This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the December 9, 2010 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

            After watching several episodes this week of a television show of yesteryear, The Walton’s which led up to the grand finale last evening, I got the motivation to write about a family that somewhat paralleled the fictional Walton’s, but first I want to introduce you to the main character’s Richard “John Boy” Thomas’s grandfather.

            My dad Curtis Preston grew up in Paintsville.  His brother-in-law was Robert “Bob” Hudson, born in Virginia, who, along with his father, invented the submachine or “Tommy” gun and it was said they were swindled out of the patent rights by Chicago crooks.  Uncle Bob’s loves were hunting, fishing and eating my mother’s cooking!

            Uncle Bob would bring his hunting buddy over to Burton Fork to hunt.  This “hunting buddy” happened to be Harry Thomas, the grandfather of “John Boy” Richard Thomas whose mother was a nurse at the time in the old Paintsville Hospital.

            Uncle Bob loved quail hunting.  Harry Thomas leaned toward hunting squirrel or rabbits.

            Here’s where Todd Preston came in to the picture.  Having roamed those hills daily, I knew where every covey of quail roosted, where the most squirrels denned as well as where the most rabbits could be “bounced”.  I was too young to be trusted to carry a gun so I became the “guide” and also helped carry the “kill”.

            Harry Thomas gave me a pup, so small I called her “Midget” – “Midge”, for short.  She grew to be the largest, fastest dog on the farm and was a squirrel dog supreme!  When she treed a squirrel, she would actually get on the other side of the tree and shake grape vines to cause the squirrel to move over to the hunter’s side!

            Now, when I got older and became a coon hunter, I got me a Plott Hound, in fact, I joined the National Plott Hound Association, becoming secretary-treasurer and graduated to vice-president.  Now, if you are wondering where this is leading… In the meantime, I had grown up and Harry Thomas had not only become a county judge but was also a Plott Hound enthusiast and we became hunting buddies again.

            In the television series of old, “John Boy” Richard Thomas had a big bunch of fellow actors as brothers and sisters in the many episodes of the Waltons.  I also had a “big bunch” of brothers and sisters who were raised up in the old log home that Mom’s father built back in 1890 so I feel somewhat parallel to this fictitious Walton family.

            We have had a couple of items come in for the Sesquicentennial book and the 150 Years of Cooking in Magoffin County cook book since I wrote last.  One is a story about the King family and another is from Ilene, the wife of Paul Risner who used to write articles for the Salyersville Independent.  Arion Cole and his sister Irene Farmer have collaborated on a story of their mother’s life in the head of Licking River.  Madeline Wiley Craft sent in some pie recipes that sound like they just have to be tried!

            Time doesn’t stand still and some of us won’t be living in the next decade when it is predicted that there will be driverless cars on the roads!  Now, this is today and we ask you, have you written your story to be printed in the upcoming One Hundred and Fiftieth year or Sesquicentennial book that is being prepared for Magoffin County?

            This year is coming to an end and you have but a few short days to get that story written and turned in to us here at the historical society.  Remember to bring in a treasured family recipe and pictures also!

            Jamie Caudill is working hard to get information on all the movie theaters of Salyersville of yesteryear, such as “The Star”, “The Alamo”, etc.

            Along this line, we need stories of the schools, the post offices, the businesses, the churches, the clubs, the families, the list could go on and on but time is the factor.  You may think you do not have the time but I have spent an hour and a half on this scribbling and I’ve managed to keep an article in our local newspaper every week for almost thirty years.  I admit I have aides that correct my spelling, etc.  I am trying to urge you to get that pencil and paper out and get busy, for the months have turned into days, soon to be hours before the final curtain falls!