This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the March 10, 2011 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

            We have pondered long and hard on plans for the Magoffin County Historical Society to follow for this year and the years to come.  After much thought and deliberation it has been decided that there will be a Founders Day celebration in 2011 and this year we will be honoring the JOSEPH family.  We have gone no farther than choosing a family name at this time.  We are looking for your thoughts and ideas to help us along so perhaps you can come in and talk with us or write to us at Box 222, Salyersville, KY 41465 or email [email protected].  This is a big undertaking for a group as small as ours so we need helpers to assure that the work involved gets done.  We have been encouraged by the fine comments that have come in already by way of Facebook.  Facebook?  Why yes, look for the Magoffin County Historical Society on the Internet and let us hear from you via this new medium!

            We have a backlog of genealogy books that are in various stages of preparation and we will be focusing on trying to get as many of these finished up as we can. I have seen much work going on around here with the next volume of the Veterans of Magoffin County.  This one begins with the surname Puckett and will probably extend up to the Slusher names. 

            We are also still working on the Sesquicentennial books.  One volume of the stories and pictures submitted by all of you is almost ready for printing.  We hear there is still a little room in Volume II for additional material and we know there are a few people out there who did not bring in the pictures to go with their story or who didn’t quite finish the story they started about their family, the place they live, past and present businesses, clubs or civic organizations. 

            We had some news that new material on an early generation of the Manns family might be forthcoming so we put a hold on finishing that book until we see if the new information fits in.

            Along with the spring clean-up, I have been spending time with queries and family research.  I have been delving into my own Helton family line more deeply now that contact has been made with a grandson of my mother’s aunt Cornelia A. Helton Rogers.  I have looked through all the printed materials and dredged up as many memories of stories I heard growing up about her and am trying to make a written record about what we know of her.  I am looking forward to being better acquainted with her family.

            We have also worked on some queries received here at our library.  Dixie Dale Moss ([email protected]) is searching into the Reuben Dale line as she has been told there is Indian blood in that line.  Reuben Dale lived in the Bristle Buck area of Paintsville in Johnson Co. KY and was said to have been of a very dark skin color.  He married first to Bertha Rose.  The 1850 census of Johnson County which shows Reuben Dale at age 40 (b. ca. 1810 in VA) wife Tabitha Selvage or Stambaugh.  Their eldest son was Berry b. 1832 who married in 1858 to Chaney Cole.

            Their second child was Pleasant Dale b. in 1839 according to the census ages.  He married in 1858 to Matilda Collins. 

            The 1870 Johnson Co. KY census lists Berry Dale, age 37 Indian, wife Chaney Cole, Indian and their children Roscoe age 13, Maranda age 9, Tabitha age 5 and Lewis were all listed as Indian.

            The 1880 Johnson census lists Berry Dale, mulatto age 47, Chaney age 47 with children Miranda, Tabitha and Lois.

            By the 1900 Johnson census Chaney Dale age 68 was listed as a widow with her granddaughters Mary age 16, Priscilla age 11, Maxie Clark age 11, Rosa Dale age 4 and Sarah Dale age 7.

            Reuben Dale had other children, namely, Francis Dale b. 1840, Pleasant Dale b. 1837, Arthur Dale b. 1844, Charity Dale b. 1850, Judith Dale b. 1854, Jurih Dale b. 1858, Henry Hardin Dale b. 1859 and William Dale b. 1861.

            Another query I have looked into was from Alli-Beth Mason ([email protected]) who would like to know more about her Patrick family. She has copies of our Patrick books and is descended from Henry Clay Patrick (1916-1960) and Allie Bell Miller (1916-1983).  Henry Clay’s parents were Noah Patrick and Elizabeth “Lizzy” Shepherd. 

            Perhaps another descendant will get in touch with her with more information about her family.

            We truly enjoyed the year 2010 and the Sesquicentennial celebration for Magoffin County.  We look forward to this coming year and the exciting events it will bring.