By Dwight Williamson When I was a sixth-grade student at Verdunville Grade School, my homeroom teacher was a silver-haired lady named Hattie Hale. Mrs. Hale’s son, Harold, either was at the time or had been Logan County state road supervisor. Back then, that most certainly meant her son likely was a key factor in local […]
Carmello “Mel” Cottone went from Mt. Gay to the White House Read More »
By Dwight Williamson Part II History, especially local history, has a way of just fading away with time. Unfortunately, people and places that were once revered in our youth too often leave us without a new generation ever knowing their former values, be them significant or just trivial. For example, as I daily travel by
Mel Cottone rubbed elbows with presidents Read More »
By Dwight Williamson Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series involving the amazing life of a former Logan Countian, who, like so many other former Loganites over the years, managed not only to prosper and make a name for himself in American history, but also to make Logan County proud in doing
Mel Cottone recalls growing up in Logan Read More »
By Dwight Williamson There’s a quote I recently saw from British author Virginia Woolf that says, “Nothing has really happened until it has been recorded.” If you give that quote some thought, you might agree with me in believing that history — be it on the tiniest of levels — is important to document in
Logan area had thriving Italian community Read More »
By Dwight Williamson With Halloween just a few days away, I thought it an appropriate time to write about the coincidence of two abandoned cemeteries. Both should be of significance in Logan County history because they contain the dusty remains of some of the most important people that ever existed in the establishment of the
Mamie Thurman and her connection to two Logan cemeteries Read More »
By Dwight Williamson It is sometimes hard for me to believe that it has been nearly 40 years since the name of Mamie Thurman started becoming almost a household name throughout the region. Since those early days of the stories of Mamie’s gruesome murder and the details of the trial of Clarence Stephenson, the accused
A letter from Ohio reveals an unlikely success story Read More »
By Dwight Williamson A look at local history reveals that Logan County has been in the national headlines numerous times for various reasons. From the Civil War burning of the Logan County Courthouse to the Hatfield-McCoy feud of the late 1800s and throughout all of the 20th century, something of national interest has always percolated
Old newspaper articles tell of Battle of Blair Mountain Read More »
By Dwight Williamson The Logan Banner did not exist when the county of Logan or the village that is now known as the town of Logan came into existence. In fact, it wasn’t until 1888 that the newspaper started being published as The Logan County Banner. The point being that there are no real written
Graveyards abounded under Logan streets Read More »
By Dwight Williams EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part two of a column on Tennis Hatfield of the famous feuding family of Logan and Mingo County and the Blue Goose saloon. The Hatfield-McCoy Feud is world renowned, but few people know about what could be termed the “Hatfield-Chafin Feud;” a bitter political feud between former business
Tennis Hatfield and the Blue Goose Saloon Read More »
By Dwight Williamson There have been countless stories and several books written in regard to Devil Anse Hatfield and the feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys. However, perhaps the most interesting character of this entire bunch is the youngest child of the famous Hatfield leader, his 13th born offspring, Tennis Samuel Hatfield. It was
The story of Tennis Hatfield, son of Devil Anse Read More »