One of the pastimes as a child of yesteryear was to catch a June Bug, tie a piece of thread to its leg and then let it fly round and round until it became exhausted. We'd turn it loose and catch another one and repeat the fun until Mom made us stop being cruel to bugs. Here it is in the middle of June so where are the June Bugs? Were they driven out by the smaller Japanese Beetle or has crop spraying taken its toll?
Along the same lines, there are other bugs or worms that seem to have vanished from the scene. What about the Pack Saddler that stung you when cutting corn and the big ol' tobacco worm of yesteryear? I guess young people of today can't relate to this.
I was at the campout of the Muzzleloader Club recently and a young boy was whistling through a handmade whistle. I got to talking to him about it and asking questions and he gave me one so I about got booted out of camp by my whistling on that toy of old (smile)! I remember when any boy who couldn't make his own whistle by age six was classed a sissy and I could waste a page on the art of making and using sling shots, but I won't get into that.
The bottom line is that we are in a new era, be it better or worse, but we senior citizens remember the good things of yesteryear better than what happened last week for we have a tendency to live in the past with our memories.
I'm not ashamed to admit I've never learned to turn on a computer and can barely use a cell phone along with several other simple things a six year old of today can do with ease.
The Dayton Group paid us their annual visit and toured the Pioneer Village. This new group of sixteen young people with Tom Piper as their mentor seemed extra attentive and courteous. It just might be that A. B. Conley and my daughter in law Lisa Preston helped with the tour and they didn't have to listen to Ol' Todd drone on and on (smile). I want to thank A. B. and Lisa for their help.
Then on Thursday we had a younger group of summer school visitors and A. B. was again on hand to help. This group was full of spunk and had plenty of questions. Our efforts were to relate to them how their grandparents and great grandparents lived.
Now amongst all these happenings my daughter Jessica helped Dorothy do our display window. We chose to display some of the items Seldon and Eva Holliday, formerly of Half Mountain here in Magoffin County and now of North Carolina, have given us to display in our cabins. Seldon told us that if we had a barn-like structure about 40 X 60 feet, he would stock it to the rooftop! Be sure to drop by and see our window display.
Dorothy has the summer issue of our Journal of the Magoffin County Historical Society printed and we are mailing it out. This publication started in 1979 so this makes 110 issues that have been printed, full of county and area genealogical and historical material. And this week's column makes about 1,250 weekly Comments. Now we are not bragging, but it is an accomplishment we never dreamed of achieving, not to mention the 28 family books plus dozens of other books, etc., a staggering feat to have attained. We want to thank all of you who have helped by sharing your information down through the years, now I had better get to stapling more Journals!
On Saturday, after attending military rites for Edna Castle, we had visitors here from Virginia who were descendants of William “Bluford Bill” Conley and Belle Sparks so I called Ernest “Bo” Conley who came down and we took them to the Edmond D. Conley Cemetery on Litteral's Fork where Bluford Bill and his 2 nd wife Belle are buried. We were able to drive right up to the cemetery which wasn't the case some twenty years ago when I worked in that area. I had built a metal sign and placed it at the cemetery as well as made one for the Henry Jack Conley Cemetery downstream. We stopped there also and went on down and turned up Mine Fork where I showed them where Nancy Conley and Stephen Crace are buried.
We then went up the Caudill Fork and showed them where the William Smith Conley was located but we didn't tackle the road up to that cemetery. We next crossed over on State Road to the Isaiah Conley Cemetery then as it was getting close to time for the Elzie Conley Reunion Dinner we didn't go on to the Wallace Conley Cemetery on Mash Fork. After eating a scrumptious dinner with the Conleys I started for the home twenty and found a couple more ladies visiting. They were Lori Cass and Eunice Payne from Corbin , KY. They were searching for Poe and Minix information.
Renee Penix (
[email protected]
) would like info on Lowell Hudson Penix who married Emma Neeka Price of Oil Springs , KY. Lowell Hudson was the son of Warren Penix and married 25 Jan 1922 to Nora Cooper, a dau of Will Cooper b. 1875. Will was a son of David M. Cooper b. 1850 and a grandson of Thomas M. Cooper b. 1824. Thomas' father was David M. Cooper b. 1802 and his gr/father was John Cooper b. 1759 Washington Co. VA d. 1837 Morgan Co. KY. John was a soldier of the American Revolution and was reported to be the first teacher in the area that became Magoffin County .
John Cooper was married 20 Apr 1789 to Patsy McDaniel in Greenbrier Co. VA and they are buried in the Christian Churchyard at the mouth of Buffalo of Lick Creek in Magoffin Co. David M. Cooper m. in 1823 to Celia Prater b. 1807. Celia was a dau of Archibald Prater b. 1755 (also a Revolutionary soldier) and Sarah Fugate. Sarah was a dau of Josiah Fugate.
Thomas M. Cooper married in 1847 to Mary J. Bayes b. 1828 but we do not presently know the names of her parents. David M. Cooper married Priscilla Price b. 1856, dau of Hamilton Price (b. 1834) and Evaline Salyer (b. 1837). Evaline was a dau of Jacob Salyer b. 1805 and Newcarious Rowland b. 1806.
Hamilton Price was born in 1835 to George Wash Price b. 1811. G. W. was the son of Jesse Price and Lynchie Preston, 6 th child of Moses Preston, another Revolutionary War soldier.
Will H. Cooper m. in 1896 to Mary Elizabeth Gullett b. 1877, dau of Andrew Thomas Gullett. A. T. was the son of William Gullett and Tempy Hopper. William (son of Daniel Gullett) m. 2 nd in 1869 to Evaline Walters.
Emma Neeka Price was a dau of Mitchell Price b. 1910 and gr/dau of Winfield Scott Price b. 1879 d. 1899 and Amanda Rice. Winfield was the son of Hamilton Price b. 1833 and Evelyn Salyer. Hamilton was the son of George Washington Price b. 1811 d. 1889 and wife Sarah Borders. G. W. was the son of Jesse Price b. Tazewell Co. VA and Lynchie Preston. Lynchie was the dau of Moses Preston and Fanny Arthur (my own 4 th great grandparents).
Jerry Bailey (
[email protected]
) is looking for info on Hulda Jane Bailey who was married to Samuel T. Bailey. Hulda was first married to Samuel's brother Daniel Bailey and had two children. Jerry is the son of Ollie Bailey.
Samuel T. Bailey b. 1874 and Daniel Bailey b. 1886 were the sons of William Bailey b. 1843 and Susan Barnett b. 1853.
Daniel married 23 May 1906 to Jane Bailey. The 1910 Magoffin census lists their children as Seward b. 1906 and Ada b. 1908. The 1920 Magoffin census has Samuel D. Bailey age 46, widower, Jane age 29, widow, Seward b. 1907, Adie b. 1909, Rosa b. 1912, Ellen b. 1914, Warnie b. 1916 and Aulie b. 1918.
Samuel T. Bailey m. 2 Sep 1895 to Darcus Conley, the dau of Joseph Conley and Polly Bailey. They had a dau Gracie b. 1899, according to the 1900 Magoffin Census. Our Conley books tells that Darcus Conley married S. T. “Bologer Sam” Bailey, son of William and Susie Bailey and also lists Fannie Bailey who married Elisha Mullins, the son of Ambrose and Clarinda Mullins. The 1910 Magoffin census has Sam D. Bailey age 35, divorced, as a servant in the household of Dan Wireman Sr.
I am unable to answer the query concerning information on Absolem or Apalison Jordan. In our Civil War book in the section about John Jordan b. 1841, Pvt. Co. F, 14 th KY Inf. I have penciled in that his parents were Apps Jordan and Sally Fitzpatrick. I do not remember where the info came from but the 1850 Floyd Co. census lists Sarah Jordan age 36 b. VA with children, James age 17, Lewis age 13, Anna age 11, John age 9, Robert age 5, and George age 4. This Sarah Jordan could very well be Sally Fitzpatrick.
We have several people to thank this week. They are Jeanette Schwab of Hamilton , OH , Betty Brown of Rensselaer , IN , Chyrl J. Morgan of Berea, KY, Minnie Linthicum of Jeffersonville, OH, Simon Reed of Alliance, OH and Eula Slone of Hilliard, OH. Their support is much appreciated. We also enjoyed the nice letter from Bob and Catherine Orth of Warnerville, NY. They were visiting their friends Ruth and James Montgomery last fall and they brought them down to visit our Pioneer Village . Bob and Catherine wrote at length of the wonderful time they had in our area and of the nice scenery. We thank them for letting us know they enjoyed their visit to Magoffin County .
We invite you to visit us at 191 South Church Street in Salyersville or write to us at Box 222 , Salyersville , KY 41465 (email
[email protected]
). Our telephone number is 606-349-1607.
Magoffin County Historical
Society
This
article, written by Todd Preston, the president of the
Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the
June 22, 2006
issue of