The holiday week brought more than the usual number of visitors to our historical society library seeking family info and directions to area cemeteries. One of these was Larry Risner of Greenwich, OH and his nephew Jason Hunter, descendants of Michael Risner and Sarah Howard. In working with him on his ancestor chart we came upon a genealogy puzzle that has been unsolved for many years.

Larry’s line of descent from Michael Risner is through his son Elias "Eli" Risner b. about 1813 and died just before 1900. He was a Union Civil War soldier in the 45^th KY Inf. Eli married Polly Fletcher who was born about 1812/15 and died shortly after the birth of her son Kelsey N. "Kels" Risner who, according to descendants, was mostly raised by his uncle K. N. Fletcher and his grandmother Elizabeth Fletcher. Kels was also a Civil War soldier, a Corporal in Co. D, 14^th KY Inf. USA.

Eli’s father Michael Risner and Polly’s mother Elizabeth Fletcher signed permissions for them to marry in 1830 Floyd County, KY. Our puzzle concerns this Elizabeth Fletcher. She was born about 1786 in Virginia, according to the 1850 Floyd Co. KY census. Her name appears on the same stone as her son K. N. Fletcher in the Wiley Arnett Cemetery at Lakeville, KY. The square stone has this info on one side: "Elizabeth, mother of K. N. Fletcher, died age 95 years". On the opposite side is "K. N. Fletcher, born Oct 4, 1825, died July 31, 1897" Below that inscription is "Malinda, wife of K. N. Fletcher, died September 3, 1889".

We had the help of two, now deceased, descendants on this family, Sharroll Minix and David Risner; both of whom spent much time in looking into documentation as well as interviewing older descendants.

Various researchers have attributed several more children to this Elizabeth Fletcher but we know of four who lived in our area. They are (1) Mary "Polly" Fletcher b. 1812 Knox Co. KY d. after 1843, wife of the above Elias Risner; (2) Susannah b. 1820 m. 1837 to David Salyer; (3) Celia Fletcher b. 1823 m. Julius Medley and (4) Kelsey "Kels" or "K. N." Fletcher b. 1825 m. Malinda Arnett.

David Risner found a death certificate for Kels N. Risner which stated his father was Eli Risner and his mother was an Arnett. Sharroll’s mother Audie Gullett Minix always called Elizabeth "Little Granny Miles". The late Webster Salyer recalled his ancestor as being an Arnett as did descendants of David and Susannah Salyer. So we have three surnames for Elizabeth – Fletcher, Arnett and Miles.

The 1850 Floyd census lists Elizabeth Fletcher age 64 (born about 1786) b. VA. In her household are Kelsey Fletcher age 25 b. TN, Julius Medley age 22 b. KY, Selia Medley age 27 b. KY and their daughter Elizabeth Medley age 2.

She is also in the 1860 Magoffin County census: Kelsey N. Fletcher age 33, wife Malinda age 29, children Elizabeth Fletcher age 8, Louisa Fletcher age 5 and Violet Fletcher age 1. Also in the household are his mother Elizabeth Fletcher age 72 and nephew Kelsey Risner age 15.

Now, back to the family chart of our visitor Larry Risner: His great-great grandfather Kels N. Risner was born in 1843 and died 1932 at Seitz, KY. His wife was Emily Hoskins b. 1849 and died of the flu in 1919. Emily was the daughter of John Robert Hoskins and Sarah Allen. Kels was a Union Army soldier in the Civil War and told of taking part in Sherman’s March from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia.

Next in Larry’s Risner line of descent is Kels’ son Thomas Hallock Risner who was born in 1869 and died in 1922. He married in 1896 to Cora Patrick, dau of Franklin Patrick and Caroline Deskins. Thomas and his wife are buried in the Tom Risner Cemetery at Seitz, KY.

According to David Risner’s research, the children of Thomas and Cora Risner were (1) Golda Risner b. 1897 m. Asberry Risner, son of Sarah Risner and James D. Walters; (2) Rosco Risner b. 1898 m. Sally Marshall, dau of George Marshall and Laney Arnett; (3) Elsie Risner b. 1900 m. Reb Green, son of Daniel B. Green and Queen Gose; (4) Emma Risner b. 1902 m. Walter Arnett, son of Kendall Arnett and Maude Arnett; (5) Carrie Risner b. 1904 m. Adam Craft, Jr., son of Adam Craft, Sr. and Emily Alsept; (6) Cisco Risner b. 1908 m. Ersie Montgomery, dau of Farrish Montgomery and Cora Johnson; (7) Virgie Risner b. 1910 m. Vaughn Elam, son of George Elam and Sarah Jane Patrick; (8) Goodlow Risner b. 1913 m. Mary Francis Ritchie, dau of Silas Ritchie and Nellie Risner; (9) Dosha Risner b. 1914 m. Woodrow Clemons, son of Linville Clemons and Bessie Collinsworth and (10) Dortha Risner b. 1917 m. James Wendall May, son of James Preston May and Carrie Dykes.

Farrish Montgomery was a son of Silas and Aggie (Sizemore) Montgomery. His wife Cora was a dau of Alex and Sarah (Cantrell) Johnson.

The 6^th child Cisco Risner was the father of Alger Risner who was the father of Larry Risner. Alger married Mildred, dau of Kelly Kilgore b. KY and Edna Marie Prelipp b. MI, dau of William Frederick Prelipp and Mary Augusta Pagal.

Kelly was a son of Dudley Kilgore and Celia Alsept and a grandson of Isaac and Josephine (Bevins) Kilgore and also Robert Alsept and Jinsey Risner.