This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the January 24, 2008 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.
 

          THE FLETCHER FAMILY IN 2008!!  The Fletchers have been chosen as the family to be honored during Magoffin County Founder’s Days during Labor Day week in 2008. We have spent the last several days exploring what information we already have, such as the census records of Floyd, Magoffin, Breathitt, Johnson, Wolfe, Morgan and have several other counties to check.
          We find George W. Fletcher was born in 1796 probably in Lee County, VA.  He served in the War of 1812 and received 6 dollars a month plus 8 dollars a month for his horse as compensation.
          George married first to Dicey Johnson who was born about 1800, a dau of William Johnson.  They had a son Alexander Fletcher.
          George married second on 24 Jun 1819 to Levisa Marshall b. 1802, dau of Reuben Marshall and Elizabeth Nolin.  They settled near the mouth of Gun Creek in Magoffin County.  He died sometime after 1860 and his exact burial site is unknown at this time.
          George and Levisa had ten children: Isaac Fletcher, Reuben Fletcher, Henley Fletcher, Simon C. Fletcher, Elizabeth Fletcher, Manda Fletcher, Meredith Fletcher, Rebecca Fletcher, Johnson Fletcher and Mason M. Fletcher (he was born in 1842 and died in 1853).
          Now, we are asking anyone, especially his descendants, to get their family information to the Magoffin County Historical Society to be compiled into book form.  Don’t forget to share your family pictures.  We are a few months late in starting this project so we need to work a little overtime (smile).
          We are not ruling out that there may be other early Fletcher families besides Old George. The 1850 Floyd Co. KY census lists Elizabeth Fletcher age 64 (b. 1786 VA), Kelsey Fletcher b. 1825, Julius Medley age 22, Celia age 27, Elizabeth age 2. By 1860 Kelsey N. Fletcher was married to Malinda Arnett and Elizabeth was residing with them. Elizabeth was age 72 and some think her surname was Miles.
          The 1850 Morgan County census lists Alexander Fletcher age 31, with wife Jane age 24.  They have an Elizabeth Fletcher b. 1784 PA living in this household.
          So we have a “bunch” of researching to do and a short time to get it done.  We are pleading for help.
          Some interesting queries have come in. Karen Faye Wilcox Ortegel (ortegelk @yahoo.com) writes she is the dau of Bernard John Wilcox and Polly Faye Dyer (b. Seitz, KY).  Polly was the dau of Oscar Dyer and Laura Patton.  She would like for any of her kinsmen to contact her as she was not raised by her mother and so knows very little about that branch of the family.
          Karen would also like information on any Revolutionary soldiers in her family so she could join the local DAR. I see several Revolutionary soldiers in Karen’s chart. Oscar Dyer b. 1899 was the son of Lark Dyer and Mollie Arnett b. 1877. Mollie was the dau of Larkin Arnett and Fannie Patrick. Fannie was born in 1855 to Squire John Patrick (b. 1813). Squire John was a son of Reuben Patrick b. 1781 and a grandson of Rev. soldier Jeremiah Patrick.
          Squire John Patrick married Charlotte Patrick, dau of William Patrick, Jr. b. 1795. William Jr. was a son of William Patrick Sr. b. 1762. William Jr. was also a son of Jeremiah Patrick b. 1738, Rev. War patriot.
          William Patrick, Jr. b. 1795 married Nancy Prater b. 1802. Nancy was the dau of Archibald Prater b. 1755. Archibald was a Rev. War soldier who enlisted in Henry Co. VA at age 23 on 11 Sep 1780.  He died in 1831.  He was married to Sarah Fugate, the dau of Josiah Fugate and Elizabeth.
          There is no doubt Karen has several other Revolutionary soldiers as her ancestors.
          Amber Wallen (amber_wallen73 @hotmail.com) writes that she is seeking info on her great uncle Woodrow Wallen who was born in 1923 in Salyersville. He was a son of Noah Wallen and Serena “Rena” Fletcher. We found their marriage record: Noah Wallen married 7 Oct 1912 to Rena Smith at the home of Ball Fletcher. This Ballard Fletcher married Lorena Conley. They had no children but adopted Johnnie McPherson who shows as age 10 in the 1920 Magoffin census.
          By 1930 Lorena Fletcher was age 56, was head of household, apparently a widow and had Smith Slusher and his wife Lucy Keith in her household. Lorena could have been nicknamed “Rena” although the marriage record says Rena “Smith” so I am asking for help on this.
          Woodrow Wallen was born in 1923, a son of Noah Wallen (b. 1890) and a grandson of Jasper Wallen (b. 1855). Jasper was a son of Shelby Wallen and Susanna Hale. Jasper married Sarah Flint, a dau of William Flint.  Noah married Rena Smith (or Fletcher). Any help would be appreciated.
          A few weeks ago we posed a Carpenter query and would like to mention it here again.  We would like to hear from anyone with info about Rebecca Patrick who married Boyd Carpenter on 25 May 1893 at the home of John Patrick. The witnesses to the marriage were Lazarus Back and Sanford Craft. The minister was Riley Howard.
          The 1880 Magoffin Co. KY census lists John Patrick b. 1843, married Sarah (Patton?) and they had a dau Rebecca who was born 1874. They are next door neighbors to Sanford Craft.
          Rebecca would have been about age 19 by September of 1893 and could be John and Leonard Carpenter’s great grandmother. Boyd Carpenter was married about 3 times and lived in Jackson Co. KY later in life.
          People in my age group are “going down the valley” all too frequently and my trips to the funeral homes are becoming a weekly thing. We were extremely saddened by the death just before Christmas of Beulah Taulbee Allen, the wife of Jimmie Allen. Jimmie is one of our mainstays here at the historical society and his family has been very supportive of all the work he has done to preserve the history and genealogy of our area. Christmas Day 2007 brought the sad news of the death of Wilma Jean Arnett. Jean was the widow of Clinton Arnett and they both were very helpful to the historical society from our earliest days.
          The first week of January my good and respected friend, Mrs. Norman (Delphia Shepherd) Hale died. I had first met her at a Lexington hospital some years ago when Delphia was staying there with her step-mother Cynthia Shepherd and I was there with my family. Delphia and I very quickly became the best of friends.
          Then my good “buddy” Elmer Adams whom I’ve counted as my good friend since the 1950s when two-way radios were all the rage. If I “The Tree Shaker” didn’t answer every morning, Elmer would declare I had been run off from my “home-twenty”. We had a lot of enjoyment talking with each other. I almost shouted when I heard Elmer had found peace with his maker before his passing so I hope to see Beulah, Jean, Delphia and Elmer in the future.

We invite all who wish to send info or family history questions to write the Magoffin County Historical Society, Box 222, Salyersville, KY 41465 (email: [email protected]). If you want to visit our library we are located at 191 South Church Street and our telephone number is 606-349-1607.