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

            Almost an inch of rain fell in Magoffin County last Friday which was very welcome but it did not relieve our drought conditions to any extent.  The almost daily frosts are bringing the leaves down which most times bring on forest fires so we are hoping for more rain.

            Jack Sizemore, Henry Clay Sizemore, Randall Risner and Ol’ Todd swarmed all over lower Dotson Branch searching for a cemetery we have been told is just across the hill from the Honaker Cemetery on the Tunnel Hollow at Ivyton but a lot of searching is all we have accomplished.

            We want to find and clean up the Elijah Collinsworth Cemetery soon and perhaps drum up enough donations to get some sort of monument to set so as to prevent logging operations from further damaging this cemetery.

            We don’t know how many graves are located here.  When I copied it in 1978 I recorded Elijah Collinsworth, Alsie and one infant.  I had later penciled in his son-in-law George Whitaker, his wife and two daughters but this may be hear say as there are conflicting stories concerning the two daughters who are said to have taken their lives with the same shotgun.

            The Rice notebook record of Ivyton, KY has the info that Viola Whitaker, dau of George Whitaker, shot herself with a shotgun and died 4 Jan 1921.  Martha, her sister, shot herself with the same gun in the same house on 12 April 1925, Easter Sunday, and died 25 Jun 1925 in the hospital at Ashland, KY.

            The 1900 Magoffin Co. KY census lists William Whitaker, age 27, George age 25 brother and Martha age 22 sister.  The 1910 Magoffin census lists George Whitaker age 35, 2^nd marriage of 9 years to Mary Collinsworth (?).  And they have children Viola age 7, Rosey age 6 and Martha age 2 in the household.  Mary is listed as the mother of 5 children with 3 living.

            Elijah Collinsworth did have a daughter Mary who was born in 1872.  Mary Collins, age 28, is listed as a servant in the home of George G. Hager and his wife Alice Hamilton in the 1880 Magoffin census.

            This info is submitted in an attempt to get some feed back so that we may be able to learn more about this family history.  We especially would like to know where George Whitaker and his family were buried.  Our plans are to get the Elijah Collinsworth Cemetery cleaned up and get the four-wheeler trail widened.  We would like to have a cemetery sign and/or a monument.  Any help would be appreciated.

            Ben Mann, Jr., 1225 Kannapolis Place, Lexington, KY 40513 is the son of Ben Johnson Mann. Ben is the son of Solomon Mann b. 1889.  Solomon was the son of Henry Mann b. 1859 Breathitt Co. KY and a grandson of John Mann b. 1820.  John Mann was born in 1820, a son of Samuel Mann and Preshi Dykes.  Preshi was a dau of James Dykes.

            John Mann married Lucinda Craft.  Lucinda was a dau John William Craft b. 1796 Wilkes Co, NC and Susannah Higgins. Susannah was born in 1798, dau of William R. Hagins b. 1758 Lancaster Co. PA (a Revolutionary War soldier) and Polly Linville.

            Sam Henry Mann was born in 1859 Breathitt Co. KY married Minerva J. Howard b. 1855, dau of George Howard b. 1828.   George was a son of William Howard and Mollie Salyer.  George married Elizabeth Barnett, dau of William Barnett and Polly Bradley.

            Solomon Leander Mann married Bess Arnett b. 1887, dau of Augustus Arnett b. 1855, a son of Wiley Arnett.  Wiley was born in 1816 to Stephen Arnett and Elizabeth Howard.

            Wiley Arnett married in 1844 to Elizabeth Sizemore, a dau of George “Goldenhawk” Sizemore and Sallie Anderson.

            Augustus Arnett married Mattie Patrick. She was born in 1858, a dau of Reuben Patrick.  Reuben was a son of Meredith Patrick and Rebecca Williams or Cope.  Meredith was a son of William Patrick and Mollie Reins. Mollie was a dau of Meredith Reins.

            William Patrick was a son of Jeremiah Patrick who was born about 1738 and was a soldier in the Revolutionary War.  He was married to Sarah Blair.

            Reuben Patrick married Amanda Hager, dau of Daniel Hager and Violet Vertrice Porter.

            Daniel Hager was a son of John Hugar/Hager and Mary Schroder.

            John Hugar of Hesse Castle Germany was conscripted into the Hessian Army and sent to America to be under British command.  He deserted and joined the Colonist Army as did several of his comrades.

            John’s burial site hasn’t been found so a marker was set in the Old Town Cemetery in Paintsville, KY beside that of Daniel Hager.  Daniel was a Captain in the Confederate Army where his son-in-law Captain Reuben Patrick, USA Civil War soldier was sent when captured. 

            John Hager is thought to be buried near Auxier or Hager Hill in Johnson Co. KY.

            Ben Mann, Jr. is interested in joining the S. A. R. and I see several Revolutionary War soldiers in his line, John Hager, Jeremiah Patrick, William R. Hagins and Meredith Reins.

            We had Elizabeth Copley and her dau Leigh Ann Phillips of Ft. Pierce, FL, Carolyn Fawbush of So. Point, OH, Lewis and Doris Reed of Fairborn, OH, Melissa White of Plain City, OH and Steven Fawbush of Nashville, TN visiting us Monday.  I accompanied them to the Whitaker Cemetery on Puncheon Creek behind the home of Castle Whitaker.  Randall Risner had recently found the gravesite of their ancestor, William Sellards there.

            I had helped Bob Whittaker clean up this abandoned cemetery several years ago and since then Bob has set markers and a metal cemetery sign there. A road has been built to it, thanks to the work of Randall Risner and Jack Sizemore!

            Elizabeth exclaimed, “I’ve searched for years trying to find whatever happened to this ancestor. It seemed he just vanished, now I’m looking at his gravesite and I want to see his grave marked for future generations!”

            The grave is presently marked with a little homemade field stone which is barely readable.

            Now, let’s do a little “What if…”  What if Connie and Austin Wireman hadn’t found and copied this cemetery years ago?  What if Bob Whittaker hadn’t cleaned up this cemetery a few years ago? 

            Elizabeth’s brother came for a visit and so we made another trip to this cemetery and they are planning to put up a monument to replace the little field stone.