This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the March 6, 2008 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.
 

          Amber Wallen of Knox, IN sent us a large envelope of Fletcher genealogy along with pictures of her Fletcher line. Now if dozens of other Fletcher descendants would take the initiative shown by Amber, we could get this show on the road!
          Amber descends from “Old” George Fletcher through Johnson Fletcher who married Violet, dau of “Fighten’ Jack” Patrick.  Their daughter Serena “Rena” Patrick married Noah Wallen.  Their son Stanley Wallen married Auglee Minix thence through their son William Joseph Wallen who married 2nd to Wanda Lee Mullins and they are the parents of Amber Nicole Wallen b. 1988.  Now, folks, if a youngster like this has become this interested in her ancestors, it sort of puts pressure on us oldsters to shift into a higher gear.  Please do as Amber has done and get that genealogy info in to us forthwith.
          Serena Patrick, wife of Noah Wallen, was one of fourteen children; does anyone have info on the other 13 children?  Johnson Fletcher was one of 12 children of “Old” George so we have a long way to go and time’s a’wastin’.
          I made another trip to hunt the gravesite of Hiram “Hi” Patrick on Saturday accompanied by Randal Risner and Hager Jack Sizemore.  We explored in and around the mouth of Lin Camp Branch but to no avail.  I went up to the Sublett Howard Cemetery and found that large trees had fallen into this cemetery and knocked over some large monuments.
          We first visited the Sam Poe Cemetery as Hager Jack had heard a Patrick had been relocated in that cemetery but we found no clues.  This is a well kept cemetery.
          We then went to the Green Holbrook Cemetery that I missed the last time around. It is right on top of the knob above the Benjamin Holbrook-Kilgore Cemetery. We then went to the William England Cemetery, elevation 1353.  Here there are four cemeteries on top of the knob that is located where strip mining is nearly all around the cemeteries. 
          We then went down into the gap where once stood the Johnson “Jonse” Risner log home, elevation 1271, where the chimney rocks and the open dug well still can be seen. The well is covered by an old automobile gas tank.
          Then we went down into the head of Puncheon where the long grave of Millard Sparks is located. Connie and Austin visited this grave and listed it as 100 feet from the gap but it is more than 100 yards but the gap has probably been filled a lot. This grave is located on a little outcropping of land that Henry Clay Sizemore said the Benjamin Holbrook home once set.  A silt pond was built in back in a 1950s coal stripping job that left a small level piece of land now covered with fescue grass. This was where the Chestnut Grove Church was remembered as being across from the gravesite.  We walked across the old silt pond and if the church had a chimney I think I found the church site. The thing is there have been so many changes since I visited it years ago.  It is almost unbelievable how the terrain has changed so much.  As there is no stripping or hauling on Saturday and as a few other vehicles were traveling on that coal hauling road we went across the hill to the Rough and Tough side. We stopped at the head of Salt Lick or Miller Cemetery where I had helped set a marker for a Confederate soldier, Samuel Miller.  A Stella Patrick is buried there; we would like to know who she was.
          This cemetery has every grave flagged. Does that denote it is to be moved?  The coal haul goes rather close to it.
          We drove on down to the stripping operation that Johnny Vanhoose, a driller, told me was located on “Little” Rough and Tough. Those giant boulders we passed on the coal haul road were kind of scary, even for “Ol” Todd.
          As it was getting late, we passed up another Cemetery near Randal Risner’s home at the mouth of Puncheon which is supposed to have some Indian burials so that will be on my mind until we get to find this cemetery.
          Todd Fletcher (tfletcher @indy.rr.com) writes he has been trying to find more info on George Fletcher.
          We ask that you send your Fletcher family info even though you may not have it 100 per cent complete. You can add more later.  We need to get an outline that we can put on a large chart to see where we stand with info. Don’t forget the pictures!
          Jared W. J. Hall, 415 Cedar Ridge Drive, Wetumpka, AL 46093-3824 (hall @elmore.rr.com) writes he is trying to find proof that his ancestor Williams Jenkins had fought in the Confederate Army so he can recognize and honor his family’s history. His grandmother, Jean Ryan, suggested our society as a good place for him to start.
          I believe Jean Ryan is the dau of John Milton Jenkins and a gr/dau of William “Billie” Jenkins b. Nov 1827 Floyd Co. KY. He joined Co. F, 2nd KY Mtd. Rifles, Confederate Army.  I helped set his government issued marker on Jellico Creek off Mine Fork, two or more people have joined our Sons of Confederate Veterans, Licking Station Camp #1793.
          William was a preacher or elder in the United Baptist Church and was the son of Robert Jenkins, Sr. whom we believe to have been a soldier in the War of 1812. He was born in 1788 in VA and married Francis “Fanny” -?- b. 1792 VA. They are buried on Lost Creek in Morgan Co. KY just a few miles beyond Jellico.
          William first married Sarah Montgomery and m. 2nd to Elizabeth Howard Phipps.
          Mary Ruth Toy, 828 Sinking Creek Lane, Irvington, Ky., 40146 (fruition @mcreccwb.com) writes she is the great granddaughter of Silas Montgomery. Silas was born 22 Aug 1822 Floyd Co KY, son of John Montgomery, Jr. and Sarah Flannery. He married 3 Feb 1848 to Agnes “Aggie” Sizemore who was born in 1824 and died at age 92 in 1916. She was a dau of George “Goldenhawk” Sizemore who some think was Indian but we haven’t seen positive proof.
          Brenda Gilman, 7099 Green Timbers Ct., Greenville, MI 48838 (lgilman @chartermil.net) is the dau of Raymond Hensley and Jane Jackson. She would like to obtain a book on the Jackson family. Can anyone help Brenda?
          Jane Jackson was the dau of Calloway Jackson and a gr/dau of David Jackson. David was a son of “Fiddling” David Jackson who was a son of Gabriel Jackson and Evelyn McFarlan.
          David Jackson married Lourana Risner and their son C. W. or Calloway Jackson married Sola Risner, a dau of Newt Hays Risner and Fanny Harvey.

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