This Webster County native was known as the best fiddler in central West Virginia. He never lost a contest and won the top prize at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. His fiddling influenced many others, including the Carpenter, Hammons, and Wine families, as well as “Blind Ed” Haley.

Though he was never recorded, people remembered his powerful “old West Fork style.” His signature tune was “Old Sledge,” which listeners said could lift you “three feet off the ground.” Today, many West Virginia fiddlers trace their music back to Uncle Jack, even if they've never heard his name.