This article, written by Todd Preston, the president of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the August 16 , 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.

We will be right in the middle of our 29th Annual Magoffin County Founder’s Days in only two more weeks so we are knee deep in work around here.  We’ve received a few rains and the grass has come back to life and the weeds are flourishing in our flower beds which make a lot more work for this old caretaker!! We have finalized our program of events for Founder’s Days. Several of the events have been moved back an hour due to the honor of having Charlie Sizemore and his band here to perform on our stage at 3 p.m. on Friday, August 31st. We extend our thanks to Ty Back, the director of the Pet Show, to the grade school teachers who conduct the school events and to the directors of the Herald Whitaker Middle School Drama Club for being so gracious in changing the starting times for their events.  We have just learned from Debbie Cain that the Middle School is doing a Tribute to Famous Kentuckians and among those being honored in this musical are Rebecca Lynn Howard, Tom J. Whitaker AND Charlie Sizemore!  We are proud of all our Magoffin County students and their instructors. I also hear that A. B. Conley and Bill Dodd May are teaming up to have an old fashioned fish fry! The upcoming days are going to be busy ones for our little staff, one of whom is nearing age eighty and shows it!  So, don’t hesitate to offer your help, you may ask what needs doing, come on out and see. One main thing it setting up the large stage background. The bridge from the park to replace the swinging bridge appears to Ol’ Todd that a miracle will be needed to get it complete by Founder’s Days. This will cause parking problems which are already drastic due to the construction of the Administrative building. Research is still going on amidst our work on Founder’s Days. We have searched until we are “blue in the face” trying to prove the parentage of Tennessee Auxier b. 1885 who shows as a 15-year old farm hand for Dona C. Patrick in 1900. Tennessee married 14 Jul 1929 to Ida Trusty Eldridge/Uniford who is said to have been buried in Marion, OH. Tennessee was probably buried in Detroit, MI in 1942.  He had a sister Myrtle b. 1887 who married Burley Gipson and their children were Margaret Auxier/Humphrey b. 1866 according to info from Judith Tickel Need and other sources. Margaret was a dau of Ezekiel Auxier b. 1838 and 1st wife Spicey Barnett b. 1835. His 2nd wife was Mahala Jane Dorton and a 3rd wife was Margaret “Peggy” Collins. Ezekiel was a son of Christopher Auxier and Margaret “Peggy” Collins. Christopher was a son of Simon Auxier b. 1751 and Mary Fugate. Simon was a son of Michael Auxier b. 1720 Strasburg, France and Michael was a son of Michael Oxer b. 1685 in Auxerre, France. We are asking for help on the parentage of Tennessee Auxier and his wife (or wives), especially the “Humphrey” or “Umpress” surname. The late Walter Auxier told me they came from the Hog Town Ridge area of Rowan Co. KY. Tom and Denise Shearin, 3335 E. 700 N, Hamlet, IN 46532 were visiting a couple of days in our area researching the Slusher, Phipps, Howard and Penix families. Denise’s grandfather was George Washington “Wash” Penix b. 1880, son of Allen Penix b. 1841. Allen was a son of Henry Penix b. 1814 and Rachel Jenkins. Wash Penix m. 1st in 1902 to Mahala Lemaster, dau of Ransom “Rance” Lemaster and Sarah E. Conley b. 1853. Sarah was a dau of David M. Conley and Mahala Robinson. Denise descends from Dock Delaney Slusher and Lula Enis (or Inis) Phipps, a dau of -?- Phipps and Cynthia A. Howard. Cynthia was b. 1862, dau of Isaac C. Howard and Bethana Howard. There are still a number of unanswered questions so if anyone has info of the Slusher, Phipps, or Penix families, please contact Denise. We are sure she would appreciate learning more of her ancestors. We are thankful to Daniel “Bud” and Ola Hall of Ohio also to Tom and Denise Shearin of Hamlet, IN for their donations towards our projects.  Email us at [email protected] or write Magoffin County Historical Society, Box 222, Salyersville, KY 41465. Our telephone number is 606-349-1607. You may come in at 191 South Church Street to get a copy of the Founder’s Day program or to volunteer to help around the Pioneer Village.