This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the June 11, 2009 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

            We now have the Wireman log cabin under roof here at the Pioneer Village, thanks to the work of some special people, especially Randall Risner and Jack Sizemore who have gone that extra mile!  They have really put in many DAYS of work, not just hours!  Thanks, fellows.

            I look back now and wonder what a mess I would have been in if they hadn’t come to my rescue.  I must have thought I was capable of doing what I could do 30 years ago but now I have to stand back and watch younger men do the work.  This is going to be a state of the art log home.  Already 219 years old, it could be standing another 200 years!  What thoughts!

            We will shortly be ready to “mud” the cracks between the logs; actually we will be using mortar. This is a tedious job that I have never mastered but will have to do the mixing of the sand, mortar and water.

            We had an offer of a group of Muzzleloaders to help with this job and will ask James Montgomery if that offer is still on.  We ask anyone who will help to take part in this work.  Just think, your great grands can brag on great-granddad who helped with this cabin “mudding”.

            Randall, Jack and I took Kenneth Arnett and his son Gary to the William England Cemetery “located on a high hill in the head of Puncheon Creek, almost in the gap between Magoffin and Floyd County”. This was Austin Wireman’s description in 1980!

            I was there a couple of years ago and took the coordinates: N-37 38.876, W-082 34.474.  I failed to record the elevation but down in the Gap where the Johnse Risner home stood with a dug well still visible, the elevation was 1271.  At that time I could drive up on the ridge to the Benjamin Holbrook Cemetery and three other cemeteries, the England Cemetery being the last one.  Not any more!  The coal company has cut through the ridge and left the England Cemetery on a lone knob and has built a large pond on the Puncheon side.

            Had it not been for Jack Sizemore I could not have found it.  With his directions, driving through waist high grass, we stopped right in the cemetery. It appeared to me that the coal company got mighty close to the Prater and Kilgore Cemetery in their excavation.

            On the cemetery we found Lee Arnett b. 1873 d. 1943 as well as William England and his wife Eliza (Lee’s in-laws) buried there.  There had been a recent forest fire which made the area look even more desolate.  We were looking for a Lee Arnett who had married Delia Risner.  This Lee Arnett was a son of Asbury Arnett and Victoria Marshall.  The 1920 Magoffin census gives Lee as age 38 and wife Delia age 40.  They have a son Everage Arnett age 9, a son William age 6, and a son Ernest age 3.  Also in the household are two stepdaughters, Sarah age 14 and Lizzie age 12.  They lived next door to Lee’s parents A. B. and Victoria Arnett.  Neighbors were Snowden and Martha (Arnett) Owens.  Snowden’s sons were Johnny, Tony and Wiley Owens. We are still searching for the burial site of this Lee Arnett.  Kenneth says he remembers the areas of “Head of Puncheon” and “Pigpen” being talked about a lot in his family. 

            Dorla Summars of Woodward, OK ([email protected]) writes that she is interested in finding out more about her Prater family.  Isaac Henry married Anna Allen; their daughter was Frances Jane Henry who married Elijah Prater.  Dorla’s grandfather was a son of Elijah, also named Elijah who went to Oklahoma before 1900.  She is coming to Kentucky in July on the 20^th and 21^st and would like to make contact with people who are descendants of this same family.

            First, we want to tell you that we are updating our Prater book and would like to receive more info on your branch of the family, including pictures.

            Second, we would encourage local cousins to put out the welcome mat and contact Dorla for some sort of reunion.  Willie Prater Mills’ application for DAR membership on page 40 of our present Prater book gives the line of descent from Archibald Prater: James Randall Prater b. 1860, the son of Elijah Prater b. 1819, grandson of John Prater b. 1785; great grandson of Archibald Prater b. 1755. 

            We received a notice of a special day to be commemorated at the Big Sandy Regional Airport to take place on the 6^th of June.  All WWII veterans are invited to a complimentary meal and a re-enactor team will be there.  This is short notice and it was hard to notify all our WWII veterans.  This brings to mind, the Magoffin Historical Society does not have a list of our WWII veterans so we are asking the general public to send us names so when another such invitation comes along, we can notify those vets.  We need to have a list of surviving World War II vets to keep for quick look-ups.

            Charlie McCallister ([email protected]) is a descendant of Noah Williams and Stella Howard.  He would like to find info on Noah’s ancestors.

            Stella Howard was born 11 Feb 1893 and died 25 Feb 1920 in Lucasville, OH. She was the mother of four children, Hettie b. 1911, Joseph b. 1915, Ethel b. 1916, and Walter b. 1918.

            Stella was a dau of James “Jeems” Alva Howard b. 1871 d. 1962 and Cora Howard b. 1879 d. 1944.  James was a son of Thomas Howard b. 1819 and his 2^nd wife Mary Sturgeon.

            Thomas was a son of Moses Howard b. 1797 and Mary “Polly” Patrick b. 1799, dau of James Patrick.

            Moses Howard was a son of Thomas Howard b. 1770 Wilkes Co. GA d. 1853.  Thomas was a son of Thomas Howard b. 1750 GA, said to have served in the Revolutionary War and to have married Letty Durham b. 1744 NC.

            This Thomas b. 1750 is said to be the son of a John Howard b. 1686 VA and his wife Katherine.

            The death record of Stella Howard (d. 1920 Scioto Co. OH of complications of influenza/pneumonia and childbirth) states she was the dau of J. A. and Cora Howard.  The 1920 census of Scioto Co. OH lists Noah Howard age 34, Stella age 23, Hettie b. 1911, Joseph b. 1915, Ethel b. 1916 and Walter b. 1918.

            Perhaps someone can help with more information on this family.

            We want to thank Debbie Britton, wife of John Britton of Columbus, OH.  They were visiting here Memorial Day and Debbie copied the Meredith Risner Cemetery on Puncheon.  Randall Risner says this old cemetery is believed to have had 65 burials but Debbie could only find 10 readable inscriptions.  Bob Whittaker had set markers several years ago for Meredith Risner b. 1830 d. 1909 and his wife Betty b. 1832.  Other readable markers were Dee and Vina Marshall, Cora Stephens, Kelli Stone, Maxie Whitaker, David Risner, Jimmie Risner and Smith Risner.  We found several other rocks marking apparent gravesites but with no inscriptions. “Gone, but not forgotten…??”

            Several membership renewals have come in the last couple of weeks.  A special thanks to Paul & Helen (“Wanda”-Smile) Bailey of Wheatfield, IN, Helen Tackett of Ashtabula, OH, Carole C. Wells of Lucasville, OH, Ruth Drake of Grass Lake, MI, Bruce and Jo Stephens of Hazard, KY, Goldie Shepherd of Wheatfield, IN, Bruce Patrick of Bucyrus, OH, Sharon Nutt of Columbus, OH, Chryl Morgan of Berea, KY, John D. Coffee, Sr. of Columbus, OH, Betty Himes of St. Cloud, FL, Minnie Friskney of Arvilla, IN, Laura Purcell of Salyersville, KY, Dorothy Howard of Fairborn, OH, J. W. Back of Salyersville, KY, Brian Ann Arnett of Versailles, KY, Shirley Clark Belcher of Grundy, VA, A. B. & Inis Conley of Salyersville, KY and Rosemary Turner Lore of Newark, OH, all of whom gave gifts toward furthering the goals of the Magoffin County Historical Society .  We thank Mae Van Artsdalen of Clarksville, TN for continuing to help with obtaining grave markers for early settlers of our area. 

            The next meeting of the Magoffin County Historical Society is Sunday, June 21^st at 2 p.m. here at our library.  We hope to see you here.  If you cannot be here, be sure to send in your family genealogy for inclusion in our Mann/Manns book.