There has been much
sorrow here in Magoffin County as we learned of the death of Wayne Jenkins
on November 7th, just
one day after his 65th birthday. He was one of three sons born to the late
Ova Jenkins and his wife Pauline Johnson Jenkins. Wayne was well known in
our area. He was a Vietnam Army veteran and a retired school teacher. He
was very active in the Elkfork Masonic Lodge 3755, the Salyersville
Chapter 15 DAV and the Magoffin County Muzzleloaders. Visitors to Magoffin
County Founders Days will remember him as he always participated in our
Tuesday Opening Ceremony each year as well as the Saturday morning
welcoming/marker unveiling and parade. Wayne also often participated in
the special memorial marker programs that we sponsored for early settlers
of our area.
We will greatly miss Wayne and send our
love and sympathy to his wife Inez (Wireman) Jenkins, his daughter
Natasha, his mother Pauline; his brothers Timothy and David, along with
other relatives and his many friends.
The Jenkins family greatly endeared
themselves to the Magoffin County Historical Society during 1997 when we
honored their family with our 19th Founders Days celebration. The year was
made special for as with the wonderful gatherings of family members who
came out to help us plan this very successful event. Tim’s wife Sharon
helped us prepare a cookbook that was very well received and is still on
our “best-seller” list, A Joyful Cooking Journey with the Jenkins
Family and Friends. We were able to print this book because of the
gift of paper donated from the Mead and Gilbert Paper companies. It was
their expression of appreciation for two long-time employees of their
company, Mary Lou Jenkins Frazier and her brother Basil Jenkins, son and
daughter of the late Buell and Lottie Howard Jenkins.
Not only did all of the Jenkins family
share their family recipes with us, they also prepared scrumptious dinners
for us at every meeting!
It was a memorable year as was the
following year when we honored the Civil War soldiers of our area. That
was the year we planned and landscaped the Pioneer Village courtyard
getting ready to place a Civil War marker with the names of all those we
could determine who served with the North or the South during the Civil
War period.
That year Wayne Jenkins, along with the
Magoffin County Muzzleloaders and Civil War Re-enactors participated in a
skirmish in the courtyard between the cabins and our library.
Steve Rudd worked many, many hours for
this event, gathering info and pictures of Civil War soldiers and also
planning the lettering and design of the Civil War marker that stands in
the center of the Pioneer Village courtyard today.
This week we had a visitor,
Brett Benedict of Casa Grande, Arizona and
we believe his ancestor, Richard Lee
Cooper, also served in the Civil War but we do not have his name on our
marker. His family information is given in our set of Civil War books but
we have no military documentation.
We are now searching to see if we can
find his Civil War service record. He is variously listed in the census
records as Richard Lee, Richard, Leander or just Lee. He was born in 1826
Floyd Co. KY and died 1911 in Magoffin Co. KY. He was a son of David M.
Cooper (1802-1854) and Celia Prater (1807-1870s). Several of his siblings
were in service.
A listing of his known brothers and
sisters are as follows: (1) Thomas B. Cooper (home guard in Civil War) m.
Mary J. Bayse; (2) Archibald Prater Cooper (served in 45th KY Inf. Union
Army) m. first to Mary Manerva “Polly” Litteral; m. 2nd Manerva Belle
Picklesimer and m. 3rd to Arizona “Zona” Davis; (3) Lucinda Cooper b. 1830
m. 1st James William Prater and m. 2nd to Jeremiah Fitzpatrick; (4) Nancy
Jane Cooper m. the Rev. John Bayes; (5) Gilliann Cooper m. William Amos
Lacy; (6) William Cooper b. 1839 (wounded in Civil War, Confederate
soldier) m. Martha A. Brown; (7) John Everett Cooper (wounded, Confederate
soldier) m. Margaret Turner; (8) Rebecca Cooper b. 1840 m. J. W. “Wash”
Brown; (9) David Crockett Cooper b. 1842 died in service as a Union
Soldier) m Elizabeth Jane Nickell; and (10) Milton C. Cooper b. 1845
(Civil War soldier) m. Elizabeth J. May.
Richard Lee Cooper married in Johnson
Co. KY to Katherine Salyer, a daughter of Jacob Salyer and Newcarious
Rowland. Richard and Katherine were the parents of 13 children: (1)
Jefferson Cooper d. 1939 Camargo, KY m. Mittie E. Prater; (2) Elizabeth
Cooper m. Matthew Caudill; (3) John Franklin Cooper m. Nancy Emily
Patrick; (4) Mahala J. Cooper b. 1855; (5) Thomas J. Cooper; (6) Mary Ann
Cooper m. 1st to John L. Prater; m. 2nd to James Benjamin May and m. 3rd
to Ambrose E. Cornett; (7) William Hamilton Cooper m. Mary A. Patrick; (8)
Newton P. Cooper d. 1941 Gatesville, TX m. Belle Kelley, a dau of William
Butler Kelley and Mary Elizabeth Adams; (9) Jasper Milton Cooper d. 1956
Pearl, TX m. 1st to Lou E. Gardner and m. 2nd to Sarah Jane Klebold ; (10)
Wesley Cooper d. 1925 Austin, TX m. Carrie J. Shook of Pearl, TX; (11)
Richard M. Cooper b. 1872 d. 1935 Waco, TX m. Lillie Rice; (12) Ashland
Cooper b. 1875 and (13) Sarah Stella Cooper b. 1879 d.
1951 Ashland, KY m. John Franklin Conley.
All the above children of Richard Lee
Cooper who were born after the Civil War give their birthplace as Magoffin
County, KY.
Our visitor’s ancestor was Jasper Milton
Cooper and Lou E. Gardner. Jasper’s brother Newton P. Cooper was the
ancestor of Bill Hayes who visited here with his wife Betty and his uncle
Dawson Cooper when we helped set the marker for Revolutionary War soldier
John Cooper in the Cooper Cemetery at the Mouth of Buffalo by the home of
Deed Adams. Deed’s daughter Justine Adams has been a great help to the
Magoffin County Historical Society since our beginnings in 1979.
We are grateful this Thanksgiving season
for people like Justine and all the others who give of their time and
talents so that the work of our historical society can continue.
Write us at Box 222, Salyersville, KY
41465 (email:
[email protected]).
Magoffin County Historical
Society
