Draft:Ephraim Hatfield "Big Eaf"
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Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest policy, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. CycoMa2 (talk) 13:22, 5 June 2025 (UTC)
Ephraim Hatfield (1811-1881)
Newspapers during the 19th and 20th centuries told stories how he was a mighty hunter . He was a well respected member of the community in Tug Fork when his son Devil Anse Hatfield was a child.
Life
[edit]Ephraim Hatfield was born in 1811 and is a son of Valentine Hatfield.[1][2][3] He was named after his grandfather.[4] He was over 7 feet tall and weighed more than 300 pounds. He was called Big Eaf.[5]
At the age of 16, he married Nancy Vance[5][6] and she was 15.[6] Nancy and Big Eaf moved to Mate Creek. The couple had 18 children with only 10 of them making it to adulthood.[5]
During Devil Anse Hatfield childhood Big Eaf became one of the most respected and trusted members of Tug Valley (Not everything has been added yet).[7]
Stories of his hunts
[edit]A newspaper published in 1895 tells a story of how he killed a bear in a fair fight, the goes as follows:[8]
EPHRAIM AND THE BEAR
How He Killed a Yearling in a Fair Fight Without Weapons
Old Ephraim Hatfield, father of Anse and Elias Hatfield, of McCoy-Hatfield feud notoriety, was a born fighter. He was also a mighty hunter, and had one ambition: to kill a yearling bear in a fair fight without any weapons other than those nature provided him with.
Every day that he felt especially strong, he would go out with his dogs. Treeing a bear, he would get him down and fight him. When bruin would begin to get the best of the encounter, he would call his boys to let loose the dogs. Year after year passed, and Ephraim had not yet whipped a bear.
One day a fine yearling bear was treed, and as Cuffy was climbing to a place of safety, old man Hatfield cut off a piece of the animal’s tail with a quick blow of his knife, and the bear came down. Ephraim threw his gun and knives to the boys and cried out:
“He’s a likely varmint. Stan’ aside, boys, an’ watch yo’ dad. I’m comin’, bar!”
And he clutched the bear by the throat. The animal got its paws around Ephraim, and they fought, rolling in every direction, until it was almost impossible to distinguish man from beast in the cloud. The boys held the dogs and encouraged the old man by shouting to him:
“Go it, pap! You’ve got ’im! Give it to ’im, dad!”
Down the hill the two rolled until they could roll no farther.
“Let loose the dogs!” shouted the old man. “Let ’em loose! The critter’s got me!”
But the boys thought the old man would never have a better opportunity to realize his ambition and whip a yearling bear, and kept the dogs away.
Finally, Ephraim, seeing that he was not to have assistance, began to use his feet and hands with an energy born of despair, and in half an hour he succeeded in choking the animal to death—but not until his clothes were torn to shreds and his face and body were covered with gaping wounds, from which the blood flowed so freely that it left a crimson trail wherever the man went. Dragging the carcass out of the pit, Ephraim started after the boys, and it would have fared roughly with them, but they fled. The old man reached his home and was almost dead from loss of blood, but his ambition had been realized—he had whipped a yearling bear in a fair fight.
The boys hid out in the woods for several days, and would not return until their father, whose joy at his success had got the better of his pain and anger, sent them word that he would not whip them if they returned.
Hatfield never wearied telling how he whipped a yearling bear, and his sons are equally proud of their father’s achievement.
— Cincinnati Enquirer
A newspaper published in 1950 a story of how he killed a panther with a hunting knife.[3]
Death
[edit]Big Eaf would die in 1881 and be buried in Newton cemetery on Mates Creek.[9]
Children
[edit]Ephraim had the following children:[1][10]
- Valentine born in 1834
- Elizabeth born in 1836
- Martha born in 1838
- Anderson born in 1839
- Ellison born 1842
- Elias born in 1848
- Emma born in 1849
- Smith born in 1854
- Patterson born in 1854
- Biddie
References
[edit]- ^ a b Waller 2012, p. xiv-xv.
- ^ Hatfield 1974, p. 185.
- ^ a b Admin (2010-04-11). "Hatfield Pioneers". Logan County, WV History. Retrieved 2025-05-30.
- ^ Alther 2013, p. 15.
- ^ a b c Rice 1982, p. 3.
- ^ a b Alther 2013, p. 16.
- ^ Waller 2012, p. 35.
- ^ "Ephraim and the Bear". Columbus Daily Times. November 23, 1895. p. 3.
- ^ Waller 2012, p. 267.
- ^ Hatfield 1974, p. 188.
Bibliography
[edit]Hatfield, George Elliott (1974). The Hatfields. Big Sandy Valley Historical Society.
Sellards, Harry Leon (1995). Hatfield Family History.
Sellards, Harry Leon (1993). Hatfield and Phillips Families of Eastern Kentucky and Southwestern West Virginia.
Rice, Otis K. (December 31, 1982). The Hatfields and the McCoys. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813114590.
Waller, Altina L. (2012). Feud: Hatfields, McCoys, and Social Change in Appalachia, 1860–1900. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9781469609713.
King, Dean (May 14, 2013). The Feud:The Hatfields and McCoys: The True Story. ISBN 9780316224789.
Alther, Lisa (February 5, 2013). Blood Feud:The Hatfields and the McCoys: The Epic Story of Murder and Vengeance. ISBN 978-0762779185.
Johnston, David (1906). A History of Middle New River Settlements and Contiguous Territory. ISBN 9781789875317. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
Swain, George (1927). History of Logan County, West Virginia. ISBN 9780598483393. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)