Uncle Jack Fultz’s Memories of Carter County: Letter from Leone

Great grandniece seeks to set family feud straight

By: Jeremy D. Wells

This week we’re going forward – to 1986 – in order to take a step back into the past to 1878. We’ve spent a lot of time looking at articles from the end of the First World War, and the Carter County of 100 years ago. But a newer scrapbook from Uncle Jack’s collection included this affidavit from Leone Gardner. Gardner, a niece of Hiram Cooper, gives us a unique look at the way family feuds could develop in the late 19th century. 

This was an incident I was unfamiliar with, but it shows how these things, and the hurt feelings they create, can reverberate down through the centuries. Gardner’s letter, witnessed and signed by other members of the Cooper clan, speaks for itself. 

Editor’s Note: This is the 20th in a series of articles drawn from the historical newspaper clippings and documents in the scrapbooks of Jack Fultz. We thank Sally James of Sally’s Flowers in Olive Hill for sharing her uncle’s collected clippings with us and the community. – Jeremy D. Wells, editor, Carter County Times