honor.

Music for the evening was provided by the finest representatives of American culture, including opera tenor Lawrence Tibbett, classical musician Marion Anderson, pop diva Kate Smith, and Alan Lomax singing Western songs. The evening also featured four energetic young women called the Coon Creek Girls, who would play traditional stringband music and accompany Bascom Lunsford's square dance group from North Carolina.

"Coon Creek Girls was a very happy time. As far as I know, we were the first all-girl string band," recalled band leader Lily May Ledford at Berea College during a 1980 solo performance there. "We startled the audience by being all girls — our sound was drowned out by the uproar of applause and yelling."

Ledford has been widely recognized in Kentucky and throughout the nation by scholars, musicians, and listeners who have unanimously credited her with bringing the musical culture of eastern Kentucky to the world. She was an inspiration to generations of younger musicians, including Pete Seeger.

Ledford learned to play on an old discarded fiddle formerly belonging to "Gran'pappy Tackett," who was a famous old-time fiddler of the Kentucky mountains, as was her father, White Ledford. She told the story of how she made her first fiddle bow from a willow switch and a generous portion of the tail of "Ole Maudie," "Gran'pappy's" white mare.

In 1936, at the age of nineteen, Lily May left Pinch-em-Tight Hollow, KY to begin her public music career in Chicago, where she joined the National Barn Dance. A year later she ventured on to Cincinnati, where she became a regular on musical promoter John Lair’s newly formed Renfro Valley Barn Dance.

It was here that Lair, an early promoter of women entertainers, encouraged Lily May along with her sister Rosie, Violet Koehler, and Daisy Lange to form the Coon Creek Girls. It was called that "so that people will know at once what kind of music they're going to hear," Lair said. The group made its broadcast debut on October 9, 1937.

How Many Biscuits Can You Eat? was their first number at the White House soiree, featuring Lily May's outstanding five-string banjo, Rosie on guitar, Violet on mandolin, and Daisy on bass, with all four sharing the comical verses. They knew this piece was a favorite of Mr. Roosevelt and had performed it countless times back home in Kentucky and Ohio. Another FDR favorite, Get Along Miss Cindy was planned as well as an English ballad, The Soldier and the Lady, in honor of the royal couple.

Meantime John Lair, in order to get in to see the performance, had to pose as the the bass fiddle carrier for the group. Lily May said they laughed in the back of the limo as Lair lugged the big bass along, "Law, how times has changed, back home he's king, and we're the subjects you know, up here we're riding in the limo, and he's trailing along totin' the bass fiddle—that done us good!"

In 1939, after Koehler and Lange left the band, the Ledfords were joined by their other sister Susie. The high mountain harmonies of the group proved to be an exciting contrast to the sentimental home-and-mother styles of the period. The trio, singing and playing with the true family mountain sound, served as a musical standard for the old-time genre for years to come.

At a time when traditional music was being brushed aside by many in favor of bluegrass, swing, and smooth country crooning, the Coon Creek Girls stepped up to the mike with a fresh, energetic approach to tunes, songs, and instrumental styles that were as old as the hills.


sources: www.nativeground.com/cooncreekgirls.asp
www.wku.edu/kentuckyfolkweb/KYFolklife_Ledford.html
www.talentondisplay.com/renfrovalleyartists.html
www.nea.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/fellow.php?id=1985_05





appalachia appalachian+history appalachian+mountians+history appalachian+music Coon+Creek+Girls Lily+May+Ledford National+Barn+Dance Renfro+Valley+Barn+Dance