This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the December 11, 2008 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

            Another old cemetery that had almost gotten into an abandoned condition has now been “rescued”.  Carter Conley, Captain of the Rescue Squad has been active in many, many heroic rescues involving human lives and is now involved in heading up a group of kinsmen who have purchased and set a gravestone for his great-great-grandfather Ephraim Johnson.  This cemetery is located in lower Pricey, actually in the edge of Morgan Co. KY and may have once been called the Brown Cemetery.  Most of the Browns were removed from this cemetery and taken back across the river to another cemetery to make them more accessible to visit.  This left Ephraim Johnson and a few others graves on a high precipice above Ol’ Licking River.

            Carter and I rediscovered this cemetery several years ago and cleared it up.  Now Carter, kinsmen and friends have set a monument and although there may be few that will visit this cemetery because of having to ford the river or four-wheel down from the Magoffin/Morgan County line of 460/Rt. 7.  The latter is the route that Carter took to get the monument in to the cemetery.  This monument will stand sentinel for many years for future generations of this venerable old settler.

            I commend Carter and his friends for this act and believe it will be an inspiration to other folks to follow suit before the gravesites of our ancestors are lost forever.  One such case is a descendant of William Penix and Melvina Helton who was here visiting last week. He was inquiring as to where they were buried.

            Melvina or Viney was a great aunt of my mother, Mollie Jane Helton and she never knew where Viney was buried.  Her daughter Malinda E. Penix who married Willis Auxier is buried in the Williams Cemetery on Mash Fork at the mouth of Burton Fork.  Viney lived about a quarter of a mile upstream on the Viney Branch of the William Prater Hollow.  Her burial site is unknown and perhaps lost forever. 

            Now, folks, similar incidences such as this could be repeated anywhere so it behooves all of us to be mindful of and respectful of our forefather’s last resting places.

            I could mention many similar losses of our ancestors such as the gravesite of Archibald Prater, considered our “town founder” or the hundred or more graves that are right here in our town between the old bank building and the Christian Church.

            We have received a booklet prepared and sent by my nephew, Kenneth H. Kelly, 2327 Calico Road, Berea, KY 40403.  Kenneth is the son of Houston Butler Kelley, a grandson of Henry Clay Kelly and a great grandson of Joseph T. Kelley.  Joseph T.’s father was Samuel Kelley b. 1756 in Cecil Co. MD and died 4 Aug 1844 in Johnson Co. KY.  His wife was named Ann.  Samuel saw military service as a Private in the Militia during the Revolutionary War.

            Joseph T. Kelly was born about 1820 in Virginia and died after 1853, place unknown. He was married to Mary Ferguson on 11 Jan 1845 at Belfry in Pike Co. KY. Mary was the dau of Malachia Ferguson and Nancy Owens.  Mary was born about 1831 in Pike Co. KY and died 3 Nov 1902 in Magoffin Co. KY.

            William Butler Kelly was born 5 Jan 1847 Johnson Co. KY and died 10 Jan 1926 in Magoffin County.  He was married to Elizabeth Adams on 4 March 1867 in Salyersville, KY. She was the dau of Gilbert Adams. Gilbert was a son of Stephen Adams and Mary “Polly” Webb and was married to Nancy Adams, a dau of Moses Adams and Mary Garland.

            Henry Clay Kelly was born 11 April 1889 and died 14 Aug 1947. He was married to Ada Lee Bias b. 1884 d. 1965, a dau of Henry Bias and Mary Shamblin.

            Houston Butler Kelly was born 12 Mar 1922 and died 13 Feb 1979. He was married to my sister, Anna Elizabeth Preston, dau of William Curtis Preston and Mollie Jane Helton.

            The above is a brief portion of the 86 page booklet that will be lodged on our shelves of genealogy materials.  Thanks, Ken!

            We received an answer for help in a recent column.  Mrs. Sherry J. Caldwell, 990 Hammonds Fork Road, Salyersville, KY 41465 has written to us about the old cemetery on Hammonds Fork.  She says it used to be called Grey Fox.  The cemetery is in very bad shape and Sherry hopes to try to clean it up in early spring.  She sent a list of some of the names she copied from the cemetery on a recent visit.

            Sherry, I am very pleased to find someone who is interested in this old cemetery.  I first visited it in March of 1979 and copied 33 marked graves and found approximately 13 unidentified at that time.  Sherry’s list contained some I didn’t have.

            I talked to Wonnie and Berta Wheeler some thirty years ago. They were the daughters of Rev. Charles Wheeler and they referred to the cemetery as the Stephen Wheeler Cemetery.  Some folks differ in the name a cemetery is called.

            In Comments of Nov 20, I made a reference to Hessy Wheeler b. 1884.  Hesse is buried in what I called the Celia Williams Cemetery.  Helen Tackett telephoned and was thrilled to learn where Hessy was buried.  She told us that Hessy died in the same year she was born.

            Also in the Nov 20^th Comments we gave the name of Paul Burchell’s worker as Risner when it is actually Calvin Ratliff.  Calvin’s brother Alvin Ratliff also works with him. 

            I have been there since 1979 and cleaned it up once but on a later visit saw that there had been a logging job in the area so left it in a disheartened condition but I am willing to help give another attempt at cleaning it up.

            I listed a burial there as being Stephen Wheeler b. 9 Apr 1833 d. 21 March 1904. Stephen was the son of William Ramey Wheeler b. 1810. Wm. Ramey was a son of Stephen W. Wheeler and Catherine Ramey.