She also states that the union of Martin and Elizabeth were probably not the originators of the gene as their marriage took place too late. Cause, you know, rednecks like to hunt, drink, smoke and shoot things. That total makes West Virginia the 38th most populous state in the country. Blue Man Group will rock your world. type to search . The condition that made the Fugates blue causes large amounts of methemoglobin (which is a blue type of hemoglobin) to circulate in the blood. Many is more accurate since the practice is legal, or legal under certain circumstances, in more than 20 states. She has lived in the primitive dwelling without running water or electricity on the slopes of Dead Fall Mountain her entire life. Martin Fugate was a French orphan who emigrated to Kentucky in 1820 to claim a land grant on the wilderness banks of Troublesome Creek. Researchers believe this to truly be the case, a result of the family suffering from a genetic condition called methemoglobinemia, which is an excess of methemoglobin in the red blood cells of the body. The doctor gave each blue family a supply of methylene blue tablets to take as a daily pill. Martin and Elizabeth had seven children, four of whom were blue; the recessive gene meant there was a 25 percent chance of each pregnancy resulting in a blue child. get your facts straight for petes sake. Inbreeding in eastern Kentucky has been turning offspring blue since the early 1880s. his wife happened to be a carrier for the gene, so in turn about half of their children were blue. As travel became easier, more people moved into and out of the Fugates area of Kentucky, including some actual Fugates. Blue human aren't possible. Benjamin Stacy was the last of the Fugate family members to have blue skin and lived a healthy life. They sing in the Stacy Family Gospel Band and have provided their children with a beautiful home and a menagerie of pets, including horses. Google Maps. This is redneck wonderland. That iron atom binds with oxygen, which is how red blood cells circulate oxygen throughout the body. Embarrassed by their bluish hue, the families retreated even further from society, which only exacerbated the problem. The notion of widespread inbreeding was at least in part the result of crude assumptions about how these isolated forest people might have been perpetuating their communities. It's also, in part, out of fear. 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. Cawein was determined to find a cause and possibly a solution to help this small group of isolated Appalachian people. Google Maps. But as Kentucky became more populated and more genes came into the Fugate family tree, there were far fewer children born blue. One could inherit the gene, not get the blood disorder, but pass the gene on to a child. 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. Only adopted cousins are allowed to marry, while in Vermont, Virginia, and many other states, first cousins can tie the knot. In the early 1960's, this blue malady caught the attention of Madison Cawein, an inquisitive hematologist from the University of Kentucky. Population: 5,258Walmart rank: 1stChew factor: 1stAmmo per capita: 9th. Population: 5,373Tobacco stores per capita: 5th in West VirginiaGun stores per capita: 2ndFishing/bait shops per capita: 2nd. Well, as you can imagine, I really examined them. The Appalachian region of the US is a beautiful place with a rich and sometimes tragic history. The doctor was recently approached by the producers of the television show Thats Incredible. They wanted to parade the blue people across the screen in their weekly display of human oddities. In another neighborhood of this rust-belt city of 46,000, Pam and Ted Keesee have their own. 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. New Martinsville has the 2nd most places to buy guns, the 2nd most fishing/bait shops and several places to get chew. Upon discovering the blue members of the Fugate family were perfectly healthy in every other way, Cawein decided to try some experiments to see if the blue color could be treated. We use data, analytics, and a sense of humor to determine the dirt on places across the country. GreenPower Motor Co. to begin manufacturing at South Charleston, West Virginia facility 'this quarter' Hot and cold: Up and down weather calls for adaptation for West Virginia's ski destinations; Morgantown (West Virginia) business owner who pleaded guilty to Jan. 6 charges sued along with Trump; This Week in West Virginia History One of the supermarket tabloids once sent a reporter to find out about the blue people, and she was distressed with his preoccupation with intermarriages. Ask the Explainer. This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as info-tainment. Whoo-whee, New Martinsville! 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 They took the doctor to see their uncle, who was blue, too. The state capital is Charleston. Elkins Journeez Bar, Elkins, WV. The risk skyrockets if you're sharing blood.". He knew the same thing was happening in this secluded corner of Appalachia. Then he began to construct the family genealogy and traced their roots back to Martin and Elizabeth Fugate. Why can colloidal silver turn your skin blue? Rachel was leaning against the wall. Cawein advised giving the child methylene blue and not worrying about it. Between 1880 and 1920, southern West Virginia's population grew from 93,000 to 446,000, due almost entirely to the coal industry. The first known ancestor was David Wilson, who was born in Scotland about 1650; he had a son David, born about . Correction, June 9, 2008: The article originally stated that a handful of states allow marriages between first cousins. Come on, Grafton rednecks. But Cawein knew from earlier studies that the body has an alternative method of converting methemoglobin back to normal. Got a question about todays news? It was hard to get out, so they intermarried, says Dennis Stacy, a 51-year-old coal miner and amateur genealogist who has filled a loose-leaf notebook with the laboriously traced blood lines of several local families. He married a red-haired American named Elizabeth Smith who had a very pale complexion and their union formed a genetic mutation that resulted in their descendants being born with blue skin. valley in the mountains in West Virginia with a barn and cows visible Stephanie Pittman 561 followers More information Blue People of West Virginia | . "I started asking them questions: 'Do you have any relatives who are blue?' Of their seven children, four were blue. The Fugate Family of Russell County, Virginia: A Genealogy of the Descendants of Francis, Benjamin, Colbert, Zachariah, Henley & William Fugate, Settlers of Moccasin Valley from 1772. Others, however, did not like being blue, and it was these Fugates, who didnt like their blue coloring, who were the first to volunteer for Caweins experimental treatments. The gene would most likely appear in an inbred line. Methemoglobinemia is a blood condition, not a skin condition. Dunlaps Gun & Pawn, Hurricane, WV. Population: 10,486Mobile home parks in area: 3rd in WVBars per capita: 3rdGun stores per capita: 5th in West Virginia. When you look at the numbers, its clear that most of Moundsville is a buncha fun-lovin rednecks. Somebody with only one gene would not have the condition but could pass the gene to a child. Within a few minutes. Explainer thanks Edwin Arnold of Appalachian State University, Anthony Harkins of Western Kentucky University, and David Hsiung of Juniata College. The Blue Fugates have essentially now gone from reality to legend. Benjy was a pretty big item in the hospital, his mother says with a grin. The Informant learned this information from her brother, when he returned home after his first semester at school. then I sat down and we began to chart the family." John Stacy still lives on Lick Branch of Ball Creek. The antidote worked quickly but patients were required to take daily doses as it passed quickly through the urine. The clinic doctors only saw her a few times in her life and never for anything serious. At last they were free of their "blue" shade and were no longer embarrassed. 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. Funding was made available through a $75 million facilities bond, $25 million in private donations through the Mountaineer Athletic Club and $6 million from West Virginia's multimedia rights contract with IMG. West Virginia, constituent state of the United States of America. By the time a young hematologist from the University of Kentucky came down to Troublesome Creek in the 1960s to cure the blue people, Martin Fugates descendants had multiplied their recessive genes all over the Cumberland Plateau. So is the Walmart factor, which is the number of Walmarts per person. There are other ways to get blue skin without inheriting it, though. Scott also concluded that the condition was inherited as a simple recessive trait. 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. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. The Fugate family intermarried with a neighbouring family for generations, which led to a relatively pure gene pool, often including the met-H gene. One of them even married his own aunt, and most of them had a lot of children who also married their cousins. He married Elizabeth Smith, who carried a recessive gene for a genetic condition called methemoglobinemia, which gives those who have it blue-toned skin, even though they are otherwise perfectly healthy. Martin Fugate carried the recessive gene and the odds that he could have married a woman with the same recessive gene were overwhelming - but that is exactly what happened. Born Jan. 16, 1869, in Marion County, Ephraim Franklin Morgan went on to become one of West Virginia's governors. Had you guys just ditched school even more, you might have won this whole thing. According to the official dictionary definition of a redneck, and based on stereotypes that the internet says are true, using science to determine the most redneck cities in a state cant be too far off. Read on below to see where your town ranked. Besides the number of bars, mobile home parks and places to buy shotguns, its at the base of the hills, where you know the deer and turkey probably walk right into town. 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. Two YouTubers have shared an inside look into Odd as they documented themselves traveling down a windy two-lane road. The inbreeding caused the recessive gene to appear in both parents. In the isolated hollows of rural Kentucky, they were known as the blue Fugates and the blue Combses. In the 1880s and 1890s, writers such as Mary Noailles Murfree and John Fox Jr. traveled across Appalachia, looking for local color, and overstated the degree to which mountain populations lived in isolation. From California herself, the informant was very curious to hear about what the people of West Virginia were like. There was a Zachariah Fugate who was married to a Mary Smith; both carried the gene which resulted in blue children. 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. Luna was bluish all over. But as Kentucky became more populated and more genes came into the Fugate family tree, there were far fewer children born blue. Population: 18,763Bars per capita: 6th in West VirginiaFishing/bait shops per capita: 4thMobile home parks per capita: 5th. Note: In this instance the reason for cyanosis was not methemoglobinemia but Rh incompatibility. One of the girls, the Informant, was discussing an upcoming trip to visit her brother at West Virginia University. Everyone knew the blue Fugates were healthy people. Population: 7,164 Mobile home parks per capita: 2nd in West Virginia Bars per capita: 2nd in the state Walmart rank: 3rd Elkins is way out in the middle of nowhere south of Morgantown, at the base of the Appalachians. History Timeline of the Native Indians of West Virginia. So, hold our beers and watch this. 1:52. If their blood had a lower concentration of methemoglobin, they might only blush blue in cold weather, while people with higher concentrations of methemoglobin were bright blue from head to toe. That was the pain of being blue in a world that is mostly shades of white to black. Old color photographs of the family clearly show about half of the members to have a distinct cobalt blue skin color, while the other have regular white skin color. So I brought back the new blood and set up my enzyme assay, Cawein continued. It is home to so much creativity, and has been a place of devastating poverty. The Derby Bar & Grill, Fairmount, WV. Genetic Causes When they settled this country back then, there was no roads. We do not feel less-fortunate. Laurel Wheeler and family, Buena Vista, Rockbridge County, Virginia. 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. Oh, and they had blue skin. In 1820, Martin Fugate, who is believed to have been blue, moved to Troublesome Creek from France and just happened to shack up with Elizabeth Smith, who also carried the gene. Meghan. Chasing Chains, LLC. It wasn't always this way. Appearance: Blue grosbeaks are medium birds about 8 long, large, bright blue, with large silver bills, and chestnut wingbars. Blue Hole, West Virginia GPS Coordinates to Blue hole 39.594754,-79.748120 The Fugate family didnt leave the area for generations, continually intermarrying with relatives. Its blue, and their people have always had blue skin because of all the intermarrying and incest. (Baltimore: Gateway Press 1986). The topographic boundary was modified where Route 9 crossed the watershed divide. So you can tell if someone is a product of incest if their skin is blue! The range of blue that could express itself in the blue Fugates ranged from light blue to dark blue like a blueberry, with even darker blue on the lips and fingernail beds. Blue Grass Riding Club Of West Virginia, Inc. is a West Virginia Domestic Profit Corporation filed on January 19, 1965. The Fugate familys condition caused the blue members to be missing that enzyme; because their methemoglobin couldnt be converted, large amounts of it built up in the blue Fugates, even before birth, causing a very obvious blue tone to their skin. They werent sick; it was just the way they look. martin fugate was blue from birth, which has nothing to do with inbreeding. 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. There are even video games about rednecks. But there around 10 or 15 Dollar Stores in the area. The afflicted were embarrassed about their condition and adamant about talking to Cawein. Bessie had an iron pot of clothes boiling in her front yard, but she graciously allowed the doctor to draw some of her blood. Cawein, Madison, et. Green human are possible. Where is this area located in eastern KY? Additional comment actions. They were real, and they really were blue, thanks to a recessive genetic condition. Dark blue lips and fingernails are the only traces of Martin Fugates legacy left in the boy; that, and the recessive gene that has shaded many of the Fugates and their kin blue for the past 162 years. 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. West By God is right. he passed the gene on to his children. She looked like she was having a heart attack. 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