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Valentine Hatfield

Valentine "Wall" Hatfield (1834-13 February 1890) was a justice of the peace of Logan County, West Virginia and a member of the Hatfield family during the Hatfield-McCoy feud.

Biography[]

Valentine Hatfield was born in Logan County, West Virginia in 1834, the older brother of William Anderson, Ellison, and Elias Hatfield. He became a justice of the peace, presiding over events like the 1878 dispute between Floyd Hatfield and Randolph McCoy over the ownership of a hog, the sentencing of Sam and Paris McCoy to death for Bill Staton's murder before pardoning them, and the marriage of Johnse Hatfield and Roseanna McCoy. He sided with his family during the Hatfield-McCoy feud, and a bounty was placed on his head by the McCoy family despite his not having taken part in the executions of Pharmer, Bud, and Tolbert McCoy like the rest of his family. Following the New Year's massacre of 1888, Hatfield decided to turn himself in rather than be hunted down, riding into Pikeville, Kentucky and allowing for Perry Cline to take him into custody. he was sentenced to life imprisonment, and he died before his appeal could be heard.

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