Polly Margaret Runyon
Hatfield
Bio
Polly Margaret Runyon,* born September 24, 1876, was the daughter of Thomas Wallace and Parmelia Emeriah Lowe Runyon. Thomas Wallace was the brother of Jeff Hatfield's mother, Mary "Polly" Runyon.
Everyone recalled Polly as being a jolly, happy person. She was always teasing her children and her husband. As her daughter Jeanette Hatfield Smith described the situation, "Daddy was always more stern with us than Mommy was. Everybody had to be quiet at the table." Jeanette went on, "Mommy would laugh with us and cut up with us." Polly would tell jokes and "laugh as big as we did."
Polly's children and grandchildren also remembered Polly as a wonderful cook. LeEttie Hatfield Norman and Jeanette talked about their mother's pinto beans, which were home-grown. Katherine Langley Hatfield Scott recalled Polly's chicken and dumplings, biscuits, and berry cobbler. Her daughter-in-law, Opal Stafford Hatfield loved the chicken and dumplings, as well as the huge, big cake that was always there. Granddaughter, Pauline Hatfield Morgan, recalled her grandmother's hot water cornbread and the great, long bread pans needed to feed a big family. Granddaughter, Sheryle Leigh Scott Sullivan had heard that Polly could make Johnny cake out of anything.
Polly's death
Polly in the 1930's
Polly enjoyed smoking her pipe with Jeff in the evenings on their porch. Katherine would steal her tobacco from her bosom to take to her brothers to smoke. She died from an apparent heart attack on April 16, 1938, at McCarr, Pike, Kentucky and is buried at the Anderson Hatfield Memorial Cemetery next to Jeff.
Polly's siblings: (front, l-r) Nancy Jane and Charity; (back) probably Armenda, John, Elizabeth, Polly, and probably Pricy.
*Excerpted from genealogical material in Love, Opal, Opal Stafford Hatfield, privately printed, 2008, p. 341-346.
**The marriage date used here is the date identified in family documents, including their family Bible. Their marriage license was issued in Mingo County, West Virginia, on October 3, 1896.