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This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the February 6, 2014 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.

            This winter season has been a good one to stay indoors and do a lot of the things that we tend to put off when the weather is nice. In nicer weather one wants to be out exploring the hills and countryside looking for old homesteads and cemeteries of our Magoffin County area.  For now, we are going to concentrate on getting some of the books we have been working on into print and also try to help some of those who write to us for some clues on their family research.

            We had a message from Diana Johnson who tells us that Jennie Runyon and Joseph Bailey were her great-great-great grandparents and she would like info on them.  We have a pretty good record of that family in our Bailey family books that were printed in 1986.  We feel sure that a great deal of info has been discovered since then and we are always interested in receiving additional material for our quarterly Journal of the Magoffin County Historical Society.  Our Journal is how we keep our members in touch with others who are researching some of the same families and also let them know about updated family history, as well as keep in touch with the happenings here at the “home twenty”. 

            Back to Diana Johnson’s query: When we worked up an ancestor chart on her family we see that it is covered in several of our other publications as well as the Bailey book.  Her paternal grandparents were Walter Scott “Jack” Johnson who married Goldie Wireman.  Jack Johnson was a son of Claiborne Johnson and Alifair Shepherd.  Claiborne was a son of Hiram Johnson and Susannah Shepherd.  Goldie’s parents were George Wireman and his 2nd wife Usley Prater. 

            George Wireman was a son of Fielding “Uncle Pea” Wireman and Sally Sizemore. As an aside, this reminds us that we have grave markers for Uncle Pea and his wife that need to be set as soon as we can get a way up to their cemetery on Trace Fork of Licking River. Traditional stories handed down in the family tell that when Uncle Pea’s wife died he hand carved a headstone for her grave but it has long since weathered away. It will be good to get these new markers for two of our early settlers of Magoffin County set so their descendants can visit the site.

            George Wireman’s wife Usley Prater was a daughter of James Prater and America Bailey.  James Prater was a son of Riley Prater and Lucretia Shepherd.  America was a daughter of Joseph Bailey and Jenny Runyon.

            Hiram Johnson (father of Claiborne or Clabe) was a son of Walter Johnson and Lucinda “Kitsy” -?-.  We think Kitsy may have come to Magoffin County with her children, one of whom was the above mentioned (1) Hiram Johnson who married Susannah Shepherd.  Her other children as told to us by the late Nannie Howard Conley (wife of Wes Conley) were (2) Liza Jane Johnson who married in 1872 to William “Doc Bill” Howard, also (3) Sarah Ann Johnson, (3) Camelite Johnson (female) and (4) Mace Johnson. 

            Walter Scott “Jack” Johnson was born 18 Jan 1903 in Magoffin Co. KY and died 7 Dec 1977 at Hammond Lake, IN.  His first wife Goldie Wireman was born 15 Jan 1912 in Magoffin County and died in 1936.  Goldie was first buried on Big Branch located off KY Rt. 7 here in Magoffin Co. KY but her grave was relocated on 13 Jul 1994 to the Bailey Chapel Cemetery in Wakefield, OH where her husband is buried.

            The children of Jack Johnson and Goldie Wireman were Oma, Ethel, Robert (Diana’s father), and Erma Jean. 

Jack Johnson married 2nd to Betty Bailey in Floyd Co. KY and their children were Carl, Clark and Emogene.

            When we copied the cemetery where Goldie Johnson was originally buried in 1977 we found only the one grave with no headstone.  Our directions to that original gravesite were “off KY 7 about 3 miles from Howard’s Branch near head of Big Branch on hill on left.”  This lone grave was in the vicinity of the Jefferson Shepherd Cemetery and the information was given to us by the late Kate Shepherd, wife of Harlan Shepherd. On the Jefferson Shepherd Cemetery, Kate identified one unmarked grave as that of a “Clabe Johnson” and this may well be the Claiborne Johnson who married Alifair Shepherd. Alifair died in Scioto Co. OH 19 May 1959.

            We found Alifair and Clabe as newlyweds in the 1900 Floyd Co. KY census.  He was age 20 and she was age 19.  In their household was a cousin Lee Shepherd age 28.

            By 1910 Clabe and Alifair were in Magoffin Co. KY and lived as neighbors to Dan Wireman near the Mouth of Brushy, Rt. 7.  Their voting precinct was Trace Fork and their post office was listed as Gypsy, KY.

            In 1910 Clabe was age 32, Alifair was also age 32; they had been married 10 years and had these children in their household: (1) John M. Johnson age 8, Walter Johnson age 6, Robert Johnson age 5, Ida Johnson age 4 and Kelly Johnson age 3.

            The 1920 Magoffin Census has Clabe Johnson age 33, Alifare Johnson age 30, and children Morgan Johnson age 18, Walter Johnson age 16, Robert Johnson age 15, Ida Johnson age 14, Kelly Johnson age 12, Frank Johnson age 10, Hiram Johnson age 6, Susie Johnson age 6 and Mort Johnson age 4 months.

            Apparently by 1930 Alifair had remarried to a Dave Shepherd.  They appear in the 1930 Scioto, OH census with the following family members: Dave Shepherd age 57, Alifair age 50, Henry Shepherd age 20, Olive Shepherd age 15, Maud Shepherd age 8, Bryce Shepherd age 23, Susie Shepherd age 16, Robert Johnson age 24, Hiram Johnson age 21, Kelly Johnson age 22 and Martin Johnson age 15.

            It would be of interest to us here at the Magoffin County Historical Society to have more information about any of these Johnson families that have been mentioned.  Please write us at PO Box 222, Salyersville, KY 41465 (email [email protected]) or come in at 191 South Church Street if you are in the Salyersville, KY area.

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