Von Hippel-Lindau disease, which afflicts many family members, can cause tumors in the eyes, ears, pancreas, kidney, brain and spine. Roughly three-fourths of the affected McCoys have pheochromocytomas — tumors of the adrenal gland.
The infamous feud between the Hatfield and McCoy families may have had a genetic component. A number of West Virginia McCoy descendants have a rare inherited disease which can cause intense, immediate rage and violent outbursts. The name for this history-alterting medical condition? von Hippel-Lindau disease.
Winnter's doctors say the theory that a genetic predisposition for adrenal tumors–caused by a genetic disorder called von Hippel-Lindau disease, which Winnter's family carries–is a possible explanation for why the feuding McCoy family members were so violent and angry.
Because of rural family dynamics and inbreeding among relatives it seems many of these people, especially the McCoy's may have suffered from a genetic disease, von Hippel-Lindau, that causes tumors on the adrenal glands called pheochromocytoma.
Tensions between the families and investors buying up tracts of land each clan claimed to own compelled the clans “turn against one another,” Time noted. Around 1878, Devil Anse Hatfield won a court-adjudicated land dispute with a cousin of the McCoys.
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Why do Hatfields hate McCoys?
The origins of the feud are obscure. Some attribute it to hostilities formed during the American Civil War, in which the McCoys were Unionists and the Hatfields were Confederates, others to Rand'l McCoy's belief that a Hatfield stole one of his hogs in 1878.
In 2003, members of both families signed a truce — but modern versions of the economic and social forces at work in the Hatfield-McCoy feud perhaps still run as deep as ever.
The Hatfields were a family of Appalachian frontiersmen living in the Tug Fork region of West Virginia. The family was led by William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield, a Confederate veteran and prominent local figure. The McCoys were a family of Scottish-Irish immigrants who had settled in the same region of Kentucky.
Johnse Hatfield, who would be married four times in his life, met Nancy McCoy (the daughter of Asa Harmon McCoy, who had been killed by the Hatfields) and they were married on May 14, 1881.
Given that there are great many Hatfield and McCoy descendants around today, with a great variety of perspectives on feud history, we tend to reach out to the descendants that were involved in signing the Peace Treaty when creating our content, namely Ron McCoy, Bo McCoy and Reo Hatfield.
McCoy is a common surname of unrelated Scottish and Irish origin. It was anglicized into the Scottish name from the Irish McGee and McHugh surnames in Irish Mac Aodha. It is an Anglicisation of its Irish form Mac Aodha, meaning son of Aodh (a name of a deity in Irish mythology and an Irish word for "fire").
The feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1888 several Hatfields were arrested and stood trial for the murder of two of Randall McCoy's children. West Virginia sued for the men's release, arguing that they had been illegally extradited across state lines.
The family consisted of Grandpa Amos McCoy (Walter Brennan); his grandson Luke (Richard Crenna), Luke's new bride Kate (Kathy Nolan), Luke's teenage sister Tallahassie "Hassie" (Lydia Reed), and his 11-year-old brother Little Luke (Michael Winkelman).
The Hatfields lived mostly in Logan County (including present Mingo) in West Virginia, and the McCoys lived mostly across the Tug Fork in adjacent Pike County, Kentucky. Their leaders were Anderson ''Devil Anse'' Hatfield and Randolph (Randall or ''Ran'l'') McCoy.
The feud between the Hatfields and McCoys is the stuff of legend. Unfortunately, it also became the stuff of caricature. The infamous dispute is one of the origins of the hillbilly stereotype that has plagued residents of rural Appalachia for a century or more.
His sons and other family members captured Tolbert, Pharmer, and Randolph McCoy Jr. When Ellison died of his wounds, the Hatfields escorted the McCoys back into Kentucky—just across the Tug River from present-day Matewan—tied them to pawpaw bushes, lined up as a firing squad, and executed all three.
(Reverse) Sally McCoy contracted measles and pneumonia, and died a few months after her birth. The death of Roseanna McCoy's only child, Sally, was a contributing factor in the grief and sorrow that led to the untimely death of Roseanna.
A couple of years later, they appeared on the television show Family Feud. In 2000, McCoy cousins Ron and Bo organized the first joint family reunion for the Hatfields and the McCoys. Then, in 2003, the two families officially ended the feud by signing a truce and literally burying the hatchet.
Despite her clear defiance of her own family, Johnse did not resume his relationship with the pregnant Roseanna, and chose instead to marry her cousin, Nancy McCoy. Having lost everything she held dear, it is said that Roseanna died of a broken heart.
Johnse Hatfield, played by Matt Barr in the 2012 mini-series, survived for a long time after the Hatfield & McCoys feud, despite being a major player, eventually dying in 1922. Johnse was known as Devil Anse's right-hand man in the war against the McCoys even when he married two of their family members in succession.
I have done a little investigative work on the Hatfields and McCoys and haven't found a link to an actually Church of Christ congregation. I found in one reference that both families tended to be primitive or hard shell Baptists.
Amazingly, this all appears to be historically accurate, Romeo and Juliet subplot included. In real life there was a 13-year gap between the first shooting and the stolen pig - a passage of time reflected here as children grow into adults. Only Uncle Vance's dog looks unaltered by the years.
William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield is one of the two main villainous protagonist of the 2012 television miniseries Hatfields & McCoys. He was portrayed by Kevin Costner, who also portrayed Earl Brooks in Mr. Brooks.
