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  Magoffin County Historical Society 
"Preserving Our Past for the Future"

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This article, written by Todd Preston, President of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the JULY 16, 2015 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.

The Salyersville Independent 
P. O. Box 29, Salyersville, KY 41465. Telephone (606) 349-2915.  Yearly subscription rates are $24.00 in Kentucky and $32.00 per year out of state.

The summer months customarily bring in extra visitors to the Magoffin County Historical Society as families travel a bit more, going on vacations or attending reunions and family gatherings. We meet new friends, greet old friends and usually are able to help those searching for their ancestry.

We were very glad to see Norman Miller and his niece, Beverly Hackworth, this last week. Norman’s family have been staunch supporters of our organization for many years, from appearing in parades to helping with our publications and lending moral support by coming in for a good visit.

Of course, we are always glad to see our regular visitors like Henry Clay Sizemore who dropped in to pick up his summer Journal.

Not quite as good as a personal visit but a letter or message from those we have known in our past 37 years is very welcome also. We were glad to hear by mail from Jim and Emmaday Turley of South Point, OH. Emmaday is an outstanding pie-baker (SMILE) and would share with us when she came for visits. We have been fortunate down through the years to have many people who sort of "adopt" us as family and remain very special to us.

We extend to our friend Leon Gullett of Lexington, KY a special THANK YOU for sending us a packet of pictures this week. We will be using them in our publications and have already started an article for our Fall Journal with some of them.

We are privileged by having visitors and corresponding members of our historical society share their knowledge of family history with us. Patricia Carpenter Essex of East Lansing, MI is one of the latest of these. Patricia is a descendant of Kellie Carpenter and Nannie Bailey through their son Ellis Lee Carpenter. Ellis Lee was born in 1913 Royalton, KY and died in 1965 Ann Arbor, MI. He married a girl from West Virginia, Mary Adeline West, dau of Joseph Jordan West and Margaret "Maggie" Manuel.

Kellie Carpenter was born in 1893 and died in 1978. He and his wife Nannie (Bailey) Carpenter (1893-1971) are buried in the Montgomery Cemetery on Gun Creek near Royalton, KY. Kellie was a son of Samuel Carpenter b. 1827 Breathitt Co. KY to Fielding and Delphia Carpenter. Samuel married Eliza England. She was born in 1860 and died in 1922, a daughter of Richard England.

Richard, a Confederate soldier during the Civil War, was born 16 Mar 1843 in Virginia and died 10 Jan 1917 according to his death record. His mother’s name is given as Eliza Crager. In Judy Wireman Salyer’s research, she finds his father was probably one John Engle. Richard was a brother to Judy’s ancestor Enoch England, also a Civil War soldier.

We will next give the lineage of Nannie Bailey, wife of Kellie Carpenter. She was a daughter of Ira "Dick" Bailey (1848-1932) and Nancy Fletcher (1857-1921). Dick Bailey was a son of Joseph Bailey and Jennie Runyon. Joseph was a son of John and Susan Bailey. Last week’s column gave some info on this family so we will not repeat it here.

Dick Bailey’s wife Nancy was a daughter of Simeon (or Simon) Fletcher b. 1827 d. 1847 and his wife Mary "Polly" Adams. Polly was born in 1828 Letcher Co. KY and died in 1900. She and Simon are buried in the Gilbert Adams Cemetery on Burning Fork here in Magoffin County.

Simon Fletcher was a son of George "Old George" Fletcher b. 1796 and died in the mid-1860s. He and his 2nd wife Louisa Marshall are believed to be buried here in Magoffin County on Gun Creek near Royalton, KY. Louisa Marshall was born in 1802 Russell Co. VA, the daughter of Reuben Marshall and Elizabeth Noland.

This week we also did some research for Wesley Salyers, who was asking for help with the Prater side of his family. He is a grandson of Ray Salyers and Maude Prater. Ray was born in Johnson County, KY, a son of Will Salyer and Mary Jackson.

Ray Salyer married in 1922 Magoffin County to Maude Prater. The marriage record lists Maude as the daughter of Clay Prater and Belle Adams.

Clay was a son of Civil War soldier Elijah White Prater and Emaline Patrick of Short Fork here in Magoffin.

Apparently Clay and Belle lived with his parents, along with 3 of their children, as seen in the 1910 Magoffin census. The census listing was confusing since all in the household were marked as children of Elijah White and Emaline.

Belle was born about 1887 and states in the 1930 Magoffin census that she was married at age 13. We have not located her parents at this time.

Clay and Belle’s children were (1) Ada or Addie Prater b. 1903 m. 1st -?- Sparks and m. 2nd -?- Dean, lived in Illinois; (2) Maudie Emeline Prater b. 1906 m. Ray Salyers, lived in Michigan; (3) Rosa Prater b. 1908 m. Donald Bailey, lived in Delbarton, WV, (4) Mary Prater b. 1910 m. -?- Morley, lived in OH, (5) Ida Prater b. 1912 and (6) Eva Prater b. 1914.

Clay Prater died 15 July 1948 in Chillicothe, OH where he had lived since about 1930.

Clay’s father, Elijah White Prater was born in 1835, a son of the Rev. Elijah Prater and Jane "Jincy" Patrick. A Civil War marker was set for Elijah White Prater in 2007 on the family cemetery on Dry Bread. Elijah was a son of Rev. War soldier Archibald Prater and Sarah Fugate. Jincy was a daughter of William Patrick and Mollie Rains.

Elijah White’s wife Emmeline was born in 1850 to Wilson Patrick and Parthena McFarland who are buried on Dry Bread, Ivyton, and Magoffin County, KY. Wilson Patrick was a son of Richard Patrick and Ellen Kennard.

All of us here at the Magoffin County Historical Society, PO Box 222, Salyersville, KY 41465 (email: [email protected]) would appreciate any additional and/or corrected information on the families mentioned in this article.

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