This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the December 12, 2013 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

            Well, what a great time we all had during the Hometown Christmas 2013 event here in Salyersville!  The directors, Melissa Patrick and Michelle Connelley did a great job, in fact, they thought of everything except for ordering some weather in the 60 degree temperature range (SMILE).

            We began here in the Pioneer Village.  Dorothy fixed up some great apple cider then, because it was so cold, fixed up a big batch of hot chocolate also!  Along with the cookies and candy canes, this made a big hit with the people attending.  We were certainly glad to see Kay and Dallas Bentley come along.  Kay was a big help in serving and later cleaning up the kitchen. My daughters Abby and Jessica braved the cold weather and came out to help! We surely appreciate our volunteers!

            Because of the cold temperatures, some of the children did not come for the school dance team performances.  We really enjoyed the High School team performance on the Pioneer Village stage. We also want to say a big THANKS to the New Generation Church.  Their members and supporters were out in force and made the event very enjoyable.  The Signs of Worship and the New Generation Praise Team are to be commended!

            Dr. James M. “Pete” Shepherd made sure everyone was welcome and saw that the program ran smoothly, even with the several changes in the schedule.   

            We hear the Tree Lighting Ceremony with Christmas Carols went well.  We did see the Christmas Parade and it was amazing.  There were a great many floats and entries this year.  The whole town was well decorated for the event.  We have had several people mention that the decorations were wonderful this year.  If you haven’t gotten to come through Salyersville to see them, we hope you can before the end of the year.

            Last week we introduced you to two of our visitors who were at our November meeting.  They were Larry and Nancy Dyer who visited us from Mechanicsville, VA.  They were researching the Dyer and Whitaker families. 

            Since their visit we have done a little more research on Sheridan Dyer and Ogeline Adams, Larry’s great grandparents.  Sheridan was a preacher and was born in 1870 in the Middle Fork area of our county.  He died 26 Feb 1962 in Ohio.  His wife Ogeline Adams was born March 20, 1874 here in Magoffin County and died June 24, 1946.  She and Sheridan are buried in the Preston Cemetery in Alger, OH.

            Sheridan and Ogeline were married 29 November 1890 in Magoffin County and lived in the Middle Fork area until 1920 when they show in the Ceredo, West Virginia census.  By 1930 they had moved to Alger, OH.

            Ogeline is listed as the daughter of Alex or Elec Adams b. 1847 and Mary E. Cantrell who were married in 1873. They lived at Stella in Johnson Fork.  Mary “Elzie” Cantrell was born in 1850 and died in 1912.  In the 1870 Magoffin census they live in the household with his mother Susanna Adams.  By 1880 his mother at age 67 is still in the household.  Elec and Mary E. have four children by that time, James S. Adams b. 1873, Ogeline Adams b. 1875, Ordelia Adams b. 1877 and Douglas Adams b. 1879. 

            We are curious about the surname of Mary “Elzie” Cantrell.  Some of her descendants give her the last name of “Elzie” or “Elsey” while others have Cantrell as her surname and a middle name of Elzie.

            We have tried to give enough information so that someone may recognize these names in their own family tree and help us with more information.

            A more recent visitor to our library was Bill Patrick of Campton, KY who said he just happened to learn of our library in passing through Salyersville. His paternal grandparents were Roy Patrick and Myra Akers.  His maternal grandparents were Tom Haddix and Winnie Beverly.

            We were pleased to find that his Patrick line connects with the Rudd family that we celebrated during the 2013 Founders Day here in Magoffin County.  Roy Patrick was a son of James M. Patrick and Nannie Brown.  James M. was born in 1873 and died 8 Feb 1943.  He was a son of Henry Patrick (15 Aug 1850-24 Feb 1924) and Nancy Jane Rudd (1849-15 May 1938).  Henry Patrick was a son of Hugh Patrick and Mary Jane Prater.  Mary Jane was a dau of Rev. War soldier Archibald Prater.

            Nancy Jane Rudd was born about 1845 in Tazewell Co. VA, a dau of James Harvey Rudd, Sr. and Dorcas Payne.  She married 20 August 1868 in Magoffin County to Henry Patrick.  He was born 13 Aug 1850 Morgan Co. KY and died 24 Feb 1924.

            We hope to hear back from Mr. Patrick with information on his Rudd lineage down to the present. 

            And in the mail, we got a great packet of Rudd family genealogy from Genova A. Wright of Bellbrook, OH.  She is the daughter of Emery B. Wages and Carrie Rudd and a granddaughter of Hiram Hyden Rudd and Melvina Bailey.  Her material is being typed into the Rudd family manuscript.  We will take this opportunity to ask that if you have not sent in your Rudd family genealogy and pictures to please do so soon.

            Dorothy has been busy with print work this week as our over 400 page cookbook has been finalized.  This is the last cookbook we will be printing as we have quite a backlog of projects to work on.