Article Discussion

My father was first-generation American. His father and mother were from Norway. And being Norwegian/Scotch-Irish and West Virginian/Virginian. I am proud of both my families. And I take offense to the charge that Jim Vance was a “protagonist.” His only aim was to keep the family name clean and to promote peace in the Tug River Valley.

Views expressed in comments to e-WV articles are those of the commenter.

Wondering if Vance family moved to Missouri? I am related to a Vance family.

Hi Chris, My maternal side has Vance’s that came from Mingo/Logan/Russell W.V. MY Great great grandparents Greenville Vance & Phoebe Vance (cousins who married) MOVED their family to the Cleveland,Ohio area. Family members who have done research proclaim that our family lineage is connected to Jim and Nancy Vance (Hatfield).

His name was Jim Vance, and he was born about 1832—most likely 1830. Abner Vance was his grandfather and Devil Anse was his nephew. Calvin and Alifair McCoy were killed in the raid and Vance was murdered on January 8, 1888. Everything else in that article is either flatly false—by the record—or is based on the totally unsupported yarns of feud book writers. 1) Abner Vance never set foot in Tug Valley, so how can he be a “Tug Valley pioneer?” 2) Two eyewitnesses testified under oath about the attack on Sally McCoy during the house-burning raid,and two of the criminals purportedly confessed. Melvin McCoy swore that “Johnse Hatfield struck her with a Winchester.” Sally McCoy testified that “SOMEONE struck me.” Ellison Mounts said that he thought Johnse struck her. Charles Gillespie said he thought Mounts struck Sally. NO one who was there said it was Jim Vance. 3) There is NO evidence that Jim Vance was a Confederate guerrilla, and nothing connects him with Devil Anse Hatfield during the War. He was not “suspected” of killing Asa Harmon McCoy until after he died, twenty-three years later. And the accusation came from the men who murdered Vance. 4) No testimony from West Virginians says that Vance was "killed in cold blood and at close range by McCoy partisan Frank Phillips.” That claim came from the McCoys, who were trying to shift all the blame to Phillips. West Virginia State Senator John Shepard wrote that Vance was killed by a volley of shots, naming Randolph McCoy as the first to shoot Vance. Truda McCoy, writing “The McCoys: Their Story,” said that Jim McCoy mortally wounded Vance. This article is thoroughly debunked in my book, “Crazy Jim Vance and the Men Who Murdered Him.

Finally, someone with documentation standing up for Jim Vance, Sr. Thank you Thomas Dotson.

I have seen some of the documents/court records that Thomas Dotson and Barbara Vance Cherep mentioned in their comments above. I know for a fact they have their HISTORY right. Like them I am so sick of reading the false claims published by others. We want to set the records straight for anything pertaining to the Hatfield/McCoy/Vances, etc. We want to see historical facts, not STORIES. I am a McCoy descendant with Hatfield and Vance cousins.. all of us feel the same about this matter! Thank you….