This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the August 25, 2005 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.
 

            We have some big thank yous to deliver this week.  We have received some plows that belonged to the late Luther Rice and we are very pleased to have them.  We also want to thank Robert Rennick who donated various books and pamphlets pertaining to eastern Kentucky history as well as place names in several areas.

Mark Hammons was visiting last Thursday and he and I went down to the Joseph Hamon Cemetery basically to locate a good place to set the marker.  Mark was a bit reluctant to be called upon to select a site but let’s face it, that monument may have to be set by the time you read this.  We have the inscription at the suppliers and we will hear from them soon.  Mark has selected a site about thirty feet above the gate and as I don’t know anyone who is in charge of that cemetery, we will set it there.  I have mowed this cemetery the last three times and it will need mowing again.  As I am heading down the stretch here at the home twenty, I wish someone would step in to help with the mowing and also do some work with a bush-hog, hint, hint, Darrel Keith…the road is in good enough shape to drive a car up there, thanks to county workers who prepared the roadway for the burial of Buck Gipson’s son but there is very little parking space and the corner fence post has broken down.

            The Hammond tee shirts, caps, knives, and mugs have arrived.  I was the first one to show them off as they got here on Friday and I wore one of the shirts to the mountain celebration at Pound Gap.  We hope you Hammond (all spelling) descendants will come in while the size selection is easy. 

It’s time to get ready for the parade! I thought I heard that Grover Hammond’s son-in-law, Hearl Howard, my neighbor, would have a float half a block long to haul that clan through town.  Donna Miller is planning another Hammond family float, so come on, Hammond descendants; get in on the act as this will be the largest parade ever!  We know there are a great many people in the Bloomington area who are Hammond descendants and we would like to hear from you.  Founder’s Day number 27 is almost here!

            Bob and Betty Whittaker of South Carolina came in early Wednesday morning and Betty minded the “home twenty” while Bob and I went up to the Arnett Cemetery where the Patsy Whitaker marker is located and we got that cemetery in good condition.  Bob had brought in a large quantity of paint so we started painting the remaining porches and stage area.  Now Bob and Betty are PAINTERS while Ol’ Todd is quite sloppy.  This lasted up to Saturday morning when we went back to the cemetery to paint the picket fence.

            After resting up a bit, we started for Pound Mountain where we were to meet with Faron Sparkman and attend a twilight service honoring the Confederate and Union soldiers that lost their lives defending that gap during the Civil War.

            I hadn’t been there for years; in fact, it was before they four-laned Rt. 23 from Pikeville.  If memory serves me right, there was a lone grave on the Virginia side marked as the grave of an unknown soldier.  Now the gap has been taken down a few hundred feet but the various S. C. V. camps have made a mini-park high above the highway. They have installed a large monument entitled “Brothers Once More”.  The front side faces north with pictures of Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln.  The back side faces south with pictures of General James Garfield USA and General Tom Hunt Morgan CSA and is surrounded by five tall flag poles.

            A candle light service was held then a time capsule was buried to be opened in one hundred years.  There were CSA camps from various states there, including Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, as well as Kentucky.

            Now, I am buoyed up to get more members and interest in our local Licking Station Camp No. 17.  Don’t forget that a monument is being set for John Franklin on the 20^th of September on the Hammond Fork of Rockhouse.  I have a uniform and found out I was entitled to wear Captain’s bars as I went in the SCV under Capt. Daniel Hager.  Now, what about that?!  Commander Randall Mann, have your troops ready. I just might make an inspection. (Smile)

            My trip up Rt. 23 to Pound Gap made me aware of all the tourist attractions in eastern Kentucky as they are well announced by signs all along the highway, even the newest event, the regional fair at Stone Crest, Prestonsburg, was announced every few hundred feet…but here we are in our 27^th year with Magoffin County Founder’s Days and not one sign is up on a highway leading into Salyersville that advertises the event.  It seems like every time we’ve tried to find out what we can put up on the Mountain Parkway we get a no answer and we can’t afford a commercial billboard.  I saw such signs all along Rt. 23, a four-lane, and our Mountain Parkway is only a two lane.  We get to stretch a sign across the street here in town a few days before the big event but by then visitors are already in town and the event is underway.

            There is still a lot of work to be done to ready everything for Founder’s Days so if anyone has a little time on your hands, come on down to help Ol’ Todd.  There are always a great many last minute things to be done and a one-man work force gets a little lonely. (Smile)

            I have arranged the stage in the Pioneer Village so it can be used from either side.  Of course, the front side will probably get the most use so bring your lawn chairs as seating may be a problem even though we have more bleachers than usual.

            With all the work getting ready for Founder’s Days, I am behind on researching so I ask you readers to get involved and help answer the following queries.

            [email protected] writes that her grandfather was Cisco Risner and her grandmother is Earsie Montgomery, age 92, a granddaughter of Goldenhawk Sizemore. Other relatives are Kelsey Kilgore and an uncle Rodney Kilgore who resided near Pikeville.

            Ersie is a dau of Farish Montgomery and Cora Johnson (or Ratliff) who married in 1927 to Cisco Risner, son of Thomas Risner and Cora Patrick.

            Thomas Richard Roe, 972 Highland Ave., Jackson, KY 41339 is a son of Thomas Roe b. 1914 Salt Lick, veteran of WWII and married Delores Faye McCarty b. 1930 Morgan Co. KY, dau of Algiar McCarty b. 1891. Algiar married in 1910 to Mary Frances Prater b. ca. 1891. They show in the Morgan Co. census of 1920 in the Adele precinct.  Any help appreciated.

            Judy Carter, 612 Lager St., Flatwoods, KY 41139 ([email protected]) is researching her Williams line. Rebecca Williams married 23 Dec 1822 Floyd Co. KY to Meredith Patrick.  Who were Rebecca’s parents?

            According to Barbara Patrick Griesheimer, 17 Quailridge, Oxford, OH 45056, Rebecca was a dau of Isaac Williams and Hannah.