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  Magoffin County Historical Society 
"Preserving Our Past for the Future"

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This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the November 28, 2013 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

The Salyersville Independent 
P. O. Box 29, Salyersville, KY 41465. Telephone (606) 349-2915.  Yearly subscription rates are $24.00 in Kentucky and $32.00 per year out of state.

            Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!  We are thankful everyday for the many blessings we enjoy in this life, our freedom, our churches, our families, our friends and this beautiful area in which we live.  Here at the historical society we are thankful for our 36 years of existence and the work we have been able to do to preserve the history and genealogy of our county.  We have gone far beyond any expectations we had back in April of 1978 when a very small group met at the Magoffin County Library and organized the Magoffin County Historical Society.  Little did we know then that we would eventually print 140 quarterly Journals, 31 family histories, 12 volumes of our military men and women from Civil War days to present, along with many other publications such as census and cemetery records, Magoffin County marriages, and even cookbooks!  Add to this our 35 yearly Founders Days celebrations of founding families of Magoffin County, participation in many local and area activities, many, many thousands of letters and emails sent to people asking for help along with helping thousands of visitors who come to our genealogy library.  We are pleased to have been able to assist in helping to set markers for several of our founding fathers whose gravesites were not marked or had weathered away. 

            Yes, we are proud of our accomplishments, yet there are so many projects that are undone and a great many unsolved family history questions.  We thought we would take this opportunity to go over some of those and see what your thoughts are on what some genealogists call “brick walls”.  These are in no particular order and we will delve into others as time goes by. 

            To begin with, the ancestry of David and Letty Arnett who lived in the Knox/Harlan County areas of our state and whose two sons Stephen and Reuben, traveled into Magoffin County, is still unsolved. Stephen married Elizabeth Howard and settled in the upper Licking River area.  Reuben married Susanna Kilgore and settled on Middle Fork. 

            Apparently this David Arnett lived in Russell Co. VA before settling in the part of Knox County that became Harlan County.  David died in that area in 1825.  Clarice and Sharroll Minix found in their research that Letty (Leticia) may have been a Green. 

            Researching this family also brings us to K. N. Fletcher.  He was born about 1825 and died here in Magoffin County.  His mother was named Elizabeth and some people have supposed that she may have been a sister or a sister-in-law to the Reuben and Stephen Arnett mentioned above.  This Elizabeth’s children were (1) Polly Fletcher m. Elias Risner, (2) Susannah Miles (family tradition gives her the surname of Arnett) b. 1820 m. David Salyer, (3) Celia Fletcher m. Julius Medley and (4) Kelsey N. “K. N.” Fletcher m. Malinda Arnett (K. N.’s descendants remember his mother as Elizabeth Miles).  What was Elizabeth’s maiden name?

            We have a Mann/Manns family manuscript that is being worked on.  There are many pages of pictures to be inserted into this family history.  We found that there were three early settlers named Mann whose mother was apparently an “Alley Mann”, some call her Alice Mann.  The children are (1) Samuel Mann b. about 1775 in Virginia and died before 1850; (2) William Mann b. 1777 VA and (3) Nancy Mann b. 1779 m. Jeremiah Patrick.  Most of our people who are descendants have Samuel Mann as their ancestor.  We know that his second wife was Preshi Dykes but who was his first wife?

            We believe Samuel and his first wife had five children together: (1) William Mann b. 1808 m. Rhoda Howard; (2) a daughter born between 1800 and 1810; (3) Nathaniel Mann who died in Platte Co. MO; (4) Sally Mann b. 1814 married Reuben Arnett (son of the above Stephen Arnett); and (5) Thomas Mann b. 1815 m. Eliza Craft.  Samuel’s other two children (6) John Mann m. Lucinda Craft and (7) Mary Mann were the children of his second wife Preshi Dykes.

            We have been unable to find any court records or even traditional history that tells the name of Samuel’s first wife.

            During the year 1999 our historical society honored the Shepherd family.  Most of our local descendants of that family come through Jacob Shepherd b. 1781 VA and died 21 Oct 1858 in the head of Licking River (the area was then a part of Floyd Co. KY).  Jacob’s death is recorded in the Vital Statistics and the name of his father is listed as “John Shepherd”.  Jacob, a minister of the Old Regular Baptist Church, married Elizabeth Hale, dau of Benjamin Hale and Dicy Franklin.

            Two other early Shepherd’s are believed to be his brothers.  One of these is Jesse Shepherd b. in the late 1780s and married Sally Howard, a dau of James Howard.  They appear in the 1830 census of Floyd County, KY but not found in later records.  

            The other son of a John or Jonathan Shepherd of VA was David H. Shepherd b. 1793 VA died in 1873 Breathitt Co. KY m. 1st to Lucretia Hale, dau of Benjamin and Dicy (Franklin) Hale.  David H. married secondly to Rebecca Bradley in 1846, a dau of George Bradley and Elizabeth Briggs.  Rebecca was first married to Hiram Prewitt.

            Gathering genealogical information can be likened to working a giant jig-saw puzzle, one piece found leads to another being put into place.  If anyone has records or information to help with the above, we would be pleased to hear from you.  We would also like to hear about the unsolved questions you have in your own family history.

            As we spoke of in the beginning, we are pleased and thankful for what we have been able to accomplish in our 36 years and, at the same time, striving to do more and to learn more.  Some of you have expressed interest in books we are working on.  Please know that our very small group of volunteers is working to complete these.  At the present time, we have the last volume of the Magoffin County Veteran’s book, 2010 Sesquicentennial books, the Hammond (all spellings), Carpenter, Fletcher, Mann/Manns, Joseph, Marshall and Rudd books in various stages.

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Last modified:      Sunday, December 01, 2013