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Ellis, French anc_

20250611Chicago-
Peggy Altizer Mynes originally shared this on 8 Nov 2020

French Millard Ellis

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French Millard Ellis

https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/42938523/person/352407737595/media/a6618554-9509-45e0-a6d2-ba53364876d4?galleryindex=10&sort=-created

20250611Chicago-
French Ellis - Hatfield&McCoys feud
By genealogy.com user September 26, 1998 at 12:12:28
I would like to share information with descendants of French Ellis who was involved in the infamous Hatfield & McCoy feud. I am descended from French's sister, Mary J. Ellis m. Luke C. Curry.

https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/ellis/617/
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20250612Chicago-
Hatfield and McCoy Feud
June 19, 2021 ·
LOYAL AND AGGRESSIVE SUPPORTER: FEUDIN’ FRENCH ELLIS
LOGAN, W.Va. - This rare image, a tattered newspaper clipping, is of feudist French “Frenchy” Ellis. He was born in 1857 at Logan Courthouse (now Logan, the county seat of Logan County); and, as a young man, he became a member of the intimidating Hatfield Gang. He worked on the William Anderson Hatfield logging crew in the Tug Valley and eventually married the daughter of Devil Anse’s sister.
Historian Altina L. Waller, author of "Feud: Hatfields, McCoys, and Social Change in Appalachia, 1860-1900," called him one of Devil Anse's "most loyal and aggressive supporters, one of the young men like Cap and Johnse that Devil Anse had difficulty restraining."
Waller also said that French was "one of the rowdy types who most annoyed and frustrated H.C. Ragland [community leader, attorney, and publisher of The Logan County Banner]." French and his cohorts "repeatedly showed up in the village of Logan Courthouse drunk and ready for action. Starting fights directly in front of mercantile establishments, shouting profanities outside the church on Sunday, and insulting candidates on election day were all part of the repertoire of rebellion."
Although he was known as the village rabble-rouser and a heavy boozer, he was protected (and occasionally bailed-out of jail) by Devil Anse or his brother, Elias, mostly due to French's undying loyalty to the Hatfield clan.
French, also handy with a rifle, was a forceful and violent participant in the New Years Night Massacre at the Ran’l McCoy cabin in 1888, which resulted in the burning of the cabin, the death of Randall's children Calvin and Alifair McCoy, and the senseless beating of Ran’l's dear wife, Sarah "Sally" McCoy.
In 1888, T.C Crawford, author of the book, "American Vendetta," wrote, "Jim Vance was a powerful man, beyond the medium point of life. He was a vindictive fighter, and it is related by one of Philip’s men that when they found him with his right forefinger clasped around the trigger of his pistol, trying with his last dying strength to shoot one more shot. Philips and his crowd, after they killed Vance, robbed him of a number of his personal effects, which they carried back with them to Kentucky. This I have learned from several Pike County people and from one of the magistrates of that neighborhood. The people who are supposed to be responsible for this [Randall McCoy] house-burning and the crimes connected therewith are Jonce [Johnse] Hatfield, Cap Hatfield, James Vance, Tom Mitchell, FRENCH ELLIS, Bob Hatfield, Elliot Hatfield, Charles Gillespie, and Ellis ‘Cotton Top’ Mounts."
This photograph is of French Ellis hamming it up for the camera- clenching a knife blade between his teeth while also clutching his rifle - in western garb. The image was taken at happier times in southern West Virginia, and later published as part of a larger feature article in the newspaper, The Evening Standard (Ogden City, Utah), December 31, 1910, which included an accompanying interview with William Anderson "Cap” Hatfield II, the second son of Devil Anse and Levicy.
In later years, French had a number of run-ins with Devil Anse's oldest son, Johnse, relating to his bitter dispute with rival businessman, Humphrey E. "Doc" Ellis. Doc, of Gilbert, WV. Doc was a first cousin of French Ellis, and the owner of a competing timber camp along the Guyandotte River in Mingo County.
Doc was responsible for once capturing Johnse and taking him across the state line to face charges in Pike County, KY.
- French M. Ellis, (1857 - 1924)
- Repost

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