This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the December 5, 2013 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

            We are getting ready for our last monthly meeting for the year 2013 which will be on Sunday, December 15 here at our historical library.  If you have a chance, come on out to be with us at 2 p.m. that afternoon. 

            Today we are taking a look back at our November meeting when we had Larry and Nancy Dyer visit us from Mechanicsville, VA.  They were researching the Dyer and Whitaker families.  We were pleased to help them with their research and Mr. Dyer was able to visit the Martha “Patsy” Whitaker memorial at Swampton as well as the gravesite of Joseph Dyer.  We just received the nicest thank you card from them with pictures of their visit to both sites.  The card was handmade with a picture of an antique car on the front.  We enjoyed the card and letter very much and were especially glad to hear back from them that we had been of some help.

            We will go into a little bit of Larry’s genealogy.  His grandparents were Joe Dyer and Della Whitaker.  Joe was a son of Sheridan Dyer b. 10 Aug 1870 d. 26 Feb 1962.  He was a son of Lucretia Gullett.

            Sheridan Dyer’s wife was Ogeline Adams.  We have not yet found much information about her.

            Della Whitaker was the daughter of Smith Whitaker (b. 15 Feb 1865 Floyd Co. KY died in Rensselaer, IN) and Mary Jane Risner (b. 8 Apr 1869 according to Bible Record or 10 Mar 1870 by family record).   

            Smith Whitaker was listed as age 33 in the 1900 Floyd Co. KY census; his wife was age 32.  That year they had 5 children in their household: Morgan Risner age 9, Franklin Risner age 7, Molly Risner age 5, Lee Risner age 4 and William Risner age 2.

Smith was a son of Morgan C. Whitaker and Susannah Hale. 

Mary Jane, wife of Smith Whitaker, was a daughter of Francis M. “Frank” Risner and Basheba Adams.   Frank Risner was born in 1841.  He was a soldier in the Civil War, being a member of Co. B, 14^th KY Inf. USA.  On his Civil War papers his physical description was given as age 29 (he enlisted on 8 Feb 1862), he was 5 feet 10 inches tall and had black hair and eyes.  Madeline Bishop of Findlay, OH helped us with his family material back when we worked up the genealogy of the Risner family.

Frank Risner’s father was James Risner (b. 1809 Harlan Co. KY d. 30 Jun 1899 Magoffin Co. KY.  James married Margaret “Peggy” Adams b. 1809 in VA and died 19 Jan 1899.  They lived on Puncheon Creek on Licking River here in Magoffin County.

On Larry Dyer’s paternal side, he had another Civil War soldier as an ancestor, that being Joseph Dyer.  Joseph was a member of Co. D, 45^th KY.  He was captured during the Ivy Point Skirmish here in Salyersville which occurred on 30 Nov 1863.  Joseph was first sent to a Confederate prison at Richmond, VA and later sent to Belle Island, Charleston, and Florence, SC before being sent to Andersonville Prison in Georgia.  He was paroled in December of 1864 and discharged in March of 1865.  He died at Kenova, WV at the age of 92 on 5 Sep 1926 and was brought to be buried in the Captain John Power Cemetery at Lakeville, KY, about 3 miles from Salyersville. 

Joseph Dyer was a school trustee and his signature appears on a document between James Dyer, Chairman, Joseph Dyer, Trustee, and E. B. Dyer, Teacher.  The document reads:

“Contract between teacher and trustees: This is to certify that E. B. Dyer has hereby on the 7^th day of July 1893 contracted with the undersigned trustees Dist. White No. 78, Magoffin County, State of Kentucky to teach its common school for the term of (5) months, beginning on Monday, July 3^rd 1893 in accordance with the Common School Laws and the rules and regulations prescribed in pursuance thereof by the State Board of Education.  It is also agreed that the fire shall be regularly made and the floor regularly swept in said (school) during said term by said teacher and said teacher providing fuel, bucket, and brooms.  It is further agreed by said teacher to teach said school out in succession without some unavoidable accident should occur.”

It is very interesting to see some of the old documents that tell us so much about conditions in the time they were written.  We think the school board members, teachers, and parents of the 1893 time period in Magoffin County would be amazed at the progress that has come about in the ensuing 120 years. 

We have more material that we have collected since the visit of Mr. and Mrs. Dyer and we will save it for another time.  We feel sure they will visit again as they have many ancestors in our part of Kentucky. 

Dorothy and Connie have that 150 Years of Cooking in Magoffin County book ready for printing.  It looks like it is going to be in excess of 400 pages.  What I have gotten to look at I feel it will make for very interesting reading with many pictures of people and places.  I noticed there are lots of school pictures in this book also.  The recipes look very tempting and I sure would like to sample some of them (SMILE).