This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the February 27, 2014 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

            Our weather had gone from below zero temps with snow and ice to the warmth of 60s and 70s. These unseasonable temperatures also brought on lots of rain with resulting floods.  We are glad to have the cut-through that alleviates the threat of flooding in our town.

            At our regular meeting on February 16, those attending were surprised to see three new publications on the table that have been finished in the last couple of months.  First there was the Whitaker book index with a very large amount of additional early Whitaker genealogy researched and compiled by Bob and Betty Whittaker of SC.  They took the index Kay Bentley had done of the 4 books compiled by the Magoffin County Historical Society and organized it then added the material that had been discovered since the original books were printed.  Anyone with Whitaker ancestry who is interested in his or her heritage should have this book.  We are very appreciative of having the help of Kay Bentley in indexing this set of books and of having Bob and Betty complete the volume for us.

            The next new book on our table was the 150 Years of Cooking in Magoffin County.  This book was started as a 2010 project and contains 410 pages of recipes with family photos.  This book has plastic overlays to protect the covers as we expect those who purchase it to put it to use.  We have heard from several people who have tried the recipes they found in the book and been satisfied with the results.

            The third new book was the 6^th volume of our Salute to Veterans and it contains 420 pages of info and pictures of our military men and women from World War One days to present.  The Salute to Veterans volumes are organized in alphabetical order.  Some people will want all the volumes while others will want the volume that contains information on the surnames in which they are interested.

            We are almost nearing completion of the last volume of the Life Along the Licking River series.  We have some really good articles in this one; they came in to us after the first four books were finished.  We have some of Arthur J. Hale’s stories, a story about her Stephens family by the late Mrs. Abe (Irene) Wireman, Log Rafts on the Licking River by Patsy Reed Adams, an additional story on Irene Carpenter by Rita Wireman Prater that complements the one she did for Volume Two of the Licking River series, and many, many others. There are also some picture essays of families who have lived along the Licking River.  Ole Todd even got to write a story for this volume on the home where he and his wife Phyllis raised their family.  This house was built by William “Salty” Bill Patrick so we have been doing a little research on Salty Bill and his descendants. 

There is a lot of history in our county that needs to be put into written form.  We want to remind you that this is something you should be doing for your own family and if you would like to share it with us, we would very much like to receive it. 

Our mailing address is PO Box 222, Salyersville, KY 41465, email [email protected] or bring it in person to 191 South Church Street here in Salyersville. 

We have several publications in which your material can be used.  One of the next volumes that we will be working on is the Sesquicentennial book that is already typed but needs a few items inserted to complete it.  We have several people who are interested in seeing this one in print.  We haven’t forgotten our family volumes either.  We are trying to “catch up” with all the print work that we have started in the last few years.  It all takes quite a lot of “time” and that is a commodity that is very precious these days (smile).  Most of the time when we work on the family histories we find that there will be a generation that we do not have much information on then we set about trying to piece it together from other sources. If your family has been the subject of or related to one of our 35 Magoffin County Founder’s Days family surnames then you can help by sending in your family genealogy and pictures.

            Included in our emails received this week was a series of documents on the family of Alexander McDaniel and how he fits into the Howard family sent to us by Charles Perry.  We have had the pleasure of speaking on the phone with Mr. Perry and very much appreciate this material that he has sent for inclusion in our quarterly Journals.  Mr. Perry also sent along two pictures to go with the article.  They are Alexander McDaniel and his wife Lydia Moore; also Alexander and Lydia’s son Arthur McDaniel with his wife and children.  Mr. Perry’s grandfather Nathan McDaniel was a son of Arthur McDaniel.