This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the March 12, 2009 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

            We received a nice “visit” from Don L. Fernandez, 128 Southridge Drive, Verona, KY 41092-9133, even if it was by mail.

            Many of you will remember Mr. Fernandez who was “our” band and music director from 1965 to 1969.  He wrote in hopes of receiving updates of some former students and acquaintances, especially Tim Bostic.

            He mentioned many students he had while here in our county including my son Toddie and his classmates, Darrel Bailey, John Wesley Mann, Robert Neil Howard, Randy Johnson, David Gardner, Hy Ely, and many others too numerous to mention so I am asking that you write to him.  Those who have had class reunions could send him pictures, etc.

            He sent a recent picture of himself which we will have on display if you desire to come in and view it. He also sent a smaller picture of himself with the late M. F. Rice and I believe student Hy Ely, as well as a Christmas letter he sent out to all his friends. 

            The late Jack Reed’s brother, son and a couple of grandsons visited recently.  They had come to visit the Reunion Shelter and the Reed Cemetery on Pricey to see if there had been any damage from the recent ice and wind storm.  They found all in good condition and will be making trips back to keep everything mowed and/or repaired.  They are to be commended for continuing the work of their brother, father and grandfather Jack Reed.  Jack’s Magoffin County roots meant a great deal to him and it is very touching to see that his family will continue to be involved in family projects that meant so much to Jack.  They brought a copy of a DVD to us that has many pictures taken through Jack’s life that you might like to view in our library.

            Jack’s family visited the Pioneer Village as some of them had not seen it before.  We were glad to hear from Jack’s wife Wanda.  The family said she will be visiting us when the weather warms up.  Jack and Wanda have been with the historical society many years and were people that we relied on for help in many areas.

            We had another visitor and I failed to get her name and address even though I filled out an ancestor chart for her.  I found she was a descendant of Mary E. Prater, a dau of Minerva Adams and Thomas Reid.  Mary Prater who lived at Willard in Carter Co. KY had contacted the visitor’s mother back when our Prater book first came out in 1980.  At that time we had very little info on that branch of the family.  This visitor promised to send genealogy, pictures, etc. on this family to be included in the Prater book update that is being worked on.  While we are reporting on this Prater update we want to mention the revision of the Prater family book which currently has about 400 pages of text.  We invite any of you who have Prater ancestry to send us your family information.  We know there have been many marriages, children and grandchildren born from 1980 to 2009.  We have no date set at this time for completion of this book but when we get all the info entered that we currently have we will be printing it so don’t delay.

            Phil M. Hanson, 13609-62^nd Ave. NE, Kirkland, WA 98034-4901 is a descendant of Bernie Clifton Pace b. 1894 and a grandson of William H. Pace b. 1869. Wm. H. was a son of Matthew Pace b. 1835 and a grandson of John J. Pace b. 1808 and Sarah Ely b. 1810 d. 1880. Sarah was a dau of William Ely, Jr. and Rebecca Saylor.  We reported some info on this family last week.  Phil will be visiting the 17^th of March and we hope to find some family members to come in and visit while he is here.

            Matthew Pace married in 1855 to Elizabeth Salyer. Elizabeth was born in 1837 to Henry Salyer (b. 1814) and Elizabeth Conley (b. 1815 NC).  They were married in 1835 in VA.  Elizabeth was a dau of Edmond Conley b. 1775 NC and Lydia Joynes.

            William H. Pace married 1^st in 1889 to Mary M. Adams, dau of Gilbert A. Adams.  William m. 2^nd in 1895 to Frances Stone b. 1867, a dau of James M. Stone b. 1831.  James was a son of William Stone b. 1803 and a grandson of Cudberth Stone and Sally.  William Stone married in 1822 to Tacy Minix.  James M. Stone married in 1895 to Mary Holbrook.

            Bernie Clifton Pace married in 1913 to Myrtle Kelly, a dau of Joseph Millard Kelly b. 1869. Joseph was a son of William Butler Kelley b. 1847 and a grandson of Joseph Trigg Kelley (b. 1816) and Mary Ferguson.

            William Butler Kelley married Mary Elizabeth Adams, a dau of Gilbert Adams and Nancy Adams.  Nancy was a dau of Stephen Adams and Mary Webb.

            Joseph Millard Kelly was born in 1869 and married in 1896 to Sarah Rice. Sarah was born in 1875 to Martin V. Rice.  Martin was a son of Martin M. Rice (b. 1809) whose mother was Fannie Rice.

            Marvin M. Rice married in 1832 to Sarah “Sallie” Stone (Minix) b. 1808.  Sallie Stone was later married to James Minix.

            Martin V. Rice married in 1856 to Surilda J. Evans b. 1838.

            Joe R. Skeens, 212 Sally Stephens Branch, Prestonsburg, KY 41653 was a visitor recently and we had a long talk.  Needless to say, our conversation turned to area cemeteries and I quickly saw I had to take a back seat to Joe, taking into consideration all the cemetery booklets he has printed and all the Civil War monuments he has helped set.  In fact, I couldn’t keep count when he opened up the second volume of John David Preston’s Civil War in the Big Sandy Valley book and pointed out all the Confederate soldiers listed whose markers he had helped set.  He has also been involved in setting a good many WWI, Spanish American War and a few markers for Revolutionary War soldiers.  Of course, he got a head start on me as he was copying cemeteries with Connie Wireman helping him get them into printed book form before we really got going with our historical society.  So, my cap’s off to Joe Skeens!  He has promised he will help me find Revolutionary War soldier Cudberth Stone’s grave site, if at all possible.