Nearly everyone in the country is somewhat aware of the feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys. Most are probably aware that they came from West Virginia and Kentucky, and many are probably aware, more specifically, that the Hatfields were mostly from Logan County, West Virginia (part of the area became Mingo County in 1895), and the McCoys were mostly from Pike County, Kentucky. Much of my father's side of the family also came from Logan County. Dad was born in Pratt, Kanawha County, West Virginia, in July 1912, just weeks after the miners in nearby Paint Creek had gone on strike, and where Mother Jones would soon be placed under house arrest for her activities. Granddad Jonie Steele was born in Logan County in 1894. His father, George, was born nearby in Tazewell County, Virginia in 1827, but moved to Island Creek in Logan County with his father Ralph shortly thereafter.

The Steeles were early settlers of Island Creek, having arrived there in the late 1820s or early 1830s from either Russell County or Tazewell County, Virginia. According to the History of Logan County by Henry Clay Ragland in 1896, "Ralph Steele also from Russell County, Virginia, [arrived] at an early date, and married a daughter of John Ferrell, of Sandy, and settled where Anderson Hatfield now lives on Island Creek. His sons were Hawkins, who married a Miss Ellis; John, who married a Miss Mounts; William, who married a Miss Spratt; George, who married a Miss Ellis; and Lorenzo D., who married a lady from Tazewell. His daughters were Catherine, who married H. B. Justice and Rebecca, who married Lewis Hinchman." The Steele Cemetery at Switzer is about five miles from the Hatfield Cemetery where Devil Anse is buried at Sara Jane. Ralph Steele was my great great grandfather. His son George and Edith Jane Meadows, his second wife after Sarah "Sally" Ellis died, are my great grandparents, and are buried at the Culloden Cemetery along with my parents and grandparents. Ralph's son, George's brother, Lorenzo Dow Steele, is also buried there.

In addition to the above suggested transfer of property from Ralph Steele to Devil Anse, there are numerous examples of tie-ins between the two families. Ralph's son John married Martha "Patsy" Mounts (see above), and one of their sons, Harry, married a Hatfield. According to W.Va. and Its People by Thomas Condit Miller and Hu Maxwell, "Lonzo E., son of Harry and Nancy (Hatfield) Steele, was born in Logan, now Mingo county, West Virginia, June 2, 1880. He prepared for college in the public schools of his native county, and in 1900 entered the medical department of the University of Nashville, Tennessee, graduating in 1904. He was for one year (1904-05) an interne at the hospital connected with the university. He began the practice of his profession in Holden, West Virginia, in 1905, and in short time located in Logan, where he has continued his professional labors to date. He with Dr. Hiram N. Farley and Dr. Lawson (q.v.) formed the Logan Hospital Association in the city of Logan." The Logan Hospital Association later became Logan General Hospital.

Nearly all of Ralph Steele's sons served swith the Confederacy, as did Devil Anse, but none, to the best of my knowledge, served with Devil Anse in the Logan Wildcats. John, who's son Harrison (Harry) married Nancy Hatfield, was an apparent casualty of the War. It's believed he was the John taken prisoner in Winchester, Virginia, and imprisoned at Point Lookout, Maryland until he was exchanged in February 1865. He died of pneumonia at the Receiving & Wayside Hospital in Richmond four days later.

Ralph sometimes (well at least once) was a business partner of Devil Anse. Otis K. Rice, my old professor at West Virginia Tech in the late 1950s, tells of one such encounter in his 1982 book, The Hatfields and the McCoys. "Devil Anse's timber business, too, suffered from his inability to get a fair hearing in the circuit court. An unbiased decision had been difficult enough to obtain in the 1870s when he sued John Smith for payment for his timber, but by the mid-1880s it had become impossible. An example is Anse's case against a business partner, Ralph Steele. This case, like the Smith case, was rooted in Anse's apparently naive trust in his partners, compounded by his own illiteracy. In early 1883 Anse had formed a timbering partnership with three men, one of whom was Ralph Steele. After the timber had been cut and hauled to the river, Steele was designated to act as the firm's agent to market twenty-one rafts in Catlettsburg, Kentucky. Steele sold the rafts for a total of $5,200, but when he returned home he reported to his three partners that the rafts had brought only a total of $3,700. He pocketed the balance. Anse said later that he was "confiding in the honesty of ... [Steele] and believing that his representations were true." It was not until 1886 that Anse "ascertained ... the true amount for which the timber sold." Just after the bill of complaint was filed, however, Ralph Steele died; apparently Anse realized his chances in circuit court were nil, because he dropped the case. He never recovered the $1,500."

Despite the unfortunate incident with Ralph, the ties between the families apparently remained strong. In FEUD: Hatfields, McCoys, and Social Change in Applachia, 1860-1900, Altina L. Waller tells about New Year's Day 1888. The feud had most of the time been considered merely as one between families, but by 1887 it had taken on political overtones with the state of Kentucky getting deeply involved and trying to extradite some of the Hatfields across the border to Pike County. Finally on New Year's Day, signals were sent out for a gathering of the Hatfield clan.

Johnse Hatfield and Tom Chambers (aka Tom Mitchell) were dispatched to round up some supporters. They first recruited Ellison Mounts, reputedly the son of Ellison Hatfield, and "At Dow Steele's on Island Creek, Johnse, Chambers, and Mounts met Devil Anse and his sons, Cap and Robert E. Lee, or Bob, who was a mere youth. According to Mounts, they continued on to the homes of Henry Vance, Floyd Hatfield, and other supporters, and finally arrived at the cabin of Jim Vance. There Devil Anse, Cap, and Vance held a council and presumably came to the conclusion that they must eliminate Randolph McCoy and members of his family who might present damaging evidence against them if they were extradited to Pike County for trial."

Apparently Dow Steele did not accompany the other men as they left his place enroute to the next, for once the plans were announced, "the men unanimously expressed their willingness to participate in them. Ironically, the only one to hold back was Devil Anse, who declared that he was too sick to take part and that he would turn over the leadership to Vance. No one questioned the sincerity of Devil Anse's explanation, and all agreed to accept Vance as their leader. Altogether, eight men placed themselves at Vance's command. They included Cap, Johnse, Bob, and Elliott Hatfield, the last a son of Ellison and a nephew of Devil Anse, Tom Chambers, Ellison Mounts, Charles Gillespie, and French, or Doc, Ellis."

Later on that New Year's Day, the attack on Randolph McCoy took place, killing several people, but not Randolph who escaped. Just as the feud had recently become somewhat of a political matter rather than just a family matter, this raid served to add a journalistic tone to it, and reporting of the feud became widespread. This was also the last major battle between the families, and led to the only execution of the entire feud, that of Ellison Mounts who was hanged in 1890 - the same Ellison Mounts who had been at Dow Steele's place earlier on that New Year's Day, 1888.

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