Folklore and Literacy Interpretations: The Witcher-Clement Feud, Part 3
Creator
Swanson, Charles A.
Kendrick, Desmond Jerry
Swanson, Eugene Addison
Stephenson, Rex
In this project, Charles A. Swanson interviewed Desmond Kendrick, Eugene Swanson, and Rex Stephenson about the Witcher-Clement feud. This feud dates back to February 25, 1860 and involved a shoot-out in a store in Franklin County, Virginia in which Victoria Smith Clement was giving a deposition as part of the process of filing for divorce from James R. Clement. Several people were killed in the shoot-out, and a feud was begun that in some ways, still exists today, but in other ways has long since been resolved. Included in this project are files of a short story written by Gail Swanson, and a play written by Rex Stephenson about this feud. This interview is among projects created by students enrolled in English 446 (initially English 452), “Appalachian Folklore,” 1981-2019, and in graduate level counterparts English 548 and 648 “Appalachian Folk Culture(s)” offered 17 fall semesters between 1987 and 2009. Minimally contain collector’s introduction and analysis, transcribed informant interviews, and excerpted and labeled examples of oral, customary, and/or material folklore/folklife collected primarily within the Appalachian region. Most include also tables of contents, informant information, indexes (outlines) of interviews, photographs, miscellaneous paper items, and indexes of informants, genres, and geographic locations. Accompanying audio recordings (several minutes to 2+ hours). Transferred to McConnell Library Archives & Special Collections from Appalachian Regional and Rural Studies Center, Fall 2013.