Dwight Williamson

Monumental efforts gave us our ‘Doughboy’

By Dwight Williamson Originally placed at the Logan Courthouse in 1928, the Doughboy monument was moved to Midelburg Island in 1964. World War I was titled as a “World War” for good reason, as it was indeed a war involving many nations, costing millions of lives and included many West Virginians who were quick to […]

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Spiritually reuniting Logan’s pioneer couple

By Dwight Williamson This was originally published in the Logan Banner on July 30, 2014 and is republished here with the author’s permission and our special thanks. A Logan Banner story which appeared April 23 of this year concerning the historic cemetery located on High Street in Logan featured the grave site of one of

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“Boots” was anything but a normal coal miner

By Dwight Williamson Thousands of men have since about 1900 risked their lives bringing coal from the mountainous hollows of Logan County. There have been hundreds of coal mine related deaths and thousands of injuries, including broken backs and lost limbs — all for the sake of producing coal. Now, with coal mining much safer,

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The Civil War in Logan County

By Dwight Williamson Although during the Civil War Logan Countians were predominantly southern sympathizers, there were those persons of the area who actually believed in the northern cause and enlisted with the northern forces. The names of people like James A. Nighbert, John William Stratton, Henry Clay Ragland, and certainly, Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield, are

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English credited with discovering coal in Logan Co.

By Dwight Williamson There have been many notable figures who have made their homes in what is now Logan County. One such person that few people are aware of is a man who came from his native Philadelphia in 1852 to settle along the Guyandotte River to what was then sparsely settled western Virginia in

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Logan Co. people with national interest

By Dwight Williamson The events that formulate the subject matter of history have proven bountiful in Logan County. From times past when Aracoma and other Indians roamed our hills and valleys until the present day huge success of the million-to-one shot, Landau Eugene Murphy Jr., there is tremendous history that involves people and places in

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The little town at the mouth of Buffalo Creek

By Dwight Williamson Man, W.Va., was incorporated in 1918. The formal boundaries for the Town of Man encompass a land area of 1.1 sq. miles and a water area of 0.05 sq. miles. The elevation is 738 feet. February 26th marked the anniversary of the Buffalo Creek disaster that took place in 1972. For those

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City losing another historical structure

By Dwight Williamson Another relic of the town of Logan is in the process of disappearing. URCO Incorporated purchased the property from the State Auditor’s Office for taxes and employees are currently razing the 102-year-old structure located on Hudgins Street across from the Logan Post Office. The building was built and opened in 1912 as

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Early Logan Co.: A mighty tough place to live

By Dwight Williamson From everything I’ve been able to discover over the years, it appears Logan County was a mighty tough place to live, particularly during the 1800’s. There were no real law enforcement officers, and oftentimes matters were settled—let’s just say—outside of a court room. The Hatfield-McCoy feud is a prime example. However, there

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The legendary Don Chafin

By Dwight Williamson While great detail will be given in a future edition of this newspaper regarding the history of legendary Logan County Sheriff Don Chafin and the very house in which he lived, for today’s purposes, I would like to relate a story that few people living nowadays have ever been aware of —

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