This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the May 27, 2010 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

            I got a big surprise at our regular meeting of the Magoffin County Historical Society, Sunday the 16^th of May.  I noticed that Kay Bentley brought in one of her special cakes and there were some other party items on the table.  I asked several people whose birthday it was but got no answer.  I was amazed to find out it was an early birthday party for me!  I hadn’t suspected a thing because my birthday isn’t until June 1^st!  We all enjoyed pizza and cake and even got quite a bit of work done on plans for our part of the Sesquicentennial year! 

            At a recent meeting of our DAV Chapter 15, it was suggested that we pay a special tribute to our elderly veterans as an event of Magoffin County’s Sesquicentennial year by having a special veteran’s program.  When this even takes place we ask that you invite a veteran, furnish transportation and also see that they are well taken care of on the site as well as get them home safely.  This is not asking too much when they did so much for us. 

            Willard Rowe, formerly of the Tip Top area came to town from way out west to visit his friends, one being Herley Manns.  Willard’s name was engraved on the VAMCCO marker over in Ramey Park this year.  Willard is a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and donates his time going into local schools in the state of Wisconsin and talks to school children about the part he played during service that kept our country free.  He and his comrades give flags to school children.

            Visitors this week also included Mike and Lois Lyon from Prosser, WA, their daughter Kathleen Crislip (a writer for a big city newspaper) and her son Nick.

            They were researching their ancestors Capt. Henry Connelley and Archelous Craft for Lois’s daughter Kathleen’s entrance into the DAR.  

            The Mt. Sterling-Pound Gap Road became a much traveled passage way during the Civil War and Salyersville became an important part of that road. There are renewed efforts being made to post designating signs along this historic route.  There was another route through this area known as the Rebel Trace, a route used mostly by local armies.

            There is a move on to open up one link of this route from the Middle Creek Battlefield to the Puncheon/Little Half Mountain battlefield and perhaps make it a trail walk or buggy path this year.  Now, Ol’ Todd will have to get some walking shoes and walking stick as I don’t have a “hoss”, let alone a buggy!

            Seriously though, I’m anxious to see this happen as it would bring to light how our ancestors traveled in yesteryear.  OK, James Puckett and company, get those buggy wheels greased up!  We will be hearing more about this venture later as we are continuing our planning sessions here at our place every Friday morning at 8 a.m.

            Another veteran’s book is coming off the presses, thanks to Lisa Preston, Stacy Blanton, Dorothy Wireman and Connie Wireman and the scores of you out there who supplied the material.  We hope to have this volume ready by Memorial Day weekend.

            Jerry Kyle Arnett and I went to the Smith Adams Cemetery Wednesday evening. Jerry wanted to clean up the Milton Adams gravesite and I wanted to clean Mitchell Lemaster’s gravesite.  Three giant white pine trees blew over during the great ice storm and one of them was at the foot of Mitchell’s grave, leaving a twenty foot high, twenty foot around tree trunk.  I sawed a lot of roots but my saw started slowing down due to the dirt still hanging on to the bark so we started mowing the cemetery.  I then placed flags on four veteran’s graves, Challis Conley, John Henry Conley, William “Bill” Thomas and an Adams whose first name I have momentarily forgotten.

            On Saturday, the 15^th, Jerry and I went back to the cemetery and found Jack Brown and his crew already there hard at work. A beautiful tombstone had been set for his son who recently passed away.  They had an old hollow pine tree on fire that was subject to fall across the fence and were also burning other debris.  I began to cut at the root system of the pine that had turned up at Mitchell’s grave site.  Jack suggested we use both our chain saws and cut into it, which we finally accomplished.

            Jack thought the best thing to do now would be to get some heavy equipment, perhaps an end loader and turn the stump over and leave it on its pad and let Mother Nature take over.

            Folks, white pines are beautiful but they soon become giants and seem to be the easiest to be blown down during ice storms. Without removal with heavy equipment, these fallen pine trees in the Smith Adams Cemetery will be an eyesore for many years.

            David Osbun of Dublin, OH, a son of Georgia Vanderpool, is trying to locate the Hezekiah Vanderpool cemetery.  Hezekiah Vanderpool, Sr. b. 1779 in Surrey or Wilkes Co. NC was a son of Abraham Vanderpool, Jr.  Hezekiah Sr. probably did not come to Kentucky but his son Hezekiah, Jr. is buried in the Vanderpool Cemetery on Crager Branch of the Straight Fork of Licking here in Magoffin County.

            The late Raleigh Shepherd was instrumental in helping get monuments for this nearly abandoned cemetery but didn’t get them set in his life time.  The new markers were for Hezekiah Vanderpool, Jr., his wife Elizabeth Hamilton Vanderpool and their son Rev. Robert L. Vanderpool.  The present landowners carried the stones to the cemetery using a horse.  Bob and Betty Whittaker, Willie Conley, Preston Hale, Brandon Hale and I cleaned up this old cemetery and placed several markers a few years ago. 

            All that we had listed in the original cemetery transcription were: Margaret Vanderpool b. 1860 d. 1903, Elizabeth Vanderpool b. 1817 d. 1888, Rev. R. L. Vanderpool b. 1843 d. 1909, Morgan Wireman b. 1851 d. 1888 and Rinda McDonald and Sallie Wireman Howard (wife of Allen Howard) as also being buried there with no markers.  In 1977 an additional twenty or so graves were evident but unidentifiable.

            Now, I’ve gone into this situation somewhat more than common to let you know that this is just one of the many more or less neglected cemeteries in our county.  We may see on many monuments, “Gone but not forgotten…” but in a lot of cases, our memory is a little shy of staying on “track”.

            Memorial Day is coming soon, are your family cemeteries getting any attention?