This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the November 21, 2013 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

            Here we are in mid-November and if you happen to come by the Pioneer Village in Salyersville you will see Christmas decorations!  No, we did not by-pass Thanksgiving. It is just that my daughters saw Chris Bailey on TV giving predictions of snow and freezing temperatures coming so they decided it would be a good idea to put the decorations up while the thermometer was reading in the mid-60 degrees.  The snow did come and the temperatures have been well below freezing, some reporting as low as 14 degrees and to think that someone saw robins hunting for worms just last week up on Route 7! 

            Dorothy is a little more in season with the decorations here in the historical library and our window display.  For the Thanksgiving season we have used some tacked quilts from Diana Howard and Marlena Howard made by their mother, Lucy Reed Lykins, wife of Connor.  These quilts are treasures to have.  We appreciate Diana and Marlena for all they have done for us down through the years.

            We had an interesting letter from Timothy Wayne Collins of Tampa, Florida.  His grandparents were Warren Bailey (b. 1882 Carver, KY d. 23 Nov 1958 McGuffey, OH and brought back to be buried in the Bailey Cemetery (at Carver) and Cordelia Caudill.  Cordelia was a daughter of John Caudill and Margaret Creech.  Warren was a son of Asbury Bailey (1856-1933) and Catherine Rigsby (1857-1945).  Asbury and Catherine lived on Oakley Creek here in Magoffin County. 

            Asbury Bailey was a son of Henry C. Bailey and Cynthia Thornsbury.  Henry C. was a son of John Bailey, Sr. and Susan Patrick.

Catherine was a daughter of Henry Rigsby and Sarah Cole.  Sarah was a daughter of John Cole.

Timothy said his mother told that Henry Rigsby was related to David Arnett and was an heir when his property was divided.  He also mentioned that Sarah Salyer, Mary Jane Rowe, Wesley Row Mann, Jane Wireman, Usley Wireman, Samuel Arnett, Morton Arnett, and Cassie Arnett were also heirs of David Arnett.

We did not go to the courthouse to look up the land records.  The only Arnett connection that we see from our genealogy files is that Henry Rigsby’s son Lee Rigsby married Lizzie Arnett in 1907 as his second wife.  Lizzie was born in 1877 to William Arnett and Nancy Fletcher.   William was a son of Stephen Arnett and Elizabeth Gullett.  William’s wife Nancy had a sister Elizabeth Fletcher who married Granville Arnett and another sister Caroline Fletcher who married a Taulbee. 

Lee Rigsby was first married in 1881 to Victoria Slusher and they had a son Jasper Rigsby who married Levna Reed. 

Lee’s family lived on Bee Tree of Oakley Creek.  He was instrumental in getting the Sublett and Carver post offices established.  He was a very industrious person who, in addition to farming and blacksmithing, was a logger and kept a sawmill.  It is said that he built many of the small schoolhouses in Magoffin County.  It would be very interesting to learn more about his life.

We have long been interested in Henry Rigsby.  He was buried on Oakley Creek.  John Cole who used to write the Carver community column for the Salyersville Independent years ago told that Henry Rigsby was killed by a group called the Home Guard around the time 1865.  Another story handed down is that he was also known as “Henry Morgan” as he was raised by a man named Morgan. 

We find Henry Rigsby at age 28, born in North Carolina, is listed in the 1860 Magoffin County census.  His wife Sarah Cole is age 22 and they have two daughters, Jane age 4 and Katherine age 2. 

Jane Rigsby was born on Bill Oakley Fork in Dec 23, 1855, the next daughter Katherine was born on Burning Fork on 27 Nov 1857. 

To further complicate matters, there appears to have been another Henry Rigsby about the same age who was born in North Carolina and who married a wife by the first name of Nancy.  This Henry was born in 1833 Lawrence Co. KY and died in 1892 Magoffin Co. KY, his wife Nancy Skaggs was born in 1834 Johnson Co. KY and died in 1911 Magoffin Co. KY.  The second Henry Rigsby was a son of Lewis R. Rigsby and his wife Elizabeth DeBord who were both born in North Carolina and died in Lawrence Co. KY. 

We hope someone has researched this family and can share more information on the Rigsbys. 

Perhaps someone also can help Timothy Collins with his question about the relationship between the Rigsbys and Arnetts.  Lee Rigsby’s first wife Victoria was buried on the Sam Salyer Cemetery at Royalton, KY.  Samuel “The Legislator” Salyer was married to Malinda Arnett, daughter of Stephen Arnett and Elizabeth Howard.

Several of the names Timothy mentioned in his letter as heirs of a David Arnett belong in the family of David “Little Dave” Arnett b. 1827 d. 1898 and buried on the Carpenter Hill Cemetery at Swampton, KY.  His wife was Polly Joseph, daughter of John Joseph and Usley Salyer.  His parents were David “Big Dave” Arnett and Jennie Carpenter.

And while we are on the subject of Lawrence Co. KY, please know that we are still searching for information about War of 1812 soldier Riley Rudd whose wife was named Mary.  He was a brother to our Magoffin County early Rudd settler, Archibald Rudd who is buried somewhere on Johnson Fork.  Riley Rudd and his wife are buried in Lawrence County and we would sure would like to find more info.