This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the February 20, 2014 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

            It is Valentine’s Day as this is being written and we know we will be a little late but we want to wish E. J. Rudd a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  He has the pleasure of having his birthday and Valentine’s Day all in one.  I hear that Kay Bentley is all set to deliver him a nice big birthday cake so don’t be surprised, E. J., if I happen to drop by in person (SMILE). 

            More Rudd family material came in to us this week.  We want to thank Bill and Vivian Rudd for sending a nice collection of pictures for the Mearl Rudd family.  They did an excellent job of finding pictures for all members of that family.  If you have a Rudd ancestor, we invite you to share your genealogy and pictures with us for a planned Rudd family book.

            Ms. Linda Taylor Fletcher of Munith, MI did just that this week also.  We received several pages of information from her on the descendants of Hiram Hyden Rudd, Jr., a son of Hiram Hyden Rudd and Melvina Bailey.  H. H. Rudd, Jr. was born 13 Jan 1884 and died 19 Dec 1963 in Maytown, Morgan Co. KY.  He was buried in the McGuire Cemetery in Morgan Co. KY.  H. H. Rudd, Jr. married in 1902 in Maytown, Morgan Co. KY to Nannie Davis who was born about 1885. 

            We are happy to report that the Volume Six of our Salute to Veterans set of books is now complete.  I got to buy the very first copy that was put together then Dorothy and Connie bought the next two! I took my copy home as there are a lot of stories and pictures in it that I wanted to read.  If you are interested in the military history of our county you will want all of these books.  The current volume begins with our military men and women whose surname begins with Slusher and the last surname in the book is Yates.  Last week we described what is contained in the other five volumes and we also have that info on our website as well. 

            We had a nice message from Barbara Neeley Clark who writes that both her parents and grandparents were from Magoffin County.  She wanted to know if we would be interested in receiving some stories about her family. Of course, our answer is YES!  We believe everyone should write their memories of their family members. These stories will help those who are privileged to read them in the future get to “know” their ancestors through the words you have written.  We have a book that we are currently working on in which we can include those stories and that is the fifth volume of the Life Along the Licking River series.  This book will also contain the index by Kay Conley Bentley to the first four volumes. 

            Another book we have that is nearing completion is a volume of the 150^th Birthday book for Magoffin County.  This is one of our long-awaited volumes that will have many pictures and stories of people, places, groups, etc. of our county from 1860 to the present. 

            Now, back to Ms. Clark: her parents are Arthur and Dollie (Bailey) Neeley.  Arthur was a son of Loren Neeley and Delaney “Laney” Wireman.  Loren was a son of Hayburn Neeley and Nancy Caudill.  Laney was a daughter of Dan Wireman and Susan Bradley.  Dan was a son of Jacob Wireman and Susannah Sizemore.  Susan was a daughter of Jacob Bradley and Barbara Watkins.

            On Ms. Clark’s maternal line, her mother is a daughter of Came Bailey and Margaret Wireman. Came was a son of Alfred Bailey and Malinda “Lindy” Conley.  Alfred was a son of John Bailey, Jr. and Dorcas Bradley.  Lindy was a daughter of Thomas Conley and Florence Stone. 

            Margaret Wireman Bailey was a daughter of Jack Wireman and Susan Howard. Jack or Jackson Wireman was a son of John B. Wireman and Florence Sizemore.  John B. was a son of John Wireman and Rebecca Carpenter.  Susan Howard was a daughter of Green Howard and Margaret Allen. 

            All these families have many descendants in our area and we would be very pleased to receive genealogy, pictures and stories about any of them.  We have covered a few of the families in some of our earlier books but there is always new material to be discovered. 

            Please write to us at Magoffin County Historical Society, PO Box 222, Salyersville, KY 41465 or email [email protected].

            Our library and Pioneer Village museum are located at 191 South Church Street here in Salyersville. Our telephone number is 606-349-1607.  We hope soon that the weather will permit us to spend a little more time here than in the last six weeks or so.  We have had a very l-o-n-g winter it seems but the sunshine today makes us look forward to spring coming.