Cotton top is not at Dils cemetery where Randall McCoy is. That's false information from find a grave. Anyone can post on find a grave. They are wrong all the time. He is not there. John Dils who owns Dils cemetery financed and supported the efforts to hang Cotton top. He did not then have him buried at his cemetery.
Why don't you try looking for the records of existing funeral homes at that time are within fifty years of the hanging? You would think the local funeral parlors would have a record so they would not go out digging up someone else's unmarked grave to make an new internment.
I am Ronald Mounts,, Grandson of Flannery and Naomi Mounts,, I was Born in1964 to Douglas Mounts and Beulah (!Marie )Marcum !!! Im just Amazed at all these history facts of our History!!!
There are (2) of us named Ronald Mounts,,,, Still to this day we don't know why are Uncle Phillip Mounts named his son Ronald Mounts just months after I was born 1964... lol,,, still a wonder lol...
Bessie’s symbol is a Masonic one. It is the Order of the Eastern Star. It denotes that she is related to a Master Mason (wife, daughter, sister or mother). Kenneth’s symbol is a Shriners International or Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Shriners have a children’s hospital and do a lot for sick or crippled children.
I have thoroughly enjoyed your videos Heather and Leo. I taught social studies methods for elementary education school majors at Western Kentucky University for about 29 years. One of my major assignments was for my students to visit a historic cemetery, choose 5 markers/tombstones and research those people to determine their contributions to the community. This is an assignment that elementary school teachers can use with students in grade 4 - 12. There is a famous cemetery in Nashville which dates back to the late 1700s. Each fall the members of a local organization choose one of the historic people buried there, dresses up like the individual, sits by their respective grave site and answers questions about the individual from visitors. There was a picture a few years ago of one of the members of this organization in the local newspaper. She was dressed as a pre-Civil War Era regalia, sitting in a rocking chair, and knitting. Since I lived in Bowling Green for 25 years, I always wanted to go and participate in this event. Just think how much students could learn from visiting such an event. I have done local, state, and national presentations on using the cemetery as a tool for students to learn about their community. Well, I enjoy your videos so much that I am going to subscribe. Since I just found your channel a few days ago, it is going to take some time to get "caught up." I will tell you that the videos you and Heather have done on the Hatfield-McCoy feud certainly have been extremely interesting and frankly, better than any movie or other videos on the topic. I love Kevin Costner as an actor, but the movie he did on the Hatfield-McCoy was SO Hollywood. Thank you so much for your patience and love of history.
Every summer in my town, we have what we call a Cemetery Walk. There's usually 5 people that portray 5 historical people that are buried in our town Cemetery. They are dressed in period clothes. They make speeches about them selves in character. I believe our Historical Society sponsors it.
@@aprilmartin3195 Now that is awesome April. I wish the local historical society where I live would do this. It would be great for community members to learn more about the history of the area.
Leo and Heather, you are doing a great job 👏 thank you!! I am from Ohio, my mom was born in Wheeling WVa!! Her mom, my grandmother was Miss West Virginia in the late 1920's!! (Mary Virginia Nuzum) she was a beautiful Irish woman!!! Leo, I love your name my Polish Grampa was Leo as well as my dad, his 1st born!! Thank you for your wonderful patience and caring way when you walk thru the cemeteries!! 💞💞💞👍 take care, be safe and God Bless you both!! 👍 Heather, my daughter is a nurse out in San Francisco, she was born in Cleveland Ohio!!! 😊❤ ty!!! 💞
I like when Leo reads the stones & Heather provides extra info. You two make an excellent team. I think you two are probably right that Ellison is buried somewhere in there.
Ellison was a little mentally slow wasn't he? Sometimes people like that and the people who were mentally ill, were buried without a grave marker. It was traditional. I could see that they might want to keep his grave's location secret. Vandals, revenge seekers, body snatches to sell to medical schools.
Thank you for your videos. Love when you walk around reading other grave stones, and then putting what they died of. Really reminds you what it was like back then
Enjoying your videos. The star symbol on one of the graves was probably the symbol for Eastern Star which the women's group that is associated with the Masons. Since the Masonic emblem is on the man's side, it is probably the sign that the wife was in the Eastern Star.
@@SMichaelDeHart No, it was as stated by M. Kaye Williams. My mother was in the Eastern Star. My father, I used to call him the 'grand Poobah', was high up in the masons, did all of the Scottish Rites etc, and was Ambassador to Dublin Ireland from his region, or whatever they called it.
My family talked about the Hatfield and McCoy's ever since I was a kid but when you only live a couple hours away its kinda hard not to find someone who doesn't know about this Feud , but there are other Feuds just as big you never hear about ......one was up in gooserock ky.....
I stayed for the whole video! It was great. I think it's wonderful that those stones are ready. We may never know their full stories, but reading their names and dates, I think, let's all those who watch know that person wasn't the very least a part of the history of that area. It's important, I think. Thank you for what you are doing
My husband's father was born in Pikeville, KY. He worked in the coal mines until he enlisted in the Korean War. My husband's last name is Roberts, and he is related to Cornellus Roberts. Neal as he was called, was killed and scalped by Indians while gathering wild ginseng up in the mountains. It would be neat for you to do a story on Cornellis Roberts. The sotry is on line. Thank you.
A true story on how I found my grandmother's grave. Yes, it would have been easier to call the office and ask but they were closed when I was there. The tombstone disappeared and so did the tree that I used as a landmark. I used to carry witching sticks and was good with em. I pulled them out and went looking for her grave. It stopped at grave 87, so I paid my respects and left her favorite flowers. After I got back to Illinois, I called the office to confirm who's grave it was. It was grandmothers. I do have a story about an ancestor who was buried alive, before embalming, she rang the bell to let em know but they didn't get to her in time. Thank you for all you do and be safe.
My dad has photo copies of the original picture taken of the hanging and some other cool feud materials. He’s a local historian and helps with the museum here in Pikeville. If your ever back this way I’m sure he’d love to talk with you. He does the official feud tours so you all could take one together and swap stories.
Wm. Logan Peery has two masonic symbols on his marker, the one on the right is "HTWSSTKS" which stands for "Hiram The Widow's Son Sent To King Solomon." When you see HTWWTKS on someone’s headstone, you know that not only were they a Royal Arch Mason, but that they made it at least as far as the third degree in that fraternal order.
My dad and I used to spend entire weekends just walking through old cemetery we would find and looking at headstones. We would talk about all things history and genealogy related. That was our bonding time.
Hi all the way from Australia, I would love to visit the southern states, so much history , fascinated with civil war sites and the Appalachian mountains. Love watching videos by creaters in the south I have learnt t so much about your beautiful area. I think they would have retrieved his body and reburied it under an assumed name can't imagine the family just forgetting about him, southern families are tight knit Really enjoyed this.
My brother was born there in the old hospital in 1957 during the flood of 57, and my Grandmother passed there as well in 1962, so I would say yes probably Haunted, and I think myself the old section the miners part in the new Pikeville Medical is Haunted as well
Eastern Star an auxiliary of the Masons is the star and the symbol on the headstone is a keystone of the Royal Arch Masons the letters around it stands for “Hiram, Tyrian’s Widow’s Son, Sent to King Solomon.”
The symbol on the Bessie Arnold grave reminds me of The Eastern Star. My late father in law was a member of The Masons. Because of that my late mother in law was a member of The Eastern Star. I believe The Eastern Star is linked to both Masons and Shriners, not for certain though. This is good investigating Leo. I enjoyed this vide.
@@thehillbillyfiles The Freemasons have several related organizations: the gravestone with the saber and jewel represents a Mason who elected to join the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, a 'Shriner'. A Shriner has to be a mason first. The star indicates that the deceased was a member of The Eastern Star, an organization for females who are related to a mason. Love your videos!
Thank you for the grave hike, I cannot believe how high up that graveyard is. The houses looked so small below, you got to have some strong men to haul up a coffin. Just so amazing to me.The places you have taken us has been some really beautiful grave site settings.
I've helped carry a few coffins over the years(3 in the last 3 weeks alone), they're surprisingly light when theirs 6 people helping out, especially when the coffin are made of wood, metal ones are a pain though.
My daddy's father was took up to the top of the mountain behind my granny's house about 65 years ago,don't know how they got it up there but probably his daddy's old mean red mule lol 😂
I find it hard to believe the Hatfields would have let Cotton Top rest in an unmarked grave. I wonder if there are any rumors in the family about where he was buried.
I absolutely love your videos! Thank you so much for sharing the rich history. It is very apparent the time, effort and research that is done for each video that is produced. I learn new things from every video. Thank you so very much for sharing your wealth of knowledge with us!!😊
I'm from Alabama and the old cemetery that most of my family is buried at used to have rocks that marked some of the graves. I remember my grandaddy telling me a long time ago when he was younger the cemetery owners hired a young man to cut the grass out there and to make it easier on himself he picked all the rocks up and threw them in a pile to cut the grass then realized he didn't know where all of the rocks went lol. So there's still unmarked graves out there to this day. Your video made me think of that story. Love the videos y'all keep up the good work7777777799999
I am new to your channel and very much enjoying your videos. I expect to watch all your content over time. Thank you and please keep up the good work, much appreciated.
I can never accuse you of being boring 😴 Leo. This was a great video 📹. Very informative, fascinating, for myself. You may well be right, one of those unmarked graves in line of sight with that sign, may well be Cottons. In the absence of records, I do not know how you can determine who may be buried there, short of, like you said, exhuming the remains, what is left anyway, and extracting DNA samples. There certainly is a lot of history in this cemetery, many stories waiting to be told, and you Leo, are a very good story teller. My one hope for this cemetery, is that someday, the resources will be available to repair the broken, or fallen over headstones 🪦, especially, the ones belonging to a child. Thank you, Leo and Heather, for cranking out another fine video, you are both getting good at it. One question if I may? The leaning headstones 🪦 is probably caused by the ground becoming weak over time; But do you think, the broken headstones is mostly caused by the headstones being exposed to the elements after so many years, or do you think some of it may be vandalism?
@@thehillbillyfiles awesome. Thanks for your response. It would be great if y'all could post links to the videos mentioned in the description. Have a wonderful day.
I was scrolling through RUclips and found your channel. I absolutely love yall!! I've been fascinated with the Hatfield's and McCoy's since I was in high school
Leo, you and Heather are great history detectives! I love to watch your videos! I’m in Missouri Ozark mountains most my life but, lived out in Oak Ridge, Tennessee awhile and knew a Jack Hatfield in Knoxville, Tennessee. Keep up the Hillbilly Files, excellent stories! Better than movies! You could sell a series for tv shows called ‘true historical ppl!!!🥰
Wow a lot of work, you and Heather and you brought us great history. I can't understand how a 1 day old baby dies from malnutrition according to the death record.
THAN YOU for all the research you guys do for the cemeteries, I appreciate your hard work and know it's not easy sometimes. Can I get you to do something for me? Next time you put up a text explanation on something, can you leave it up a little longer, like maybe 5 seconds or so? That way we can read it without having to stop the video and rewind and freeze it to try to read your message. That would help tremendously in knowing what you're saying or thinking about the people buried there. I appreciate all your hard work, stay warm dry and safe!
New to your channel. Thank you for sharing this. My grandfather was a Mounts. Cottonwood was a relative. Don't know much really about him. Just the story of his death
the symbol on Bessies grave is for the EASTERN STAR which is the ladies side of the MASONS thank you for all you do its amazing work!! : ) my grandmother was a grand royal matron of the eastern star over 5 states ..they have many off shoots of the organization as well take care
Back then it was not uncommon to have children bleed to death after a tonsillectomy. I learned in nursing school one of the reasons they stopped routinely taking out kids tonsils because many kids would bleed to death
@The Hillbilly Files…from the days before the cauterization tools surgeons have today to stop what they call “bleeders”, ie blood vessels that supply the area being operated on. Used to be the only way to stop those was to tie them off by putting stitches in. That would be impossible to do with a tonsillectomy done during that time period. Young children still die from hemorrhaging occasionally now even with all our medical advancements but much much less common now than then. Very sad.
Enjoyed this video. Love the historic places and Graves. I have people in the North Carolina Mountains, Kentucky, Tennessee. Some are in the Appalachian mountains. I do appreciate these videos.
My dad's cousin on his mom's side told me we were related to the Hatfields, but I didn't know how. They were from McDowell and Raleigh Counties. Since I am a Moore from two different lines, my dad's great grandmother on the maternal side was an Electra Ann Moore who married a James Fielding Akers, which was the side his cousin was on. I was doing something while I had this playing in the background and heard you say Moore, and it is in a cemetery with Hatfields? The Moores were such a huge family, it is hard to know which ones are directly related, especially when they also went well into Kentucky. This is the first time hearing a Moore connected with any Hatfield, so I am wondering if what she said was true. Now I have to research it.
One theory is that he was buried near the hanging site, but allegedly members of the Hatfield family dug him up in the middle of the night. He was buried in the Hatfield cemetery.
Hello from ireland. Just stumbled across your channel recently, you got me hooked:) just working through your videos, they're fascinating so far, keep it up, thanks for doing what your at👍
@@thehillbillyfiles mighty, what part are ya thinking of going to or ya thinking of doing a full coverage trip? Do ya know where your ancestors came from:)
We are flying into Dublin and traveling from there to several places for about a week. Most of our family seems to be in and around the cork? Area. I do have an itinerary we will share when we are ready, We have two castles we are staying at. Pretty exciting stuff for us
@@thehillbillyfiles nice, 2 Castles, sounds good. Theirs plenty of graveyards and cemeteries and tombs to check out. I have 2 large mass graves from the last big famine beside my house. Newgrange is an interesting place to check out, it's about 5600 years old(3-400 years older than the oldest Egyptian pyramid). Are ya thinking of doing a few videos of your trip?
I read somewhere that unmarked graves could still have records. Even if it's only who bought the plot. I don't have a clue what it takes to look that kind of stuff up, but I know you too do. I just thought I'd throw that out there. My Grandma Hiles is buried in an unmarked grave. That's a very long and very interesting story. But it's so sad that her grave is unmarked. And the cemetery says there is no record of her being there. But she is. Her 5 year old son, my dad, snuck into the hearse and road to the cemetery with his mom and watched them bury her. Then that broken hearted little boy walked home - 50 miles.
Wow! You said it was a sad story, that is fact!😢 My thoughts were spiraling. I have many questions...but I hope I'm not being to pushing by asking, what happened to your grandmother? I totally understand if you don't want to answer a stranger on the internet. I must say, thank you! I appreciate you sharing such a treasured piece of your family history.
@@amandahester352 I know she died of pneumonia. She's in an unmarked grave because her family didn't want her to marry my grandpa. There are so many stories that go with this. I have a picture of her holding my dad when he was about 3. The looks on their faces show the love they left for each other. I wish I could have known her. My grandpa, her husband, used to tell me "ya look just like her!". But I was very little and it never occured to me to ask who it was I looked like. After my grandpa passed away I received that picture of my grandma holding my dad. Everyone who saw it asked me when I had it taken. I had to explain "that's not me. That's my grandma". We look exactly alike. A mirror image
@Wendy Burnett Thank you so much for sharing! That is such a sad story, but also a beautiful love story. I guess it goes to show love conquers all in the end. I bet you and your grandma are/were very pretty. Was your grandpa buried beside her?
@Wendy Burnett ; God Bless that Little Boy Now your Husband❤. & the church that owns the cemetery ground. would have Record of who is Buried in unmarked graves & old news papers of the year of death maybe.
you need to come to Macon Georgia and go up on rose hill cemetery,, it has a lot of famous musicians, politicians, it has some Graves from the early 1840s when is was created
The symbol is Eastern Star, women's auxiliary of the Masons. The one with the sword and star is the Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine which means the deceased was a Shriner.
William Logan peery symbol is HTWSSTKS mark of ancient grant master,it stands for Hiram,Tyrian,Widow's Son,Sent to King Solomon, it is loyalty to masonic teachings.
I can speak first hand how hard it is to lose a child… I lost my daughter.. she was born premature…her lungs were way underdeveloped.. she lived for 12 hours… I got to hold her hand one time…this was 10 years ago.. they say god gives you mountains to climb.. I’m still climbing my mountain…
I have searched for pictures of cotton top and there only one good one of him and then the ones from his hanging. I wonder why there's not many pictures of him.?
A hillbilly with a new Mustang making videos on YT. My mom born in 1942 Somerset, Ky with a one seat out house, outdoor water pump, 16 brothers and sisters would love this. Mom's brothers " We don't worry about anyone messing with our kin folk. There are plenty of places to bury the bodies in the hills."
Cotton top is not at Dils cemetery where Randall McCoy is. That's false information from find a grave. Anyone can post on find a grave. They are wrong all the time. He is not there. John Dils who owns Dils cemetery financed and supported the efforts to hang Cotton top. He did not then have him buried at his cemetery.
Great thanks you two
Looks like he would be buried in a fence alone
I wonder if he's buried at Magnolia, West Virginia where he's show to have lived in 1880?
Why don't you try looking for the records of existing funeral homes at that time are within fifty years of the hanging? You would think the local funeral parlors would have a record so they would not go out digging up someone else's unmarked grave to make an new internment.
This is shame. No small gravestone for cotton top resting spot. Shame on John dils. He should have known better.
I am Ronald Mounts,, Grandson of Flannery and Naomi Mounts,, I was Born in1964 to Douglas Mounts and Beulah (!Marie )Marcum !!! Im just Amazed at all these history facts of our History!!!
Ronald Douglas Mounts
There are (2) of us named Ronald Mounts,,,, Still to this day we don't know why are Uncle Phillip Mounts named his son Ronald Mounts just months after I was born 1964... lol,,, still a wonder lol...
Never boring, just a little sad...thanks for looking for Cotton Top...
Bessie’s symbol is a Masonic one. It is the Order of the Eastern Star. It denotes that she is related to a Master Mason (wife, daughter, sister or mother). Kenneth’s symbol is a Shriners International or Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Shriners have a children’s hospital and do a lot for sick or crippled children.
I have thoroughly enjoyed your videos Heather and Leo. I taught social studies methods for elementary education school majors at Western Kentucky University for about 29 years. One of my major assignments was for my students to visit a historic cemetery, choose 5 markers/tombstones and research those people to determine their contributions to the community. This is an assignment that elementary school teachers can use with students in grade 4 - 12. There is a famous cemetery in Nashville which dates back to the late 1700s. Each fall the members of a local organization choose one of the historic people buried there, dresses up like the individual, sits by their respective grave site and answers questions about the individual from visitors. There was a picture a few years ago of one of the members of this organization in the local newspaper. She was dressed as a pre-Civil War Era regalia, sitting in a rocking chair, and knitting. Since I lived in Bowling Green for 25 years, I always wanted to go and participate in this event. Just think how much students could learn from visiting such an event. I have done local, state, and national presentations on using the cemetery as a tool for students to learn about their community. Well, I enjoy your videos so much that I am going to subscribe. Since I just found your channel a few days ago, it is going to take some time to get "caught up." I will tell you that the videos you and Heather have done on the Hatfield-McCoy feud certainly have been extremely interesting and frankly, better than any movie or other videos on the topic. I love Kevin Costner as an actor, but the movie he did on the Hatfield-McCoy was SO Hollywood. Thank you so much for your patience and love of history.
What a compliment Judy, Thank you so much 💖
Every summer in my town, we have what we call a Cemetery Walk. There's usually 5 people that portray 5 historical people that are buried in our town Cemetery. They are dressed in period clothes. They make speeches about them selves in character. I believe our Historical Society sponsors it.
@@aprilmartin3195 Now that is awesome April. I wish the local historical society where I live would do this. It would be great for community members to learn more about the history of the area.
Leo and Heather, you are doing a great job 👏 thank you!! I am from Ohio, my mom was born in Wheeling WVa!! Her mom, my grandmother was Miss West Virginia in the late 1920's!! (Mary Virginia Nuzum) she was a beautiful Irish woman!!! Leo, I love your name my Polish Grampa was Leo as well as my dad, his 1st born!! Thank you for your wonderful patience and caring way when you walk thru the cemeteries!! 💞💞💞👍 take care, be safe and God Bless you both!! 👍 Heather, my daughter is a nurse out in San Francisco, she was born in Cleveland Ohio!!! 😊❤ ty!!! 💞
Very cool, thanks Sheila
They make a good team don't they!
@@karenfitzpatrick6256 Thank you =)
Hope you come back to this one and look around some more
You can learn a lot of history out there. Come across names that wasn't talked about thanks for sharing
Sure is a lot going on once you look
I like when Leo reads the stones & Heather provides extra info. You two make an excellent team. I think you two are probably right that Ellison is buried somewhere in there.
Thanks Kim, you always make us feel appreciated
Plus knowing cause of death is educational, can make you think.
Ellison was a little mentally slow wasn't he? Sometimes people like that and the people who were mentally ill, were buried without a grave marker. It was traditional. I could see that they might want to keep his grave's location secret. Vandals, revenge seekers, body snatches to sell to medical schools.
Looks like quite a few people died due to something having to do with their gallbladder.
I'm so glad you included research on the people of the graves that you were naming off. Very kind of you. Thank you for the videos.
Thank you for your videos. Love when you walk around reading other grave stones, and then putting what they died of. Really reminds you what it was like back then
Enjoying your videos. The star symbol on one of the graves was probably the symbol for Eastern Star which the women's group that is associated with the Masons. Since the Masonic emblem is on the man's side, it is probably the sign that the wife was in the Eastern Star.
Yes, it definately is.
@@SMichaelDeHart No, it was as stated by M. Kaye Williams. My mother was in the Eastern Star. My father, I used to call him the 'grand Poobah', was high up in the masons, did all of the Scottish Rites etc, and was Ambassador to Dublin Ireland from his region, or whatever they called it.
A five pointed star in a cemetery is known as the star of Bethlehem.
@@bigstyx Yes, if they are Jewish! Not the case here.
I always enjoy the videos. You never bore me.
Thanks 😊
Thanks again for sharing your time and effort to make things real for us. Love you guys. Stay safe out here.😊😊❤️❤️
My family talked about the Hatfield and McCoy's ever since I was a kid but when you only live a couple hours away its kinda hard not to find someone who doesn't know about this Feud , but there are other Feuds just as big you never hear about ......one was up in gooserock ky.....
I stayed for the whole video! It was great. I think it's wonderful that those stones are ready. We may never know their full stories, but reading their names and dates, I think, let's all those who watch know that person wasn't the very least a part of the history of that area. It's important, I think. Thank you for what you are doing
Glad you enjoyed it! And thank you 🙏
You are never boring, i love looking at ikd graves!
Hello from The Natural State. Sure enjoy your videos!! Good to watch down to earth people. Keep up the good work and God Bless you all. 🇺🇲🇺🇲
My husband's father was born in Pikeville, KY. He worked in the coal mines until he enlisted in the Korean War. My husband's last name is Roberts, and he is related to Cornellus Roberts. Neal as he was called, was killed and scalped by Indians while gathering wild ginseng up in the mountains. It would be neat for you to do a story on Cornellis Roberts. The sotry is on line. Thank you.
I'll check it out thanks!
I'd like to see it
I never get tired of watching your videos. You guys do a great job. Looking forward to the next one. Great job hillbilly files!
Awesome! Thank you!
A true story on how I found my grandmother's grave. Yes, it would have been easier to call the office and ask but they were closed when I was there. The tombstone disappeared and so did the tree that I used as a landmark. I used to carry witching sticks and was good with em. I pulled them out and went looking for her grave. It stopped at grave 87, so I paid my respects and left her favorite flowers. After I got back to Illinois, I called the office to confirm who's grave it was. It was grandmothers. I do have a story about an ancestor who was buried alive, before embalming, she rang the bell to let em know but they didn't get to her in time. Thank you for all you do and be safe.
My dad has photo copies of the original picture taken of the hanging and some other cool feud materials. He’s a local historian and helps with the museum here in Pikeville. If your ever back this way I’m sure he’d love to talk with you. He does the official feud tours so you all could take one together and swap stories.
Cool thanks 🙏
I stumbled onto this channel this morning.. I live in Pike County. You guys are amazing!
Wm. Logan Peery has two masonic symbols on his marker, the one on the right is "HTWSSTKS" which stands for "Hiram The Widow's Son Sent To King Solomon." When you see HTWWTKS on someone’s headstone, you know that not only were they a Royal Arch Mason, but that they made it at least as far as the third degree in that fraternal order.
Very cool thanks
My dad and I used to spend entire weekends just walking through old cemetery we would find and looking at headstones. We would talk about all things history and genealogy related. That was our bonding time.
Fascinating again! Thank you all for doing the research on these folks! 🙏🏼
You do a really great job putting this together. I know many hours went into Research and editing. It really makes it come to life
Thank you Sir
I appreciate that!
Hi all the way from Australia, I would love to visit the southern states, so much history , fascinated with civil war sites and the Appalachian mountains. Love watching videos by creaters in the south I have learnt t so much about your beautiful area. I think they would have retrieved his body and reburied it under an assumed name can't imagine the family just forgetting about him, southern families are tight knit
Really enjoyed this.
You had mentioned about the Library, the old Pikeville Hospital was there.
Great info thanks 🙏
My brother was born there in the old hospital in 1957 during the flood of 57, and my Grandmother passed there as well in 1962, so I would say yes probably Haunted, and I think myself the old section the miners part in the new Pikeville Medical is Haunted as well
I certainlly enjoyed your many adventures, thank you for all your history lessons.
I enjoyed this thank you
Thank you 😊
It's a beautiful cemetery and the statue for Thatcher was and is beautiful.
It is a amazing statue, James really seemed to love her
Your welcome
Wow, you're finding a lot of my relatives in these cemeteries! Thanks for doing these videos!
The symbol on Bessie’s grave is a Lady of the Eastern Star Symbol
Thank you 😊
Oh and you two are very good actor and actress! And excellent journalists !
Eastern Star an auxiliary of the Masons is the star and the symbol on the headstone is a keystone of the Royal Arch Masons the letters around it stands for “Hiram, Tyrian’s Widow’s Son, Sent to King Solomon.”
The symbol on the Bessie Arnold grave reminds me of The Eastern Star. My late father in law was a member of The Masons. Because of that my late mother in law was a member of The Eastern Star. I believe The Eastern Star is linked to both Masons and Shriners, not for certain though.
This is good investigating Leo. I enjoyed this vide.
Awesome thanks 🙏 much appreciated
@@thehillbillyfiles The Freemasons have several related organizations: the gravestone with the saber and jewel represents a Mason who elected to join the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, a 'Shriner'. A Shriner has to be a mason first. The star indicates that the deceased was a member of The Eastern Star, an organization for females who are related to a mason. Love your videos!
@@wscaff very cool thank you!
Thank you for the grave hike, I cannot believe how high up that graveyard is. The houses looked so small below, you got to have some strong men to haul up a coffin. Just so amazing to me.The places you have taken us has been some really beautiful grave site settings.
Thanks Sharon 😊 much appreciated
I've helped carry a few coffins over the years(3 in the last 3 weeks alone), they're surprisingly light when theirs 6 people helping out, especially when the coffin are made of wood, metal ones are a pain though.
My daddy's father was took up to the top of the mountain behind my granny's house about 65 years ago,don't know how they got it up there but probably his daddy's old mean red mule lol 😂
Loved the reading of the stones.
I find it hard to believe the Hatfields would have let Cotton Top rest in an unmarked grave. I wonder if there are any rumors in the family about where he was buried.
Thank you for the tour.
I absolutely love your videos! Thank you so much for sharing the rich history. It is very apparent the time, effort and research that is done for each video that is produced. I learn new things from every video. Thank you so very much for sharing your wealth of knowledge with us!!😊
Glad you like them!
Merci de traduire en français les commentaires
Thank you for sharing. Was a really good tour and information. Thanks for your respect.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I'm from Alabama and the old cemetery that most of my family is buried at used to have rocks that marked some of the graves. I remember my grandaddy telling me a long time ago when he was younger the cemetery owners hired a young man to cut the grass out there and to make it easier on himself he picked all the rocks up and threw them in a pile to cut the grass then realized he didn't know where all of the rocks went lol. So there's still unmarked graves out there to this day. Your video made me think of that story. Love the videos y'all keep up the good work7777777799999
It's so nice and sunny!! We are in cold cloudy miserable wet Pa
Thank you...
I am new to your channel and very much enjoying your videos. I expect to watch all your content over time. Thank you and please keep up the good work, much appreciated.
Thanks and welcome!
I can never accuse you of being boring 😴 Leo. This was a great video 📹. Very informative, fascinating, for myself. You may well be right, one of those unmarked graves in line of sight with that sign, may well be Cottons. In the absence of records, I do not know how you can determine who may be buried there, short of, like you said, exhuming the remains, what is left anyway, and extracting DNA samples. There certainly is a lot of history in this cemetery, many stories waiting to be told, and you Leo, are a very good story teller. My one hope for this cemetery, is that someday, the resources will be available to repair the broken, or fallen over headstones 🪦, especially, the ones belonging to a child.
Thank you, Leo and Heather, for cranking out another fine video, you are both getting good at it. One question if I may?
The leaning headstones 🪦 is probably caused by the ground becoming weak over time; But do you think, the broken headstones is mostly caused by the headstones being exposed to the elements after so many years, or do you think some of it may be vandalism?
I think it's both Michael. But at this cemetery seems more elemental. Thanks for watching
@@thehillbillyfiles You are very much welcome! Thank you very much for getting back to me. Take care.
I love that y'all look up what they died from. I was looking at the Cline cemetery video but couldn't find the video on him.
It's back a few months, but it's there and thank you!
@@thehillbillyfiles awesome. Thanks for your response. It would be great if y'all could post links to the videos mentioned in the description. Have a wonderful day.
Greetings from Canada. That was fun. Thank you!
I was scrolling through RUclips and found your channel. I absolutely love yall!! I've been fascinated with the Hatfield's and McCoy's since I was in high school
Leo, you and Heather are great history detectives! I love to watch your videos! I’m in Missouri Ozark mountains most my life but, lived out in Oak Ridge, Tennessee awhile and knew a Jack Hatfield in Knoxville, Tennessee. Keep up the Hillbilly Files, excellent stories! Better than movies! You could sell a series for tv shows called ‘true historical ppl!!!🥰
He is buried in that Cemetary that you are in. His burial is listed as in sight of the Gallows so you are on the right spot.
I agree with your possible location within the graveyard ive walked the cemetery and I thought the same as you did on the settlement of the old graves
Wow a lot of work, you and Heather and you brought us great history. I can't understand how a 1 day old baby dies from malnutrition according to the death record.
Thanks 😊 It's what the death certificate said but it's not correct, can't be . They didn't understand much
I agree. But we are talking about a time when the law thought women/wives were property.
Response was to “ wife of” comments.
Love the personal part of the cemetery…thanks for the research
Thanks 🙏
My uncle was a McCoy thru his momma, Julia Cassidy Duncan. Lord, I miss him. 😞
I really enjoy the research yall do to kinda let us know how some of them pasted. Thanks👩🌾
THAN YOU for all the research you guys do for the cemeteries, I appreciate your hard work and know it's not easy sometimes. Can I get you to do something for me? Next time you put up a text explanation on something, can you leave it up a little longer, like maybe 5 seconds or so? That way we can read it without having to stop the video and rewind and freeze it to try to read your message. That would help tremendously in knowing what you're saying or thinking about the people buried there. I appreciate all your hard work, stay warm dry and safe!
Its a work in progress
Good job. Very interesting stories you found.
Thank you!
My wife and I love exploring old cemeteries. Might start our own channel here in the Carolinas
Lots of fun, you should
New to your channel. Thank you for sharing this. My grandfather was a Mounts. Cottonwood was a relative. Don't know much really about him. Just the story of his death
That's pretty interesting! and thanks for sharing
What a great video!! Subscribed right after viewing it!!
Thank you 😊
the symbol on Bessies grave is for the EASTERN STAR which is the ladies side of the MASONS thank you for all you do its amazing work!! : ) my grandmother was a grand royal matron of the eastern star over 5 states ..they have many off shoots of the organization as well take care
Thank you! Very interesting
Back then it was not uncommon to have children bleed to death after a tonsillectomy. I learned in nursing school one of the reasons they stopped routinely taking out kids tonsils because many kids would bleed to death
Wow that's awful
@The Hillbilly Files…from the days before the cauterization tools surgeons have today to stop what they call “bleeders”, ie blood vessels that supply the area being operated on. Used to be the only way to stop those was to tie them off by putting stitches in. That would be impossible to do with a tonsillectomy done during that time period. Young children still die from hemorrhaging occasionally now even with all our medical advancements but much much less common now than then. Very sad.
Very interesting thanks
Enjoyed this video. Love the historic places and Graves. I have people in the North Carolina Mountains, Kentucky, Tennessee. Some are in the Appalachian mountains. I do appreciate these videos.
My dad's cousin on his mom's side told me we were related to the Hatfields, but I didn't know how. They were from McDowell and Raleigh Counties. Since I am a Moore from two different lines, my dad's great grandmother on the maternal side was an Electra Ann Moore who married a James Fielding Akers, which was the side his cousin was on. I was doing something while I had this playing in the background and heard you say Moore, and it is in a cemetery with Hatfields?
The Moores were such a huge family, it is hard to know which ones are directly related, especially when they also went well into Kentucky. This is the first time hearing a Moore connected with any Hatfield, so I am wondering if what she said was true. Now I have to research it.
Love the videos and history
Another good video my friend..still looking for the Hatfield and McCoy video THANK YOU FRANK FROM MONTANA.....
Good job, very interesting
Always enjoy your videos
One theory is that he was buried near the hanging site, but allegedly members of the Hatfield family dug him up in the middle of the night. He was buried in the Hatfield cemetery.
I really enjoyed it. Family History person.
Glad you enjoyed it
I found this cemetery several years ago, Pikeville is pretty cool, actually live in Kansas City Missouri! Love your videos
Love your videos, keep up the good work!
Thanks, will do!
This one stings. Even if CT did it he wasn’t all there. He seemed to have a hard life. Wish someone could find him and give him a proper headstone.
Leo, you ever dowse? You need a dowser to come find that plot where Ellison is buried. It's a gift, all praise be to The Lord God.
never have, but Heather does own some
You guys do a great job!
Thank so much!
Hello from ireland. Just stumbled across your channel recently, you got me hooked:) just working through your videos, they're fascinating so far, keep it up, thanks for doing what your at👍
Awesome! Thank you! we love Ireland btw, its going to be our first trip abroad! we both have ancestry back to there
@@thehillbillyfiles mighty, what part are ya thinking of going to or ya thinking of doing a full coverage trip? Do ya know where your ancestors came from:)
We are flying into Dublin and traveling from there to several places for about a week. Most of our family seems to be in and around the cork? Area. I do have an itinerary we will share when we are ready, We have two castles we are staying at. Pretty exciting stuff for us
@@thehillbillyfiles nice, 2 Castles, sounds good. Theirs plenty of graveyards and cemeteries and tombs to check out. I have 2 large mass graves from the last big famine beside my house. Newgrange is an interesting place to check out, it's about 5600 years old(3-400 years older than the oldest Egyptian pyramid). Are ya thinking of doing a few videos of your trip?
Hopefully you all can meet up and you can be a guest on there Chanel 😊
Great stories!
My aunt and uncle used to live in Pikeville here in Tennessee. I would always get both Pikevilles confused lol
Thank you guys for looking all those CODs [was that you Heather?] I know this is all hard work. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Thanks man. Maybe even Ellison, gets accounted for, in the fact, now the world can know. So he is not forgotten.
Excellent!
I read somewhere that unmarked graves could still have records. Even if it's only who bought the plot. I don't have a clue what it takes to look that kind of stuff up, but I know you too do. I just thought I'd throw that out there.
My Grandma Hiles is buried in an unmarked grave. That's a very long and very interesting story. But it's so sad that her grave is unmarked. And the cemetery says there is no record of her being there. But she is. Her 5 year old son, my dad, snuck into the hearse and road to the cemetery with his mom and watched them bury her. Then that broken hearted little boy walked home - 50 miles.
Wow! You said it was a sad story, that is fact!😢 My thoughts were spiraling. I have many questions...but I hope I'm not being to pushing by asking, what happened to your grandmother? I totally understand if you don't want to answer a stranger on the internet. I must say, thank you! I appreciate you sharing such a treasured piece of your family history.
@@amandahester352 I know she died of pneumonia. She's in an unmarked grave because her family didn't want her to marry my grandpa. There are so many stories that go with this. I have a picture of her holding my dad when he was about 3. The looks on their faces show the love they left for each other. I wish I could have known her. My grandpa, her husband, used to tell me "ya look just like her!". But I was very little and it never occured to me to ask who it was I looked like. After my grandpa passed away I received that picture of my grandma holding my dad. Everyone who saw it asked me when I had it taken. I had to explain "that's not me. That's my grandma". We look exactly alike. A mirror image
@Wendy Burnett Thank you so much for sharing! That is such a sad story, but also a beautiful love story. I guess it goes to show love conquers all in the end. I bet you and your grandma are/were very pretty. Was your grandpa buried beside her?
@@amandahester352 No.
@Wendy Burnett ; God Bless that Little Boy Now your Husband❤. & the church that owns the cemetery ground. would have Record of who is Buried in unmarked graves & old news papers of the year of death maybe.
you need to come to Macon Georgia and go up on rose hill cemetery,, it has a lot of famous musicians, politicians, it has some Graves from the early 1840s when is was created
We will get to Georgia soon hopefully
Bessie Arnold was the Court Clerk , her name is on so many records in Pike County
A one day old infant cannot die of malnutrition. Dehydration yes malnutrition no. Boy some of those old death certificates are whacked
Yes I actually mentioned that when I saw that to Leo lol
The symbol is Eastern Star, women's auxiliary of the Masons. The one with the sword and star is the Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine which means the deceased was a Shriner.
William Logan peery symbol is HTWSSTKS mark of ancient grant master,it stands for Hiram,Tyrian,Widow's Son,Sent to King Solomon, it is loyalty to masonic teachings.
Thanks good video still wonder who’s back in them thickets??
I can speak first hand how hard it is to lose a child… I lost my daughter.. she was born premature…her lungs were way underdeveloped.. she lived for 12 hours… I got to hold her hand one time…this was 10 years ago.. they say god gives you mountains to climb.. I’m still climbing my mountain…
So sorry George
On Bessie’s stone, the symbol is the Eastern Star.
I was looking for this one. It was another sad part of the Fued.
Very interesting video.
Glad you enjoyed it
I'm so glad I didn't live back then. I've had a blood clot (dvt) in my left leg 3 times. I would have been dead already
The certificate actually said thrombosis with phlebitis as a secondary, well my mom always had that, so... She never died from it
I have searched for pictures of cotton top and there only one good one of him and then the ones from his hanging. I wonder why there's not many pictures of him.?
A hillbilly with a new Mustang making videos on YT. My mom born in 1942 Somerset, Ky with a one seat out house, outdoor water pump, 16 brothers and sisters would love this. Mom's brothers " We don't worry about anyone messing with our kin folk. There are plenty of places to bury the bodies in the hills."
If in your travels you run across the grave of my sister I would love to know where it is. Laura Jean Pauley Thank You.
Do you have birth/death dates? Where was she from?
@@thehillbillyfiles 24 August 1931-20 January 1937 In the Delbarton area
I have Appalachian roots thanks for the real history
Your welcome 😁