Hello Jeanne my cousin Dr Kin Tankersley is right a book on our Indian Tribe here in clay co ky i just get thiss eail frome hem Edith Ball Thank you cousin Edith! I will always treasure the letter from Minty.  I cannot believe it finally reached me so long after her death.  I absolutely would love to see the Boyd, Hornsby, and Webb bible records. I thought you might enjoy reading the reference below. With love, Ken Generations: An American Family Copyright 1983 by John Egerton Published by Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1986 Originally published by The University of Kentucky p. 30-31 Narrative by Addie King (b. 1885-d.unknown): I know more about the Kings*.  Byrd King came from North Carolina with his folks in the 1830s, when he was a little boy.  I'd just as well tell you all of it:  They always claimed that the Kings had Indian blood in them.  Some of the children worried about it-my brother was ashamed of it-but it never did bother me.  The Indians was as smart as anybody, if they had a chance to show it.  I think Byrd's mother and father were both part Indian-Cherokee or what, I don't know.  His name could have been Felix-Byrd had a brother by that name-but somebody else told me the old man's name was Woodard King, and his wife was Elizabeth Harris.  I never knew either one of them, of course, or my Grandfather Byrd either-he died on Christmas day of 1865-but I knew some of Byrd's brothers, my great-uncles, and they were all dark-complected.  My father was sort of dark, too, and had real black hair.  He was a good-looking man.  Our son Bruce was dark like that.  He took the best picture you ever saw. In another chapter in the book, Aley Ledford describes his life in Harlan (Martin's Fork area, circa 1870).  Ken, I thought this is a great insight to the attitudes toward Indians in the late 19th century as well as a brief description of the Indians in the Harlan area at that time.  Similar to the attitude my great-grandparents had, who lived in the Martin's Fork area as well. p. 49 There was buffalo and Indian trails all through the woods and across the mountains, but there wasn't no buffalo or Indians to speak of.  Farmers told of seeing that Howard feller, Sam Howard, and up on Cranks, Skidmores found a man named George Burkhart living with his wife in a big hollow sycamore.  But that was all.  I remember the first winter about six Indians came by our place one day, said they had been hunting.  They was real friendly, and we was so glad to see any people that Henry* asked them in to warm by the fire.  They couldn't speak a lot of English, but they looked about like settler people to me, only darker. *Henry was a brother-in-law to Aley Ledford

Here is some research I have done on NA in the area. Penny Quadrule Indians of Harlan County Kentucky Edmon Middleton, 1905-1935, was murdered by a dynamite blast in his car September 4, 1935. Evidence showed that the dynamite was wired to the ignition the night before, and exploded when he started his car. The explosion could be heard all over the city of Harlan, Kentucky. Mr. Middleton was in his second year of his second four-year term as County Attorney in Harlan county. (Harlan Dailey Enterprise, September 4, 1935; Edmon Middleton 1905-1935 by Kathryn H. Trail, Harlan Mountain Roots) Mr. Middleton contributed many ways in his short life---one was by writing a history of Harlan County Kentucky, which to my knowledge was never published. His daughter, Mary Elmon Middleton graciously allowed this history to be placed in the "Harlan Mountain Roots." According to my research so far Middleston was the first to write a history on Harlan County, all others seem to refer to his work or use his work almost word for word in part. I was surprised and pleased to see that Mr. Middleton not only mentioned Quadrule Indians but elaborated on them in his history and told much the same story my grandmother had told. In other words---he confirmed an oral story in my family. Middleton said, "The early settlers at first found the Indians who were living in Harlan County, but no roving bands, friendly and hospitable towards them." He goes on to tell that later as the Indians became alarmed of the growing danger of losing their lands, they became hostile. These hostile Natives were soon either killed or driven from Harlan County. The friendly Indians "remained until comparatively recent years." Some married in with the surrounding families. He writes, "The chief tribes of Indians in Harlan County were the Cherokees and Quadrules. The Quadrules inhabited Wallins Creek, and the Cherokees were scattered in smaller bands throughout the county, some of them on Wallins Creek. The Quadrules were friendly and mingled freely with the whites. The Cherokees usually were unfriendly and lived more secluded from the whites. The Quadrules were very adapt (sic) at spinning and weaving woolens and flax and making beautiful pottery. Often they did the spinning for the White people. The women wore beautifully colored clothing, and were just as fond of pottery of many colors. They made this pottery from the clay around Wallins Creek. S.J.C. Howard, who died in Harlan just a few years ago, and who was formerly County Attorney for Harlan, gave many interesting accounts of this colony of Quadrule Indians at Wallins. When a boy he used to hunt and fish with those Quadrule Indian boys. They lived as a tribe at Wallins Creek until after the Civil War, and then many went West when the Indians were colonized by the Government. It is said that the Quadrule Indian girls were very beautiful. Some of the older Indians returned to Wallins Creek after the colonization, and later scattered about through the County. After the mass of the Indians from Harlan moved West, it is reported that occasionally some of them would return, and take back packages of very heavy materials, which they would allow no one to see, and which the old settlers thought were some kind of very valuable Minerals." Mr. Middleton tells of an Indian mound that was unearthed just off main street in Harlan, giving up all kinds of flints, arrowheads, tomahawks, a little pottery, beads, and Indian skeletons. He mentions that in a large portion of Harlan County Indian relics have been found, giving evidence of early Native American existence there. Lisa Kirk, of the Enterprise Staff wrote an article titled "Wallins Named For An Early Surveyor." It tells that Wallins Creek was named after the longhunter who early on came into the area. Wallins Creek in Tennessee is named for this same man. Kirk says, "The Quadrule Indians were a settled, peaceful people living at Wallins Creek, and when the early settlers came in the Quadrules accepted them as riends. -------------Eventually the Quadrules were moved to a western reservation. The exact year is not known, but it is believed to have been sometime after 1865, following the close of the Civil War. --------Forest, parks and other sites were named for the belligerent Cherokees and Shawnees, but few remembered the Quadrules ever existed. As a belated honor to the friendly people, one of the scenic spots in the county, on Upper Martins Fork, now bears the name of Quadrule Falls." I spoke with the Virginia Parks Department historian, and he felt that the Indian mounds would have contained the earlier Native Americans who lived in the area, and that these Quadrules were more than likely a group of Natives who had broken off from a local tribe, probably the Cherokee or Shawnee. Everything I find seperates these Quadrules from the Cherokees, as did my grandmothers story. All accounts seem to point out that they were not the same. researched and written by: Penny Ferguson