We are certainly ready to MARCH into spring here at the Magoffin County Historical Society. We hope that turning the page of the calendar will also "turn" the weather we have been having. We are looking forward to seeing spring once again and getting back into our projects that had to be put on hold for a while.

We have gotten the containers of shamrocks out of winter storage where they have spent their dormant stage to await St. Patrick’s Day and the coming of Spring. The mother plant of our shamrocks was given to us many years ago by Ann Elizabeth Preston Kelley. Ann, Todd’s sister, knew of the strong Irish ancestry of many Magoffin people and thought our visitors would enjoy seeing them.

We almost have the first Journal of the year 2015 completed. We appreciate all the nice comments from those of you who have sent in membership renewals. We would like to thank Martha J. Murray, daughter of the late Bryon and Jewel Smith of the Puncheon Creek area here in Magoffin County, for her query about Magoffin County’s Sesquicentennial book. Martha has sent some material about her parents and the Mission School on Puncheon for that book. We are in the process of trying to get it into print.

A welcome letter came in to us this week from William "Bill" Patrick of Wenatchee, Washington, a great grandson of Captain Reuben Patrick. By coincidence we were working on the Sesquicentennial book with the articles on Capt. Patrick that had been given to us by the late Imogene Salyer and also from the writings of the late Thelma J. Arnett. Thelma’s notebook had been donated to the Magoffin County Historical Society by Eleanor Arnett Featherstone and presented to us by the late Alma Frazier.

Bill Patrick and his wife had visited Magoffin County in 1999. The manager of a motel in Salyersville at that time had sent him to our historical society to see Todd Preston. Todd wasn’t in but someone directed him to the area where Reuben Patrick had lived and where Todd’s sister Sue then lived. Sue’s husband Bill George Howard was a son of William "Tater Bill" Howard (1871-1953) and Arty Stone. Sue and her husband Bill George lived in the "Tater Bill" home that had been built in 1868 by Reuben Patrick. During Tater Bill’s lifetime, the home was always open to friends and relatives who came into town on business and shopping by wagon or horseback and needed a staying place for the overnight trip.

In 1999 Mr. Patrick was greeted just as cordially as those long ago visitors to the Tater Bill Howard home by Sue Howard who showed them the cemetery where Captain Reuben Patrick was buried and also took them over to the Patrick Cemetery where Wiley Patrick and Meredith Patrick are buried. Sue recounted the story of the Georgia pine that stood sentinel for so many years at the grave site of Wiley Patrick. Wiley was a son of Meredith Patrick and Rebecca Williams.

Wiley C. Patrick (1835-1864), a Union soldier in the 14^th KY Infantry Regiment, was killed during the Civil War and buried in Georgia. Years after the war, his brother, Elijah Patrick, made the trip to Georgia to retrieve the body of his son and then reburied him in the family cemetery at Bradley, KY. A pine tree native to Georgia grew out of the grave and was a reminder of the harsh happenings of the War Between the States. Time and weather finally destroyed the Georgia Pine leaving only the deadened tree stump. Several years ago, a group of descendants and people interested in eastern Kentucky’s participation in the Civil War gathered at the cemetery to replant the Georgia Pine. This gathering was organized by Marlitta H. Perkins and members of the 14^th KY Heritage Society as well as the Magoffin County Historical Society and the Kentucky Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

Unfortunately this little tree did not survive very long either but we are pleased to announce that Jerry Kyle Arnett’s niece, Sheila Marple who lives in Georgia and who visited recently for the burial of her uncle, Patrick Arnett, has brought us another Georgia pine seedling. We will soon be transplanting this little tree at the cemetery so the story of the Patrick Georgia Pine in Magoffin County will continue.

It is with much sadness that we recall two historical occurrences this week that happened in the past.

February 28^th of this last week marked the anniversary of a tragedy of great magnitude that occurred in our neighboring county of Floyd in 1958. It was 57 years ago on that day that twenty-six youngsters and their bus driver died in a school bus accident on the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River.

March 2^nd of this week is the third anniversary of the 2012 EF3 tornado that destroyed many businesses and homes in our county as well as surrounding counties of Wolfe, Morgan, Johnson and Martin in Kentucky before continuing its path one mile into West Virginia before ending. The tornado with wind speeds up to 160 miles per hour swept through a distance of 48 miles in Kentucky. Although we suffered much damage here in Magoffin County we were comforted by the fact that no lives were lost. Several people in our county sustained injuries but thankfully none were life threatening. Many lives were lost and severe injuries were suffered in the adjoining counties.

Rebuilding and restoration continues in our county to eradicate the damages from this tornado. We were pleased to read that the Magoffin County Cooperative Extension Office is taking part in a Kentucky Tree Recovery Campaign on Saturday, March 14, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Magoffin Countians are invited to help with planting some trees at the extension office location and you will have the opportunity of taking trees home to plant.