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Oral history and numerous retellings of the same story report that Hezekiah Clem was the first person hanged in Harlan County in 1860. What if Hezekiah wasn’t hanged?

In Part 1, we recount who Hezekiah Clem is, his family ties, and his notoriety, and in Part 2 we cover the crime and trial. Part 3 examines the dubious oral history of the hanging.

In addition to the analysis of the oral history covered in Part 3, two vital records also raise suspicion as to whether Hezekiah was hanged in 1860.

First, some background on the Clem family. Hezekiah Hall Clem and Joicy Farmer gave birth to a son Hezekiah Carr Clem in Harlan on 30 October 1858. A marriage bond dated 07 May 1883 has Hezekiah Carr Clem marrying Sarah Wynn. However, a death certificate of 01 May 1938 for a “Sally Clem” has information provided by a “John Clem” of Evarts, Kentucky, presumably her son John Cullen Clem. The information provided states that Sally was born 10 June 1867, the daughter of “W.M. Middleton” and “Susan Turner”, and that her widowed husband is “H.C. Clem”. This information may be incorrect as William Turner Wynn (b.1824, son of Achilles “Acles” Wynn and Lucy Turner) marries in 1848 in Harlan County to a Susannah Turner, born 1833 to James Brittain Turner and Elizabeth Clay. They have a daughter, Sarah. After William’s death, Susannah marries Lorenzo Dow Hall in 1870.

Accepting that “Sarah Wynn” is “Sally Clem”, Hezekiah Carr Clem’s marriage bond has “Kine Clem” as principal, and James B. Howard as surety.

As another nickname for “Hezekiah”, there are three possibilities as to the identity of “Kine”:

• Hezekiah Carr’s 24-year-old first cousin. His uncle William Clem Jr. (the senior Hezekiah’s brother) married Elizabeth Hall and they also had a son Hezekiah Clem born on 15 October 1859.

• Hezekiah Carr himself, but it would seem unusual that the bond would identify the same person under two names.
• Hezekiah Carr’s father, who supposedly hanged in 1860.

The other record that raises suspicion that Hezekiah did not die in 1860 is the death certificate for Joicy’s son Alexander, who along with his brother Lewis (or Louis), has created a very lengthy search to answer this question:  if Hezekiah was hung in 1860, and with Alexander C. Clem[1] born about 1865 and Lewis[2] born about 1867, who are their fathers?

When Alexander died on 26 December 1929, the informant for his death certification was his son, Martin. The age is given as 64 years old; therefore Alexander was born about 1865, which also coincides with several federal census records. His wife is listed as “Rebecca Clem”, presumably Rebecca Huff who he married on 10 January 1887. His mother is listed as “Josie E. Farmer.”

Depending on interpretation of the handwriting, his father is shown as “Carr” or “Con” Clem. There is no Connor, Conrad, Conway, or other similar named Clem that fits the description for “Con”. A Conway Clem, son of Eva Clem Snowden, is born in 1917. Perhaps Hezekiah lived and adopted “Con” as a shortening of “Convict” to bemuse others? A plausible explanation for Con may be another misheard interpretation and that he was John Clem, brother of Hezekiah. Carr seems more likely; it is a name associated with Hezekiah as previously mentioned in Curtis Burnham Ledford’s oral history, along with other known variations to include Ki, Kiah, Clem, Clemons, Clemens, etc.[3]

Let’s assume Hezekiah died under a tree. Imagine you are his son Alexander growing up in Harlan County. Every year you celebrate another birthday knowing that you were born in 1865. As a child, all of your classmates have heard the stories of your father hanging in 1860 – it may have even been a rhyme while the girls were skipping rope. You and your classmates may have overheard the adults speak of how “Devil Jim” wouldn’t be who he is today if he hadn’t followed “that Hezekiah Clem” fellow. You do the math and realize that Hezekiah couldn’t possibly be your father. As a child you ask your mother Joicy, as well as your other relatives, if the stories are true. What reply do you get?

As you get older and as you go about town, people you meet personally knew Hezekiah, or knew of his actions. Everyone you meet thinks he hung from the gallows. Years later your son Martin is born and grows up with the town gossip. He’s asked, “Aren’t you the grandson of Hezekiah Clem who was hung on Buggar Hollow?” Your son Martin as well as your other children ask you “What happened? Is it true?”

So how do you reply? Do you tell everyone that yes, you are indeed the son of the infamous outlaw? Is that what your mother Joicy told you? Or did she tell you Hezekiah was a husband who died before you were born? If Hezekiah wasn’t your father, do you preserve his memory and proudly claim he was your father?

Now imagine you’re Martin and your father Alexander has just passed away. When completing the death certificate and you’re asked who the father is, what is your reply? If all of the questions above were answered with your grandfather was sentenced, but never hung, and if all of the questions regarding the identity of your father really is Hezekiah, you tell the coroner:  Carr Clem.

So why isn’t Hezekiah in the census if he was still living? It may be that Hezekiah died before the 1870 federal census in which Joicy, Alexander, and Lewis appear. He may have lived past 1870, but we may never know. In a line-by-line search of Harlan County, there’s no 1880 census record for him, Joicy, James, William, Leonard, Hezekiah Carr, Alexander, or Lewis, nor do their names appear in a nationwide search. It’s highly plausible that Hezekiah moved out of Harlan, maybe even out of the country.[4] Years later during the Turner-Howard feuds, newspapers articles recounted how Will Turner killed William Gilbert and left for Texas, George Turner came to Harlan from Texas, several outlaws came in and out from Virginia, Wils[on] Howard repeatedly moved between Harlan and Missouri before he was hung there, and several others escaped into Tennessee. In 1896, a 12-year nationwide hunt for Charles Herndon for the murder of his wife moved him around Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, Mexico, and Oklahoma before he was captured in Colorado. When Governor William Goebel was assassinated in 1900, George Eager moved to New Mexico supposedly with the gun that shot him. Even Devil Jim as “persona non grata” travelled as far west as Toledo, Lewis County, Washington where he died on 05 March 1910.[5]

One other note of interest. Letters from esteemed citizens of Harlan County, including Leonard Farmer, William Clem, William Farmer, and Lewis Farmer, who are relatives of Hezekiah Clem, were sent to the sitting Governor(s) requesting clemency or pardons for various persons.[6] A letter was sent to Beriah Magoffin requesting a pardon of John Pace, charged and sentenced to two years in 1858 for buggery, known today as sodomy and/or bestiality. In April 1861 Francis Pace was convicted of bigamy and sentenced to three years hard labor in the penitentiary. A letter on Francis’ behalf was sent to Governor Bramlett, which coincidentally included the signature of Hezekiah Jennings, Clem’s jailer:

To his Excellency Governor Bramlett,

Frankfort Kentucky

We, the undersigned Petitioners would respectfully inform Your Excellency that at the April Term of the Harlan circuit Court 1861, Francis Pace, a citizen of this county was convicted of the Crime of Bigomy and sentenced to Three years confinement in the Kentucky Penitentiary We, inform Your Excellency that at the time He was convicted He was verry young verry ignorant and verry poore, had but few Friends, had no counsel and in fact, He did not know what plea or what proof was necessary to Acquit him. We further inform Your Excellency that we, believe He was not guilty as charged and that if He had been tried fairley He would not of been convicted, but even should He be guilty we think Two years and Six Month at hard labour is severe a Punishment enought to satisfy the Commonwealth for the crime— We have never seen but one Woman who said she was his wife and if He had any other We think she is satisfied with his absence and denies his being her husband —

We, hope your Excellency will extend to the poor and needy that a Degree of Charaty which is vested in you by the Constitution.

We tharefore Hope and petition your Excellency to pardon the said Pace,

Leonard Farmer
John Jons Jr
William Clem
Lewis Farmer
Hy Jennings (Jailer)
Wm. C. Farmer
Lewis Farmer Jr
Jos. Farmer
Speed Jones
Jno Jones sr.[7]

One could infer that a letter was not required to plead Hezekiah’s case because he had won on appeal. Alternately, one could argue that the wheels of justice moved too quickly from prosecution to execution for a letter to be written. It could also mean that a letter, if it exists, was not published in the collection.

Was Hezekiah Clem hanged? Maybe he was; maybe he wasn’t. Maybe Hezekiah was the Civil War-era Abe Vigoda, reminding everyone that the 1982 reports of his untimely demise was simply a hoax by annually reappearing on late night talk shows until his actual death in 2016. Or in Hezekiah’s circumstances, everyone heard the shocking news that the court house condemned the first man in the county to hang, but neglected to follow up when his case was overturned to less fanfare. Even today with Google at their immediate disposal, people are still victim to the Mandela Effect, remembering things that weren’t really there, or things that weren’t said. Perhaps he was set free and the time spent in the Harlan County jailhouse awaiting the gallows was enough to reform him like his brother-in-law Joseph Nolan. That there is no mention of him beyond 1860 can simply be attributed to a life of normalcy, away from any further crime, and a life not in the public spotlight – no different than any other leaf on a family tree. Aside from interpretations, errors, or omissions in memory or print, perhaps the only way to prove if Hezekiah died on a hot August day in 1860 is through the modern, scientific method of DNA testing. If a male descendant should prove one way or the other through spitting in a tube, the hope is that they inform and educate the rest of us. Genealogists, future family members, and other distant relatives will be forever thankful for it.

One other point of interest:

What about Lewis Clem? Family history is that Lewis’ mother passed away, and when his father was unable to care for him, he was adopted. The story is that his original surname was Livesay, quite possibly a descendant of Joseph Livesay, Sr. At this time, most information gathered is circumstantial evidence with requests for DNA testing of suspected descendants. If you have any supporting information regarding Lewis Clem, or you found a “Lewis” in your Livesay family Bible or records, please contact us by leaving a comment, or completing our contact form, or emailing us at sonsofwhitemarsh@outlook.com.

One July 20, a reader submitted additional evidence regarding Hezekiah Clem. Read the update here.

[1] Alexander’s name varies between sources with middle initial “C” or “Carr”. In the 1900 Federal Census, he is listed as “Alexander R. Clem” with his mother Joicy residing in the household; the middle initial “R” could be a misinterpretation upon incorrectly hearing the middle name of “Carr”. In the 1910 Federal Census, he is listed as “Alec Clem” although it appears an attempt was made to correct the last letter. In the 1920 Federal Census, he is listed as “Alex Clem.” Several forum posts on Ancestry.com in 2000 from “middleton” on the subject states a relationship with “Alexander Bradley Clem” either as a 1g- or a 2g- granddaughter depending on the post(s).

[2] Lewis Clem’s name varies between Lewis or Louis. An Ancestry.com forum post on 02 January 2000 from a “Mary” states her 3g grandfather was “Robert Lewis Clem” married to Mary Jane King.

[3] The Hall family of Harlan County had a “Hezekiah Hall” (1770-1853), Hezekiah Winfield “Carr” Hall (1810-1899), and Hezekiah Winfield “Kike” Hall, Jr. (1849-1937).

[4] A simple, well-worn headstone marks the grave of an “H. Clemens” in Canyon Hill Cemetery in Caldwell, Canyon County, Idaho (Find A Grave Memorial ID#117070848). No birth date, death date, or family relationships are given and a search for his death certificate yields no results. An “He. Clem”, age 27, single, of Athens, Limestone County, Alabama, appears on the 10 June 1861 muster rolls of the Confederate States of America. This record is most likely attributed to Pvt. John Henry Clem born 15 December 1834, son of Vincent Clem and Susan Elizabeth Johnson, who dies 20 January 1908 at the age of 73 and is buried in Pettusville, Limestone County, Alabama. (Find A Grave Memorial ID#22460799). At the end of the Civil War, several Confederate sympathizers moved to Mexico, Central America, and South America, particularly Brazil. Several of them returned to the United States before 1900.

[5] “James Brittain “Devil Jim” Turner”, Geneanet.org. Retrieved 11 April 2018:
https://gw.geneanet.org/ssharonbodet?lang=en&n=turner&oc=0&p=james+brittain+devil+jim

[6] More letters available including the 1858 letter regarding John Pace available via the Civil War Governors of Kentucky:  Digital Documentary Edition, http://discovery.civilwargovernors.org/

[7] “Leonard Farmer et al. to Thomas E. Bramlette”, Civil War Governors of Kentucky:  Digital Documentary Edition. Retrieved 09 April 2018:
http://discovery.civilwargovernors.org/document/KYR-0001-004-0167

Philip Farmer assists families with breaking down their genealogical brick walls. He is currently assisting three families find information on their ancestors. Philip is also the author and publisher of “Edward Farmar and the Sons of Whitemarsh,” a biographical history of Major Jasper Farmar’s family immigration from Ireland to Pennsylvania. Their story continues with their immigration out of Whitemarsh Township into North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee, concluding with a biographical sketch of Stephen Farmer who settled in Harlan County, Kentucky. The continuation of Stephen’s story is currently in work.

Oral history and numerous retellings of the same story report that Hezekiah Clem was the first person hanged in Harlan County in 1860. What if Hezekiah wasn’t hanged?

In Part 1, we recount who Hezekiah Clem is, his family ties, and his notoriety, and in Part 2 we cover the crime and trial.

On the motion of the defense attorney at the end of the September 1859 trial, the case was continued until April 1860 and the witnesses were to remain under a bond of appearance of $100 each. On 11 April 1860, Hezekiah Jennings and George B. Turner were appointed to superintend the guards around Clem.

“No person but a sober discreet sensible man to be summoned & if anyone gets drunk it shall be good cause for dismissal.”[1]

On the following day, April 12, Clem was brought into court and…

“being informed of the nature of the indictment, plea, and verdict, was asked if he had any legal cause to show why judgment should not proceed against him.”[2]

It was then decreed by the court that,

“the defendant be taken to the jail of Harlan County and there be safely kept until the 15th day of June 1860 on which day between the sunrise and sunset the sheriff of Harlan County shall hang him by the neck until he is dead at a convenient place on the bank of the Cumberland River about 3/4ths of a mile from the town of Mount Pleasant and above the mouth of the Poor Fork at or near the Buggar holler the particular point to be selected by the sheriff.”[3]

Each of the stories state that court documents have not been located that the hanging actually took place. After much searching through books, newspaper articles, diaries, blogs, and other sources and resources online,[5] oral history seems to be the only accounts that the hanging did occur in August 1860, with one source giving August 30th as the date.[4] Only four oral accounts of the hanging, in chronological order, with analysis, could be found:

• 12 April 1898:  Wood Lyttle, the grandson of David Y. Lyttle who had earlier defended Clem and Nolan in 1854, relates to travelling missionary Reverend John J. Dickey, “Clem was hung in 1858 for killing Ben Irvine in Mt. Pleasant. Lyttle and Dishman prosecuted. The trial excited great interest.”[6]

Wood Lyttle’s account is the closest to a first-hand witness of the hanging. Lyttle states he was born on 15 November 1829, moved to Harlan in 1846, and moved eight miles further from town on Clover Fork, a water course running due east from town. Lyttle would have been 31 years old in 1860. However, Clem was arrested and indicted in 1859 and sentenced in 1860 for the murder of Irvin, not 1858, and his grandfather David Lyttle as Clem’s defense attorney in 1854 seems like a conflict of interest to prosecute him six years later.

• 24 August 1947:  In a published story, Circuit Court Clerk Moses Howard states, “They say he was taken there, and a wagon driven under a tree. A rope was tied around his neck and to a branch of the tree, and the wagon was then driven out from under him.”[7]

Howard’s account is also as a non-witness and, in his own words, “they say” he was hung. With access to the court records, Howard would have been able to read verification that he was hung and clearly make a statement to that effect. That he used oral history implies that the court records have no proof of the hanging. Maybe it was a poor choice of words.

• 1978:  Curtis Burnam Ledford in a book written by John Egerton, “John Clay was already dead when [Governor] Cassius [M. Clay] came to our house that time. He had been shot from ambush and killed by a fellow named Carr Clem, way back before the Civil War. They arrested Clem and hung him. I remember one of my grandfathers telling me that story.”[8]

This account implies Clem was arrested and hung for the killing of John Clay. It also uses a name for Hezekiah not previously mentioned, “Carr,” which would later become the middle name of his son Hezekiah Carr Clem, and used as additional evidence that perhaps Hezekiah didn’t hang. By his own admission, Ledford’s account is passed down from his grandfather. Further, the source is a dramatized story per author John’s Egerton’s own words in which he states, “if you tell me everything you know… and I put it together with everything else I can find out, I could write Aley’s [Ledford] story just as if it was in his own words…[9] I explained to [Burnham Ledford] again the technique I had used to dramatize and personalize the story…”[10]

• 2006:  In an interview with Chester Clem, he states, “First hung in Harlan was a Clem. They hung him for horse thieving. Hadn’t done it.”[11]

Chester Clem’s account is that Hezekiah was hung for horse thieving, when the Commonwealth of Kentucky vs. Hezekiah Clem court minutes clearly prosecute him for the crime of killing Irvin. While Clem may be a distant relative of Hezekiah, this does not necessarily mean that he has intimate knowledge of the hanging.[12]

When analyzing each of the oral accounts above, none of the sources were witnesses to the hanging, some of the accounts are inaccurate, and all of the sources have more than two points between witness and source (i.e. heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend, etc.)

As more time passes, the recollection of the event becomes more hearsay and honorable mention rather than an eyewitness account. It may have even reached mythical status akin to American history full of “facts” such as Betsy Ross invents the stars and stripes, Benjamin Franklin flies a kite in a thunderstorm, George Washington cuts down a cherry tree, George Washington Carver invents peanut butter, Albert Einstein was a terrible student, and other false stories we accept as truth. And it isn’t confined to history; many believe medical falsehoods like we only use ten percent of our brains, or that most of our body heat escapes through our heads.

Wood Lyttle’s statement that the “trial excited great interest” is an interesting recollection. The Clem hanging has been perpetuated through almost story and forum post as “the first hanging in Harlan County.” Yet after a trial that “excited great interest” of a “notorious outlaw” in a day and age when newspapers were filling their pages with “little Johnny has a cold”, there are no newspaper reporters covering the crime, trial, sentencing, or upcoming execution. In a search of local newspapers, there are the only two “articles” that could be found and both are a brief one-line mention of the case decision and appeal.

It would be incorrect to state that the newspapers were not interested in death and/or crime reporting – it seems they were importing crime reports from other states and countries.

The front page of the 12 June 1860 Louisville Daily Courier reported on the crime statistics in New Orleans (Louisiana), a duel involving double barrel shotguns at 40 paces in Savannah (Georgia), activities of pirate and murderer Hicks, a 21-year-old stranger dying at a hotel in Bates County (Missouri), a 46-line account of a divorce for cruelty and domestic violence, a riot in Greencastle (Indiana), “homicide by a lunatic” in Pennsylvania, a child drowning, the accidental shooting of 14-year old Hiram Metzel, an Indian war in San Antonio (Texas) in which 18 were killed, theft, drunken women, and other drunken disorderlies… and that was page one out of four pages.

In contrast, the next time Harlan County hung a man was in 1896 when Buford Overton was executed for killing peddler Gus Loeb and his wife at Martins Fork. In addition to Overton’s crime, capture, sentencing, escape, and recapture, his impending execution was covered in multiple newspapers across Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Kansas, and Indiana. Years later in 1937, Blind James Howard and Mary Turner each recorded a ballad of the event.[13]

Further complicating the claim that Clem’s hanging “was the first in Harlan County” is an article in the 06 September 1895 edition of The Hickman (KY) Courier:

“October 18 has been set as the time for the execution of Buford Overton for the murder of Gus. Loeb and wife in Harlan county. It will be the first legal hanging in Harlan county. A change of venue has been granted Charley Hensley and Wils Scott, charged as accessories to the murder and they will be tried at Pineville.”[14]

In a search of more modern lists, the hanging of Hezekiah appears in only one book and it is the only source that has a 31 August 1860 date attached to it.[15] Online databases of executions in the United States from 1607-1976 such as Death Penalty USA, Death Penalty Information Center, and other such resources have no record.

Other vital records also suggest that he didn’t hang.

To be continued in Part 4…

[1] Lewellyn, Jim Bill. “A Hanging In Harlan County.” Facebook.com. 28 October 2016. Retrieved 08 April 2018:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/506299452738457/permalink/1133095666725496/

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid. The same source also claims that on 11 April 1860, the guard is charged to keep Clem “safe until he is executed. Upon the day of execution to take Clem to the place of execution and to stay there until he is executed. And then to deliver said Clem to his relations if they desire them to do so and if they do not to bury his directly.”

[4] Ibid.

[5] Personal time and expenses prevent travelling to Harlan County and inspecting any existing records. Also, a search of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History (kentuckyoralhistory.org) did not yield any results.

[6] Dickey, Rev. John J. “Wood Lyttle, Manchester, Kentucky, April 12, 1898”, Reverend John J. Dickey Diary; p.2230-2236.

[7] Lawson, Ruby. “There Were 3.” Our Harlan County KY Page (Angelfire.com). 24 August 1947. Retrieved 08 April 2018:
http://www.angelfire.com/ky/mossierose/overton.html

[8] Egerton, John. Generations:  An American Family (1983); p.31. On page 70, Ledford in referring to Governor Cassius M. Clay states, “I always believed he was a brother to John Clay of Harlan Co, whose daughter Lavinia was my great-grandmother. I never could prove that, though…” Cassius and John were not brothers.

[9] Ibid, p.48.

[10] Ibid, p.80.

[11] Portelli, Alessandro. They Say in Harlan County:  An Oral History (2012).

[12] For example, even after years of researching my family tree, I personally still do not have any intimate knowledge of my third great grandfather Lewis Farmer in the 1860’s. In fact, I have no knowledge of my first great grandfather Carlos Buell Farmer other than what I can find online in birth, census, and newspaper records. After a little fact checking, I have found that my grandmother’s stories are untrue, such as her father John Brogan Linville was the sheriff of Knox County.

[13] Howard, James. “The Peddler and His Wife” (1937); Turner, Mary M. “The Hanging of Buford Overton.” The Lomax Kentucky Recordings (15 September 1937).

Available to listen here:
http://traildriver.com/web%20content/projects/appalachia/native%20kentucky%20ballads/059%20peddler%20and%20his%20wife/A01%20The%20Peddler%20and%20His%20Wife.mp3

[14] The Hickman Courier, 06 September 1895, p.1.

[15] Hearn, Daniel Allen. Legal Executions in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and Missouri:  A Comprehensive Registry, 1866-1965 (2016); p.188. “08/31/1860, Hezekiah Clemons, Harlan, Murder.”

Philip Farmer assists families with breaking down their genealogical brick walls. He is currently assisting three families find information on their ancestors. Philip is also the author and publisher of “Edward Farmar and the Sons of Whitemarsh,” a biographical history of Major Jasper Farmar’s family immigration from Ireland to Pennsylvania. Their story continues with their immigration out of Whitemarsh Township into North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee, concluding with a biographical sketch of Stephen Farmer who settled in Harlan County, Kentucky. The continuation of Stephen’s story is currently in work.

Oral history and numerous retellings of the same story report that Hezekiah Clem was the first person hanged in Harlan County in 1860. What if Hezekiah wasn’t hanged?

The stories circulating on the internet, in books, newspapers, blogs, forums, and other journalistic works recount a group of loosely knit outlaws related by blood and marriage committing a series of criminal activity in 1850’s and 1860’s Harlan County, Kentucky.

The primary persons described in the stories center around the following persons:

• James Turner, alias “Devil Jim”, son of James Turner and Elizabeth Clay.
• William Turner, Devil Jim’s brother.
• Joseph Nolan, Jr., son of Joseph Nolan and Mary Marsee. Joseph was married to Elizabeth Farmer, daughter of Lewis Farmer and Anna Hurley. Elizabeth’s sister Joicy was married to Hezekiah Hall Clem. Joseph’s brother Chadwell Nolan would later marry Devil Jim’s sister Louisa in 1863.
• Hezekiah “Kiah” Hall Clem, son of William Clem and Amy Tupsy Hall, the daughter of Hezekiah Hall and Sarah Porter. Hezekiah married Joicy Farmer, a daughter of Lewis Farmer. Joicy’s sister Elizabeth Farmer married Joseph Nolan, Jr. in 1853, making Hezekiah a brother-in-law to Nolan. Lewis Farmer also had a son, Leonard Farmer, a lawyer.
• John Clem, brother to Hezekiah Hall Clem.
• Francis Pace, son of Simeon Pace and Nancy Hall who is Amy Tupsy Hall’s sister; therefore, Francis was a first cousin to Hezekiah and John.

Although the stories and their respective titles make it appear that Devil Jim was the leader of the outlaw group, the dates of the events and other sources suggest that Hezekiah Clem was the start of the troubles.[1] By extracting Hezekiah’s involvement and deeds, we get the following story:[2]

Hezekiah Hall Clem was described as a tough character with a fondness for hard alcohol, a violent temper, and a complete disregard for the law. In October 1854, Clem and Joseph Nolan were arrested and tried for killing and robbing John B. Clay for $95. Clay was the brother of James Turner’s mother, and therefore Devil Jim’s uncle. With the aid of their defense attorney, David Y. Lyttle, they were acquitted. After the trial, Nolan reformed his ways; Clem did not.

Two years later in 1856, Clem was indicted on several gaming and concealed weapons charges. The spring of 1859 was no better:

• 01 April 1859: Clem was arrested for having a concealed weapon and stealing a bee gum full of honey from Isaac Noe.
• 15 April 1859: Clem assaulted Benjamin Middleton.
• 17 April 1859: Clem was arrested again for shooting off a pistol in the town limits.
• 19 April 1859: Clem was charged on a complaint by David Bailey for “drawing a rock on him with intent of striking.”

Then came July 1859 with Hezekiah’s arrest and indictment along with his younger brother John for the murder of Ben Irvin.

To be continued in Part 2…

[1] Pearce, John Ed. Days of Darkness:  The Feuds of Eastern Kentucky (1994). “Clem became known as a gunslinger, and [Devil] Jim fell in with him…”

[2] Compiled and edited from several sources:

Lawson, Ruby. “There Were 3.” Our Harlan County KY Page (Angelfire.com). 24 August 1947. Retrieved 08 April 2018:
http://www.angelfire.com/ky/mossierose/overton.html

Phillips, Garry. “The True Story of Hezekiah Clem, The First Man Hanged in Harlan County Kentucky. Did An Innocent Man Swing?” AuthorGarryPhillips.com. 08 August 2013. Retrieved 08 April 2018:
http://authorgarryphillips.com/2013/08/08/the-true-story-of-hezekiah-clem-the-first-man-hanged-in-harlan-county-kentucky-did-an-innocent-man-swing/

Potter, Annette. “Devil Jim Turner, Outlaw of Harlan County.” Potter Family:  Annette Potter Family Genealogy. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 08 April 2018:
http://www.yeahpot.com/feuds/deviljimturner.html

Lewellyn, Jim Bill. “A Hanging In Harlan County.” Facebook.com. 28 October 2016. Retrieved 08 April 2018:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/506299452738457/permalink/1133095666725496/

Timm, Holly. “Details of Incident Leading to Hanging Recalled.” Harlan Daily Enterprise Penny Pincher (09 December 1987).

“Devil Jim Turner, Outlaw of Harlan County, by Holly Fee:  Errors, Corrections, and Additions.” FrancisPace.Weebly.com. Publication date unknown. Retrieved 08 April 2018:
http://francispace.weebly.com/devil-jim-turner-outlaw-of-harlan-county-by-holly-timm.html

Philip Farmer assists families with breaking down their genealogical brick walls. He is currently assisting three families find information on their ancestors. Philip is also the author and publisher of “Edward Farmar and the Sons of Whitemarsh,” a biographical history of Major Jasper Farmar’s family immigration from Ireland to Pennsylvania. Their story continues with their immigration out of Whitemarsh Township into North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee, concluding with a biographical sketch of Stephen Farmer who settled in Harlan County, Kentucky. The continuation of Stephen’s story is currently in work.