This article concerns certain ancestors of mine from my Dad's side of the family. The material was sent by Lori Beal Pfeifer, a distant cousin who contacted me a while back and graciously provided crucial information, particularly various vintage photos in the midst of the tragic passing her relatives. By the way, I am very sorry to hear of her timely grief and offer my sincerest condolences to her family.
Although, curiously, the early Hatfield content differs in some respects from my research, I want to be sure in including the pertinent stuff along with her side of the family as well.
Instead of my explaining the details here, I'm trusting that hopefully she wouldn't mind the personal interchanges of ours, as it makes sense and so is probably for the best clarity in just posting up the emails which will keep her genealogical background correct and to the point.
The initial email from Lori follows and my response is immediately below this:
Hi,
My grandmother was Ruth Miner Beal. Her father was John Chris Miner. I
would like to share photos I have from the Miner/Hatfield families. It
was my second cousins Pam and Bobbi that took care of Wade Miner. They are
June Miner Shaffer’s twin daughters. June died tragically in 1968 in a
house fire. I have photos of Wade and my dad, Miner John Beal.
Lori Pfeifer:
Hi cousin! Sorry not to of contacted you for so long, but again, I appreciate the photos to no end. My brothers alone, were so interested to see these photos of 'granny Hatfield and Amsi, etc., just such great rare treasures. I am soon to upload some of these to my blog (finally). I know it hasn't been very active this year with various health issues, but I am considering retirement soon and hope to have more posts to sort of get things rolling again. Just needed to let yWhile I haven't been quite as active on the blog as I would like to have more time for, it's also nice to hear from you. So many emails come through, but I'm glad I noticed yours.
I heard of Wade and the two daughters that took care of him on Spruce Hollow Road. A distant relative, Dorothy Miner, lived next to my parent's house and she wanted to go over and talk to people, but she was in advanced years and passed away not long after I had various conversations with her about our ancestors. You may know of her? And her son, Jim Bob, died suddenly not too long after this. I also had met a 2nd or 3rd cousin briefly some time ago, tell me that she had a diary of Mary (Miner) Wilson's sister, I believe, daughter of Amsi Miner. She was descended from Ravenia Wilson. Well, bottom line, she never got around to emailing any highlights from this and info of other valuable items she apparently possessed. I lost touch with her, but was frankly rather disappointed.
Having said that, most of the photos we have of those we are related to are shown on the blog, but, you know, I was asked to do a Newsletter article for the Bullskin Historical Society some years ago on some of my old family connections. So, then when I wrote up what I had toward that side of the family I didn't get much response. Later, I was informed they would of liked a 'family group photo'. I have a folder (somewhere) of what I had posted. I simply don't have any group photos as they appear to be pretty scarce. The President, Kim Brown, seemed to lose interest! Point being, yes, I would love to see any photos of the Miner's and any other information you could pass on of your family and the Hatfield's. Thanks for writing and I look forward to hearing from you again...
Wade Miner was Ruth Miner's brother. My dad and I visited him a few times. Wade never married nor did he have any children. My 2nd cousins Pam and Bobbi Shaffer took care of him for over 25 years. Bobbi still lives at the property and Pam lives nearby on Bellview Rd. My Aunt Bonnie, my dad's sister, lives with Pam. The house Wade lived in was torn down after he passed away. I am almost certain his parent's lived there, J. Chris Miner & Catherine (Kelly). Amzi did live with them the last 9 years of his life. I will have to ask my Aunt, she may know where he lived prior.
I did not know Dorothy Miner or her son.
I did know Ralph Wilson, he was one of Mary and Shed Wilson's sons. We vacationed at Deep Creek Lake during the summer. In the early 1960's our family rented a cabin from Ralph and Laverna (Fleming)Wilson. In 1967, probably after Ralph's passing Laverna sold property across the road from their cabin to my dad. We have vacationed there up until we sold it in 2018.
My dad would tell me that he remembered as a kid the older relatives speaking of the Hatfields of Kentucky (the famous ones). I haven't been able to find a connection. Devil Amse Hatfield's relatives supposedly came from England, so says an old book my grandma had that was published in1944.
Then follow the next email with her explanation of the next photo as to keep this in order;
Children of J. Chis Miner and Sara Kelley: Clair, Ruth (my Grandma), Earl and Harry Miner. No date on this photo but it has to be 1910-1912. Wade was born in 1912 and is not in the photo.
(Happily, certain photos are captioned and should need no other introductions, unless Lori made more extensive comments. In case there exist any errors in my references to the back of the photos, I apologize ahead of time for any inconsistencies!)
Below, are Harry Miner and Jan Etling. I knew there was some relation to the Etlings and they have prominent memorials in Slonecker Cemetery, still, frankly, we had no actual info to go by that could be confirmed.
The back of the photo of John Hatfield with horse and buggy is shown first below:
"Pic of Ivy Bush and Granny Hatfield. No date on this photo. My Grandmother, Ruth, had this photo. I can only guess this is Mariah Miner Hatfield"
 |
b.jpg)
 |
| The Miner Sawmill |
.jpg) |
| Wade Miner |
