The Crazy Truth About Hillbilly History that Made Us Rethink Our Opinions

In the midst of escalating family tensions, a forbidden love blossomed between Roseanna McCoy and Johnse Hatfield, Devil Anse’s son. Defying the bitter divide, Roseanna made the bold choice to leave her McCoy kin for life with the Hatfields. Yet, when Roseanna found herself pregnant, Johnse refused marriage, even after a dramatic kidnapping by the McCoys meant to force his hand.

Shunned by her own for bearing a child out of wedlock—a Hatfield, no less—Roseanna sought refuge with an aunt, only to face heartbreak as her baby succumbed to measles. In a dark twist of fate, Johnse later wed Roseanna’s cousin, Nancy McCoy, in 1881. While marriages between the feuding clans were not unheard of, Roseanna’s heartbreak further deepened the divide.