This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the July 29, 2010 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

            The hot humid weather we have been having in Magoffin County has curtailed a lot of my outdoor activities as my several “bosses”-my daughters, (smile) have insisted I postpone the cemetery cleanups and other projects I had planned on doing. 

            We are expecting Bob Whittaker and his son James to visit us soon and then things will begin to buzz—they have some exciting projects in the works, some that I have long wanted to see accomplished.  Bob tells us they are experiencing some of the same type of weather in South Carolina as we are currently having.

            A local cemetery has been cleaned up recently by Lester and Nancy Dotson of IN along with other family members. This is the Sublett Howard or J. I. Stephens Cemetery located across from the mouth of Lynn Camp of Puncheon.  A huge maple tree had fallen in the cemetery and knocked over several large stones but now the cemetery is back in good order, thanks to these hard-working fine folks.

            At the halfway point in Magoffin County’s Sesquicentennial year we are assessing the progress of the year’s activities up to this time and participating in additional planning for the second half of our landmark birthday year.  It seems the inflow of material for the Sesquicentennial book is low at this time.  Perhaps you are like me and have let the heat and humidity slow you down.  If you had thoughts of participating in this project then let us hear from you soon.  This is a very special time to commemorate a family or a person special to you.  Perhaps you could write about your church and its history or a business that is now or once was in operation in our county.  This is the time to spotlight your civic organization, community and/or a past or present school.  We are looking for biographies of people who have made an impact on the development of our county.  Do you have family members who have served as elected officials, worked in the various facets of health care, educators, or other professions? Let us hear from you with your stories and pictures.  Remember also that pictures from Magoffin County’s past are needed, as well as photos of this year’s events. Let’s document the happenings of our county, past and present.

            Work is on going with the Salute to Veteran’s series of books that we began in 2006.  Three of these volumes are now in print.  The first volume begins with Adams and ends with Combs.  Volume Two begins with Conley and continues through Hicks.  Volume Three has information on service men and women with Magoffin County ties from H through M (surnames Higgins to Maynard). Each of these volumes is now available for purchase.

This newest volume will begin with the surname McCarty and may extend up to the Preston name!!  We are in the process now of checking to see if all the material we received has been entered into the manuscript; usually this involves placing pictures of the service men and women with their information.  Some information has become known that we missed the first time around and this is being entered at the end of the manuscript. 

We had a great number of people who helped gather information for this book series and we appreciate all the help. It turned out to be a greater undertaking than we anticipated.  Magoffin County has had a great number of people who have served in the military and we have attempted to honor them in this series of printed biographies.

            One query I have worked on this week is from Karen Ortegel ([email protected]).  She inquired about the family of Molly Faye Dyer, the daughter of Oscar Dyer. Oscar was the son of Lark Dyer and the grandson of James Dyer.  James was the son of Nelson Dyer and Clarinda Gullett.  She would like to know the names of the parents of Lark Dyer and any information about them that may be available, such as brothers and sisters.  

            Our Gullett book has the info that Nelson’s wife Clarissa was born in the 1812/14 time period and they were married in 1840 Morgan County, KY.  We do not have parents for Nelson listed in this volume.  We have that Clarissa was the daughter of John Gullett who was born about 1767 in Wilkes Co. NC and his wife Mary “Polly” Hambry. This John Gullett was the son of Daniel and Mary Gullett.  Mary “Polly” was the daughter of John Hambry.  We thank Sharroll Minix for the work she did in helping us compile information on this family.

            Larkin Dyer married Mollie Arnett.  His father James Dyer married Rebecca Arnett, a daughter of David Arnett and Lydia Gullett.

            Karen would like to know if anyone has death certificates for Nelson Dyer and Clarinda Gullett Dyer or pictures of their headstones.

            We thank Karen for the picture of Molly Arnett Dyer with three of her sons.  If anyone would like to work with her on her areas of research, please contact her.