Information such as the article referenced in the My American Odyssey piece drive me crazy. While it is interesting, it's based on a false premise, or maybe several dubious ideas. The article is dated 15 March 2014, yet Y-DNA testing had proven that the Hatfields of Pike Co., KY, and Logan Co., WV, are not at all related to Matthias Hatfield almost a decade before this article was written.
Yikes, the author ignored a vital source of information. By 2014, DNA testing was not exactly a secret.
Here is a link to the current Hatfield Y-DNA test results.
FamilyTreeDNA - Hatfield / Hartsfield DNA Project
Notice that Group 1 is for descendants of George Hatfield of Southwestern Virginia. Here you will see lines coming down from Joseph Hatfield and others who also seem to be sons to George Hatfield. Their haplogroup is E-M35.
Look more closely at the group listed just below, and DNA throws a curveball. Group 2 is small, but it contains living descendants of Devil Anse's youngest two sons. Yikes again, either Devil Anse let his wife stray multiple times with the same man, or there is a break in the male line somewhere between Ephraim Hatfield of Russell Co., VA, and later Pike Co., KY, and Devil Anse of feuding fame. Sons who provably descend from Ephraim's second wife have Y-DNA that matches Group 1 and descend from George Hatfield of Southwestern VA. The Y-DNA of Devil Anse's two youngest sons falls into haplogroup I-M223 and matches the Breeden/Breeding family who neighbored Ephraim Hatfield back in Russell Co., VA.
The Matthias Hatfield family is found in Group 4 and belong to haplogroup R-M269.
There is ZERO possibility that any Hatfields of the Feud were related to Matthias Hatfield.
