Crockett, Morgan Co., KY
RELIEF
Relief is a small community extending roughly from
Marvin Brown`s store to the Johnson County line. The center of this little
community is the Relief post office and the Paint Valley church. According
to a 1956 research paper by Ruth Ann Hill , this post office was established
in 1878 by Edward W. Brown who had been a captain in the Union Army during
the Civil War. The name "Relief" was given to the post office because it
was a relief for the people not to go so far for their mail. Following is
a list of postmasters up until 1956 :
Edward W. Brown - February
11, 1878
Mrs. Amanda Pelfrey - May
23, 1884
James C. Todd - May 5, 1885
Clayborn F. Ward - June
13, 1889
John L. Pelfrey - March
26, 1891
Francis M. Pelfrey - November
22, 1894
Stella Sherman - April 19,
1895
James M. Ferguson - June
25, 1897
Nannie Maggard - July 5,
1906
Effie Maggard - December
10, 1913
John A. Cox - April 10,
1917
Albert Bailey - May 21,
1919
Nora F. Dorton - November
26, 1923
Etta S. Brown - December
24, 1930
There are two churches in Relief. One is the old
Paint Church of Regular Primitive Baptists near the upper border of the Relief
community. It has over 200 members and is the largest "hardshell" church
in Eastern Kentucky. Its present moderator is Addie Ferguson and its clerk
is Isaac Ison. The other is the Paint Valley Regular Baptist (Enterprise)
Church. It is near the Johnson County line. The old Paint Church was established
in 1820 and the Paint Valley Church in 1910.
Among the early settlers of relief were the Hills,
Browns and Fergusons.
Relief is located on Paint Creek near a small tributary
of Paint called Smith Creek. This creek is about 4 miles long and empties
into Paint at Relief.
.
Information from Early
Morgan County by Arthur C. Johnson, published in 1974. This information
has been made available thanks to Bernice Johnson (Arthur Johnson's widow)
who gave us permission to use it. The information is still copyrighted.
A big thank you goes to Connie Spurlock for transcribing the information
and to Diana Crace for obtaining permission to post it.
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