This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the December 3, 2009 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

The Salyersville Independent  is a weekly newspaper published and edited by Michael David Prater, P. O. Box 29, Salyersville, KY 41465. Telephone (606) 349-2915.  Yearly subscription rates are $24.00 in Kentucky and $30.00 per year out of state.

            A memorial monument, complete with a bench and flagpole with Old Glory waving proudly in the wind has been installed for Archibald and Sarah (Fugate) Prater.  They are progenitors of most of the Prater clan in this particular area.  This memorial is located in the old part of the Bluegrass Cemetery in what is commonly referred to as the Irvin Prater section of the cemetery.  We feel this merits a celebration and have so planned a small one to take place on Monday, December 7^th at 4:30 p.m. There is very little parking room in the cemetery so we may have to walk out there.

            The Magoffin County Muzzleloaders have consented to do a 21-gun salute to honor Archibald Prater, a patriot of the American Revolution.  Archibald and his family founded the first settlement in our area, known as Prater’s Fort.  Archibald later migrated to the Cheyenne section of Salyersville and as legend tells, was buried about 100 yards beyond his home at or more precisely under the old stone building which later became part of the Salyersville High School.

            Archibald’s brother, Jonathan Prater, also a patriot of the Revolution, was the progenitor of some of the other Praters in our area.  Jonathan may have migrated back to Virginia. A Jonathan Prater, Jr. settled in the Beaver creek area of Floyd Co. KY.

            Archibald’s sister, Sarah Prater married Samuel Allen in 1783 Henry Co. VA.  Their descendants number in the thousands in our area. 

            Magoffin County now officially has a Cemetery Board.  We were appointed some time back but as some members were unable to attend, we could not function due to lack of a quorum.  This changed at our last meeting with all members and several friends getting together.  Thanks to Family Bank who sponsored pizza for the meeting.

            We heard excellent reports from members concerning projects now accomplished and some that are in the last stages of completion.

            For instance, how many of you realize we now have a county cemetery with one burial.  This is a project spearheaded by member Lester Puckett and emerged due to the shortage of burial space in the adjacent Caleb May Cemetery.  Negotiations are under way for a second county cemetery in the Middle Fork area.    

            One of the reports we got during the meeting was that a monument has been placed at the burial site of Magoffin County’s first sheriff, Stephen Howard.  This marker is located on Shonny Branch of Puncheon Camp Creek and was set by Randall Risner and Jack Sizemore.      

            Member Ben Gardner reported on his finding several hundred unmarked graves on the Gardner farm and feels some type of permanent marker should be set to help prevent any excavations being done in the future.

            I am convinced that there are at least 200 plus unmarked graves behind the old bank building right here in town. I could name about a dozen more abandoned cemeteries within the city limits.  How many more are out there?

            The cemetery board has no funds to clean up cemeteries; our aim is for preservation and restoration. We are interested in seeking grants for special projects.

            Back in the late 1970s, several volunteers copied many cemeteries in our county and turned in the information to the Magoffin County Historical Society.  We supplied the information to the Kentucky Historical Society so that the locations could be placed on quadrangle maps.  Many burials have taken place since that time, plus a lot of cemeteries were overlooked in our original search.  You may know of abandoned burial sites that have been missed.  I have also heard of a good many Indian gravesites, in fact, there is said to be one on my old home place on Burton Fork.

            We would like to plead with you to copy your family cemeteries.  Write down names and dates of those with markers.  Give names, if known, of any unmarked graves.  Write down the location of the cemetery as best you can.  Add any information you can about the cemetery and send or bring it in to us.  You may not think this is a valuable service but it is.  It will preserve information for the future.  We get letters, telephone calls and visitors quite often asking us for information about a gravesite.  One such came from a lady who wanted to visit a Williams Cemetery in the head of the Lost Fork of Johnson, namely Williams Creek.  When I asked Ray Keeton about it, he exclaimed, “A mountain goat couldn’t get up that hollow since the ice storm!”  I was never able to find a Williams Cemetery in that area.

            We hope you will consider helping with this update of Magoffin County cemeteries, as you will be helping not only your great-great grandchildren learn who they descend from but it will be of assistance to many other people as well who desire to know of their heritage.