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.
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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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