Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 213, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 September 1919 — Fighting Heart of Jack Dempsey is an Hierloom From the Days of Feuds [ARTICLE]

Fighting Heart of Jack Dempsey is an Hierloom From the Days of Feuds

Jack Dempsey, heavyweight champion of the world, although bom in Manassa, Col., sprang from the purest type of West Virginia mountaineer stock. The champion’s grandfather, Ance Dempsey, was a pioneer settler of Logan county. The report widely circulated, that flempsey was born near Williamson, W. Va. is incorrect. It is slightly over a quarter of a century since H. I. Dempsey and the mother of the new champion left their old home there. Jack was bom about a year after his parents arrived in the West. The old Dempsey homestead in the mountains is located only a short-dis-tance from the abode of “Devil” Ance Hatfield, who gained widespread notoriety during the Hatfield-McCoy feud. Although there are still many dose relatives of the Dempsey family residing in that vicinity, the present champion has never visited them. Both Dempsey’s father and grandfather were farmers and woodsmen and are remembered by old residents there as fearless mountaineers who stood high in a community where courage was demanded of all. At the present time there are two uncles and several cousins of the champion residing in Mingo.county.