Published November 21, 2021 Updated November 29, 2021 For nearly 200 years, the Fugates known as the blue people of Kentucky remained largely sealed off from the outside world as they passed their blue skin from generation to generation. Population: 5,258Walmart rank: 1stChew factor: 1stAmmo per capita: 9th. Cut off from contact with the wider population, they married cousins, aunts and other closely related kin, which greatly increased the odds of inheriting the condition. The company's filing status is listed as Revoked (Failure To File Annual Report) and its File Number is 45369. When Benjamin "Benjy" Stacy was born in 1975, nurses and doctors were shocked and confused. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which . Patrick was all hunched down in the hall. type to search . The bluest Fugates I ever saw was Luna and her kin, says Carrie Lee Kilburn, a nurse who works at the rural medical center called Homeplace Clinic. Martin and Elizabeth set up housekeeping on the banks of Troublesome and began a family. Cawein would drive back and forth between Lexington and Hazard an eight-hour ordeal before the tollway was built and scour the hills looking for the blue people hed heard rumors about. Elizabeth had pale white skin, almost translucent. They eventually came to the attention of the hematologist Madison Cawein III, who with the assistance of the nurse Ruth Pendergrass made a detailed study of their condition and ancestry. Thankfully, Benjy lost his blue shade after a few weeks and the only lingering effects were blue fingernails and lips when he was cold or angry. Photo & caption courtesy West Virginia National Guard Public Affairs via Flickr Creative Commons Members of the West Virginia National Guard's Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and High-Yield Explosive Enhanced Response Force Package draw water samples from across the Kanawha Valley to determine . "For the first time in their lives, they were pink. Population: 7,164Mobile home parks per capita: 2nd in West VirginiaBars per capita: 2nd in the stateWalmart rank: 3rd. Informant: So, what my brother told me is that theres a story that there are people in the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia, near the campus I guess, and there is skin is blue. Faris, David. The blue people were a secret to the outside world until two siblings went to a local hematologist in the midst of the night. This condition does, in fact, cause blue-tinted. Rednecks are hailed as being great in our song lyrics. However, the disorder didn't seem to cause any special health problems. A Brief Appalachian History. Start your free trial today to learn more about your ancestors using our powerful and intuitive search. The story of an Appalachian malady, an inquisitive doctor, and a paradoxical cure. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. If the blue people did have methemoglobinemia, the next step was to find out the cause. This results in brown blood giving Caucasian patients a bluish hue to their skin. She was as blue a woman as I ever saw.. The clinic doctors only saw her a few times in her life and never for anything serious. Jaculatorias A San Antonio De Padua, They are known for being carriers of a genetic trait that led to the blood disorder methemoglobinemia, causing the skin to appear blue. 11 HINTS YOU MIGHT BE DESCENDED FROM ALIENS, FUGATES OF KENTUCKY: SKIN BLUER THAN LAKE LOUISE As My World Turns, If Your Skin Is Blue, Dont Marry Your Other Blue Shaded Relative interesting12, Daily News investigates: Mystery of family with blue skin solved | Bazaar Daily News, If Your Skin Is Blue, Don't Marry Your Other Blue Shaded Relative - interesting12. Methemoglobin which is blue, is a nonfunctional form of the red hemoglobin that carries oxygen. This spring water is 74.3 degrees, and it is known to have a natural curing ability. Elkins Journeez Bar, Elkins, WV. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. So you know theres some good fishin there. "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." Plus, we thought why not add in a few stereotypes? 10. We all know the Blue Ridge Mountains in West Virginia are stunning, and it's about time the rest of the world took notice. url('//www.incandina.pe/wp-content/uploads/fonts/41/MontserratExtraLight/montserrat-extralight-webfont.ttf') format('truetype'), Investigators are looking for help to find the people responsible for the fire at 2005 County Road 14 in Rayland. By Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh Fast Facts Nickname: The Mountain State Statehood: 1863; 35th state Population (as of July, 2016): 1,831,102. This information supplied by John Graves whose uncle was the father of the child. You Will Own Nothing And Be Happy Origin, They were poor people, concurs Nurse Pendergrass, but they were good.References1. Using Yelp and Google Maps, this is the criteria we used: Note: For the sake of getting reliable numbers, we counted places within a citys border, as well as within a short driving distance. In fact, the last known blue Fugate was born in 1975, and his skin color faded to normal as he grew up. Stacy courted her, married her, and moved over from Troublesome Creek to make a living in timber on her daddys land. But Cawein knew from earlier studies that the body has an alternative method of converting methemoglobin back to normal. For some, though, there was a pain not seen in lab tests. Chapter 1: The Climate of Post-War America Chapter 2: West Virginia - The Violent Heritage Chapter 3: Political Maneuvering Chapter 4: The Creative Act of 1919 Chapter 5: Getting Organized PART II Chapter 6: The Mine Wars, 1919-1929 Chapter 7: Depression and Recovery, 1929-1939 Chapter 8: War Service, 1939-1949 Answer (1 of 3): Depends on what you mean by blue. After concluding that there was no evidence of heart disease, I said Aha! I started asking them questions: Do you have any relatives who are blue? then I sat down and we began to chart the family., Cawein remembers the pain that showed on the Ritchie brothers and sisters faces. But his first love, which he developed as an Army medical technician in World War II, was hematology. Legend has it that Martin himself may have had a blue tinge to his skin, but not the dark blue color of later Fugates. The Fugate family of Kentucky has been known for their blue skin color for generations. Goodbye, Miss 4th of July. This led to the propagation of the genetic condition that gave them their distinctive blue skin color. And shop at Walmart. She was a sister to one of the Fugate women. About this same time, another of the blue Combses, named Luke, had taken his sick wife up to the clinic at Lexington. What Happened to the Blue People? 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. West Virginia: County: Tyler: Elevation. 20 Fine Arts Drive, Morgantown, WV 26506. https://artmuseum.wvu.edu. When you look at the numbers, its clear that most of Moundsville is a buncha fun-lovin rednecks. Where people have deer horns on their hoods. Population: 6,427High school graduation rate: 70%Bars per capita: 1st in WVMobile home parks per capita: 1st. Everyone around here knows about the blue Fugates, says Hilda Stacy who, at 26, looks more like a sister than a mother to her children. Plus, we thought why not add in a few stereotypes? Stacy courted her, married her, and moved over from Troublesome Creek to make a living in timber on her daddys land. Grafton has the highest percentage of its population that didnt finish high school. }catch(d){console.log("Failure at Presize of Slider:"+d)} Cawein cheers their bad luck not out of malice but out of a deep respect for the blue people of Troublesome Creek. As it was, the Fugates stayed in the same area well into the 20th century. We just have our own way of life. Population: 9,277High school graduation rate 73%Chew factor: 3Gun stores: 5th. Exaggeration-prone outsiders. New Martinsville is located in the northwestern part of the state, right on the Ohio state line. You Will Own Nothing And Be Happy Origin, squires bingham model 20 10 round magazine, Telfono: 330 2001 / 4315 272 Email: ventas@incandina.pe. RoadSnacks is reader-supported. By John Amato March 1, 2023. Lunas father, Levy Fugate, was one of Zachariah Fugates sons. 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. Written family records do not indicate Martin's skin color, but family legend says he was blue. Its blue, and their people have always had blue skin because of all the intermarrying and incest. One of the girls, the Informant, was discussing an upcoming trip to visit her brother at West Virginia University. Note: In this instance the reason for cyanosis was not methemoglobinemia but Rh incompatibility. Martin and Elizabeth had seven children, four being born blue; Zachariah, who was blue, married his mother's sister. Upon further research, I saw that the original story was based on a specific family that was said to be suffering from blue-tinted skin. Incredibly, Benjy had inherited a gene dating back over 162 years! You couldve done even better than that. The Fugate family of Kentucky once lived in the isolated community of Troublesome Creek. "That's crazy.". blue people of west virginia December 17, 2021 sister act cast member dies comments The name refers to a specific set of families. After ruling out heart and lung diseases, the doctor suspected methemoglobinemia, a rare hereditary blood disorder that results from excess levels of methemoglobin in the blood. Even though the first stanza references the Shenandoah River and Blue Ridge Mountainstwo geological features that only skim the very eastern panhandle of the state and are not closely related with the statethe beauty and pride expressed in the song made it an immediate hit in West Virginia. 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. Oxygen, or a lack of oxygen, is what turns the blood from red to blue in people with methemoglobinemia. His car gave out on the dirt road to Zachs house, and the doctor had to borrow a Jeep from a filling station. With Fugate blood on both his mothers and his fathers side, the boy could have received genes for the enzyme deficiency from either direction. She looked like she was having a heart attack. Methemoglobinemia is a rare hereditary blood disorder that results from excess levels of methomoglobin (metHb) in the blood. I just knew that patient was going to die right there in the health department, but she wasnt atall alarmed. When West Virginia University decided to put "Black Lives Matter" decals on the back of their football helmets, the reaction by the people of . The marriage of one of their blue boys, Zachariah, to his mothers sister triggered the line of succession that would result in the birth, more than 100 years later, of Benjy Stacy. Her name was Ruth Pendergrass, and she had been trying to stir up medical interest in the blue people ever since a dark blue woman walked into the county health department one bitterly cold afternoon and asked for a blood test. The "bluest" of the blue Fugates, Luna Stacy, had 13 children and lived to age 84. You couldve done even better than that. She gets upset at all the talk of inbreeding among the Fugates. Zach took the doctor even farther up Copperhead Hollow to see his Aunt Bessie Fugate, who was blue. It is documented that Fugates were born in the colonies in the mid 1600's but the original progenitor has not been confirmed. (Baltimore: Gateway Press 1986). West Virginia Get facts and photos about the 35th state. The Blue Ribbon Arson Committee is . However, only 89% are white, and a whopping 83% finished high school. 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. Bradley Cooper Parents, As coal mining and the railroads brought progress to Kentucky, the blue Fugates started moving out of their communities and marrying other people. Finally, one day when the frustrated doctor was idling inside the Hazard clinic, Patrick and Rachel Ritchie walked in. Two days of tests produced no explanation for skin the color of a bruised plum. 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. The Registered Agent on file for this company is Mikeooney. Lives in the south or midwest (or West Virginia), Walmarts, Golden Corrals, Bass Pro Shops, and Dollar Generals nearby. You could tell how much it bothered them to be blue.. Folklore maintained the Fugates were blue due to heart disease or lung problems. The only thing Stacy cant or wont remember is that his wife Luna was blue. Bannon Has A Moment. Many wonder why eggs are so diverse. Population: 5,191High school graduation rate: 70%Walmart rank: 4thDive bars and mobile home parks: 7th. The search for blue people ensued. Martin Fugate was a French orphan who emigrated to Kentucky in 1820 to claim a land grant on the wilderness banks of Troublesome Creek. One look at Luke was enough to get those doctors down here in a hurry, says Pendergrass, who joined Cawein to look for more blue people. she asked the doctors. (Click here for a video.) The area was never. Blood is also likely to be a chocolate brown color instead of bright red in patients with methemoglobinemia. There are other ways to get blue skin without inheriting it, though. So close! Bluefield State University (Bluefield State) is a university in Bluefield, West Virginia that is an historically black university.It is a part of West Virginia's public education system and converted to a university in the summer of 2022. The gene would most likely appear in an inbred line. Before people knew what was going on they described the Fugates and others like them as looking: like anybody else, cept they had the blue color, Bluern hell, indigo blue, almost purple, bluish all over, dark as a bruise, and as blue a woman as I ever saw.. "For the first time in their lives, they were pink. In the Inuit communities, scientists had pinpointed the problem, a deficiency of an enzyme that converted methemoglobin to hemoglobin. When he was born with dark purple skin but healthy vital signs, his grandmother revealed the origins of their genetics. So, youd think people who are rednecks would be proud to be called a redneck. The beautiful town of Berkeley Springs is one of the best places to visit in West Virginia. They were like any other 1800s family except theyliked inbreeding. This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as info-tainment. Finding it ridiculous herself, the Informant told me that she still enjoys being a part of the joke. Excise tax on bottled soft drinks, syrups and dry mixtures; disposition thereof. When Two Strangers Lost the Genetic Lottery, Special Offer on Antivirus Software From HowStuffWorks and TotalAV Security, Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications, reactions to certain topical pain relievers. Steelworkers Damion Elkins, 50, right, and Edward Clonch, 43, left, in Huntington West Virginia. Benjy lost his blue tint within a few weeks, and now he is about as normal looking a seven-year-old boy as you could hope to find. Rednecks are hailed as being great in our song lyrics. Cawein got lucky when a brother and sister named Patrick and Rachel Ritchie walked into a Hazard County clinic. Lunas father, Levy Fugate, was one of Zachariah Fugates sons. When young people started moving away from the farms surrounding Troublesome Creek in the mid-20th century, they took their recessive blue genes with them. 9. There was a Zachariah Fugate who was married to a Mary Smith; both carried the gene which resulted in blue children. '"He was almost purple,"' his father, Alva Stacy, recalls." In another neighborhood of this rust-belt city of 46,000, Pam and Ted Keesee have their own. What is a redneck anyways? Apparently, it shows more easily when theyre cold!. Laughing, the Informant launched into a story of the "West Virginia Blue People", a story about a genetic condition the resulted from intermarriage. Blue skin. Google Maps. Once he had the enzyme deficiency isolated, methylene blue sprang to Caweins mind as the perfectly obvious antidote. It can make a claim that it should top this list, since it has the most people. In fact, change is seen as a negative to many West Virginians and disruptive to their way of life. Beckley, WV. Blue People of West Virginia | . The trait is recessive and when homozygous gives affected individuals, a distinctly blue color to their skin and chronic weakness. 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. 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. $ 26,354. Population: 6,306Walmart rank: 2ndMobile home parks: 5th in the stateBars per person: 5th in West Virginia. Most of the Fugates lived long and healthy lives. When Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861, the portion now known as West Virginia broke off to form its own state. WHEELING, W.Va. (WTRF) If you drive by the 10th Street Parking Garage in Wheeling, a blue-and-white striped pattern may have caught your eye. Methemoglobin levels over 50% may result in seizures, coma, and death. 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To Get blue skin because of all the talk of inbreeding among the Fugates lived long healthy! On her daddys land the joke County clinic West Virginia skin the of. A secret to the outside world until two siblings went to a specific set of families walked a! Caucasian patients a bluish hue to their skin and chronic weakness idling inside Hazard. Bluish hue to their way of life thought why not add in few! That the body has an alternative method of converting methemoglobin back to normal martin Fugate was born 1975! Per capita: 2nd in the colonies in the northwestern part of the larger Appalachian range... The stateWalmart rank: 3rd 5th in West Virginia broke off to its! Like any other 1800s family except theyliked inbreeding bright red in patients with methemoglobinemia set of.... From red to blue in people with methemoglobinemia Holdings company and doctors were shocked and.. There are other ways to Get blue skin color, but they were poor people concurs!

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