She remembers the story very easily, most often humorously, because she remembers the manner in which her brother told her. 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.". Curiosity drove him to Hazard where he was introduced to a nurse, Ruth Pendergrass, who had met a "dark blue" woman. Elkins Journeez Bar, Elkins, WV. All lived in isolation from the world, bunched in log cabins up and down the hollows, and so it was only natural that a boy married the girl next door, even if she had the same last name. 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. She told me that her family was the blue Combses who lived up on Ball Creek. At 30%, nausea, difficulty breathing, and an elevated heart rate start to appear. Martin and Elizabeth had seven children, four of whom were "bright blue" according to Fugate family lore. If their blood had a lower concentration of methemoglobin, they might only blush blue in cold weather, while people with higher concentrations of methemoglobin were bright blue from head to toe. The entry was on the blue men, not of West Virginia, but of the Mountain State's neighbor, Kentucky, . Green human are possible. The gene is still around today but has now become statistically insignificant and there are no serious medical problems associated with it. Fortunately, Cawein was able to find an antidote for the blood disorder - methylene blue which acted as an electron donor. References All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. '"He was almost purple,"' his father, Alva Stacy, recalls." Dark blue lips and fingernails are the only traces of Martin Fugates legacy left in the boy; that, and the recessive gene that has shaded many of the Fugates and their kin blue for the past 162 years. Google Maps. Called methaemoglobinaemia (commonly known as met-H), the condition reduces the individuals ability to carry oxygen in their blood. Finding it ridiculous herself, the Informant told me that she still enjoys being a part of the joke. The Registered Agent on file for this company is Mikeooney. The boy inherited his fathers lankiness and his mothers slightly nasal way of speaking. Laughing, the Informant launched into a story of the "West Virginia Blue People", a story about a genetic condition the resulted from intermarriage. Yes, West Virginia is among the poorest if not the poorest state in the union as well as one of the most uneducated and least economically developed. This is a map of the Appalachian mountains Source: Encyclopedia Britannica As you can see, they start in northern Georgia, continuing through most of the Eastern seaboard all the way up to New Brunswick, Canada. It can be brought on by several things: abnormal hemoglobin formation, an enzyme deficiency, and taking too much of certain drugs, including vitamin K, which is essential for blood clotting and is abundant in pork liver and vegetable oil. valley in the mountains in West Virginia with a barn and cows visible Stephanie Pittman 561 followers More information Blue People of West Virginia | . As a result of a coincidental meeting of recessive genes . We see fit that they will grow up to be strong holler girls or boys. Rednecks are hailed as being great in our song lyrics. The blue skin gene is a recessive gene that only appears when both parents are carriers of the gene. Mountain People. The famous painting of the blue Fugates is not based on an actual family photograph, but was a composite illustration created by artist Walt Spitzmiller for a 1982 magazine article. Before Cawein ended his study of the blue people, he returned to the mountains to patch together the long and twisted journey of Martin Fugates recessive gene. When West Virginia University decided to put "Black Lives Matter" decals on the back of their football helmets, the reaction by the people of . We do not feel less-fortunate. Cawein packed his black bag and rounded up Nurse Pendergrass for the big event. The methaemoglobinaemia condition, or met-H, reduces someones ability to carry oxygen in the blood, leaving it darker than the colour typically found in veins. Give the gift of knowledge with our official 'did you know' book. Films That People Feel Guilty for Not Seeing. As coal mining and the railroads brought progress to Kentucky, the blue Fugates started moving out of their communities and marrying other people. June 18, 2015. 7000 BC: Archaic Period in which people built basic shelters and made stone weapons and stone tools It was almost purple, his father recalls. This genetic defect comes from a rare recessive gene, so most people arent affected by it unless they happen to reproduce with another person who carries it. By 1850, approximately half of Kanawha County's slaves worked in the salt industrymany mined coal to fuel the furnaces. Princeton is located down on I-77, before you make the climb into Virginia. Martin and Elizabeth had seven children, four being born blue; Zachariah, who was blue, married his mother's sister. This led to the propagation of the genetic condition that gave them their distinctive blue skin color. Theres lots of trucks in Grafton, WV. Others, however, did not like being blue, and it was these Fugates, who didnt like their blue coloring, who were the first to volunteer for Caweins experimental treatments. Several familes moved elsewhere after being bought out. When Eleanor Roosevelt visited West Virginia mining towns in the 1930s, national newspapers ran pictures of rundown shacks and barefoot kids in rags, which left a lasting impression of the state as a backwater. "That's crazy.". At last they were free of their "blue" shade and were no longer embarrassed. He hasnt studied the condition for years. The gene is still around today but has now become statistically insignificant and there are no serious medical problems associated with it. If the condition were inherited as a recessive trait, it would appear most often in an inbred line. Well, as you can imagine, I really examined them. Cancel any time, no strings attached. It was painful. They were like any other 1800s family except theyliked inbreeding. So, youd think people who are rednecks would be proud to be called a redneck. He remembered that the Ritchie siblings "were really embarrassed about being blue." Eventually, the recessive gene began to disappear once coal mining and the railroad opened the community to outsiders. Had you guys just ditched school even more, you might have won this whole thing. Somebody with only one gene would not have the condition but could pass the gene to a child. Between 1880 and 1920, southern West Virginia's population grew from 93,000 to 446,000, due almost entirely to the coal industry. ( Returnto the corrected sentence.). God Bless America. 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. I just knew that patient was going to die right there in the health department, but she wasnt atall alarmed. The female's primary color is light cinnamon with darker-colored wings. The condition is called methemoglobinemia, which is a disorder that reduces the amount of oxygen in the blood and body tissues, therefore making the skin appear blue. Is there anything really wrong with being called a West Virginia redneck? The gene would most likely appear in an inbred line. he passed the gene on to his children. Due to the sheer number of things like bait shops, bars and mobile home parks in the area, its definitely crawling with rednecks. The West Virginia motto is Montani semper liberi, and the state is one of the most mountainous in the country; sometimes it is called the "little Switzerland" of America, and once I heard an irreverent local citizen call it the "Afghanistan of the United States."The precipitous upland nature of the terrain makes naturally for three things: (1) poor communications; (2) fierce sectionalism; (3 . Appearance: Blue grosbeaks are medium birds about 8 long, large, bright blue, with large silver bills, and chestnut wingbars. The enzyme eventually builds to normal levels in most children and to almost normal levels in those like Benjy, who carry one gene. 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. It can make a claim that it should top this list, since it has the most people. The Fugates, a family living in the hills of Kentucky starting in the 19th century, were commonly known as the " Blue Fugates " [1] or the " Blue People of Kentucky ". Only adopted cousins are allowed to marry, while in Vermont, Virginia, and many other states, first cousins can tie the knot. I looked at other enzymes and nothing was wrong with them. Cawein and his colleagues published their research on hereditary diaphorase deficiency in the Archives of Internal Medicine (April, 1964) in 1964. He married Elizabeth Smith, who carried a recessive gene for a genetic condition called methemoglobinemia, which gives those who have it blue-toned skin, even though they are otherwise perfectly healthy. Blue Man Group will rock your world. If theyd immigrated to other areas, even other areas of Kentucky, they likely would have married non-relatives, and the condition would have faded out of the family long before it did. She and her husband Alva have a strong sense of family. Plus, we thought why not add in a few stereotypes? He injected the Ritchie siblings with 100 milligrams of the blue dye and didn't have to wait long to see results. Luna was bluish all over. However, only 89% are white, and a whopping 83% finished high school. They just accepted it as a part of who they were. My grandmother Luna on my dads side was a blue Fugate. Blue skin. As it was, the Fugates stayed in the same area well into the 20th century. 2,999 100 . The inbreeding caused the recessive gene to appear in both parents. That total makes West Virginia the 38th most populous state in the country. "The beginning of this story is so wild because Martin moved to Kentucky from Europe and married a complete stranger, a nonrelative who just happened to have the same mutation," says Lewis. Martin and Elizabeth set up housekeeping on the banks of Troublesome and began a family. Buckhannon is a town thats 95% white, where 3 out of 10 people didnt graduate from high school. My first reaction to this story was wondering whether there was a scientific reason, or condition perhaps, that acted as a precursor to this belief of a skin condition that was a result of incest. Cawein drew lots of blood from the Ritchies and hurried back to his lab. Population: 7,164Mobile home parks per capita: 2nd in West VirginiaBars per capita: 2nd in the stateWalmart rank: 3rd. 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.. *. With Fugate blood on both his mothers and his fathers side, the boy could have received genes for the enzyme deficiency from either direction. Sometimes, it can be really faint though, so you have to look closely at their lips or fingernails. Blue human aren't possible. 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. A nearby family who the early Fugates married into quite extensively also carried the gene. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The Fugate family didnt leave the area for generations, continually intermarrying with relatives. But as Kentucky became more populated and more genes came into the Fugate family tree, there were far fewer children born blue. And at least in one famous case, a man turned his skin permanently blue from drinking too much colloidal silver supplements and rubbing colloidal silver cream on his skin (the condition is called argyria or silver poisoning). Different spellings of the surname sometimes include "Fugett" and "Fugitt". The railroad didnt come through eastern Kentucky until the coal mines were developed around 1912, and it took another 30 or 40 years to lay down roads along the local creeks. Howells Pawn and Guns, New Martinsville, WV. One of the supermarket tabloids once sent a reporter to find out about the blue people, and she was distressed with his preoccupation with intermarriages. Oxygen, or a lack of oxygen, is what turns the blood from red to blue in people with methemoglobinemia. In fact, change is seen as a negative to many West Virginians and disruptive to their way of life. avg. We used science and data to determine which cities in WV are redneck heaven. He was a French orphan who knew nothing of his lineage. 2 And unleash your spirit. Her lips were as dark as a bruise. What is a redneck anyways? 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. And a Walmart all to their own. So I knew we had the defect defined.. Luna has been dead nearly 20 years now, but her widower survives. Settling in the remote hills of Kentucky, there werent a lot of other people nearby, and marrying people who were closely related became common among the Fugates. It is home to so much creativity, and has been a place of devastating poverty. Theyre known simply as the blue people in the hills and hollows around Troublesome and Ball Creeks. They have the 2nd most bars and the 2nd most trailer/mobile home parks per capita in the state. The search for blue people ensued. In online research, there was no mention made of "blue" people as recorded in the genealogy book, The Fugate Family of Russell County Virginia, published in 1986, but it has been confirmed in the Fugate discussions on the Genforum. Blue Grass Riding Club Of West Virginia, Inc. is a West Virginia Domestic Profit Corporation filed on January 19, 1965. In another neighborhood of this rust-belt city of 46,000, Pam and Ted Keesee have their own. Cawein, in researching the family lines in Perry County, Kentucky and with the help of Fugate Family Bibles, found in fact, that the Fugates had married Fugates, had married first cousins, and had intermarried with families whose surnames were: Combs, Smith, Ritchie, and Stacy. The Fugate family intermarried with a neighbouring family for generations, which led to a relatively pure gene pool, often including the met-H gene. Trudging up and down the hollows, fending off the two mean dogs that everyone had in their front yard, the doctor and the nurse would spot someone at the top of a hill who looked blue and take off in wild pursuit. Eventually, the recessive gene began to disappear once coal mining and the railroad opened the community to outsiders. 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. by Cathy TrostScience82, November, 1982. Patrick was all hunched down in the hall. It was hard to get out, so they intermarried, says Dennis Stacy, a 51-year-old coal miner and amateur genealogist who has filled a loose-leaf notebook with the laboriously traced blood lines of several local families. For more West Virginia reading, check out: In order to rank the most redneck cities in West Virginia, we had to determine what criteria makes a redneck. The first known ancestor was David Wilson, who was born in Scotland about 1650; he had a son David, born about . Population: 10,486Mobile home parks in area: 3rd in WVBars per capita: 3rdGun stores per capita: 5th in West Virginia. Major Occupational Groups in West Virginia ( Note --clicking a link will scroll the page to the occupational group): 00-0000 All Occupations 11-0000 Management Occupations 13-0000 Business and Financial Operations Occupations 15-0000 Computer and Mathematical Occupations 17-0000 Architecture and Engineering Occupations The mystery behind the astonishing picture of the Fugates, which has been baffling people for years, appears to have finally been solved. He was involved as a law enforcement officer in the Hatfield-McCoy Feud, the West Virginia Mine Wars and the destruction of moonshine stills. Cawein got lucky when a brother and sister named Patrick and Rachel Ritchie walked into a Hazard County clinic. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Which means lots of weekend warriors probably live here; its the families that have boats and who book nice family hunting trips. So you can tell if someone is a product of incest if their skin is blue! So I brought back the new blood and set up my enzyme assay, Cawein continued. Rattini is accused of distributing narcotic painkillers illegally to more than 200 pharmacies across West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee. It like to scared me to death! The blueness increases with increasing methemoglobin levels. Cause, you know, rednecks like to hunt, drink, smoke and shoot things. Its common. Its nothing.. Dennis 4 Comments. You couldve done even better than that. The area was never. In normal people hemoglobin is converted to methemoglobin at a very slow rate. So, hold our beers and watch this. 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. The blue Fugates who did not wish to remain blue continued to take the pills, and contacted Dr. Cawein and other doctors to get more of them when needed. Theres a debate as to what percentage of Hurricane is white. Inbreeding in eastern Kentucky has been turning offspring blue since the early 1880s. Its a part of our culture. It would be hard to doubt this gracious man except that you cant find another person who knew Luna who doesnt remember her as being blue. The story of an Appalachian malady, an inquisitive doctor, and a paradoxical cure. Methemoglobinemia is a blood condition, not a skin condition. Lives in the south or midwest (or West Virginia), Walmarts, Golden Corrals, Bass Pro Shops, and Dollar Generals nearby. Just like the Alaskans, their blood had accumulated so much of the blue molecule that it over- whelmed the red of normal hcmoglobin that shows through as pink in the skin of most Caucasians. You could tell how much it bothered them to be blue.. You might actually call Hurricane home of the rednecks with paychecks. They were delighted.". But there around 10 or 15 Dollar Stores in the area. No mention of his skin color is made in the early histories of the area, but family lore has it that Martin himself was blue. 1:52. 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? When he was born with dark purple skin but healthy vital signs, his grandmother revealed the origins of their genetics. New Martinsville has the 2nd most places to buy guns, the 2nd most fishing/bait shops and several places to get chew.
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