This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the May 9, 2013 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

            Material has continued to come in on the Rudd family this week.  In researching the families of the children of Archibald Rudd and Nancy Woosley we had previously found them to mainly be in Johnson Fork area here in Magoffin with several of them showing up in the Morgan, Wolfe, Lewis and other counties.  It was a surprise this week when Dorothy worked on finding info on Malissa Rudd who was born in 1846 VA, a daughter of Archibald and Nancy in another area.  She found that Malissa, who is sometimes called “Malisha” in the records, married in Floyd County, KY to Edward “Ned” Ousley, a son of Benjamin Ousley and Jemima Thornsberry.

            Malissa and Ned Ousley had several children before her death in Floyd Co. KY at age 40.  Edward “Ned” later married Cynthia Stephens Ratliff and a third marriage was to Martha Bradford.

            We want to list the children that we believe belong to Malissa and Ned as this will inform a large number of people of their connection to the Rudd family that is being honored this year with a Magoffin County Founders Day celebration.

            We have nothing other than the names and birth years for the first two children. They are (1) Rebecca Ousley b. 1864 and (2) Mary Jane Ousley b. 1871.

            Their next child (3) was Martha Frances Ousley b. 1872 and she married John L. Pitts, son of Thomas Pitts.  Child number (4) was Benjamin Ousley b. 1874 and his wife’s name was Elizabeth.  They married before the 1900 Floyd Co. KY census was taken. That record shows him as age 25 and Elizabeth was age 17. They had a boarder Hiram Shepherd in their household.

            Child number (5) was Arty Eveline Ousley and the Floyd County Vital Statistics records her birth as 20 June 1875.  We have nothing else at this time on the next two children: (6) Lurany Ousley b. 1875 and (7) Robert Ousley b. 1878.

            William Jackson Ousley was the next child (8) and he was born in 1879 and married Nancy Wright, daughter of James H. Wright and Seatta Baldridge.  Their children married into the Floyd Co. families of Crisp, Miller, Hughes, Bradley, Stephens, Justice, Haywood, Kindrick and others.

            The 9^th child of Edward and Malissa was John Ousley. He was born in 1882 and married Ellie Conley, daughter of “Red Dave” Conley and Galathia Hicks.

            The 10^th child was James Ousley; the 11^th was Laura Jacenda Ousley; and the 12^th was Jemima Ousley b. 1884.

            Child (13) was Joseph “Joe” Ousley and he married Mollie Jones.  We only have a birth year of 1885 for the next (14) child Charlie Ousley

            Child number (15) was Henry Ousley and he married Nancy Jane Hicks, daughter of Emery Hicks and Jemima Samons.

            For the last two children (16) Marjorie Lenora Ousley and (17) Jimmie Ousley we only have birth years of 1892 and 1893.  Their mother Malissa Rudd Ousley died the following year.

            We went into this list of children because we hope that some of our readers will recognize a relative or have some information that will be of help to this family genealogy.

            Back in 2001 Rita Hicks Keesy of Shiloh, OH donated her Hicks family material to us for the purpose of preserving the history of our eastern Kentucky families.  This material has helped us a great deal with research on other families.  We are very appreciative for the help of William Patton and Fred Vanderpool who added obituaries and news clippings to Rita’s material.  We have been very blessed to have the help of so many people. 

            If you can help with our search for the Rudd family, please contact us at Magoffin County Historical Society, PO Box 222, Salyersville, KY 41465 (email: [email protected]) or come in to our library located next door to the Hall Community Center here in Salyersville.

            My neighbor and friend, Jerry Kyle Arnett has received word that his brother Wade H. Arnett died at age 83 on 24 April 2013 at his home in Macon, Georgia.  Wade served in the US Air Force and retired as a Master Sergeant and was a member of at least 50 years in the Masonic Lodge.  He was a son of Henry N. Arnett and Tressie Patrick Arnett who lived here in Salyersville.  There will be a memorial service at a later date and interment will be in the Boardtree Cemetery here in Magoffin County on Route 30.