This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the March 20, 2008 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.
 

         A Happy Easter to all of you!  Easter comes early this year.  Orville Lykins sent an email telling that as Easter occurs the Sunday after the first Friday after the first day of Spring that only those age 95 or older have ever seen an earlier one and this happened in the year 1913.  The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be in the year 2228 and the next time it will be a day earlier (Mar 22) will be the year 2285. 
          I haven’t gotten to ramble much this past week due to the weather ‘cause you can’t find abandoned cemeteries under five inches of snow!  I did slip out with my dogs before the snow melted off, trying to recapture something of my boyhood days.  When a big snowfall caused school to be let out it was a prime time to track those “Hoover” rabbits or any other animal that ventured out in the snow.
          Connie finished the first Journal of the year 2008 so Dorothy was busy printing them.  After the snow melted I stapled them, then we got them ready for mailing.  I was inquisitive and read some of it while I was stapling.  I read Jimmie Allen’s Circuit Court Minutes and the excerpts from the 1926 issue of the Salyersville Independent. I saw where the price of oil in the twenties was $1.71 a barrel, a far cry from the $111.00 a barrel it is bringing today.
          This is another first class Journal so be sure you have renewed your membership or become a new member which will entitle you to four issues per year.
          I carry in the back of my mind several abandoned gravesites that I’ve been told about that I would like to find before Memorial Day.  One, in particular, is the Hiram “Hi” Patrick grave.  Randal Risner informed me that my ‘possum hunting buddy, Dave Bailey, had volunteered to accompany me to the Lin Camp area where he helped take up the grave of Lewis Patrick, Hiram’s son, and move his remains to the Sam Poe Cemetery for reburial.  Dave doesn’t think there was another grave but it doesn’t stand to reason that Lewis and his father would be buried in separate burial sites in the same hollow unless the “old” theory that it was Lewis instead of Hiram who was buried in a lone grave near the mouth of Lin Camp on Puncheon and that Hiram may be buried where his wife, Mary “Pop” (Haywood) Patrick is buried.
          Dale Salyer has recently given us the information that Dicy Johnson who married on 30 Sep 1815 to George Fletcher was the daughter of William Johnson b. ca. 1760/1770 in VA and died in 1831 Perry Co. KY.  George and Dicy had one child, Alexander Fletcher b. 1816 who married Ludema Castle b. 1814.
          Dicy Johnson married 2nd on 2 May 1833 in Floyd Co. KY to Phillip Stambaugh (Jr.?) b. ca. 1790.
          The 1850 Johnson Co. KY census lists Dicey Stambaugh, age 50, married Phillip, Jr., son of Phillip Sr. and Elizabeth Stambaugh. The children in the household were (1) Serena age 20 (b. 1830), (2) John age 18 (m. Clarinda Blair), (3) Sarah age 14 (b. 1836 m. Reece Watkins who was a miner from Wales and opened up coal banks here in Salyersville, hence the place name “Coal Branch”); (4) Dicey b. 1832 (m. Solomon Ward) and (5) Mary Emily b. 1827 (m. William Ward b. 1828, son of Hezekiah Ward and Elizabeth Davis).
          We’ve spent many hours searching for the Fletcher family but we are without info on Apperson Fletcher b. 1835 who married in 1855 to Anna Barker (attention, Kenny Barker) as well as Amanda Fletcher b. 1836.
          Let us send out another plea to you to share your information as we would like to fill our bulletin board with info on Fletcher families so as to have easy access to info at a glance.  Don’t forget the pictures.  Time’s a’wastin’.  The lilies and tulips are about ready to bloom and even though we have snow this first morning of daylight savings time, the sun is shining brightly! (Smile) 
          We would surely like to hear from anyone with Stambaugh family info on the above Dicey Johnson family.
          Mrs. Raymond C. Best, Jr. (rbest @mchsi.com) inquired about the Howard family.  The line is Dr. John Howard b. ca. 1814 (listed in our Howard book on page 295) who was born in 1878 Harlan Co. KY to William McEleaster Howard b. 1840. William was a son of Robert Howard b. 1824 Harlan Co. KY and a grandson of John “War Jack” Howard b. ca. 1766 who married Mary Risner. Mary was born ca. 1784, dau of Michael Risner and Catherine Risner who is shown to have married 2nd to Gabriel Jackson b. 1790.
          Robert Howard married in 1845 to Lucinda Bingham b. 1829, a dau of William Bingham and Sarah Green.
          William McEleaster Howard married in 1871 Bell Co. KY to Margaret Amelia Colson, a dau of John Calvin Colson and Katherine Smith.
          This is a sketch of this Howard family and doesn’t answer all the questions of Mrs. Best so anyone with more info, please contact her.
          Ray Mullins, 9011 Seymour, Grass Lake, MI 49240 visited to research his family.  He says his father is Raymond Mullins, the son of Raymond Mullins, Sr.  Raymond Sr. was a son of Walter Mullins b. 1918, a son of Jim Mullins b. 1894.  I think him to be a son of George Mullins b. ca. 1858/1860 and a grandson of Ambrose Mullins b. 1842, a Confederate soldier for whom we set a marker on Hawes Fork of Breathitt County.  Ambrose was a son of Isaac Mullins b. 1816 who married Polly Wireman b. 1819, dau of John Wireman and Rebecca Carpenter.  Ambrose married Miriam Rowe.
          Ann Starland, 7129 177th St. W. Lakevillen, MN 55044 sent us her ancestor chart. She is the dau of Chester Earl Collins b. 1918 Lucasville, OH. Chester was a son of Charles Lewis Collins b. 1880 and a grandson of Griffin Collins III. Griffin was the son of Griffin Collins, Jr. b. 1796 and a grandson of Griffin Collins, Sr. b. 1775 NC. Griffin, Sr. was living in Russell Co. VA in 1850 and in Wise Co. VA in 1860. His wife was named Martha.
          Griffin Jr. married Matilda Mackey.  Griffin III married Margaret Milam.  Charles Lewis Collins m. Bertha Mae Estepp b. 1889 Lawrence Co. KY, dau of Joseph Estep. Joseph was born in 1858 and married Lydia Dile Lyon.  Joseph was the son of William W. Estep b. 1830 and Edith “Edy” Davis b. 1833.

There may be some info that you have that would help shed more light on some of these queries. If so, please telephone 606-349-1607 or write the Magoffin County Historical Society, Box 222, Salyersville, KY 41465 (email: [email protected]).