Well, we think it is time to stop talking about the weather, seems like when we do, it only gets worse. (Smile) We survived Winter Storm Thor this last week which added flooding to the snow, ice and extremely cold temperatures we were having. Here at the historical society, the floodwaters surrounded our little log barn but did little damage as it is constructed of open logs which allowed the water to run out quickly.

We had a very informative letter from Suzanne Antippas of New York City which gives much information on her ancestor John A. Montgomery. John, along with his younger brother Isaac Montgomery, was a soldier in the Civil War from 1862 until 1865 (14^th KY Inf. Regiment, Company D and F).

John A. was the fifth child of James H. Montgomery and Elizabeth Picklesimer. James H. Montgomery (born 1821) was a son of John Montgomery, Jr. and Sarah Flannery. We are not sure of the parentage of Elizabeth Picklesimer.

John A. was born in 1846 Floyd County, KY and married Sarah Marshall. Suzanne does not believe that Sarah is connected with the Marshall family in Magoffin County but the family lived here for a number of years. Their first child, George Montgomery was born in Magoffin County in 1866 and sometime afterwards they moved to Kansas along with Sarah’s parents. They eventually settled in Sun City, Barber County, Kansas. Others from Magoffin County who came along with them or wound up in Sun City, KS as well were some Whitakers and some Risner children. The Risner children lived with John A. Montgomery and his second wife Mary Donnell Montgomery for a period of time. Also settling near the Montgomery’s was John A.’s army buddy, Joseph Dixon.

Sarah and John A. Montgomery’s other children James Montgomery and Dora Montgomery were born in Kansas. About 1879 Sarah Marshall Montgomery died and John married again to Mary Ann Donnell, dau of William Donnell and Mary Margaret Ross, all born in Pennsylvania.

Much additional info is in the letter from Suzanne Antippas. She had read our plea in a previous Historical Comments column in the Salyersville Independent requesting information about our citizens who moved away from our area. We would certainly like to hear from any of our readers who have a similar family history.

Many times in collecting a genealogy picture of a family we will be told of a son or daughter who "moved away", "went west" or to some other area and no other info is known about them. It is always pleasant to hear from descendants who can give us the story of the lives of those missing relatives.

Suzanne would like to know of any direct male line DNA testing that may have been done on descendants of James H. Montgomery (b. 1821) and his father John Montgomery (b. 1793). There are no male survivors in the branch of Suzanne’s line. If you know of a direct line male descendant who has or would like to participate in a Montgomery yDNA search please let us know and we will put you in contact with Suzanne.

We would also like to know of any additional information on Elizabeth Picklesimer Montgomery and Sarah Marshall Montgomery. And, of course, we would like to learn more about the settlement in Sun City, Kansas of former Magoffin County citizens.

We have a large packet of genealogy material from Loretta Watkins of Huntsville, Arkansas who sent us pictures and information on the family of James Watkins and Margaret Fraley. Loretta believes that her husband’s ancestor James b. 1816 in TN was a son of Thomas Watkins (1752-1854) and wife Elizabeth "Betsy" Wisehart.

James’s wife Margaret was a daughter of Reuben Fraley and Mary Flannery of Floyd Co. KY. James and Margaret removed to Madison County, Arkansas in the 1840’s. There is a record of their making a land purchase in 1858 from Elijah Prator and his wife Jemima.

Several family members of this family are buried in the Watkins Family Cemetery on Delaney Creek in Madison County, Arkansas.