This article, written by Todd Preston, the president of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the June 7, 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.

Many thanks for the birthday wishes that came my way on the first day of June.  I spent my birthday working around the Pioneer Village.               My sister, Ida Jane Conley of Dayton, OH came to visit this Memorial Day weekend.  I had some work planned; in fact I had a little bridge on my truck that I wanted to take to the Doc Bill Howard Cemetery on Howard’s Branch off Rt. 7.  Ida Jane went with me and helped me set the bridge in place.  The cemetery has not been cleared since James Montgomery and I visited there last year.  We didn’t have any tools to do any cleaning so we traveled back down the Licking River road.  We drove around the river at Brown Mountain by the way of Bullmire where we had helped set several Howard family markers a few weeks ago.             When we came to Puncheon Creek, I decided to go by Henry Clay Sizemore’s house.  His wife had called earlier and offered an old handmade kitchen cabinet to the Pioneer Village that she had purchased some years ago.  We loaded the cabinet on my truck and continued our travels down the Licking.  We crossed over the Half Mountain Bridge where the new school is being built and went up to the Harris Howard farm.  I wanted to show Ida Jane the monuments for Martha “Patsy” Whitaker and Stephen Arnett that had been set during the Whitaker Founder’s Day celebration in 2004.  Ida was in awe of the beautiful sight which included “creases” in bloom below the cemetery which made the view even more spectacular. We noticed that the section below the fence needs cleaning again. Bob and Betty Whittaker of SC, Tom Marshall of Puncheon Creek and I had cleared it a couple of years ago.             On arriving back in Salyersville my daughter Jessica invited us out to eat at the Keeping Room and Garden Tea Cottage on lower Maple Street.  We were much impressed; don’t pass this up if you are interested in handcrafts!  When I entered the tea room, the first thing I saw was a cabinet almost identical to the one that Mrs. Wilma Sizemore had given us so I spent most of the day Saturday cleaning and doing minor repairs on the cabinet that had once belonged to Earl May which I plan on displaying in the Kennard cabin after I move some things around.             We also worked on the school house cabin making room for the display case that Bridie Hale Shepherd brought to us last week to house the collection of old school books she had donated to us earlier.  Things are looking up around here, thanks to the several nice donations we have received, including one that came to us from Rex Lee Minix, son of Dennie Marvin Minix.             On Sunday my sisters Ida Jane and Luva along with Louise Lemaster and I visited several cemeteries, including the R. M. Prater, Samuel Williams, Ephraim Helton on Mash Fork, the Christopher Gullett, Rufas Kazee, and Isaiah Conley cemeteries on State Road Fork.             On Monday our DAV chapter had a flag raising ceremony in Ramey Park at the VAMCCO veteran’s monument. Attendance was a bit smaller than in previous years, noticeably absent were a couple of our oldest veterans, Edgar Blanton and Belsey Connelley.  However Henry Clay Patrick was right there and if some of the rest of us senior citizens could keep in step with Henry Clay we would be in good shape. Henry Clay walks fifty laps almost daily around the Community Center gym which is about two miles.             Our chaplain, Rev. Melvin Blanton, read the staggering figures of Americans who “gave their all” on the battlefields of all wars to keep our country’s freedom.  It makes us all feel humble and grateful to know of the great sacrifices that have been made.  These lives were priceless to our country and their families.              It makes me feel sick to my stomach to see Old Glory burned in protest on television.  I remember hearing John Russell Connelley saying he prayed he would never see such a thing happen in his presence. Thank goodness we have never had to witness first hand such an incident.  The flag burning that our Vietnam veterans had to witness when they got back to their homeland has warped the minds of so many of those veterans who left their buddies on foreign soil. In addition many of those returning lost their own body parts and suffered so much only to return and be met by protestors.  Our very freedom which those men and women fought for actually gave the protestors the freedom to spit upon those returning G.I.’s.  Ironic, isn’t it?             We are experiencing drought-like conditions with temperatures in the 90s so we may not have a cicada infestation such as was shown on television in Chicago, IL. Why? I think our ground is baked so hard, the locusts can’t come through! (smile)             Joyce Beech (grandma2845 @yahoo.com) writes that her grandmother was a Bailey, her father being Tom Bailey and she wondered if there were any Indian blood lines.             Three sons of John Bailey, Sr. married three sisters that were traditionally said to have Indian blood, namely Catherine Runyon who married John Bailey, Jr. b. 1815, Jennie Runyon who married Joseph Bailey b. 1819 and Nancy Runyon who married Samuel Bailey b. 1822.  Nancy and Samuel had a son Thomas Bailey b. 1868 who married California Patrick, dau of Dr. Jackson Patrick.  We would need more information to determine if this is the right Thomas so we ask Joyce to send more family details.             Preston H. Hale (prestonhhale @aol.com) writes that his grandfather Preston H. Hale was married in Magoffin County on 28 Mar 1895 to Telitha Johnson who was born in Floyd County on 12 Feb 1888.  Preston was born on 2 Jun 1872, the son of H. H. Hale b. 7 May 1830 and died 3 Nov 1878.  I’m having trouble finding the parents of Telitha Johnson.             The 1900 Magoffin census lists P. H. Hale (b. Jun 1872) age 23, married 5 years (1895) with wife Birdie age 18 (b. Feb 1882). They have one child Lula b. Nov 1898. Would this be the family you are interested in?  Any help would be appreciated on these queries or send in your own family history question to the Magoffin County Historical Society, Box 222, Salyersville, KY 41465 (email: [email protected]). Try to send identifying information (dates, places, names known, etc.) when you send queries, it helps us sort out the right information for you.