As I mentioned before, my nephew Kenneth Kelley sent material on my Helton family that he had gleaned from the Internet. I cannot verify its authenticity and I share it here with the hope that other info may come to light.
My grandfather Ephraim Helton was
the son of George Helton, Jr. b. 1831 Patrick Co. VA. George Jr.
was a soldier in the Civil War (Co. D, 45 th KY INF.) and was
wounded in the right thigh at Mt. Sterling by gunshot. He would
not remain in the hospital and often blood would trickle from the
wound as he was back in the saddle too soon. He was discharged in
1862 at Maysville, KY and re-enlisted as a veteran serving until
1864.
This new information claims George
Jr. married about 1847 in Carroll Co. VA to Mary A. Howard. Mom
always said there was a daughter born to Mary whose name was
Cornelius. She is said to have married a Rogers and lived in New
York. My brother Henry remembered seeing Cornelius. She was
dressed in riding attire and seemed quite sophisticated to a kid
from Burton Fork.
George married 2 nd to Anna
Estrich/Estridge who was born in 1838 Washington Co. VA. They were
married in 1855 and divorced in 1864. Anna lived in the Feds Creek
area of Pike Co. KY later in life. George married
again in 1866 to Lydia Caudill. She died in 1870 with no children.
George married in 1872 to Harriet Salyer b. 1851. They had no
children but adopted and raised Georgeann Pendleton.
This George Helton, Jr. was a son
of George Helton, Sr. b. ca. 1793 in Patrick Co. VA and married
ca. 1815 Bedford Co. VA to Malinda Wade b. ca. 1795 Patrick Co.
VA. George and Malinda are buried in the Christian Churchyard
Cemetery here in Salyersville, KY.
George Sr. was a son of Nathaniel
Newmay Helton b. 1744 King and Queen Co. VA. Nathaniel m. ca. 1773
in Bedford Co. VA to Elizabeth Wade b. ca. 1753 Goochland Co. VA
and d. after 1820 in Patrick Co. VA.
Nathaniel was a son of George
Hilton b. 1699 New Kenton, VA and Esther -?- b. 1700. They are
buried in Albemarle Co. VA.
George Hilton was a son of John
Hilton b. 1655 Bristol, England and died in 1725 St. Peters
Parish, now Kent Co. VA, and buried there.
John married Elizabeth -?- b. ca.
1669 St. Peters Parish (Kent Co. VA) and died 18 Apr 1718 (buried
Kent Co. VA).
Kenneth also sent a tape of
conversations of my mother and her older sister, Elizabeth
“Lizzie” (Helton) Reid. He has copied it from the old
reel to reel tapes that my brother Henry had made years ago.
Lizzie was born in 1882 and my
mother Mary Jane “Mollie” was born in 1890. They had three
sisters, Lydia Margaret b. 1881, Paulina b. 1885 and Nancy Jane b.
1887 who died during childbirth or shortly thereafter.
They were children of Ephraim Helton and Abby Jane Conley
George Jr. is buried in the Helton
Cemetery above where he owned land (now called Fairchild Fork of
Mash Fork) and lived when he married Lydia Caudill. Apparently he
also owned land on Burton Fork where Ephraim settled and built a
log house.
Lizzie was old enough to remember
them building the log barn and perhaps the house also. She
describes how they would cut the trees, bring them off the hill,
strike a line and hew with a broad axe, hence the old saying “hew
to the line”.
She didn't remember them having a
saw but Ephraim and his brother Will built the log home and barn.
Eph was building rail fences when he got wet from a sudden
rainstorm and “took the fever” and died in 1892 when Mom was only
two years old and Lizzie was eight. Their mother, Abby Jane Conley
was the daughter of Isaiah Conley and Nancy Caudill.
“Granny” Abby was unable to
accompany the funeral trip to the Helton Cemetery but gave
instructions as to the arrangements. Lizzie then became the
overseer of the farm, milking the cow, hauling in firewood and
doing the planting and harvesting, etc.
The log home only had a floor in
one room. They cooked in the adjacent room with a dirt floor.
Granny Abby got a carpenter named Frank Kazee to construct a floor
in that room. That sort of led to a marriage between Abby and
Frank and four sons, Lloyd, Powell, Lonnie and Buell were born to
them. Lizzie and Mollie claimed two boys each and “mothered” them.
There are so many interesting
things on these tapes. Lizzie and my mother describe shearing the
sheep and carding the wool, growing flax and spinning it into
linen which was made into tablecloths or men's shirts, husking
corn and making “ticks” or mattresses. They also made straw ticks
and feather ticks. In one instance, my mother
exclaimed, “I never want to lay on those anymore!”
Once while Lizzie was milking Ole
Pied, Mom got in the stall with Ole Grey (the horse) and it
stepped on Mom. Mom again exclaimed, “It hurts to this
day!”
Lizzie told how Ole Grey could take
down a rail fence (“open the bars”) to get in to the corn crop.
When Lizzie would find her she would ride back to the barn with
Mom on behind her. Once Mom managed to fall off and Lizzie didn't
know who to be the maddest at, Mollie for falling off or Ole Grey
for straying!
They discussed going to church,
regardless of the denomination but mostly the Missionary Baptist
Church which was where the Rev. Lewis Franklin Caudill was the
pastor and where they were led to Christ.
They went to a few “shindigs” and
“infairs”. Young people were permitted to gather in the road
downstream but in sight of the log home. Logs had been
placed to prevent wagons from getting stuck in the mud. They
played “Skip-to-my-Lou” and other simple games.
If you have read this far, you may
wonder why I relate all this. I hope to remind folks of the need
to do oral interviews. All senior citizens around you need to be
interviewed and taped.
I can just imagine all the history
that has been lost with the passing of each of our citizens, not
only the seniors. Everyone has something to tell that
needs to be preserved in writing or on tape. Maybe this is a task
you would take upon yourself to do for us.
Ryan V. Brammer (rrbramm
@yahoo.com) is looking for info on Riley Prater b. 1837 and wife
Lucretia Shepherd. This family is listed in our Shepherd book on
page 333. Lucretia was born 1n 1837 to Bryson R. Shepherd b. 1816
and Rebecca Bradley. She married Riley Prater b. 1837, son of
Jonathan Prater and Margaret Bailey. We recommend you obtain
this set of Shepherd books or at least Volume One for the
information is too lengthy for these comments.
Sue Zellers, 3744 South State Rd.
15, Warsaw, IN 46580 (sueze @ncsbroadband.com) wrote to us. She is
the research assistant in the genealogy section of KCHS and
reports that she researched her future son-in-law's family back to
our area in the 1850s. She asks if we have brochures with
information about our county. We ask that she please
let us know the family names she is interested in.
We have an inquiry concerning Nancy
Williams b. 1837 d. 1920 and Mary Mollett b. 1875 d. 1923 who are
buried in the Trimble Gap Cemetery on Drybread Fork of Middle
Creek.
Nancy Williams is listed as the
mother of Patience Williams b. 1874 who married Ulysses Grant
Trimble b. 1869. He was the son of James Trimble and Sarah Howes
(or Baldwin) whom he married in 1859.
James was first married to Frances
Tackett and Sarah Howes was apparently first married to a Baldwin.
Patience was born 23 Dec 1874 to
James Williams and Nancy Reed. In the 1900 Johnson Co. KY census
Nancy Reed b. 1837 is listed as mother-in-law and Sarah (Howes) b.
1829 is listed as mother in the household of Ulysses Grant
Trimble.
As to Mary Mollett b. 1875, I find
her listed in the Annals of Johnson Co. KY: Mary S. Mollett b. 25
July 1874, dau of James H. Mollett (a lawyer). He was age 28 and
was married on 6 Apr 1871 to Nancy J. Wells age 17. This
James H. Mollett, Attorney, at age 42 married Cynthia Baldwin, age
22, in 1884. Any help appreciated.
Write to us at Box 222, Salyersville, KY 41465 ( [email protected] ). The telephone number is 606-349-1607 and we are located at 191 Church Street in Salyersville.
Magoffin County Historical
Society
