This article, written by Todd Preston, the president of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the April 05 2007 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.  The Salyersville Independent is a weekly newspaper published and edited every Thursday. For inquires or comments, please write to P. O. Box 29, Salyersville, KY 41465. Yearly subscription rates are $22.00 in Kentucky and $26.00 per year out of state.

In our last column we spoke of getting a marker for J. P. Honaker in the Adams Cemetery.  Phillip Howard visited Monday. While here he told us about the marker he and Hilda had obtained and set some time ago for James Preston Honaker. They did not know the exact grave site where he was buried so they placed the marker near Martin and Glen Honaker’s grave sites. This is about 60 feet due east of the area Grace Kelley told my sister Ann where James was buried. We want to let Hilda and Phillip take charge of further decisions for it may be just as well to let the marker be left where they put it.                  Michael Hammonds, 3587 Gary Drive, West Harrison, IN 47060 was at our library waiting on me to “open up” Saturday morning. We “rooted” the Hammond family and afterwards went down to the Hammond Cemetery at the mouth of Greasy and found the road blocked by a fallen pine tree. We walked on up to the cemetery and found it in need of a cleaning up.  Mike took pictures of the Joseph Hammons marker we set during Hammond Founder’s Days a couple of years ago. I picked up a fieldstone rock to show him the Benjamin Hammond name and discovered a black racer snake which was still on the chilly side or not completely out of hibernation so I threw it aside…this tells me these warm days are waking them up.  It is time to get the cemeteries cleaned before the weather gets too much warmer.                 Mike descends from Courtney Hammonds b. 1899, son of George W. Hammonds, Jr. b. 1857 and his 2nd wife Lulie Williams b. 1882.                 Bob and Betty Whittaker of SC and Sharon Nutt of Columbus, OH came in to visit for a few days to work on projects.  Bob and I took off Monday evening for the William Cole Cemetery on Oakley and Bob set an additional monument for William’s wife Perlina M. Cole b. 1836 d. 1893.                 We next went to the Abner Joseph Cemetery on Half Mountain Creek where Bob set monuments for Robert Owens and his wife Rutha H. Owens (b. 1804 d. 1881).                 Our next stop was the Carpenter Hill Cemetery near the Mouth of Half Mountain where Bob set monuments for John Joseph and his wife Usley Salyer.                    On Tuesday Bob went to Tip Top and picked up Hurley Manns.  I went directly on to Bullmire.  When Bob arrived we loaded into my Rodeo and took the old coal haul road up Bullmire Creek. We had to stop many times to move the fallen pine trees that the pine beetles have deadened. I made wild dashes through some muddy sections to prevent getting stuck so when I got back to our Pioneer Village I washed about a hundred pounds of Bullmire mud off the Rodeo! (Smile)                 Now, we sort of misjudged (that’s short for “got lost”) and cleared off a good deal we didn’t have to!  We finally got straightened out after going down to the valley and finding the old Bailey homestead then going back up the hill.  We cleared off a site and Bob set a sign he had designed and made designating the spot as the Bailey Cemetery. He set memorial markers for John and Susan Bailey and their son Henry C. Bailey who served in Co. C, 5th KY Mtd. Inf. as a drummer in the Confederate Army. It is said he died from the effects of exposure endured while in the Army.                 We plan to set the government obtained marker at the mouth of Bullmire as we feel there will be few people who will ever be able to make the trip up in Bullmire to the original grave site. A small stone will be placed with this marker telling the location of the actual gravesite.                 We stopped at the Howard Cemetery at the mouth of Bullmire where Wiley Salyer (b. 1842 d. 1866), a veteran of the Union Army is buried just outside the Howard Cemetery. It is a lone grave enclosed with a barbed wire fence.  Plans are to put Henry C. Bailey’s Government Issue Confederate marker beside Wiley Salyer and enclose them with a chain link fence.                 We took down the barbed wire fence and did a bush cutting, clean up job before we took a break.  Bob and Hurley then went back to dig the post holes and installed metal posts, cementing them in.  Bob has just now reported in and told they have most of the chain link fence installed and plans are to dedicate this memorial Saturday.                 Paul Bailey and his wife Helen arrived Wednesday evening.  Paul’s son Wiley Bailey was in the area and came over to help also.  Bobby Davis will be stopping by Saturday on his way to Nashville where he plays in a Bluegrass band.                 There are four headstones to set in the old Howard Cemetery on top of the hill, plus markers for Nancy Cameron Howard and Lewis Howard’s wife Elizabeth Shepherd to be set so unless the Confederate markers we have ordered come this week, this about rounds out “things to get done”.  It is a great asset to our county to have all these projects done and a service to all descendants.  We appreciate all the people who have helped to get this work done.                 Carol A. Coke, 3525 Cooper St., Boulder, CO (carol @napmdenver.org) visited Wednesday. She is a dau of Ruth May Bowen and a gr/dau of Prudence May b. 1894. Prudence is a dau of Samuel David “Dee” May b. 1867 who married Lou Dora Rice b. 1874. Lou Dora was a dau of John J. Rice b. 1841 who married 1st to Sarah Colvin, dau of Abiud Colvin. Abiud was a son of John Colvin and Sarah Fairchild.                 John J. Rice married 2nd in 1869 to Drucilla Hammond b. 1838, dau of Benjamin Hammon, Sr. b. 1790 NC and married in 1824 to Sarah Johnson b. 1808 NC.                 Dee May was a son of Samuel May and Celia Powers. Celia was a dau of Lewis Power and Elizabeth Prater. Elizabeth was a dau of Archibald Prater and Sarah Fugate.                 Diana D. Igo of Bloomington, IN (dianaigo @sbcgigo.net) has asked several questions that I will attempt to answer.                 Jeremiah Patrick came to Kentucky from Virginia after his wife Sarah died in Virginia. He is buried in the Dyer Cemetery on Middle Fork which supposedly is a part of his grandson’s farm (William Patrick, Jr. who married Charlotte Wilson).                 Jeremiah’s son William Patrick and wife Mollie Reins are buried in the Meredith Patrick Cemetery at Bradley on Burning Fork. There is one small field stone with the initials “W. P.” on it which is frequently moved to enable mowing.                 Personally, I doubt William Patrick is actually buried there as some older residents informed me thirty years ago that he was buried across the valley above the Bish Patrick home.  He certainly needs a government marker if one can be obtained.  His wife, Lucy Adams Patrick, is buried at Seitz on Right Middle Fork.                 Lucy’s sister, Zelphia Adams was born in 1811 and married in 1827 Hazard, Perry Co. KY to Randolph Holbrook who died in 1841. They were the parents of Kelsey, Nancy, “Preacher” Benjamin, Randolph, Mary and Elizabeth.  This Zelphia married 2nd in 1844 to Charles R. Stone and had children Stephen, Margaret, Sirilda, Rebecca, George M. D., and Sarah.  Another Zelphia, the daughter of Daniel Adams and Jane Stone, married Elias Prater in 1846, son of William and Obedience Prater.                 We thank you for your queries and comments. Telephone us at 606-349-1607. Write to us at Box 222, Salyersville, KY 41465 (email: [email protected]).