After a bunch of research, 2 attempts, and a ton of mountain climbing, we finally found Jim Vance's grave site! :-) Join this channel to support us: / @thehillbillyfiles
Greetings from Ohio. My grandmother's brother, John Franklin Vance, passed away in September 2023. Jim Vance is my great, great, great, great grandfather.
When I worked for the division of forestry in Kentucky, I saw so many unkempt forgotten graves, stories lost to history, couldn't read the stones, and people who's names are lost , some very primitive grave stones as well
This Cemetery is called the Jim Vance Family Cemetery according to my research. Thank you so much for your physical contribution to getting these informative videos out to us. Amazing job you and your wife are doing!
That Periwinkle or Creeping Myrtle ground cover is always a pretty sure sign you're standing in a cemetery or on a gravesite. In the days before lawn mowers and weed eaters, folks would plant that stuff to keep the undergrowth & weeds from taking over the cemetery. It also blooms tiny blue flowers in the spring but is very invasive and chokes out most anything it covers. So anytime you're in the woods and see a patch of that, chances are you are standing on graves.
In May 1991 I fell into a grave but it was not an old grave nor unmarked. I had a great-aunt who died in January 1991. In May of 1991 I took another elderly aunt, her sister, to the cemetery for a 'homecoming'. She took me to her sisters grave to show me the floral arrangment she had made for her sisters grave. The cemetery is in an area of east Texas where the ground is mostly sand. The weather that winter and spring had been very rainy. The last month had been pretty warm and sunny and the sand in the cemetery was pretty solid or so it seemed. What nobody knew was all the previous rain had settled the sand around the concrete vault over my aunts casket but crusted over above ground. I was beside my aunts grave and as I stepped up toward her headstone, the ground opened up under me and I fell into an 8ft deep hole. Thankfully as I fell, my bottom caught on the edge of the hole so I was left sitting on the ground with both feet dangling in this very deep hole and I couldnt use my feet to push myself backward on the ground. I did manage to finally work myself back until I could finally get up. I wasnt hurt, just scared, at least in the first couple of minutes, lol. Your common sense tells you theres no monster down in that grave that will hurt you. But my heart was pounding fiercely and not listening to my brain and common sense! It took a few minutes for me to calm down and start trying to get up. Once I got up, my aunt and I went immediately to the head of the cemetery association and told them what had happened and suggested they evacuate the entire cemetery until an investigation of the whole place be done to ensure there were no other graves opening up. There were probably 250-300 people scattered throughout the cemetery so others could have been hurt. As it turned out, they did evacuate everybody and in the week that followed, they did find another several graves that were in danger of collapse as my aunts had done. At least there were no other accidents in the cemetery. Thankfully, I was only in my thirties so that fall didnt hurt me but it could have been my 90+ yr old aunt or anybody else elderly that had a similar hole open up the same way. The cemetery is in an unincorporated area, out in the rural countryside and while the nearby church is visible from the road, the cemetery isnt visible at all to any sort of cars on the road. I can laugh about it now, decades later but, at the time, it was pretty scary!
That's something ,well at least you have an idea of what it's like down there,not to many can say that,I came back home was in the grave yard putting flowers and my parents grave not been back in your I came walking up out there a friend saw me lol and called me name said it's me, right out of grave yard haha not to many people get to say 😂 stay safe,thank you for all you dothat
My wife and I were talking about the ones with no markers and how when the folks who knew who was buried there are gone , then the memory is gone. An awful lot of folks have gone that way. Thanks for showing us. Since the movie, I always wondered where Jom Vance was buried.
My dad was adopted at three days old from Pikeville, KY from the Leedy and Lawson family. He was born on the McCoy side of the border. He initially found his biological family and continues to find more extended family. Very cool video.
My W. Va. born Great-Grandma killed a Western Diamond back in her garden in California when she was about 80. She was raised just a little north of where you filmed this. As you said, in them days anything could kill you, and she'd been taught not to let it.
My Mom's side of the family were related to the Hatfield's. She was from St. Albans, West Virginia, but her Great Grandfather owned a large valley, had been the Post Master and owned the general Store. He was also responsible, for building the local Church, in that Valley. Very cool Man. made me a homemade Rhubarb Pie, from Rhubards from his own garden. He was around 85 yo , when he did that.
👩🏻💻I grew up in a little town with a pioneer graveyard which I plan to be buried in one day. My dad was about 2 years old when his dad died of an absessed tooth. No penicillin in 1924 so my grandpa turned septic. The infection entered his blood system, that is what turning septic means, spread through his body and passed. I love the graveyard where my family is buried it goes back to my dad's grandfather who set aside the land for this purpose. My great grandfather was quite the pioneer, walking across the Great Plains at 14 years old and helping to settle the west side of the Great Salt Lake Valley. Old burial grounds really fascinate me.
The Spanish flu spread through the Appalachia's in 1918 also, wiping out almost entire families. Many folks headstones with 1918 / 19 deceased were victims of the Spanish flu.
It's absolute hell. I wonder how long he lasted. In 2021 I went 8 weeks with an abscessed tooth with no antibiotics or pain meds until my RCT appointment. Lymph node on my throat swollen to larger than golf ball. Very few endodontists were open. Just curled up in a ball shouting obscenities at the pain, working on contract so didn't get paid. Didn't get my contract renewed because somehow it was my fault I had an abscess and no endodontists were open.
@@thebluelunarmonkey Good gracious!!!! I bet !! Wow friend!! An old man lived in the woods, said he used to go into a Farm that had Big Mules, and tie it up, and tease it untill it knocked most of his Tooth aches OUT!... He said lots of people did it, cause Nobody EVER had any money.
Congratulations on finding Jim Vance. How lucky you were able to get information from that resident. So now there is a record of his gravesite. Too many are lost to time.
Thank you for taking us along. I was hooked on this video from start til end. Appreciate you sharing this corner of the world with us. You are a great guide. As a city dweller in California, I wouldn’t dare encroach on a place like this. It belongs to your community. Beautiful environment and rich with history. Thank you for sharing it with us.
I may be one of his decendents from Southeastern Ky. I am a Vance. My great grandfather was George Washington Vance. There are also Hatfields in my geneology. I found this very interesting and thankyou for showing us. If any geneologists have any information let me know. ❤
Those west Virginia mtns are brutal. I spent a few weeks in Rainelle back in 97 doing storm work for power company and hiking back in those mountains carrying saws n jugs of gas put a whooping on me. Some of the finest people I ever met in WV.
I worked for Pike in 90's. We did a storm trouble in 92 south of Charleston. We were up in a holler that dead ended the line looking for the outage. The line was good and we started out when we were met by 5 men at the fork with guns. They threatened to shoot us if we didn't get their " LECTRIC" back on. They wouldn't let us leave even when we explained that the problem wasn't in their holler. It took us 3 hours to get get out and that wasn't until the law came. No one went to jail either. After that I started carrying a gun with me. Some of the meanest people in the world live there also.
Many Native American woman are found to have died from infected teeth . Using their teeth as tools to work hides etc That was sadly one of their natural causes of death
@@thehillbillyfiles Be thankful you can still climb in the mountains. I dig ramps in one of the steepest places you can imagine. Across from Ghost Town in Maggie Valley. I thank God every time for giving me the strength. I'm 65 and it's hard to come to terms, I can't go like I used to. I hope when I die, I die up high in the mountains. Thank you for finding Uncle Jim.
What is wild about these graves is that you know the Hatfields would have all stood right where you are. Anderson Hatfield would have made the decisions right there where you are. Wow. Thanks.
I had the same trouble finding, and then hiking to the remote John Tunstall kill site (Of Billy the kid and the Lincoln County War fame) in Lincoln County New Mexico. It took 2 trips into hills of rough, rocky, wooded uncleared terrain. the hike seemed to be uphill both ways, Ha!, with the final hike in a drizzling rain. Great video, I've always found the feud Really interesting Thank you.
Such a beautiful, serene place. My husband was born in Huntington, WV. He has told me about his relatives that lived in places like this. i really enjoy your videos and you and Heather have such great story telling voices. Thank you for sharing.
Leo in your videos we are almost guaranteed to see 3 things: it's going to rain you will have to trudge up a steep high mountain & you will end up in a briar patch. 😺😁 You certainly go the extra mile for your fans. Heather you go the extra mile adding info during the editing. I really like your channel & appreciate what you do for us.
Love your videos. Till 2016 I had the pleasure of surveying all over West Virginia. Beautiful country and people. Humping equipment up and down those mountains was no joke. My best friend was my machete. Miss those days.
Stumbled across this video, and what a neat stroll through time. On some of those headstones dated deaths in the late nineteen-teens, children, could have been from the Spanish flu pandemic that tore through the country. My grandmother, who was born in 1909, used to talk about how bad it was and the friends and family she lost to it.
WOW!! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. There is so much rich history back there. I am very proud to be from that area. My Dad always told me I was 4th generation nephew to Devil Anse. Although, it did not click to me how amazing it is to be linked to such history until I was older. I want to thank you for sharing a spot light on an amazing span of history.
Kinda sad that over time and generations dying off or moving away that people stopped coming to this cemetery to maintain it. And so many other cemeteries like it. Thanks for the walk.
Absolutely Leo, you and Heather have traveled many dead end roads at the edge of where wild natured woods take over, as you travel the sometimes uncharted or forgotten trails of where history began. Some people get real serious (including my self) about " who the heck are these people on my property ? " Your connection with the community has provided you with the key to the City. I have seen you negotiate piece and resolution to a challenge successfully. Congratulations and thank you for sharing your gifts that gain us access to knowledge some people would not risk the adventure to achieve a great story.
Thank you. Here in NC, the textile mills, had company houses. They controlled the whole area. Like drinking, dancing and church. I have heard stories about how someone had an affair with someone and got fired.
@@outdoorlife5396 For sure it was like a feudal serfdom in those days. Years ago, I talked to a very dear old lady school teacher who had taught in Widen, WV, the coal town in Clay County, WV, which was run by Elk River Coal and Lumber Co. by the coal baron, J. G. Bradley. She said they didn’t allow lady teachers to be married. Well, her and beau finagled a trip to Charleston, WV, the Capitol and got themselves hitched. The marriage was kept a secret till they could find work elsewhere. To get the full story on Widen and it’s own mine war, labor disputes, etc., check out a thesis from WVU, called “The Life Cycle of a Coal Town, Widen, WV, 1911-1963” by Amanda J. Griffith in 2003. It continues to prove the rich and colorful history of this special place called West Virginia. “Montani Semper Liberi”
Thanks for the video. Lived in Raleigh County WV for a number of years, liked the trekking about in the hills, often ran across such burial places, similar as in your video. All my people were from Eastern PA, I have traveled back there from Ohio, meeting relatives and getting acquainted with my history. I'll subscribe. Thank you.
It's amazing that you were able to find Jim Vances' grave. I like these out of the way cemeteries you come across. You are right that people get sick, and there's no cure, and then they pass. There are too many babies and young adults here. I enjoyed this hike.
From my understanding, the relative of Crazy Jim Vance owns the property where the McCoy family cemetery is. He banned any of the family from visiting the cemetery for years. They finally gained access after years in court and even then they can only go just on certain holidays.
Leo, with all the hiking you do, you should be in superb physical condition by now. There must be a hundred isolated cemeteries like this in West Virginia, Kentucky, very quiet, very peaceful. I am glad, that you found Jim Vance's grave. Thank you very much for another great video Leo and Heather, take care. 😀
I worked for Pike in 90's. We did a storm trouble in 92 south of Charleston. We were up in a holler that dead ended the line looking for the outage. The line was good and we started out when we were met by 5 men at the fork with guns. They threatened to shoot us if we didn't get their " LECTRIC" back on. They wouldn't let us leave even when we explained that the problem wasn't in their holler. It took us 3 hours to get get out and that wasn't until the law came. No one went to jail either. After that I started carrying a gun with me. Some of the meanest people in the world live there also.
Yeah you don’t want to go anywhere in Eastern Kentucky or the Hills of western West Virginia. People in inner city ghettos live better than those hill folk do. The meanness comes from multiple sources. One being the coal industry being jacked by the government with no way for anyone to earn an honest living. Nobody has had any fucks to give those folks for decades and not everyone out there can work for Family Dollar or the local greasy spoon. Many live in broken down trailers with no electricity, no running water and no heating or air. For good reasons they don’t trust a soul. Next to the American Indian they are probably the most fucked over group of people in the country. There’s not a single black person out there and there is zero such thing as white privilege there. Because of this there is quite amount of illegal activity in these parts as it’s the only way they can support themselves. Meth labs, moon shine, marijuana, you name it. I promise you those dudes that met you in that holler weren’t wanting their “lectric” back so they could watch the next episode of American Idol that night. Eastern Kentucky used to be a proving ground for new Kentucky State Troopers because if you could make it there you could make it anywhere. The life expectancy was very low for them and several over the years have been killed out there. I mean if you stay in the main parts of towns and main roads you’re ok but you start venturing out into the woods you best know wtf you are doing because if you don’t you are venturing at your own peril.
Very true about the antibiotics. My aunt caroline died of an infection caused by her falling on a stick. She was 3 or 4 when she passed from infection. So we should be thankful for modern medicine!
Another great video Leo and Heather!! What a great place to be laid to rest !! Beautiful country, thank you for taking us on your journeys, sad to see so many young people that passed that didn't get a chance to live life to its fullest.
i'd kinda rather most people not know where any of this is.. Too many crazy people that will do weird things for historical artifacts that they can sell
Wow, I just asked you two about Jim Vance 3 days ago & you said you were working on the story. Thx so...much, you do wonderful work, sorry Leo for all the climbing & searching, you & Heather are GREAT!
Such an incredible find!!! I love the history lessons you provide. I would love to see the historical society clean up that area and restore the graves I wonder if the hunters know about these burials and that they're hunting on history-rich ground. You are my absolute favorite channel! Your laugh is infectious!
I lost my daughter at 14 and it is the worse thing a parent can go through. The hurricane never goes away. You just have to live your life as best as you can!
Enjoy the video sir. Like you said it's the adventure. I always get a little sick to my stomach when I hear of children passing, being a father of three daughters 27, 13 and 6 I couldn't imagine I refuse to even think about it. I'm going to watch a few more of your videos and enjoy them and like I said before thank you for taking us on this adventure.
im in virginia and have found old graveyards like that but i have always been interested in the old ways and the hatfields and mccoys so im hooked on you and your wifes videos and definitely enjoy finding out where the members of both families final resting places are.....Rest in peace to them all
My wife does ancestry finds. She just found out that I am stuck on both sides of the feud. I cannot take a side. Through the Keener family I am related to both the Hatfields and the McCoy's. Shalom
Thanks for a cool video detailing important parts of WV history. If I lived closer, I'd be inclined to put together some able bodied people to clean up that cemetery and give it (and those interred there) the respect it deserves. Hoping the historical society does it's part to help preserve that area.
May be a historical person, but not a nice person, that is if you read your history correctly so perhaps why his grave so far away. Its a beautiful graveyard though to bad it wasnt cared for that well
I was raised Free Will Baptist here in NC and you are right they love to eat, but you forgot one thing, they gonna take up an offering.🤣🤣🤣🤣 Love you guys and your videos
I know for a fact that there is alot of research to each one of these stories. Its amazing to hear about all these remarkable people and the lives they have lived down through the years.
Thanks Leo loved the walk glad you were able to find Jim's grave he is way up in the holler so sad to see babies grave and young people still in their teens it is beautiful up there watch for them 🐍 tell Heather hi and I hope she is feeling better thank you again love the walks with you and the history that you can teach us and show us that these were real people and lived and loved it is God's country Can't wait to walk with you again I love listening to you and learning about the history your voice is so calming love your laugh please stay well and safe
There is a little cemetery close to where I live in Missouri that I didn’t even know about until I became friends with the guy who lived next to it in high school. It’s known as the yellow fever cemetery and I asked my grandma about it because this land has been in my family for about 4 generations. She said she would ride horses to it as a kid before his family moved there. It’s a very secluded area so not many people live here. It blew my mind that I lived there my whole life just a couple hundred yards away and live less than a mile away from it now and had no idea until high school. Most of the graveyard is a bunch of babies that were a couple of days old but died of yellow fever and then usually the parents buried next to them later on. There’s one little area where if I remember right there were 8 graves of babies only a few days old and then the parents all with the same last name and then two older people with the same last name as well which is what I’m assuming to be the only two kids to actually live to adulthood. They weren’t as old as what I assume to be the parents, which means if my assumptions are correct those parents buried 10 sons and daughters in total. I couldn’t imagine how hard that could be on them.
Thanks so much for sharing. I don’t live far from there. But I’d never get to see it. It looks like it was cleared off a 100 years ago and took care of. But every cycle most are forgotten. There’s a old cemetery on the back side of my farm. They were Stapletons. My grandpas was young when he died and wanted buried beside his mule. There’s 10 graves some with markers and some don’t.
I hope you’re documenting names and locations for the future. It would be nice if you can put together the family history tree do to the fact that it’s hard to find today. Thank you for your work.
WOW, Leo this is AWESOME, I thought it was cool seeing ,Devil Anses' grave, but this being the middle of the woods, really cool, CV even more cool, Thank You, again!!!!!!!!!
Jim Vance was shot by Bad Frank mainly due to and as a result of his participation in and in retribution for the murder of Asa Harmon McCoy by Devil Anse's Logan County Wildcats, Asa was my great great grandfather. This reason all this started wasn't really about a pig, it was really about and more akin to the movie "The Jackbull". When the system of justice fails to be fair and impartial people take justice into their own hands. Justice Hatfield had no business sitting on that pig case. He should've realized that a judgement in favor of the Hatfields would've been seen as prejudiced by the McCoys. Perry Klien was also an agigator in all this too, some say the primary one. As a lawyer he kept stuff stirred up for his own benefit.
Asa died of exposure from the bad weather. He was released from the union Army in Cattletburg KY. Made his way home and died. James Vance was in Narrows VA with the 34th Batt VA Cavalry. Hard to kill somebody if you are not in the area. Exposure killed most of the 22nd Ky.
@@terryvance3805 ok well I understand you have your stories, but Crazy Jim Vance was a member of the Logan Wildcats. So how can he be in Logan County with the Wildcats and in Narrows Va? Lets not forget there was a lot of desertions going too. Hard to be a hero and a coward at the same time. Then theres the fact that Crazy Jim was never much for the truth.
Well boys you all tell a good tale but diggin' up dead dogs is just plain unnatural. Try not to borrow trouble from yesterday I believe its important to know your ancestors because that is key to knowing yourself. Just a word to quote my cousin from the hills, "we try not to be like that anymore". God love ya and thanks for sharing the history of Jim Vance and the tragedy of the McCoy Hatfield feud.
Jim was never a Wildcat. He was in the 1st VA Mounted Rilfes in 1862 and they were absorded into the 34th Batt VA Cavalry. He served from 1862 until April 10 1865 where his unit disbanded near Christiansburg. He was arrested and taken as a POW along with his cousins Meekin SR , Meekin JR, and Jackson Vance to a POW camp in Cumberland MD. This record was found in the national archives.
I went 4 wheelin in man, gilbert and Logan, I’m from maryland s eastern shore 29 miles from the ocean, my family was from Cumberland md. I love West Virginia. Drank some of the best water I ever drank coming out of the rocks. Going to come back this summer with the quads.
Very cool video. I'm a Big history buff about American Western History especially, James brothers, billy the kid and the Hatfield & McCoys feud. Thank you for sharing the video. ✌️😁
Omg this is neat to hear Jim Vance is my 5 times Uncle Jim my father Patrick Vance was born in WV got lots of info on the Hatfield and MyCoys my older sisters did a lot of research on this thanks for sharing ❤
I love that you get facts and don't add in things that didn't happen that way we get to know what really happened. Can you imagine how different and beautiful it was back in those days.
@@thehillbillyfiles l remember in the Hatfield's and McCoys movie there's a Selkirk McCoy . Selkirk McCoy was at the hog trail . Do you know where Selkirk McCoy buried at ?
Great video! Reminds me of the good old days when I used to run the woods growing up back home in Grundy and Vansant Va. Lived in the head of a little holler called Leemaster. There's no place like home.
I'm up in the blue ridge. I find old graveyards all the time deep in the woods. Some have many Graves some only one. Many individual Graves I find along the river. I've been told when bodies were found in the river they would be buried there .because no one knew who they were and while traveling it was the best they could do for the deceased.
Imagine trying to travel at night? Yikes!! Understandable that Roseanna McCoy couldn't get home after dark. Even with modern outdoor spot lights... good luck not falling in a hole or off the rocky ledge or walking into a tree!
You have said more then once so far that where ever you go there is a mountain that needs to be climbed. I think you should to try to think of that as your adventures help you to exercise and stay in shape or at least better health then you might other wise be in. Try to continue to keep a positive mind set in the climbs and walks. This is what I try to do in my life. I thought I would share a positive thought right away. Thanks for choosing to film and share this adventure.
A friend of mine is from WV and his family cemetery is on a mountain. He told me they dig Graves by hand and carry the family members up and there's no vaults.
A peaceful place. Far away from the noise of cars, trucks, motorcycles and all the other modern day aggravation. Mr. Vance has had a peaceful place to rest. He only has the ghost of days gone by. The wind, rain, snow. The living has the same things to deal with. This is not sad. It's a place to rest. God Bless them all.
In 2011 I had a Hatfield and a Mccoy as patients on the cardiac unit in Chattanooga Tennessee. We had to have security stay on the floor at all times. Fun times.
I grew up near a cemetery in Pa at the top of a hollow at least a mile from the bottom. No signs that anyone lived that far up before the 1900s yet there are grave markings dating back to early 1800s. I always wondered why people in the valley went through so much trouble to bury their dead so far away.
