Betty Sexton Fields.
From a story told by Betty Sexton Fields to Harry M Caudill of Letcher County, Kentucky, published in The Mountain the Miner and the Lord - 1980
Betty Sexton Fields, a Melungeon, born in 1889 in Letcher County, Kentucky and died in 1972 visited the office of the author Harry M Caudill and told him of her Great-Grandparents along with Gibsons and other families left Scott County, Virginia, traveled through Pound Gap and spent the winter at a Rock House in Letcher County.
She tells the story of how they covered the front with bark they had peeled from the huge chestnut trees, and made it adequate they thought to get through the winter, until they could go out in the spring and locate their lands. Winter came on and the snow fell and creeks froze, game and fish were scarce, their food they had brought started running short. The men went out hunting but came home with barely enough to feed everyone.
Betty's great grandmother sat down with the hunters and told them the next morning she would be missing from camp and they should go into the forest early in the morning. There they would find a beech tree with an upside down cross marked on it and should wait there, not leave under any circumstances. She told them they would see a herd of deer led by a black doe but under no cicumstance, no matter what happens they should not shoot the black doe.
As morning dawned they found Mrs. Sexton was not at the camp, they found the beech with the cross carved into it, soon a dozen deer deer appeared, the black doe stopped suddenly and the others passed by, the hunters took home two bucks and a doe.
Soon the little settlement found themselves hungry again, and Mrs. Sexton again repeated her instructions to find the beech tree and wait for the herd of deer and repeated her warning 'you must not shoot the black doe'. Like the previous hunt they returned with the much needed venison. It was a hard winter and again, the third time food was running out, Mrs. Sexton repeated her instructions as before and again warned them 'no matter what happens, you must not shoot the foremost deer' she warned them.
Next morning they waited at the beech tree, marveling by the strange happenings of that winter. One of them was named Gibson, a tall muscular man who feared nothing. When the black doe came into his sight he took aim and shot the formost black doe. The others berated Gibson as he stood with his butcher knife but he laughed at them.
When they returned to the camp Mrs. Sexton was not to be seen, they searched everywhere but she was never found. The carcass smelled and could not be eaten, put into a sinkhole and covered, Betty's great grandfather buried the carcass in the spring.
"You see, my great-grandmother followed the dark ways and had many powers people nowadays know nothing about. The dark ways were brought from the yon side of the waters, and my people brought them to the new settlements. People who followed the dark ways were healthy and strong and lived long lives. They was never sick a day of their lives" she explained. Betty explained that her great-grandfather had learned the dark ways of Mrs. Sexton, he was not a witch himself but could recall much of what she had told him.
In the spring the settlers left the Rock House and went in search of their lands, Mr. Sexton her great grandfather left a widow with young children went to the woods to find things his wife had mentioned. There he found a giant fallen poplar, the rotting three foot stump was hollowed out and covered in lichen and fungi. Inside the stump was foul smelling water surrounded by toadstools perfectly situated for the nighttime moonlight to reach.
Mr. Sexton carved an image into the bark of the tree with the features of Mr. Gibson. That night Sexton dipped his hand into the water in the stump and sprinkled it over the image, for six nights he came and dipped the water out of the stump and sprinkled it on Mr. Gibson's image. On the seventh night he brought a wooden spike and drove it into the stump so it protruded from Gibson's forehead.
Within a few days Mr. Gibson awoke with a headache that only got worse over the day, the next morning he was filled with pain and sent for Mr. Sexton. "You have hexed me for killing your wife" and said he felt as if a nail had been driven into his forehead, then died.
Is this story true?
The Sextons and Gibson did live in Scott County in 1820 and would have passed through Pound Gap -
Letcher County, not formed at the time was still part of Perry County.
Grantee: Zackariah Gibson
Number of Acres: 50Survey Date: 5 Jul 1822
County: Perry
WaterCourse: N Fk Ky R
Book Number: K
Grantee: John Gibson
Number of Acres: 50
Survey Date: 9 May 1823
County: Perry
WaterCourse: Rockhouse Fk Ky R
Book Number: M
Grantee: John Gibson
Number of Acres: 50
Survey Date: 2 Jun 1824
County: Perry
WaterCourse: Br & Fk N Fk Ky R
Book Number: S
Grantee: Archibald Gibson
Number of Acres: 50
Survey Date: 2 Jun 1824
County: Perry
Water Course: N Fk Ky R
Book Number: U
The Sexton were members of the Stoney Creek Church as were the Gibsons and it would appear at least some of them may have returned to Scott County after they claimed their Kentucky lands.
Wash Osborne gave a sort of rundown on the Melungeon families as he knew them, he said;
"Also the Melungeons came to Scott County from Letcher County, Kentucky near Whitesburg at a place called Lick Rock. These people lived in large numbers. Uncle Poke Gibson came to Scott from Letcher about 1820. He claimed to be Portuguese Indian. "
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If anyone has the Grandparents and/or Great-Grandparents I would love to add Betty's ancestry to the story. Please comment below
The full story told by Betty Sexton Fields is found in Harry Caudill's "The Mountain the Miner and the Lord" Page 93, Chapter FRONTIER as well as many other stories of Letcher County.
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