We had a right good attendance at our monthly meeting Sunday and have begun finalizing the 29th Magoffin County Founder’s Day program. Present were Jessica Preston, Todd Preston, Luva Connelley, Belsey Connelley, James Montgomery, J. W. Back, Dallas Bentley, Kay Bentley, Dorothy Wireman, Ruth May, Vivian Tackett, Connie A. Wireman and Paula Montgomery. Those in attendance showed enthusiasm in their planning for this Magoffin County homecoming event and we had several volunteers to take on roles of putting on pageants and conducting various events. We also had several who contacted others by telephone in order for us to be able to set some plans in motion. We very much appreciate all the help. Of course everyone is excited about Charlie Sizemore coming back to Magoffin County on August 31 at 3 p.m. for a show (free to the public) featuring his newest CD.
Connie showed the souvenir Carpenter tee-shirt at the meeting as well as a new shirt design for the Magoffin County Historical Society which comes in various colors.
Manpower is somewhat scarce and there is a lot of work to be done on the stage props that need putting into shape before Founder’s Days so we hope there are some carpenters in the Carpenter clan!! (Smile)
Some of the repair work is due to vandalism that occurred just after Founder’s Days last year. Speaking of vandalism, I usually tour the cabins every morning to see if some work may be needed. Last Thursday I found one of the Star Theater seats slit open with a knife and the padding set on fire. I salvaged those historic seats from the recently dismantled Masonic Lodge Hall and we had them placed on the covered porch for the comfort of those who may wish to sit on the porch overlooking the Licking River and the park. After seeing the damage I summoned the police who took fingerprints. The very next morning I found a second seat pad that had also been set afire.
This isn’t good news but I hope some parent will read this, yes, even vandals have parents! Would it be your child? Why do I think it is young people doing this, I can’t believe an adult would stoop so low as to destroy something so precious as these historical cabins that reflect the heritage of our forefathers. This morning as I took my usual tour I only found some empty bottles and trash to pick up so all is well and now I can uncross my fingers.
Bob and Betty Whittaker of South Carolina stopped by here Saturday morning. They were here to attend a Mullins Sunday church service on Rt. 30 in Breathitt County. We all went to the Crager Fork of the Straight Fork of Licking where we were met by Willie Conley, a Floyd County newspaperman. We proceeded to the Hezekiah Vanderpool Cemetery where we set stones for Hezekiah, his wife Elizabeth and the Rev. Bob L. Vanderpool. We also reset Morgan Wireman’s stone. There are 20 or more unmarked graves. The new stones were obtained with the help of the late Raleigh Shepherd, Jr. Earlier in the spring Bob and I had picked them up at Raleigh’s old home place and brought them down to Preston Hale’s barn where he and his son Brandon later took them uphill on his horse. Bob and Willie set the stones while Betty and I cut underbrush.
After seeing Willie Conley work, I told him I couldn’t believe he was a Conley as I had rarely seen Conley’s that would actually lose sweat working. (Smile) I’m a quarter Conley myself and he and I are 6th cousins.
After our work session we went on up to the spring but it was dry. Our weather has been extremely dry this year and the water level is quite low all over.
We also walked up to the Samuel Bailey/Nancy Runyon Cemetery. Willie believes his ancestor John Conley to be buried there. I had planned to erect a Civil War monument for Joseph Conley in this cemetery but Bob Whittaker suggested that we wait until Farron Sparkman and Steve Bolen can take part in this venture so “stay tuned” for further developments. We did cut a few bushes so the monument could be hauled up to this cemetery then we returned to the “home twenty”.
Bob and Betty continued on to Half Mountain and I spent the remainder of the day helping Tim Daniels work on his log cabin on Trace Branch of Bloomington.
Bob Whittaker is having a monument made for Malinda “Linda” Mullins b. 1867 d. 1898, a dau of John and Caty Bailey. The marker will list all her children: Kate b. 1885 d. 1927, Betty b. 1886 (Bob needs her death date), Tecumpsey, Charley, Martha, James and Nan.
Bob has instructed Bobby Davis who is now touring Germany with a blue grass band to take pictures of any Risner (various spellings) cemeteries he may find.
Bob plans to make another trip to Maryland in the near future for further Risner and Whitaker research and I daresay he will accomplish that desire. He does a lot of traveling and said that as of the month of June he has clocked 32,000 miles on that new Toyota hybrid.
Karen Coffee Wilson (wil_52 @hotmail.com) wrote concerning purchasing plaques for mounting on stones in the Tilden Howard Cemetery on Howard Fork of Licking. First, in view of bronze plaques being stolen all over the United States, I personally do not recommend placing any bronze or metal object in any cemetery. Second, I doubt any dealer would attempt to put same on existing tombstones on site. Local funeral services are Magoffin Funeral Home, Paul Burchell, phone 606-349-3333 and the Salyersville Funeral Home, Herman Dyer, phone 606-349-1282.
By the way, I passed Howard Fork a couple of days ago and I didn’t see any water in the creek there either. We are having drought conditions all over the area.
Come in and visit with us at 191 South Church Street here in Salyersville, telephone 606-349-1607 or write Box 222, Salyersville, KY 41465 (email: [email protected]).
Magoffin County Historical
Society
