Notes on the 1880 Census

The divisions that we currently use to think about Blackberry Creek had not quite come into being by 1880. For example, the area of Pond Creek falls under the heading of Lower Elkhorn Creek in the 1880 census. It also seems, from the family names, that the Blackberry section of the census crosses over Hardy Mountain and includes a good portion of Hardy, including the area where the McCoy's lived. It is also difficult to determine where you are at any given time, since it depends on how the census taker travelled.

In this census, for example, the Blackberry section begins on the bottom of the last page of the Lower Elkhorn Creek section, and, since the first Blackberry household is that of Ulysses Hatfield, it seems clear that the census taker came across Ball Fork and started there. At the foot of Ball Fork, he turned right and came up the creek, all the way to the last house in the head of the hollow - that of Ferrell Marion. After that, it's hard to tell whether he crossed the hill into Left Fork or came down and started just below Ball Fork. At any rate, he came down the creek, and it's easier to tell that when he was at Bluespring, the foot of Hardy Mountain, etc. I think he went all the way down to the river, then came back up the creek and crossed Hardy Mountain, listing the Farley's, then Scott's, then McCoys as he went through Hardy toward Williamson.

Part of the pleasure, though, is trying to figure out where the various homeplaces were.

Dramatis Personae - The Hatfields

Joseph B. Hatfield and his brother Valentine come to what became known as Blackberry Creek at some point around 1814/1815. They settled, as near as we can tell, on the banks of the Tug River near present-day Matewan. While there may have been some moving back and forth across the river in the early years, eventually both brothers end up on the Kentucky side of the river. Both brothers are married to daughters of Ferrell Evans, who lives on Blackberry Creek with them. By 1830, Valentine and Ferrell Evans move their growing families across the river to Gilbert, West Virginia.

Joseph remains on Blackberry Creek, living, I think, on the river at what is now Buskirk. Joseph's children, however, move inward, up the creek. By 1830, Joseph's younger half-brother George moves to Blackberry Creek as well, settling near the mouth of Bluesrping Hollow. Later their younger brother Jeremiah also comes, as well as their father Ephraim (Eaf), who died in 1847 and is buried in the Anderson Hatfield Cemetery at the mouth of Dials Branch.

In the 1880 census, Upper Blackberry Creek is primarily home to the Hatfields - Joseph's children tend to cluster in Buskirk (Valentine, McGinnis, Joseph II) and above Left Fork (Ferrell Marion, Richard Thomas, Ephraim). George and his children tend to live from Bluespring down to the foot of Hardy/Blackberry Mountain.

1880 Census Explained Page 1

To see picture full size, click on it. Once it comes up on your screen, wait a little while and then click on it again. Boxes will appear at upper left and lower right. The lower right button lets you view full size. Click on that.