| Name |
Hall, Joseph Leonard |
| Prefix |
Elder |
| Nickname |
Joe |
| Birth |
29 Mar 1865 |
Shelby Creek, Pike, Kentucky, United States  [1, 4] |
Address:
Long Fork |
| Gender |
Male |
| Census |
1880 |
Pikeville, Pike, Kentucky, United States [5] |
- The 1880 Pike County census lists the following for the household of Joseph Hall:
Joseph Hall, age 16, farmer, born KY, father born KY, mother born KY
Sarah (wife), 24
|
| Occupation |
Between 1889 and 1928 |
| a preacher, farmer, store operator, and occasional postmaster at Craftsville (Millstone), KY |
- The store and post office were supposedly at the junction of the left and right forks of Millstone Creek, where the D. V. Bentley residence is now located, according to Robert Holbrook, who remembered visiting him there.
|
| Misc |
Between 7 Oct 1890 and 22 Jun 1892 |
Letcher, Kentucky, United States [6] |
| served as the Millstone postmaster |
- He was succeeded in this role by the appointment of Arch C. Craft.
|
| Census |
1900 |
Millstone, Letcher, Kentucky, United States [7] |
Address:
Magisterial District 2 |
- Joseph and Lettie E. Hall were enumerated in the Millstone Magisterial District (#2) of Letcher County, KY (p. 94A). The members of the household were listed as follows:
Joseph, head,W, H, born Mar 1864
Lettie E., wife, W, F, born Apr 1872
Minnie E., dau., W, F, born Apr 1882
Anzie, dau., W,F, born Oct 1883
Isabella, dau., W, F, born July 1885
Alven, son, W, M, born Aug 1887
Polly A., dau., W, F, born Sept 1890
Leonard B., son, W, F, born Dec 1891
Rachel V., dau., W, F, June 1894
Enoch M., son, W, M, Aug 1896
Nancy A., dau., W, F, Mar 1899
The census enumerator was Henry R. Yonts.
|
| Misc |
16 Jul 1907 |
Letcher, Kentucky, United States [8] |
| was appointed postmaster of the Hilliard post office |
- He succeeded Isabella Hall, who served from 20 Mar 1907 to 16 July 1907. He was succeeded as postmaster by Shade R. Combs on 17 Mar 1908.
|
| Misc |
Abt 1917 |
Letcher, Kentucky, United States |
| was indicted and convicted of adultery |
| Census |
1920 |
Millstone, Letcher, Kentucky, United States [9] |
| Misc |
23 Sep 1920 |
Letcher, Kentucky, United States [10] |
| was reappointed as the Millstone postmaster |
- He continued to serve in this capacity until his death in October 1928. Irvin Collier was named as his successor on 22 November 1928.
|
| Religion |
a preacher of the Regular Primitive Baptist Church |
- He was a prominent "no-heller" preacher associated with the Three Forks of Powell River Association of "Regular Primitive Baptist". This small group or sub-sect of Baptists rejected the notion of "double predestination", believing rather that all humanity would in the fullness of time be reconciled to God through Christ's redemptive acts. Their concept of "hell" focused on the ills that would befall unrepentent sinners during their corporal existence on earth.
This obviously was a very controversial topic among other Baptist sects in the region. As a result, he was involved in several splits within Baptist congregations and associations in the early years of the twentieth century.
|
| Residence |
Millstone, Letcher, Kentucky, United States |
| on Board Branch |
| Death |
20 Oct 1928 |
Letcher, Kentucky, United States [1, 4, 11] |
| Cause: of a gunshot wound, officially reported as self-inflicted, |
- The circumstances of the death of Joe Hall were reported in the Mountain Eagle of 25 October 1928, as transcribed below.
Late Baptist Preacher and Post Master Kills Self
Word from Millstine (sic) reached town Saturday morning stating Joe Hall, about sixty years of age and for about forty years occasionally a minister of the old Baptist Church had on the night before shot himself, dying instantly. Why he had committed this act no one seems to know. His wife says that for some days he had been unwell and had been acting strange. About two o'clock in the morning he arose from a fitful sleep, walked from the room to the out side and fired the fatal shot. Before she could reach him life was extinct. The ball entered his right temple and passed through his brain.
Joe Hall had been Postmaster at Millstone for a great number of years. An upright and strict business man, there was none better. He had been married as many as six times and leaves two or three still living wives. He also leaves a number of children.
Joe Hall belonged to an excellent family. Worry and broken health lead (sic) to his taking his own life. We extend sympathies to those left behind.
----------------------------
The attribution of his death as a suicide has long been disputed by members of his family. There were no signs of despondency. Further, he had reported to his son and daughter-in-law, Alvin and Mary Hall, one week earlier that the gun he always kept in the store had been stolen.
In a recollection by granddaughter Opal (Hall) Holbrook on 27 May 2004, the undertaker, Mr. Swisher, came to the home on Millstone and prepared the body for burial. The bullet was removed by Mr. Swisher and given to Joe's son, William Basil Hall. The bullet was of a caliber consistent with that of the missing gun.
Many family members have always asserted he was shot in his bed through an open window. The bullet reportedly passed through his head and lodged in his arm, indicating the possibility that he was lying on his side with his arm resting under his head.
However, in the absence of obvious evidence or eyewitness statements, no further official investigations occurred.
|
| Burial |
Chunk Craft Cemetery, Millstone, Letcher, Kentucky, United States [1] |
- On his tombstone, his name is recorded as Joe Hall. His tombstone was inscribed with the following message: "A friend to his country and believer in Christ".
To the left of his grave is that of his daughter, Pricy. To the left of Pricy's grave is that of Lettie Craft Hall, his second wife. To the left of Lettie's grave is that of Joe's son Leonard S. Hall.
|
 |
Joseph Leonard “Joe” Hall (1865-1928)
|
| Person ID |
I38 |
Pioneers of the Appalachian Highlands |
| Last Modified |
31 May 2019 |
| Family 2 |
Caudill, Sarah, b. Abt 1856, Pike, Kentucky, United States d. 8 Aug 1887, Pike, Kentucky, United States (Age ~ 31 years) |
| Marriage |
16 Sep 1879 |
Pike, Kentucky, United States [13, 14, 15] |
| Children |
| + | 1. Hall, Mary Ellen, b. 4 Oct 1880, Pike, Kentucky, United States d. 22 Jan 1948, Letcher, Kentucky, United States (Age 67 years) |
| + | 2. Hall, Arminda, b. 25 Apr 1882, Pike, Kentucky, United States d. 26 Jan 1945, Kentucky, United States (Age 62 years) |
| + | 3. Hall, Anzie, b. 29 Oct 1883, Pike, Kentucky, United States d. 28 Apr 1907, Letcher, Kentucky, United States (Age 23 years) |
| + | 4. Hall, Isabelle, b. 30 Jul 1885 d. 28 Feb 1923 (Age 37 years) |
| + | 5. Hall, Alvin, b. 8 Aug 1887, Pike, Kentucky, United States d. 27 Dec 1974, Whitesburg, Letcher, Kentucky, United States (Age 87 years) |
|
| Photos |
 | Joseph and Drucilla "Sillar" (Craft) Hall
|
 | Alvin and several of his half-brothers
|
| Family ID |
F10 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
12 Mar 2024 |
| Family 3 |
Craft, Letitia, b. 21 Apr 1872, Letcher, Kentucky, United States d. 27 Mar 1905, Letcher, Kentucky, United States (Age 32 years) |
| Marriage |
30 Aug 1889 |
Letcher, Kentucky, United States [16] |
| Census |
1 Jun 1900 |
Millstone, Letcher, Kentucky, United States [17, 18] |
| Children |
| + | 1. Hall, Mary Ann, b. 20 Sep 1890, Millstone, Letcher, Kentucky, United States d. 5 Aug 1986, Pike, Kentucky, United States (Age 95 years) |
| | 2. Hall, Leonard S., b. 16 Dec 1891, Kentucky, United States d. 24 Jul 1908, Letcher, Kentucky, United States (Age 16 years) |
| + | 3. Hall, Rachel Virginia, b. 10 Jun 1894, Millstone, Letcher, Kentucky, United States d. 30 Jan 1968, Whitesburg, Letcher, Kentucky, United States (Age 73 years) |
| + | 4. Hall, Enoch Mahlon, b. 10 Aug 1896, Letcher, Kentucky, United States d. 4 Jan 1971, Jefferson, Kentucky, United States (Age 74 years) |
| + | 5. Hall, Nancy Alice, b. 5 Mar 1899, Letcher, Kentucky, United States d. 28 Sep 1975, Letcher, Kentucky, United States (Age 76 years) |
| + | 6. Hall, Elder William Basil, b. 19 Jun 1900, Millstone, Letcher, Kentucky, United States d. 6 Mar 1984, Fayette, Kentucky, United States (Age 83 years) |
| | 7. Hall, Pricy, b. 21 Jan 1904, Millstone, Letcher, Kentucky, United States d. 15 Jan 1905, Millstone, Letcher, Kentucky, United States (Age 0 years) |
|
| Photos |
| Alvin and several of his half-brothers
|
| Family ID |
F9 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
12 Mar 2024 |
| Family 6 |
Tackett, Martha Ann, b. 27 Apr 1897, Letcher, Kentucky, United States d. 24 Nov 1967, Jenkins, Letcher, Kentucky, United States (Age 70 years) |
| Marriage |
1 Aug 1918 |
Letcher, Kentucky, United States [22] |
- The marriage license listed Joe Hall's age as 52, marital status as widower, and occupation as farmer. Dianna C. Webb's age was given as 30 and her marital status was divorced.
This marriage was solemnized at Horn, KY by N. W. Meade.
|
| Children |
| + | 1. Hall, Hazel, b. 28 May 1919, Letcher, Kentucky, United States d. 10 Sep 2013 (Age 94 years) |
| | 2. Hall, Lettie D., b. 1922, Letcher, Kentucky, United States d. 10 May 1983, Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio, United States (Age 61 years) |
|
| Family ID |
F13 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
12 Mar 2024 |
1865 - 1928 (63 years)
