They lived in isolation and married the girl next door, even if they had the same last name, and consequently passed the gene on to many generations. Dating back to the early 1800s, an isolated family in eastern Kentucky - who can trace their roots back to a French orphan - started producing children who were blue. She remembers the story very easily, most often humorously, because she remembers the manner in which her brother told her. Plus, we thought why not add in a few stereotypes? Lives in the south or midwest (or West Virginia), Walmarts, Golden Corrals, Bass Pro Shops, and Dollar Generals nearby. They werent sick; it was just the way they look. In more recent memory, the 2003 film Wrong Turn helped perpetuate the inbreeding stereotype. We use data, analytics, and a sense of humor to determine the dirt on places across the country. He knew the same thing was happening in this secluded corner of Appalachia. Once he had the enzyme deficiency isolated, methylene blue sprang to Caweins mind as the perfectly obvious antidote. The topographic boundary was modified where Route 9 crossed the watershed divide. It run in that generation who lived up and down Ball [Creek]., They looked like anybody else, cept they had the blue color, Stacy says, sitting in a chair in his plaid flannel shirt and suspenders, next to a cardboard box where a small black piglet, kept as a pet, is squealing for his bottle. Martin married a red-headed American woman named Elizabeth Smith and the two set up a homestead on the banks of Troublesome Creek near Hazard County, Kentucky. (Baltimore: Gateway Press 1986). Cawein and his colleagues published their research on hereditary diaphorase deficiency in the Archives of Internal Medicine (April, 1964) in 1964. Where people wear camo to church. New Martinsville has the 2nd most places to buy guns, the 2nd most fishing/bait shops and several places to get chew. 5,600 views made by Rocco. Between 1880 and 1920, southern West Virginia's population grew from 93,000 to 446,000, due almost entirely to the coal industry. The reasons for this almost have to do entirely with coal. By Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh Fast Facts Nickname: The Mountain State Statehood: 1863; 35th state Population (as of July, 2016): 1,831,102. 1 talking about this. West Virginia: County: Tyler: Elevation. Her face and her fingernails were almost indigo blue. Its common. In 1980, a counter-intuitive solution was discovered where the blue person drinks a chemical-filled solution that is itself blue. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. I couldnt tell you what caused it.. Sometimes, it can be really faint though, so you have to look closely at their lips or fingernails. He married a red-haired American named Elizabeth Smith who had a very pale complexion and their union formed a genetic mutation that resulted in their descendants being born with blue skin. Levy married a Ritchie girl and bought 200 acres of rolling land along Ball Creek. The Fugate family of Kentucky once lived in the isolated community of Troublesome Creek. Population: 5,373Tobacco stores per capita: 5th in West VirginiaGun stores per capita: 2ndFishing/bait shops per capita: 2nd. the blue color was gone from their skin, the doctor said. Benjy Stacy is one of the last of the blue Fugates. Its a part of our culture. If the blue people did have methemoglobinemia, the next step was to find out the cause. Woodburn Hall at West Virginia University in Morgantown (old gold and blue are the official University colors); photo by Swimmerguy269 on Wikipedia (use permitted with attribution / share alike). Written family records do not indicate Martin's skin color, but family legend says he was blue. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This publication also contains information on state and federal agencies; postal information; the Constitutions of the United States and West Virginia; and, considerable information on counties, municipalities and various organizations. They were really embarrassed about being blue, he said. The 76-year-old diva used the less than divine choice of words for the Mountain State in a Twitter against Sen. Joe Manchin torpedoing President Biden's multitrillion-dollar spending plans. He was involved as a law enforcement officer in the Hatfield-McCoy Feud, the West Virginia Mine Wars and the destruction of moonshine stills. Well, according to the official bible of literature, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a redneck is: A white person who lives in a small town or in the country especially in the southern U.S., who typically has a working-class job, and who is seen by others as being uneducated and having opinions and attitudes that are offensive.. by Cathy TrostScience82, November, 1982. Howells Pawn and Guns, New Martinsville, WV. What neither she nor Martin could have known is that they both carried the recessive gene for a rare hereditary blood disorder called methemoglobinemia. The expedition descended that river to Peter's Falls on the future Virginia-West Virginia border and claimed for England all the land drained by the New River and its tributaries. The blood disorder is inherited as a simple recessive trait - meaning that to get the disorder, a person would have to inherit two genes, one from each parent. Little did they know that their union would create shades of blue people! She had been out in the cold and she was just blue! recalls Pendergrass, who is now 69 and retired from nursing. al. The entry was on the blue men, not of West Virginia, but of the Mountain State's neighbor, Kentucky, . All rights reserved. Legend has it that Martin himself may have had a blue tinge to his skin, but not the dark blue color of later Fugates. Then, in 2004, Abercrombie & Fitch released a T-shirt emblazoned with a map of the Appalachian state and the words Its all relative in West Virginia. In February, a casting director for the upcoming thriller Shelter put out a call for extras with unusual body shapes, [and] even physical abnormalities to depict West Virginia mountain people. the blue color was gone from their skin," Cawein said. In response, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia railed against the veep, accusing him of astounding ignorance toward his own countrymen. Howd West Virginia get a reputation for inbreeding? Hilda Stacy (nee Godsey) is fiercely protective of her son. This brief history has been gleaned from old family records, correspondence with other members, and histories of Ritchie, Barbour, Harrison and Randolph Counties, West Virginia. Because the boy was intensely blue at birth but then recovered his normal skin tones, Benjy is assumed to have inherlted only one gene for the condition. Most of the Fugates didnt seem to mind being blue. Google Maps, KCR Barrel Saloon, Charles Town, WV. Population: 18,763Bars per capita: 6th in West VirginiaFishing/bait shops per capita: 4thMobile home parks per capita: 5th. Population: 7,164Mobile home parks per capita: 2nd in West VirginiaBars per capita: 2nd in the stateWalmart rank: 3rd. The people of West Virginia are deeply proud and they don't particularly like change of any kind. As it was, the Fugates stayed in the same area well into the 20th century. That total makes West Virginia the 38th most populous state in the country. Because the Fugate family lived in such an isolated part of the Kentucky, they intermarried with a neighboring family for generations which led to a relatively pure gene pool where the met-H gene appeared much more frequently. Benjy was born in a maternity ward near Hazard, Kentucky and was rushed by ambulance to a medical clinic in Lexington to find help for his blue problem. How far from Flatwoods , ky? Set in West Virginia, it features cannibalistic mountain men, horribly disfigured from generations of incest. February 16, 2012 by Tap Vann. He came from where the sun don't shine. 20 Fine Arts Drive, Morgantown, WV 26506. https://artmuseum.wvu.edu. As a result of a coincidental meeting of recessive genes . The mystery behind the astonishing picture of the Fugates, which has been baffling people for years, appears to have finally been solved. Since rail lines and paved roads didn't make it out to Troublesome Creek for nearly a century, the blue recessive gene was passed down to generations of Fugates and neighboring families, all of whom came to be known as "the blue people of Kentucky.". March 8, 2012— -- Kerry Green was a "blue baby," born in 1964 in Tulsa, Okla., and his family was given little hope that he would live because of a malformed aorta. Six generations after a French orphan named Martin Fugate settled on the banks of eastern Kentuckys Troublesome Creek with his redheaded American bride, his great-great-great great grandson was born in a modern hospital not far from where the creek still runs. Studying the problem, Cawein figured out that he could convert methemoglobin to hemoglobin without the enzyme. The family was first discovered in 1958 when one of the blue men, Luke Combs, who was a descendant of another branch of the Fugate family, took his white wife to the University of Kentucky Hospital and doctors paid more attention to him than his wife. Funding was made available through a $75 million facilities bond, $25 million in private donations through the Mountaineer Athletic Club and $6 million from West Virginia's multimedia rights contract with IMG. Soon, the Fugates became known as the Blue Fugates of Kentucky. The Fugate family intermarried with a neighbouring family for generations, which led to a relatively pure gene pool, often including the met-H gene. Well, as you can imagine, I really examined them. type to search . Martin Fugate was a French orphan who emigrated to Kentucky in 1820 to claim a land grant on the wilderness banks of Troublesome Creek. Yep, thats right. "That's crazy.". The Blue Fugates have essentially now gone from reality to legend. avg. And they married the people who lived closest to them, the Combses, Smiths, Ritchies, and Stacys. That five-star symbol is the same as the one on the Friendly City flagwhich is drawing approval well outside of West Virginia. Scotts Alaskans seemed to match Caweins blue people. It's a vote cast not just out of allegiance. Im a hematologist, so something like that perks up my ears, Cawein says, sipping on whiskey sours and letting his mind slip back to the summer he spent tromping around the hills looking for blue people.. The antidote worked quickly but patients were required to take daily doses as it passed quickly through the urine. The state capital is Charleston. All Rights ReservedPrivacy Policy |Terms of Use, Baltimore, Chicago, and St. Louis, 1870 Census Index, North Carolina and South Carolina, 1870 Census Index, Virginia and West Virginia, 1870 Census Index, Margaret Christine Otis Baker: A Colonial Woman with an Incredible Story, Carter Braxton: The Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Josiah Bartlett: The Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Everything You Need to Know About the 1890 US Federal Census, The Real Truth Behind Coats of Arms and Family Crests, Curtis King: Unsung Heroes of the Civil War. Had you guys just ditched school even more, you might have won this whole thing. The drugs effects are temporary, as methylene blue is normally excreted in the urine. In another neighborhood of this rust-belt city of 46,000, Pam and Ted Keesee have their own. Of their seven children, four were blue. Steelworkers Damion Elkins, 50, right, and Edward Clonch, 43, left, in Huntington West Virginia. 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