This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the MAY 22, 2014 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

            It has been another busy week with lots of outdoor work in the Pioneer Village.  We want to thank my neighbor Jerry Kyle and my son Toddie for their work with the weed-eating and mowing, helped along by Ole Todd (smile).  Their work served as an early birthday present as I will turn age 86 on Sunday, June 1^st! 

            It has been busy inside our library also with a steady stream of visitors, some doing family research and some coming in to drop off material they are contributing to our various publications now in progress.

            Rick Marshall has done a very nice story on his parents Carl and Ruby (Allen) Marshall. 

Sue Montgomery Baldridge brought in pictures and a story about her parents Clayton and Madge (Skaggs) Montgomery.  Sue was following up on a request made on our behalf by Brian Ann Arnett.  Sue is a member of the Magoffin County Historical Society and she and Brian Ann have been friends for many years.  This was Sue’s first contribution of material to our publications.

            Chuck Gross of Marietta, GA, who heard about us from my cousin Ned Kazee, came in to help us with information and pictures on his sister-in-law’s family in Texas as she is a member of the Joseph family.

            One of our visitors was Kathleen A. Wiley of Wadsworth, OH who came in with her husband David Allen Wiley to research his Allen family.  David is a son of Milton Allen born in 1922 in Ashland, Boyd Co. KY.  Milton was killed in 1945 during World War II.  David’s mother then married second to Burnard Wiley and the children sometimes use “Wiley” as their surname.

He was a son of Thomas Allen and Martelia “Telia” Sebastian.  Telia (b. 1884 d. 1960’s in Ashland, KY) was a daughter of John F. Sebastian.  John F. was born in 1844 in Illinois and died 6 Mar 1917 in Magoffin Co. KY.  He married 11 Aug 1862 in Magoffin County to Latisha Hammond of Morgan Co. KY.  John F. was a son of Wesley Sebastian and Milly Birchfield.  Latisha was a daughter of Andrew Jackson Hammons and Jane Prater who were married 10 Sep 1840 in Morgan Co. KY. 

            We had a good bit of material on John F. Sebastian in our Civil War Soldiers series of books.  He served as a Union soldier during the Civil War, was captured and stayed a prisoner for 150 days, almost starving to death.  After being released he lived for a short time in Owsley County then returned to Magoffin County where he farmed,  operated a small country store and served as postmaster of Mountain, KY.  He died in 1917 at age 73 years and was buried at Williams, KY. 

            Kathleen and David’s big family question was who was John Sebastian’s daughter Telia’s husband, Thomas Allen?  Telia and Thomas had three children: (1) Wheeler Allen b. 1904; (2) Custer Allen b. 1906 and (3) Nannie Allen b. 1908 while they were here in Magoffin County.  A fourth child, David’s father, Milton Allen was born in Boyd County.   Some family members were not sure that Thomas was an Allen.

            Thomas Allen’s family can be found in the 1910 Magoffin County census, living next door to John F. and Latisha Sebastian.  By 1920 this family had apparently moved to Ashland, KY where Thomas died in 1942 and was buried there along with his wife.

            Our Allen family books records Thomas as being a son of Richard Allen and Rebecca Lykins.  Richard Allen was born in 1844 and died in 1887.  Richard was first married to Sarah Pugh in 1863; and married second to Rebecca Lykins.

            Rebecca Lykins was born in 1850 on Caney in Morgan Co. KY, daughter of David K. Lykins and Mahala Lykins. David K. was a son of William Stuart Lykins and Rebecca Coffee.  His wife Mahala was a daughter of David Lykins and Nancy Williams.

            We understand that Jerry Kyle Arnett’s niece Sheila Marple of Georgia is continuing her research on the family of Sola Bailey, daughter of John A. “One Arm” Bailey and Elizabeth Powers.  There seems to be an error in our Bailey book with this family as it was reported there that John Bailey’s wife was a daughter of Holloway Powers.  We have discovered that Elizabeth, mother of Sola Bailey, was a daughter of Holloway’s brother Archibald Power.  Both brothers named daughters “Elizabeth” in honor of their mother, Elizabeth Prater Powers.

            So apparently, this line should be Elizabeth Powers Bailey, daughter of Archibald Power and Rhoda Patrick.  Archibald and Rhoda were married 13 April 1835 in Morgan Co. KY.

            Archibald and Holloway were sons of Lewis Power b. 1 Jan 1786 d. 9 Sep 1875 and Elizabeth Prater b. 28 Jul 1791 d. 4 Mar 1876.  Lewis and Elizabeth are buried in the Bluegrass Cemetery here in Salyersville, KY.

            Archibald’s wife Rhoda Patrick was the daughter of Reuben Patrick (b. 18 Jul 1791 Giles Co. VA d. 12 Aug 1845 Morgan Co. KY) and Charlotte Wilson (b. 12 Oct 1794 Giles Co. VA and d. 24 Feb 1886).  This Reuben Patrick was a son of William Patrick and Mollie Reins.

            We would appreciate hearing from anyone who can shed more light on the family history of these families.  Sometimes that bit of info that one has will open up whole new chapters of family information.