She was as blue a woman as I ever saw.. That iron atom binds with oxygen, which is how red blood cells circulate oxygen throughout the body. Cawein would have no part of it, and he related with glee the news that a film crew sent to Kentucky from Hollywood fled the two mean dogs in every front yard without any film. I looked at other enzymes and nothing was wrong with them. Book is out of print, borrowed from Special Collections at the St. Louis County Library, St. Louis, MO. Martin and Elizabeth had seven children, four being born blue; Zachariah, who was blue, married his mother's sister. Dora Bryan House Chimes, Well, as you can imagine, I really examined them. There was a Zachariah Fugate who was married to a Mary Smith; both carried the gene which resulted in blue children. Bannon's emotions overflowed over Rep. Mike Gallagher bashing Wisconsin's 1950's commie witch-hunter Joseph McCarthy. His car gave out on the dirt road to Zachs house, and the doctor had to borrow a Jeep from a filling station. Even so, Cawein still gets calls for advice. Read on below to see where your town ranked. 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). 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. When he was born with dark purple skin but healthy vital signs, his grandmother revealed the origins of their genetics. He recounted how, after hearing the story for the first time, he and his roommates would make a show of continuously checking to see if their other friends lips or skin ever looked blue. They were like any other 1800s family except theyliked inbreeding. When there, you will find Berkeley Springs State Park, a park that is built around the city's spa and mineral water culture. The doctor gave each blue family a supply of methylene blue tablets to take as a daily pill. In 2014, the lowest-cost bronze plan in the WV exchange was an average of $280/month, higher than the national average of $249. Updated: Feb 27, 2023 / 06:18 PM EST. Legend has it that Martin himself may have had a blue tinge to his skin, but not the dark blue color of later Fugates. Days of testing provided no answers; but then Benjy's grandmother told the doctor a story about the "blue" Fugates. Her face and her fingernails were almost indigo blue. Instead, football players bore a bronzesque gold helmet emblazoned with a blue outline of the state of West Virginia and the letters "WVU" inside an oval. By Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh Fast Facts Nickname: The Mountain State Statehood: 1863; 35th state Population (as of July, 2016): 1,831,102. In fact, the last known blue Fugate was born in 1975, and his skin color faded to normal as he grew up. Methemoglobinemia is a blood condition, not a skin condition. Doctors were so astonished by the color of Benjy Stacys skin that they raced him by ambulance from the maternity ward in the hospital near Hazard to a medical clinic in Lexington. Chapter 1: The Climate of Post-War America Chapter 2: West Virginia - The Violent Heritage Chapter And they married the people who lived closest to them, the Combses, Smiths, Ritchies, and Stacys. Lives in the south or midwest (or West Virginia), Walmarts, Golden Corrals, Bass Pro Shops, and Dollar Generals nearby. 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. What is a redneck anyways? 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. He married a red-haired American named Elizabeth Smith with a very pale complexion. Scott's research had found hereditary methemoglobinemia among Alaskan Eskimos and Indians caused by an absence of the enzyme diaphorase from their red blood cells. We all know the Blue Ridge Mountains in West Virginia are stunning, and it's about time the rest of the world took notice. Cawein eventually found a small population of people in the back woods of Appalachia, many with a blue skin disorder. Had you guys just ditched school even more, you might have won this whole thing. 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. Start your free trial today to learn more about your ancestors using our powerful and intuitive search. Bluefield State University is a member school of the Thurgood . One of em I remember seeing him when I was just a boy Blue Anze, they called him. Hemoglobin gets its red color from a compound called heme that contains an iron atom. Sometimes, it can be really faint though, so you have to look closely at their lips or fingernails. West Virginia Get facts and photos about the 35th state. He recounted how, after hearing the story for the first time, he and his roommates would make a show of continuously checking to see if their other friends lips or skin ever looked blue. They wouldnt come into the waiting room. blue people of west virginiaspot vs pinfish. About 9000 bc people of the Archaic culture, with a small-game hunting, fishing, and gathering culture, occupied the area. Scott was a Public Health Service doctor at the Arctic Health Research Center in Anchorage who had discovered hereditary methemoglobinemia among Alaskan Eskimos and Indians. Methemoglobinemia is a rare hereditary blood disorder that results from excess levels of methomoglobin (metHb) in the blood. If this story were true everyone in Alabama would be blue. More than a cent. Laurel Wheeler and family, Buena Vista, Rockbridge County, Virginia. If enough blood is "infected" with this faulty type of hemoglobin, it changes from red to an almost purple-ish dark blue. Add to calendar. It can make a claim that it should top this list, since it has the most people. If youll notice, he observes, tracing lines on his familys chart, which lists his mothers and his fathers great grandfather as Henley Fugate, Im kin to myself.. "For the first time in their lives, they were pink. If the condition were inherited as a recessive trait, it would appear most often in an inbred line. March 8, 2012— -- Kerry Green was a "blue baby," born in 1964 in Tulsa, Okla., and his family was given little hope that he would live because of a malformed aorta. Stumped, the doctor turned to the medical literature for a clue. Benjy was born in a maternity ward near Hazard, Kentucky and was rushed by ambulance to a medical clinic in Lexington to find help for his blue problem. Some say 99%. src: url('//www.incandina.pe/wp-content/uploads/fonts/40/MontserratExtraBold/montserrat-extrabold-webfont.eot?#iefix') format('embedded-opentype'), If youre analyzing smaller cities in West Virginia with blue collar workers, where people have lots of options for drinking, smoking, hunting and Walmarting, this is an accurate list. 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. Doctors were so astonished by the color of Benjy Stacys skin that they raced him by ambulance from the maternity ward in the hospital near Hazard to a medical clinic in Lexington. Benjy was a pretty big item in the hospital, his mother says with a grin. By 1850, approximately half of Kanawha County's slaves worked in the salt industrymany mined coal to fuel the furnaces. score: 5 of 27 (18%) required scores: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 list stats leaders vote Vote print comments. It was almost purple, his father recalls. Yep, thats right. It is documented that Fugates were born in the colonies in the mid 1600's but the original progenitor has not been confirmed. So, youd think people who are rednecks would be proud to be called a redneck. 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. 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. Cawein is no stranger to eccentricities of the body. Dern it, Princeton. But his first love, which he developed as an Army medical technician in World War II, was hematology. For more than a century, these Appalachian families passed along an exceedingly rare genetic blood condition that turned their skin a disarming shade of blue. The doctor was fascinated, as the children were "relatively" healthy, except their skin tone and a few other symptoms from the gene passing. It is documented that Fugates were born in the colonies in the mid 1600's but the original progenitor has not been confirmed. There are very few drives in West Virginia that . One of em I remember seeing him when I was just a boy Blue Anze, they called him. @font-face { From a history of Perry County and some Fugate family Bibles listing ancestors, Cawein has constructed a fairly complete story. With Fugate blood on both his mothers and his fathers side, the boy could have received genes for the enzyme deficiency from either direction. The Blue Ridge Mountains In West Virginia Were Named One Of The 50 Most Beautiful Places In The World. WEST VIRGINIA (DC News Now) The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) said that it finished analyzing samples of last week's mystery dust. RAYLAND, Ohio (WTRF) A house fire in Rayland over the weekend has been deemed an arson fire by the State Fire Marshal's office. Luna was bluish all over. Consignment Eyeglass Frames, They were delighted., They changed colors! remembered Pendergrass. This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as info-tainment. He was a French orphan who knew nothing of his lineage. This led to the propagation of the genetic condition that gave them their distinctive blue skin color. 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. Im a hematologist, so something like that perks up my ears, Cawein says, sipping on whiskey sours and letting his mind slip back to the summer he spent tromping around the hills looking for blue people.. If enough blood is "infected" with this faulty type of hemoglobin, it changes from red to an almost purple-ish dark blue. People who live in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle and parts of western Maryland found cars and other items coated in the dust from . Google Maps. Written family records do not indicate Martin's skin color, but family legend says he was blue. "If you took any random person in the population, maybe one in 100,000 would carry this gene, if that many," says Ricki Lewis, a science writer and author of the textbook "Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications," now in its 13th edition. font-family: 'MontserratExtraBold'; The risk skyrockets if you're sharing blood.". You have the most bars and trailer parks per capita in the state, and your high school graduation rate is 70%. Methemoglobin which is blue, is a nonfunctional form of the red hemoglobin that carries oxygen. url('//www.incandina.pe/wp-content/uploads/fonts/41/MontserratExtraLight/montserrat-extralight-webfont.svg#montserrat-extralight-webfont') format('svg'); 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.". Hilda Stacy (nee Godsey) is fiercely protective of her son. url('//www.incandina.pe/wp-content/uploads/fonts/40/MontserratExtraBold/montserrat-extrabold-webfont.woff') format('woff'), 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. Cancel any time, no strings attached. Exaggeration-prone outsiders. 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. Chasing Chains, LLC. Plus, we thought why not add in a few stereotypes? Population: 9,277High school graduation rate 73%Chew factor: 3Gun stores: 5th. Eventually, the recessive gene began to disappear once coal mining and the railroad opened the community to outsiders. However, only 89% are white, and a whopping 83% finished high school. THE town of Odd, West Virginia is a quiet, rural countryside, despite all the buzz surrounding the infamous inbred family, The Whittakers, who live within it. Lappat, Hereditary Methemoglobinemia in Hemoglobin, Its Precursors and Metabolites, ed. It has nothing to do with melanin, the amino acid that gives people darker skin tones. Sweet Dreams. Howells Pawn and Guns, New Martinsville, WV. The Fugate family of Kentucky has been known for their blue skin color for generations. Much of the mythology surrounding the creature is tied to the deadly 1967 collapse of the Silver Bridge, which spanned the Ohio River at Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Google Maps, Cowboy Up Bar, Bluefield, WV. 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. Ask the Explainer. Its located along the Ohio way, way out on Route 250, so you know the locals here have lots of free reign to shoot stuff, blow things up and mud to their hearts content. All Rights ReservedPrivacy Policy |Terms of Use, Baltimore, Chicago, and St. Louis, 1870 Census Index, North Carolina and South Carolina, 1870 Census Index, Virginia and West Virginia, 1870 Census Index, Margaret Christine Otis Baker: A Colonial Woman with an Incredible Story, Carter Braxton: The Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Josiah Bartlett: The Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Everything You Need to Know About the 1890 US Federal Census, The Real Truth Behind Coats of Arms and Family Crests, Curtis King: Unsung Heroes of the Civil War. Population: 10,486Mobile home parks in area: 3rd in WVBars per capita: 3rdGun stores per capita: 5th in West Virginia. They went over to Patrick and Rachel Ritchies house and injected each of them with 100 milligrams of methylene blue. Due to the sheer number of things like bait shops, bars and mobile home parks in the area, its definitely crawling with rednecks. Charleston. "For the first time in their lives, they were pink. 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. by F. William Sunderman, J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia PA, 1964. It was painful. So I knew we had the defect defined.. 1995-2022 Ancestral Findings, LLC. And by God, they didnt have the enzyme diaphorase. Cawein packed his black bag and rounded up Nurse Pendergrass for the big event. The first known ancestor was David Wilson, who was born in Scotland about 1650; he had a son David, born about . "That's crazy.". The doctor gave each blue family a supply of methylene blue tablets to take as a daily pill. Luna Fugate and John Stacy The entry was on the blue men, not of West Virginia, but of the Mountain State's neighbor, Kentucky, and it focused primarily on an article published in Science way back in 1982 - you can find that article here, but I want to quote a couple points for you. 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