Cotton top is not at Dils cemetery where Randall McCoy is. That's false information from find a grave. Anyone can post on find a grave. They are wrong all the time. He is not there. John Dils who owns Dils cemetery financed and supported the efforts to hang Cotton top. He did not then have him buried at his cemetery.

Bessie’s symbol is a Masonic one. It is the Order of the Eastern Star. It denotes that she is related to a Master Mason (wife, daughter, sister or mother). Kenneth’s symbol is a Shriners International or Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Shriners have a children’s hospital and do a lot for sick or crippled children.

Leo and Heather, you are doing a great job 👏 thank you!! I am from Ohio, my mom was born in Wheeling WVa!! Her mom, my grandmother was Miss West Virginia in the late 1920's!! (Mary Virginia Nuzum) she was a beautiful Irish woman!!! Leo, I love your name my Polish Grampa was Leo as well as my dad, his 1st born!! Thank you for your wonderful patience and caring way when you walk thru the cemeteries!! 💞💞💞👍 take care, be safe and God Bless you both!! 👍 Heather, my daughter is a nurse out in San Francisco, she was born in Cleveland Ohio!!! 😊❤ ty!!! 💞

I have thoroughly enjoyed your videos Heather and Leo. I taught social studies methods for elementary education school majors at Western Kentucky University for about 29 years. One of my major assignments was for my students to visit a historic cemetery, choose 5 markers/tombstones and research those people to determine their contributions to the community. This is an assignment that elementary school teachers can use with students in grade 4 - 12. There is a famous cemetery in Nashville which dates back to the late 1700s. Each fall the members of a local organization choose one of the historic people buried there, dresses up like the individual, sits by their respective grave site and answers questions about the individual from visitors. There was a picture a few years ago of one of the members of this organization in the local newspaper. She was dressed as a pre-Civil War Era regalia, sitting in a rocking chair, and knitting. Since I lived in Bowling Green for 25 years, I always wanted to go and participate in this event. Just think how much students could learn from visiting such an event. I have done local, state, and national presentations on using the cemetery as a tool for students to learn about their community. Well, I enjoy your videos so much that I am going to subscribe. Since I just found your channel a few days ago, it is going to take some time to get "caught up." I will tell you that the videos you and Heather have done on the Hatfield-McCoy feud certainly have been extremely interesting and frankly, better than any movie or other videos on the topic. I love Kevin Costner as an actor, but the movie he did on the Hatfield-McCoy was SO Hollywood. Thank you so much for your patience and love of history.

I like when Leo reads the stones & Heather provides extra info. You two make an excellent team. I think you two are probably right that Ellison is buried somewhere in there.

Enjoying your videos. The star symbol on one of the graves was probably the symbol for Eastern Star which the women's group that is associated with the Masons. Since the Masonic emblem is on the man's side, it is probably the sign that the wife was in the Eastern Star.

Never boring, just a little sad...thanks for looking for Cotton Top...

My husband's father was born in Pikeville, KY. He worked in the coal mines until he enlisted in the Korean War. My husband's last name is Roberts, and he is related to Cornellus Roberts. Neal as he was called, was killed and scalped by Indians while gathering wild ginseng up in the mountains. It would be neat for you to do a story on Cornellis Roberts. The sotry is on line. Thank you.

My dad has photo copies of the original picture taken of the hanging and some other cool feud materials. He’s a local historian and helps with the museum here in Pikeville. If your ever back this way I’m sure he’d love to talk with you. He does the official feud tours so you all could take one together and swap stories.

Wm. Logan Peery has two masonic symbols on his marker, the one on the right is "HTWSSTKS" which stands for "Hiram The Widow's Son Sent To King Solomon." When you see HTWWTKS on someone’s headstone, you know that not only were they a Royal Arch Mason, but that they made it at least as far as the third degree in that fraternal order.

You can learn a lot of history out there. Come across names that wasn't talked about thanks for sharing

I always enjoy the videos. You never bore me.

You had mentioned about the Library, the old Pikeville Hospital was there.

I stayed for the whole video! It was great. I think it's wonderful that those stones are ready. We may never know their full stories, but reading their names and dates, I think, let's all those who watch know that person wasn't the very least a part of the history of that area. It's important, I think. Thank you for what you are doing

The symbol on Bessie’s grave is a Lady of the Eastern Star Symbol

The symbol on the Bessie Arnold grave reminds me of The Eastern Star. My late father in law was a member of The Masons. Because of that my late mother in law was a member of The Eastern Star. I believe The Eastern Star is linked to both Masons and Shriners, not for certain though. This is good investigating Leo. I enjoyed this vide.

I never get tired of watching your videos. You guys do a great job. Looking forward to the next one. Great job hillbilly files!

My dad and I used to spend entire weekends just walking through old cemetery we would find and looking at headstones. We would talk about all things history and genealogy related. That was our bonding time.

Eastern Star an auxiliary of the Masons is the star and the symbol on the headstone is a keystone of the Royal Arch Masons the letters around it stands for “Hiram, Tyrian’s Widow’s Son, Sent to King Solomon.”

Hi all the way from Australia, I would love to visit the southern states, so much history , fascinated with civil war sites and the Appalachian mountains. Love watching videos by creaters in the south I have learnt t so much about your beautiful area. I think they would have retrieved his body and reburied it under an assumed name can't imagine the family just forgetting about him, southern families are tight knit Really enjoyed this.

Thanks again for sharing your time and effort to make things real for us. Love you guys. Stay safe out here.😊😊❤️❤️

Hello from The Natural State. Sure enjoy your videos!! Good to watch down to earth people. Keep up the good work and God Bless you all. 🇺🇲🇺🇲

You do a really great job putting this together. I know many hours went into Research and editing. It really makes it come to life Thank you Sir

Thank you for your videos. Love when you walk around reading other grave stones, and then putting what they died of. Really reminds you what it was like back then

I enjoyed this thank you

I am Ronald Mounts,, Grandson of Flannery and Naomi Mounts,, I was Born in1964 to Douglas Mounts and Beulah (!Marie )Marcum !!! Im just Amazed at all these history facts of our History!!!

It's a beautiful cemetery and the statue for Thatcher was and is beautiful.

I'm so glad you included research on the people of the graves that you were naming off. Very kind of you. Thank you for the videos.

Oh and you two are very good actor and actress! And excellent journalists !

A true story on how I found my grandmother's grave. Yes, it would have been easier to call the office and ask but they were closed when I was there. The tombstone disappeared and so did the tree that I used as a landmark. I used to carry witching sticks and was good with em. I pulled them out and went looking for her grave. It stopped at grave 87, so I paid my respects and left her favorite flowers. After I got back to Illinois, I called the office to confirm who's grave it was. It was grandmothers. I do have a story about an ancestor who was buried alive, before embalming, she rang the bell to let em know but they didn't get to her in time. Thank you for all you do and be safe.

I find it hard to believe the Hatfields would have let Cotton Top rest in an unmarked grave. I wonder if there are any rumors in the family about where he was buried.

I certainlly enjoyed your many adventures, thank you for all your history lessons.

Fascinating again! Thank you all for doing the research on these folks! 🙏🏼

I absolutely love your videos! Thank you so much for sharing the rich history. It is very apparent the time, effort and research that is done for each video that is produced. I learn new things from every video. Thank you so very much for sharing your wealth of knowledge with us!!😊

I'm from Alabama and the old cemetery that most of my family is buried at used to have rocks that marked some of the graves. I remember my grandaddy telling me a long time ago when he was younger the cemetery owners hired a young man to cut the grass out there and to make it easier on himself he picked all the rocks up and threw them in a pile to cut the grass then realized he didn't know where all of the rocks went lol. So there's still unmarked graves out there to this day. Your video made me think of that story. Love the videos y'all keep up the good work7777777799999

You are never boring, i love looking at ikd graves!

My uncle was a McCoy thru his momma, Julia Cassidy Duncan. Lord, I miss him. 😞

Wow, you're finding a lot of my relatives in these cemeteries! Thanks for doing these videos!

I can never accuse you of being boring 😴 Leo. This was a great video 📹. Very informative, fascinating, for myself. You may well be right, one of those unmarked graves in line of sight with that sign, may well be Cottons. In the absence of records, I do not know how you can determine who may be buried there, short of, like you said, exhuming the remains, what is left anyway, and extracting DNA samples. There certainly is a lot of history in this cemetery, many stories waiting to be told, and you Leo, are a very good story teller. My one hope for this cemetery, is that someday, the resources will be available to repair the broken, or fallen over headstones 🪦, especially, the ones belonging to a child. Thank you, Leo and Heather, for cranking out another fine video, you are both getting good at it. One question if I may? The leaning headstones 🪦 is probably caused by the ground becoming weak over time; But do you think, the broken headstones is mostly caused by the headstones being exposed to the elements after so many years, or do you think some of it may be vandalism?

I am new to your channel and very much enjoying your videos. I expect to watch all your content over time. Thank you and please keep up the good work, much appreciated.

He is buried in that Cemetary that you are in. His burial is listed as in sight of the Gallows so you are on the right spot.

Thank you for the grave hike, I cannot believe how high up that graveyard is. The houses looked so small below, you got to have some strong men to haul up a coffin. Just so amazing to me.The places you have taken us has been some really beautiful grave site settings.

Back then it was not uncommon to have children bleed to death after a tonsillectomy. I learned in nursing school one of the reasons they stopped routinely taking out kids tonsils because many kids would bleed to death

Wow a lot of work, you and Heather and you brought us great history. I can't understand how a 1 day old baby dies from malnutrition according to the death record.

Thank you for the tour.

Enjoyed this video. Love the historic places and Graves. I have people in the North Carolina Mountains, Kentucky, Tennessee. Some are in the Appalachian mountains. I do appreciate these videos.

I was scrolling through KZfaq and found your channel. I absolutely love yall!! I've been fascinated with the Hatfield's and McCoy's since I was in high school

Thank you for sharing. Was a really good tour and information. Thanks for your respect.

Greetings from Canada. That was fun. Thank you!

I really enjoy the research yall do to kinda let us know how some of them pasted. Thanks👩‍🌾

What a great video!! Subscribed right after viewing it!!

Loved the reading of the stones.

It's so nice and sunny!! We are in cold cloudy miserable wet Pa

Thank you...

I agree with your possible location within the graveyard ive walked the cemetery and I thought the same as you did on the settlement of the old graves

Always enjoy your videos

I love that y'all look up what they died from. I was looking at the Cline cemetery video but couldn't find the video on him.

Love your videos, keep up the good work!

Another good video my friend..still looking for the Hatfield and McCoy video THANK YOU FRANK FROM MONTANA.....

Love the videos and history

My dad's cousin on his mom's side told me we were related to the Hatfields, but I didn't know how. They were from McDowell and Raleigh Counties. Since I am a Moore from two different lines, my dad's great grandmother on the maternal side was an Electra Ann Moore who married a James Fielding Akers, which was the side his cousin was on. I was doing something while I had this playing in the background and heard you say Moore, and it is in a cemetery with Hatfields? The Moores were such a huge family, it is hard to know which ones are directly related, especially when they also went well into Kentucky. This is the first time hearing a Moore connected with any Hatfield, so I am wondering if what she said was true. Now I have to research it.

I found this cemetery several years ago, Pikeville is pretty cool, actually live in Kansas City Missouri! Love your videos

Leo, you and Heather are great history detectives! I love to watch your videos! I’m in Missouri Ozark mountains most my life but, lived out in Oak Ridge, Tennessee awhile and knew a Jack Hatfield in Knoxville, Tennessee. Keep up the Hillbilly Files, excellent stories! Better than movies! You could sell a series for tv shows called ‘true historical ppl!!!🥰

Love the personal part of the cemetery…thanks for the research

Good job. Very interesting stories you found.

One theory is that he was buried near the hanging site, but allegedly members of the Hatfield family dug him up in the middle of the night. He was buried in the Hatfield cemetery.

My family talked about the Hatfield and McCoy's ever since I was a kid but when you only live a couple hours away its kinda hard not to find someone who doesn't know about this Feud , but there are other Feuds just as big you never hear about ......one was up in gooserock ky.....

Hope you come back to this one and look around some more

My wife and I love exploring old cemeteries. Might start our own channel here in the Carolinas

THAN YOU for all the research you guys do for the cemeteries, I appreciate your hard work and know it's not easy sometimes. Can I get you to do something for me? Next time you put up a text explanation on something, can you leave it up a little longer, like maybe 5 seconds or so? That way we can read it without having to stop the video and rewind and freeze it to try to read your message. That would help tremendously in knowing what you're saying or thinking about the people buried there. I appreciate all your hard work, stay warm dry and safe!

Good job, very interesting

You guys do a great job!

the symbol on Bessies grave is for the EASTERN STAR which is the ladies side of the MASONS thank you for all you do its amazing work!! : ) my grandmother was a grand royal matron of the eastern star over 5 states ..they have many off shoots of the organization as well take care

New to your channel. Thank you for sharing this. My grandfather was a Mounts. Cottonwood was a relative. Don't know much really about him. Just the story of his death

A one day old infant cannot die of malnutrition. Dehydration yes malnutrition no. Boy some of those old death certificates are whacked

I can speak first hand how hard it is to lose a child… I lost my daughter.. she was born premature…her lungs were way underdeveloped.. she lived for 12 hours… I got to hold her hand one time…this was 10 years ago.. they say god gives you mountains to climb.. I’m still climbing my mountain…

William Logan peery symbol is HTWSSTKS mark of ancient grant master,it stands for Hiram,Tyrian,Widow's Son,Sent to King Solomon, it is loyalty to masonic teachings.

Great stories!

I love this channel 🙏💯👍I want to visit west Virginia.

Hello from ireland. Just stumbled across your channel recently, you got me hooked:) just working through your videos, they're fascinating so far, keep it up, thanks for doing what your at👍

Excellent!

that simple on that grave at 11:38 is easter star masons for the woman so you are right and her husband would have been a mason as well at11:55 that simple is the Shriners a lot of people don't know this but the Shriners are a part of the masons the simple at 28:12 you asked about is the Mark Master 4th Degree of Royal Arch Masonry, York rite he was a member of the Chapter I went up the york rights and I am Knights Templer the simple for that is the Cross with the crown on it this man only went up to Chapter and the Scottish rights to get into the Shrine.

Thank you guys for looking all those CODs [was that you Heather?] I know this is all hard work. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

I'm so glad I didn't live back then. I've had a blood clot (dvt) in my left leg 3 times. I would have been dead already

I really enjoyed it. Family History person.

Bessie Arnold was the Court Clerk , her name is on so many records in Pike County

The symbol is Eastern Star, women's auxiliary of the Masons. The one with the sword and star is the Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine which means the deceased was a Shriner.

I read somewhere that unmarked graves could still have records. Even if it's only who bought the plot. I don't have a clue what it takes to look that kind of stuff up, but I know you too do. I just thought I'd throw that out there. My Grandma Hiles is buried in an unmarked grave. That's a very long and very interesting story. But it's so sad that her grave is unmarked. And the cemetery says there is no record of her being there. But she is. Her 5 year old son, my dad, snuck into the hearse and road to the cemetery with his mom and watched them bury her. Then that broken hearted little boy walked home - 50 miles.

Very interesting video.

My aunt and uncle used to live in Pikeville here in Tennessee. I would always get both Pikevilles confused lol

Hey I was just wondering if you could possibly do a video on Richard and Minnie (Teenie) Remey Potter They are my 3rd Great Grandparents I know a little about Richard but would like to Know more if you have any insight on them that would be great...I'm also Kin to the Stiltners of Grundy VA (Buchanan)

I am wondering something. If he is buried in an unmarked grave within this cemetery, how did they prevent him from accidently being dug up during subsequent burials?

I was looking for this one. It was another sad part of the Fued.

you need to come to Macon Georgia and go up on rose hill cemetery,, it has a lot of famous musicians, politicians, it has some Graves from the early 1840s when is was created

On Bessie’s stone, the symbol is the Eastern Star.

Leo, you ever dowse? You need a dowser to come find that plot where Ellison is buried. It's a gift, all praise be to The Lord God.

Thanks man. Maybe even Ellison, gets accounted for, in the fact, now the world can know. So he is not forgotten.

Pikeville was the mustering point of the Kentucky 39th Union Infantry which was made up of men from Kentucky, SW Virginia, and West Virginia. Hatfield s and Mccoy s both among the muster rolls.

If you ever get to Berea KY, in the Fairview Cemetery behind the Fairview Baptist Church, you will find a rather interesting grave. Specifically, that of Edward Slaughter (I think that's how it's spelled). He's a very distant relative of mine, but what makes his grave interesting, is the birth date. Specifically it reads something like "Born on or about 1790" or something like that.

I think it is sad he did not have a tombstone. All the men who were in the feud did unjust deeds that probably were hangable offenses.