This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the April 30, 2009 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

            We had a great meeting of the Magoffin County Historical Society last Sunday afternoon.  Attending were Roy “Todd” Preston, Joe Howard, Ruie Howard, Ronnie Jenkins, Brenda Jenkins, Charlene Mann Pelfrey, Ronnie Pelfrey, Ettazene Manns Montgomery, Imogene Manns Stevens, Green Mann, Deborah Mann, Carolyn Goble, Cassie Manns Carpenter, Ruby Manns Oaks, Irene Manns McIntosh, Ted Manns, Jr., Jim W. Back, James C. Montgomery, Jim Auxier, Lena Manns Auxier, Herley Manns, Charlotte Gillum, Albert Howard, Jimmy Mann, Marvin Minix, Mary Ann Minix, Phyllis Helton Mann, Dorothy Wireman, Jodi Wright, Carolyn Wright, Levi Rudd and Connie A. Wireman.   We all enjoyed some great conversation, a planning session and some terrific snacks provided by the Manns family.  Mark your calendar now for the next regular meeting of the historical society, May 17, 2 p.m. at our library.  By the way, that is the ending date for anyone in the Manns Clan to send recipes for the 2009 cookbook that is being worked on.  Call or email us for more information.

Several of those attending the meeting were wearing one of the new 2009 Magoffin County Founders Days tee shirts announcing “The Manns Clan” Labor Day celebration.  You may want to visit our historical library to see the new shirts.  For the first time in 31 years, we have not one but TWO shirts, one is navy with neon green print and the other is neon green with navy decal.  By the time you read this we should also have hats and perhaps another tee shirt design for Salyersville, Magoffin Co. KY.  Other souvenirs will be available soon.

In addition to planning the agenda for the 2009 Founders Days celebration we are also beginning preliminary plans for Magoffin County’s Sesquicentennial (150^th birthday) coming up in 2010. Everyone needs to get serious in planning for this special event.  For those of you who remember the 100^th year celebration and/or took part in that extravaganza, you definitely need to be in on this planning committee.  This needs to be a county-wide endeavor.

This will not be a one-day affair and I am sure there will be something for everyone who wishes to participate.  What if every church in Magoffin County entered a float in the parade? What if every school and every department within that school took part in the parade?  What if the churches and schools took an active planning part for the sesquicentennial?  What if every club/civic organization such as the Muzzleloaders, Kiwanis, DAV Masonic Lodge, Eastern Star and every family that has been honored by a Founders Day celebration took part?  If a special celebration is to materialize then everyone has to pitch in and do their part!

I had this on my mind while mowing grass here behind the log cabin complex and kept meeting up with the mowers in what I’ll refer to as the “Carpenter bottom” behind the Community Center.  I could also see that the Ramey Park across Ol’ Licking River, was overflowing with people celebrating a nice warm day. There were probably a few family reunions going on also.  My thoughts turned to how lucky we are to have a bridge to connect all this together.

Back in 1960 during the Centennial a bunch of local people paraded down Winchester Avenue in Ashland to advertise the event.  They were joined by many former Magoffin residents who had taken up residency there.  Another contingent went to Frankfort announcing the celebration to the Governor and inviting him to Magoffin County.

We have booklets of the 1960 Centennial should anyone like to review that celebration but this is a new era and newer and larger horizons can now be achieved.

2010 is also a US census taking year and we urge all our residents to participate in this very important recording for our county.

We have the foundation built for the newest cabin that will be placed in the Pioneer Village, thanks to Randall Risner, Jack Sizemore, Henry Clay Sizemore, James Wallen and Bob Kugel and, most of all, to A. B. Conley for furnishing the material.

            Now that turkey season is over, I’m hopeful of getting some help from the Muzzleloaders also in taking the Wireman cabin from Trace Fork and rebuilding it in our compound.

I accompanied Randall, Jack and Henry Clay when they went to set two monuments for George Whitaker and Susanna (Puckett) Whitaker near the home of the late Castle Whitaker on Puncheon Creek.  We next picked up an additional helper, namely Myrtle Fletcher Cole, by dragging her out of her garden and then traveled to the upper Fletcher cemetery and set another monument for Fred Fletcher and Burnie Bailey Fletcher.

We didn’t have the time to set the marker for Elijah Collinsworth as there will probably be downed trees caused by the winter ice storm that need to be cleared.  I also have a small marker for the “Collins Brothers” to be set at the mouth of Birch Branch (the Coin Salyer farm).  These are the gravesites that the late Boone Howard had told me about thirty years ago.

Now, let’s concentrate on pooling our funds and get a monument for the abandoned cemetery on what I had labeled the Edwin Collinsworth Cemetery in 1978 but has recently been proven to be the gravesite of James Collinsworth, the father of the abovementioned Elijah Collinsworth.  This old cemetery only has initials on the extant stones, one of which is J. C. W. We are assuming that the “J.” stands for “James” and the  “C. W.” stands for “Collinsworth”.  Raleigh and Mollie Salyer called this cemetery the Edwin Collins Cemetery when I copied it years ago.

We’ve had Geri T. Stanley of South Carolina visiting my neighbor.  She saw me mowing my backyard which I do by letting a mower down the steep bank by a rope then pulling it back up.  She wanted to try doing it and finished the mowing, saying it was fun!

She then visited our Pioneer Village and did some mighty big bragging on it which caused Ol’ Todd to switch into high gear and try to spruce things up a bit…wish I’d done it a week earlier (SMILE).

Now that we’ve gotten through “Redbud Winter” and almost through “Dogwood Winter”, we can get serious about spring cleanup.