This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the October 17, 2013 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

            We feel good about what has been accomplished here at the “home-twenty” during the early fall season.  We have done a little sprucing up around the Pioneer Village and made progress with several of the projects we are working on.  One of these we have been planning for a couple of years now and that is securing a marker for the gravesite of Edmond Conley, Jr.  I could dance a jig on getting that project completed if this bum knee would let me. (Smile)

Several descendants helped to purchase these markers.  Edmond, Jr. was born in 1807 and died before the 1870 census was taken.  His wife was Jane Pelphrey and they had seven children: (1) Edmond D. Conley III who married Elizabeth McCarty and Elizabeth Williams; (2) William Smith Conley whose wives were Narcissus Fitzpatrick and Rebecca Caudill, (3) Nancy Jane Conley married Stephen Crace, (4) Isaiah Conley married Nancy Caudill, (5) Henry Jackson Conley married Elizabeth Crace and Tempa Gullett, (5) Wallace B. Conley m. Amanda Reed and (6) Houston Conley who died in the Civil War era.

            As we were progressing toward getting this marker it was decided to go ahead and get one for his father Edmond Connelly, Sr. who is also buried in the same cemetery. 

Edmond Connelly, Sr. was a son of Capt. Henry Connelly and Ann McGregor.  He and his wife Lydia Joynes were the parents of the following children: (1) Edmond Conley, Jr., (2) Isaiah Conley, (3) Henry Conley, (4) Thomas Conley, (5) Daniel Conley, (6) Elizabeth Conley Salyer and (7) John Conley.  Edmond Sr. married later in life to Nancy Tackett and they had no children together.  Edmond Sr.’s home which was located at the head of State Road Fork was a boundary marker when neighboring Johnson County was formed in 1843.

            I got all excited when it came time to get the markers set and forgot to take a camera so we are planning a return trip to get some pictures which we will print in an issue of the Journal of the Magoffin Historical Society.

            The fall season is bringing out several visitors to our genealogy library also.  One of these was Karla Trusty Perry.  We worked on her chart and Lo and Behold, found us another Rudd family descendant!  Karla’s maternal grandparents were Jackson Prater, known by the nickname of “Hoss” who married Lula Prater (1908-1977).  Jackson Prater was a son of Joseph Prater.  Joseph died at age 65 in 1876.  Jackson’s mother was Joseph’s 2^nd wife Sarah “Sallie” Frasure.  Joseph Prater was a son of William W. Prater and Mary Ann Thurman.  William W. was a son of Thomas Prater and Millie Wheeler.  Mary Ann was a dau of Charles T. Thurman.  Sallie Frasure was a daughter of Robert Frasure (b. 1814 d. 1840) and Jemima Thornsberry.

            Karla’s grandmother Lula was a daughter of Rhodes Prater b. 1876 and Louraney Ousley.  Rhodes was a son of a Civil War soldier Newman Prater and Martha Daniels.  Newman was a son of William Prater and Obedience Prater.

            Louraney was a daughter of Edward “Ned” Ousley and Malisha “Lisha” Rudd.  This is the daughter of Archibald Rudd and Nancy Woosley that married and lived in Floyd County.  We are pleased to be able to add info on this line into our manuscript of the Rudd genealogy.

            This is a line that Donna Hammons Miller sent info on this year.  Some of our genealogy was taken from the Prater manuscript that is being worked on.  The material on these families was supplied to our library by Teresa Vinton Zakrzewski of Jackson, MI and Fred Vanderpool of Hippo, KY with the earlier Prater lines being contributed by the late Martha Heinemann of TN.

            Now, getting to Karla’s paternal lineage, she gave her grandparents as Lacy Trusty and Phoebe Jordan.  Lacy Trusty was a son of Jeff Trusty (1857-1924) and Gilly Ann Wages (1862-1937).  Jeff was a son of John Trusty and Margaret McDaniels.  Jeff’s wife Gilly Ann was a dau of Wilson Wages and Sally Davis. 

            We find John and Margaret Trusty in the 1860 Magoffin census but by 1870 Margaret at age 50 is listed as a widow.  An earlier visitor who was a descendant told us that John Trusty was a Baptist minister who was killed by the Home Guards in 1861.

Lacy’s wife Phoebe was born in 1868 and died at age 85 on 10 Dec 1953 at Hendricks, KY.  She was a dau of Meredith or Meridy Jordan who married here in Magoffin County in 1897 to Nancy “Nannie” Poe.  Meridy was a son of John Jordan and Rebecca Poe who were married in 1869 Magoffin Co. KY.  John Jordan was a soldier during the Civil War, a private in Co. F, 14^th KY Inf. 

When we copied cemeteries back in the 1970s we were told that Lacy and Phoebe Trusty were buried in the Ham Patrick (also known as the White Patrick Cemetery) on the Hager Patrick farm on Rt. 30 at the Lark Arnett Hill.  At that time they had no markers at their gravesites.

We have received a book gift from Jimmie Allen, Salyersville, KY. He presented us with a book containing Volume One, Bloody Breathitt along with Bloody Breathitt’s Feuds, Volumes Two and Three.  These works are by E. L. Noble and the compiled edition was printed in memory of the Noble family by Elesha Richardson.  We thank Jimmie for this very nice gift which gives us some very interesting reading material.