I would like to report this week on two more “dreams” or projects that I’ve carried in the back of my mind for several years that are about to become realities. First, a little tombstone for Nora Patrick and her brother Robert Patrick, children of Rousseau Patrick have been received and I have made a little iron fence of the railing that was taken down from the local Methodist Church. It has been painted a light green then repainted white so that it is the color of the picket fence that Rousseau built around the gravesites originally according to the later Boone Howard who first told me of this cemetery back in the 1960s. We’d like to again thank Olive Marshall and Ben Patton, Jr. for donating money for these children’s markers.
I’m ready to set the stones as soon as I can catch Ray Collinsworth and/or anyone else who may want to take part.
Secondly, I have acquired a large monument for my fourth great grandfather and the ancestor of all descendants of Capt. Reuben Patrick and Amanda Hager.
John Huger/Hager was born in 1759 Hesse Castle, Germany. He was conscripted into the Hessian Army and sent to America to fight under British command against the colonists. Several soldiers deserted when they realized the cause as did John Hager who then joined the colonist army. He returned to his native land, married Mary Schrader and came back to Floyd County, KY in America. It is thought both he and Patrick Porter were buried at Auxier, KY but their graves have not been found.
His youngest child Daniel Hager married Violet Vertrice Porter and they are buried in the old Dixon or Town cemetery and that is where we have chosen to set this monument. It will be placed beside Daniel’s Civil War stone in a manner so that it could be moved if and when a more definite gravesite is ever found.
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Department is honoring their sheriffs and as Daniel served as the first sheriff of Johnson County we will try to set John’s marker at the same time so that the Johnson County officials who may wish to do so may attend.
The latest message from Bob Whittaker is that he has talked to Faron Sparkman and Steve Bolen and if they can’t find time to help set the Civil War marker for Joseph Conley in the Samuel Bailey Cemetery in the head of the Straight Fork of Licking then we will set it on his next visit to Magoffin County which will be Founder’s Day weekend.
Steve Bolen of the Jackson Library has a monument for William Mann (a Confederate soldier) and Herley Manns would like to see it set also during Bob’s visit. We are also looking for one to come in for John Mann. These two markers are to be set on the Hawes Fork of Breathitt County.
Herley has a marker for Elijah Mann and Bob has one for Malinda Bailey Mullins to set during this visit so we are in for a busy time as it will also be Founder’s Days here in Magoffin County.
Bob writes that he has received an email from Deb Woosley who descends from Robert L. Vanderpool and she has said she was amazed that someone knew where this cemetery was and had photos of it. Chalk it up as another good neighbor act for the late Raleigh Shepherd, Jr. Preston Hale, Brandon Hale, Willie Conley, Bob and Betty Whittaker and Ol’ Todd did what they could to help.
Connie and Dorothy have an order in for a marker for Susannah Shepherd Howard to be set in the Tilden Howard Cemetery on the Howard Fork of Licking then Karen Coffey Wilson came in Friday and she and her family is ordering about six more so hopefully these will all be set in the near future. These, the Joseph Conley and the Vanderpool markers are all located on the Straight Fork of the Licking River shed where the Licking River begins its flow to its Covington-Newport entry into the Ohio River near the Cincinnati Reds stadium.
Sara Jo Farley, 5971 Steubenville Pike, McKees Rocks, PA 15136-1314 wrote that in the Cain Cemetery record (Vol. 4) E. M. Enoch Bailey is stated to be a son of the Rev. Wallace Bailey and his second wife Mary Patrick. Sara Jo asks was he married twice or is that a typo. It was more likely a pencil-o (smile), would you believe the eraser is always used up on my pencil before the pencil stock is half used?
I sometimes am accused of going a bit overboard in my efforts to keep our cemeteries from being shoved “over the hill”.
I’ve received a welcome letter from Bernice Moore telling me about Margaret “Peggy” Adams who married Alfred Bailey who seems to have vanished. Bernice said her mother told her years ago that Peggy Adams lived and raised her children at Ivyton where the Mountain Parkway now comes down the hill. She knew the place as the Mose Tackett place. The Ivyton School set just across the branch and Bernice’s family carried drinking water from their well.
Bernice further relates that there was a cemetery located near the dirt road where Peggy Adams was supposed to be buried. Then when the first highway came through in the late 1940s they just bulldozed the old cemetery off and went on… Then when the Rt. 114 came down the hill they almost took it completely out and there are only a few graves left. She remembers that Prock Conley, Jr. used to stop by and grieve over Mose Tackett’s grave (his ancestor) being destroyed.
This is a sad thing to happen to any family. We urge all who are able to do so to do something about preserving the burial site of our ancestors.
As we complete this column, I want to report that we attempted to set little Nora’s and Robert’s grave markers yesterday but could not get up the embankment with the wheel cart from the funeral home so I will have to get some rope and pulleys such as we did on the Hoskins Cemetery some weeks back and hope that and a little bit more manpower can get the job done.
As of this time we have proposed to set the John Hager marker on Tuesday of next week (the 31st), if everything goes as planned. An old saying warns that sometimes the best laid plans go asunder but we will hope to get these two projects completed.
We have been hearing from a few Carpenter descendants and are thankful for that. We have the Carpenter tee-shirts and Case knives in stock for those collectors out there. Stop in at 191 South Church Street here in Salyersville, write to us at Box 222, Salyersville, KY 41465 (email: [email protected]) or telephone 606-349-1607.
Magoffin County Historical
Society
