Last week we mentioned having a Salyer visitor from Oregon in our town. We have taken some time to work on the ancestor chart he left with us. James Russell Salyer, Jr. is a grandson of World War I veteran, Lawrence Leroy Salyer, most often known as "Roy" Salyer. Roy was born in 1896 KY and died 11 Apr 1974 in Oregon. He is buried in Kellyville, OK.

On both of his military registration cards Roy gave his birthplace as Ashland, KY and his birthdate as 23 Oct 1896.

Roy’s 1^st wife was Lucille Jane Stone b. 2 Aug 1902 in Missouri, a dau of Elijah Allen Stone and Nora Belle Burch Edwards. Roy and Lucille established a homestead in Remon, New Mexico in 1929. Tragically, Lucille died in a fire on that homestead on 1 Jul 1932. She was buried in Roswell, New Mexico.

Roy’s father was William Lewis "Wee Bill" Salyer b. 12 Feb 1859 d. 1929 and buried in Kellyville, OK. William Lewis married Mary Marshall b. 15 May 1868 in Breathitt Co. KY and died in 1902 Oklahoma. She was a daughter of Andrew Marshall b. 1834 Floyd Co. KY d. 1886. Andrew married 2 Nov 1855 in Floyd Co. KY to Nancy Jane Carpenter, dau of William Carpenter and Sarah Elizabeth Howard.

William Lewis and Mary Salyer had the following children as listed in the 1900 Springer, OK census, all born in Kentucky: (1) Ulysses S. Grant Salyer b. 1884, (2) Cara Salyer b. 1886, (3) George Salyer b. 1888, (4) Nancy Salyer b. 1890, (5) Martha Salyer b. 1893 and (6) L. R. Salyer b. 1896 (we believe this is Lawrence Leroy "Roy").

After Mary (Marshall) Salyer’s death, William Lewis married in Oklahoma on 6 Feb 1903 to Julia Allen Kendall. Julia had first married in Arkansas to Webb S. Kendall and had 4 children: (1) James Kendall, (2) George Kendall, (3) Floyd Kendall and (4) Ardine Kendall. Julia and William Lewis were the parents of Howard Salyer b. 1906, May Salyer b. 1908, Gladys Salyer b. 1912, Myrtle Salyer b. 1915 and Hubert Salyer b. 1917. #9;

Our visitor James Russell Salyer, Jr. told us that his father James Russell, Sr. said his family came from Salyersville, KY. James said the family stories instilled in him a desire to visit Magoffin County from the time he was a young child. When the family stopped in Huntington, WV while on a road trip, James Russell decided he must make the long desired trip to Salyersville.

James said that family tradition told that his ancestors were William M. "We Willie" or "We Bill" Salyer and Luqueeny Howard. The 1880 Floyd Co. KY census lists William and Luqueeny with a 23 year-old Lewis Salyer. In searching for more info on this Lewis, we found a marriage license in Floyd County for a Lewis Salyer age 20 to be married at the home of W. W. Salyer on 12 Jul 1877 to Sally Whitaker age 24 b. Floyd Co. KY. We could not find evidence that this marriage took place nor can we find further info on this Lewis Salyer unless he is the William Lewis Salyer in Oklahoma.

Known children of William and Luqueeny were (1) Louisa Salyer m. James Hamilton, (2) Easter Salyer m. "Flitterfoot" Brice Shepherd, (3) Polly Salyer m. John E. Howard, (4) Nancy Salyer b. 1852 m. Dock Hamilton, (5) Van Buren Salyer b. 1854 d. 1875, (6) Lewis Salyer, (7) John Salyer b. 1859 m. Jane Howard, (8) Arty Salyer b. 1861 m. 1880 Floyd Co. KY to Cornelius Johnson of VA and (9) Jane Salyer b. 1865 m. Flem Wireman. William and Luqueeny lived in Magoffin County in 1860 and 1870; then moved to Middle Creek in Floyd County by 1880.

We attempted to follow up on the siblings of Roy Salyer, hoping some info would come to light to definitely tie this Oklahoma family to William and Luqueeny.

We found the most info on Roy’s brother Ulysses S. "Grant" Salyers b. 18 Oct 1884. When he registered for the draft on 12 Sep 1918 he gave his address as Ashland, KY and his nearest relative as W. L. Salyers of Kellyville, OK. He was a photographer and had his own studio. He first married Clara -?- and they had a daughter Thelma Salyer. His 2^nd marriage, at age 44, was in Huntington, WV to Adella Thornton age 28 b. Lawrence Co. OK. He gave his birthplace as Magoffin Co. KY.

Grant (usually recorded as Ulysses S. G. in records) and Clara were in the 1910 Creek, OK census, in 1920 he and 2^nd wife were in Boyd Co. KY, in 1930 they lived in Huntington, WV. In 1940 he was in Lancaster, OH.

The ancestry as we outlined above seems to be substantiated by a 1976 letter written by U. S. G. Salyers from Lancaster, OH to "Wayne" in which he told the following (spelling left as is): "My father was Louis Salyers. His father was "We Bill" nicknamed for William. A great, great uncle, Sam Salyers, was a State (KY) legislator and he could neither read nor write. To get to Frankfort he had to travel down the Big Sandy River to the Ohio at Catlettsburg, take a steamboat on the Ohio to Maysville and then get a coach to Frankfort. This uncle got a bill through the Legislature cutting off parts of Knot County, Johnson County and Floyd County to make a new County, naming it McLaughlin County. I remember seeing my grandfather only once and then when he was buried. The grave has been lost. I went back to look for it some years back and found it a cow pasture. My father had two boys besides me, George, the older who died in 1918 in a flu epidemic, and Roy who died in the State of Washington last April. George had one child but I have lost track and don’t even know if it was a boy or a girl. Roy also had one child, a boy named Russell. Russell has one boy named Jim. That’s about all I can recall about the Salyers. On my mother’s side the grandparents were named Marshall and she was a Carpenter. I can’t tell you anything else…"

The "Grandfather" he speaks of would be William W. "We Bill" Salyer.

We would like to receive any additional info on the descendants of William W. and Luqueeny (Howard) Salyer.