Well, here we are almost to the end of January. Spring is getting closer. The late M. F. Arnett of the Arthurmable community used to say, with a chuckle, "We’ll be alright when we get through the two ‘worries’ – January and February."

We should have the Winter Journal in the mail to our subscribers by the time you read this. We have had some interesting material come in to us for printing in this Journal. One article is by Johnathan Adams, a grandson of Earl Adams and Mildred Fern Petersime and a great-grandson of John A. Adams and Cynthia Belle Jackson. John Adams was a son of Green Adams and Phoebe May. Cynthia Belle was a daughter of John F. Jackson and Dicy Ann Sparks.

We were much impressed with Johnathan’s story and his love of history and family genealogy. When we explored his ancestry a bit we find that his great aunt Myrle Marie Adams was the wife of our own Todd Preston’s brother, Ralph Carter Preston. Johnathan’s great uncle John Adams, Jr. and his wife Garnett Caudill Adams were charter members of our historical society. It’s a small world!

Another interesting article in the coming Journal is an early 1900 Johnson Fork school picture from Ben Lewis of Bartlesville, OH, a grandson of John Milton Lewis and Rebecca Minix. Ben, his mother and sister visited Magoffin County in 1991 for the Minix family Founders Days and he mentioned having the pleasure of meeting Ronald Minix and Prock Jackson. Ronald took him to the gravesites of his Minix ancestors. Their grandmother’s were sisters.

We often request that our readers send us material and pictures for printing in our Journal and Ben answered that request. He has been a long time member and contributor to the Magoffin County Historical Society.

A December visitor to our historical society from Carrollton, OH was Robert Dale Penix who was researching the family of Melviana Helton. Our Helton book has the information that Malvina Helton was born in the mid-1840s and married in 1860 to William T. Penix. William Penix is said to have left her and moved to southern Ohio where some claim he married secondly to a Montgomery.

Melvina remained in Magoffin County and raised her children on Mash Fork on a hollow there that is known as the "Viney Branch". Her oldest daughter Malinda Penix Auxier is buried in the Williams Cemetery near the mouth of Burton Fork on Mash Fork and some surmise Malvina may have been buried there but Robert Dale does not think so. He would like to know where she was buried and also learn the ancestry of William T. Penix.

Malvina "Vina" Helton was the 7^th child of George Helton and Malinda Wade. The children that we have listed for her is as follows: (1) Malinda E. Penix b. 1864 m. Willis Auxier, son of Ezekiel Auxier and Spicy Barnett; (2) George Washington Penix b. 1866 d. 1905 Lawrence Co. KY married 1^st to Alsey Fletcher and married 2^nd to Elizabeth C. Ramey in Lawrence Co. KY. George W. and Elizabeth are the ancestors of our visitor Robert Dale Penix.

The third child of Melvina and William Penix was Granville Penix b. 1871 d 1897; the 4^th child was John H. Penix b. 1873 killed at Morehead, KY; the 5^th child was Nannie K. Penix b. 1876 married John Griffith and lived at Grayson, KY; the 6^th and last known child was Nehemiah "Demar" Penix b. 1878 m. Rebecca A. Ramey.

All these children are found in the household of Melvina and William T. Penix in 1880 at which time they are listed as living on State Road Fork.

Curiously, in the 1870 Magoffin Census the family lived in Precinct 1, Salyersville, KY and Melvina’s husband’s name was listed as "John" Penix instead of William. At that time, they had one daughter Malindy age 7 in their household.

In trying to find more info for Robert Dale about his ancestry, we have almost concluded that there was more than one William Penix and their families have been mingled. We found that a Civil War soldier Allen Penix, the son of Henry Penix and Rachel Jenkins, had a brother William Penix b. 1844 who married one Jane Montgomery.

Perhaps there are descendants out there who can shed more light on this Penix family.

There are many descendants of the oldest child Malinda E. Penix and her husband Willis Auxier in our county. We are going to list the children of Malinda and Willis Auxier in case someone may recognize the family connection and be able to help us with this family genealogy question.

The first child of Malinda and Willis Auxier was Alfred Auxier b. 1893 m. 1^st Lula Bailey and m. 2^nd to Mary Holbrook.

The second child was John Auxier b. 1896 m. 1^st Lou Sina Blanton and m. 2^nd to Florence Hampton.

The third child was Elisha Auxier b. 1896 m. Tressie Auxier, dau of Tennessee Auxier and Ida Trusty.

The 4^th child was Lora Rellie Auxier b. 1899 m. John Lacy Borders and lived in Pike Co. OH.

A 5^th child was unnamed. The 6^th child was Lonzie Auxier b. 1905 m. 1^st to Candice Auxier and m. 2^nd Oriole Auxier.

The 7^th child was unnamed. The 8^th and last child was Neelis Auxier who married in 1867 to S. G. Adams.

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