This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the February 18, 2010 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

The Salyersville Independent , a weekly newspaper.
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.

            “Magoffin County, Kentucky Sesquicentennial, 1860-2010, Celebrating 150 years – Our Future is Bright!”  This was on top of the emails and letters this morning on my desk/table.  It is a design for a sign that we are going to put in the historical society window celebrating the official formation of Magoffin County back in 1860.  The first email was from William McKiven, Chaplin of the re-enactment team coming for the Battle of Puncheon Creek/Half Mountain in April.  He writes that he is excited to be a part of this event.  He is pleased to hear that all the churches in the county are to be invited to attend the Sunday services during the Puncheon Re-enactment and asks for local singers to take part.

            Now, readers, I know I sound like a broken record but has it sunk into your minds? We are about to see the greatest year since our county’s birth!  But only if you contribute your fair share of input into it.  You may be asking how you can I participate, how about sharing your family and/or community story for publication? That would be a start. 

            Some may ask what I mean by “sounding like a broken record.”  Before television and radio there was the “Talking Machine” later called the Victrola which played large size music records for our entertainment.  If that disk had a break or scratch then it would keep repeating itself when the needle reached that place in the record.  How many people over fifty remember the Nickelodeon in the tavern which doubled over as a bus station in our town? When a record started repeating itself, someone had to give the machine a good shake to get it to continue playing “You Are My Sunshine” or “Mule Skinner Blues”.  Now, there’s a bit of history, for free (Smile).

            The planning committee for the Sesquicentennial has been encouraging your participation in this year’s events and many plans are “in the works”.  Every church, organization, school, and individual is invited to come up with ideas to make 2010 the year of all years.

            While trying to keep up with A. B. Conley and Jimmie Allen, I’ve sort of laid the razor aside.  When my son Toddie saw my whiskers, he shouted, “Dad, can’t you afford razor blades?”  There may be a “Kangaroo Kourt” set up that would put those without beards in “jail” (Smile).

            I finally got the roof back over the “Green Onion” jail cell that had blown off during that terrible wind storm awhile back.  That storm caused so much damage in our area.  Now, I could have waited for warmer weather and could have gotten help but I just can’t sleep good with that sort of project hanging over my head.  After several evenings of “cobbling” I was visited and assisted by my son Toddie.  We got the roof on Wednesday now I can catch up on my cemetery hunting expeditions.

            Dorothy has the Winter Journal of the Magoffin County Historical Society printed and in the mail.  I might add that even though it is late, I think it is among the best we’ve printed yet!

            Some of the inquiries we get are from people asking where Gray Fox, Ever, etc. were located in our county.  It may seem simple for those of you who have lived here all your lives to answer but you will have to agree that when we lost our one-room schools and post offices, we lost a lot of our local identity.  Not many of us will live to celebrate the 200^th birthday of Magoffin County so let’s endeavor to leave more of our history than was left for us.  A large crowd attended the last meeting of the Sesquicentennial planning committee and they are making a lot of progress. We hope you will plan on helping with some project. I especially implore our senior citizens to write their life history so your fourth (or more) great grandchildren will know what your life was like.  Think on this for a moment, what if your ancestors had left more of their history for you? 

            We appreciate the story of the Conley home from Bruce and Jo Stephens of Hazard, KY.  We have also received material from Arthur Jay Hale of Plymouth, OH about the Howard’s Branch area and from Virginia Parker of Cedar Lake, IN about the Puncheon Creek area of our county.  We have heard from others who plan to send pictures and stories so we hope to hear from you soon.  This is a project that is being worked on now and will not be postponed.