3. Anse Hatfield employed many members of the McCoy family after the war
In the immediate post-war years, the increased market for timber ensured that Anse Hatfield’s business prospered, and many of the men later involved in the feud between the families worked in his timber operations. Anse was the patriarch of the Hatfield family due to his successful business, while on the other side Randolph McCoy – known as Old Ran’l – held a similar role. Randolph McCoy was not as well off financially as Anse, though he had large landholdings and livestock. Despite the tensions between the families – both looked sneeringly at the other – Anse employed members of the McCoy clan, and there were social connections between the families, including marriages.
Although Anse was regarded as the patriarch of the Hatfield clan he had an older brother who was also his business partner, as well as a justice of the peace in Logan County, Valentine Hatfield. Valentine was known as “Wall” to all who knew him, and though content to let Anse make most of the decisions regarding the extended family he was heavily involved in the feud. As a justice of the peace Wall made legal decisions which fed the feud on the West Virginia side by being ignored on the Kentucky side, including regarding extradition and the issuance of warrants. Anse was also supported by an Uncle, Jim Vance, who was one of the leading perpetrators of the violence during the feud, during which members of both families changed sides, betraying family because of marriage or employment.