The Untold Truth Of The Hatfield-McCoy Feud

You might think that the Hatfields and McCoys, two families that famously hated each other so much they literally went to war against each other for decades, would have avoided each other personally. In fact, the opposite is true: The families were linked by numerous marriages and other relationships. The land each family owned was right next to the other, after all.

As the Herald-Dispatch notes, it was one of the many Hatfield-McCoy couplings that moved the family feud to the next level. In 1880, Johnse Hatfield, son of family patriarch Devil Anse Hatfield, met Roseanna McCoy, Randolph McCoy's daughter. By this point there was a lot of bad blood between the families due to recent litigation and violence, so Randolph wasn't thrilled by this development. When Roseanna traveled to West Virginia to live with Johnse, the McCoys were livid, and rode after her.

Johnse himself wasn't particularly thrilled, according to History. But being kidnapped by furious McCoys probably didn't make him any more eager to marry Roseanna. The McCoys held Johnse prisoner until the Hatfields arrived and rescued him—violently, of course. Roseanna was by this time pregnant, but she never saw Johnse again. Their child died just a year later of the measles.