This article, written by Todd Preston, the president of the Magoffin County Historical Society, was taken from the May 17, 2007 issue of THE SALYERSVILLE INDEPENDENT newspaper.  The Salyersville Independent is a weekly newspaper published and edited every Thursday. For inquires or comments, please write to P. O. Box 29, Salyersville, KY 41465. Yearly subscription rates are $22.00 in Kentucky and $26.00 per year out of state.

Before I forget, let me tell you that the regular meeting of the historical society will be this Sunday, May 20, at 2 p.m. here in our library at 191 South Church Street. We will be discussing this year’s Founder’s Day celebration.                 I’ve spent a lot of my time this week in and around the home Brian Conley and my daughter Abbie recently bought, this was the Jim May home then later the Homer “Dodd” May home.  It has been unoccupied for several years. Some of the trees and shrubs had to be removed; one being a large maple which we thought was half dead. Inside, near the “heart” was the remains of a wire fence which took its toll on saw chains. Donnie Allen went up above the main trunk and cut the large branches off. The main trunk was a different story as we didn’t want it to fall into the creek. We had to cut it into bits and pieces before we could handle it but we’ve about got things in shape for moving in.                 I made a trek to the Bill Minix Hollow in search of a Gipson Cemetery; it was one that I had looked for back in 1977 “on the face of the point above the late Kermit McNew barn.”  Mr. James Puckett, county forestry worker, discovered the cemetery while raking a ring to stop a forest fire. I followed his directions and found a homemade concrete head and foot stone inscribed Edyth Gipson b. 6 Jan 1930 d. Feb 1930 and another sunken child’s grave beside it. The telltale “bloodroot” bushes were all over the ridge that I have found in many old cemeteries.  I can’t find the parents of these children yet and ask anyone who might know to let us hear from you.                 All searches for old abandoned cemeteries are not successful as was the case Sunday evening when I went to Birch Branch where Scott Conley had found a tombstone “in back of his house” which bore the name J. H. Arnett but unreadable dates.                 Dennis was surprised to find a cemetery on his land but Ol’ Todd didn’t find Dennis at home to get directions so I hit the hill and did a right “smart” of a search but didn’t find anything except daisies in bloom, along with other flowers in full bloom and a baby owl that had probably left the nest too soon as it seemed unable to fly. I also saw evidence of the rod lines that went to the oil wells from the power house where I think Raleigh Salyer was the pumper, now it seems to be turned into a water flood production.                 If anyone can tell me who this J. H. Arnett was, I would be interested in hearing from you. I thought it could be Jim Arnett of the Arnett Branch but it seems he was buried at Bradley on the Meredith Patrick Cemetery.                 On Monday evening I picked up Dennis Conley and this time we drove to the J. H. Arnett tombstone which lies below the oilfield road and seems to me the stone lies in a bulldozed portion of a road not completed or an oil well location.                 This marker is 2 feet by 3 feet and about 8 inch thick of concrete with the name J. H. Arnett and No. 15 on it.  It has M. Blanton on the bottom of it as if he, Blanton, made it. Whether it is a tombstone is debatable. What does the “No. 15” stand for?  Could it be oil well No. 15 on the J. H. Arnett lease that has been cemented over?  Coordinates are N37 degrees-42.422  W-083-00-883, elevation 1283. Any info appreciated.                 Seems like we’ve been inundated with tough to find family genealogy. Lorene Van Rider, 201 S. Heinke Rd., Apt. K, Miamisburg, OH 45342 and her two daughters came in Sunday morning with the following query: John N. Fyffe b. 1897? married Martha  Ann Salyer b. 24 Feb 1909 or 1911. Martha was the dau of Jackson B. Salyer b. 1872 and Etta Mae Fyffe b. 1865.  I found Jackson B. Salyer to be buried in the Crit See Cemetery on the See Branch of Tug River, Hwy 3, and north of 644 on the Alvis See farm, per the Lawrence Co. KY census.                 John N. Fyffe was a son of Benjamin Fyffe b. 1870 and married 16 Nov 1889 Morgan Co. KY to Sarah Holbrook.  Benjamin is thought to have married 2nd to Annis Barker.                 Caren Stallards of Floyd County telephoned wanting to learn the parents of Joel Henry Conley, preacher of Silver Creek United Baptist Church. He was married to Minnie Fitzpatrick. This has been very difficult to research and hopefully it is correct.  Joel Henry Conley b. 1898 was a son of Andrew J. Conley b. 1876. Andrew was a son of Andrew J. Conley, Sr. b. 1843 and grandson of Thomas Conley b. 1812. Thomas was a son of Thomas Connelly b. 1777 and gr/son of Capt. Henry Connelly b. 1752 and Ann McGregor. Ann was a dau of Archibald McGregor. Thomas Connelly m. Susan Joynes b. 1770, dau of Thomas Joynes. Thomas Conley, Jr. m. Mahala Davis b. 1813. Andrew J. Conley married Nancy Ann Baldridge, dau of Andrew J. Baldridge and Martha Dawson. Andrew J. Conley, Jr. m. Minta Robinson b. 1878, dau of Thomas Robinson and Pelina Picklesimer b. 1835. Pelina was a dau of Sarah Prater.  Sarah was a dau of Archibald Prater and Sarah Fugate.                 Joel H. Conley m. in 1895 to Minnie Fitzpatrick b. 1886?, dau of Henry Fitzpatrick b. 1832. Henry was a son of John Fitzpatrick b. 1778 and Francis “Fanny” Rice b. 1795. Fanny was a dau of John Rice and Patsy Fleming. Henry Fitzpatrick married Violet -?- b. 1856.                 Dorotha Jean Wireman of the Waldo, KY community has been kind enough to share two more of her handmade quilts with us and we are using them as backdrops for our archives building window display.  We thank Jean for her help in making our window such a special treat for those visiting our library or passing through Salyersville.                  Our research library is located at 191 South Church Street and we can be reached by mail by telephone 606-349-1607 or by writing: Magoffin County Historical Society, Box 222, Salyersville, KY 41465 (email Magoffin@foothills.net).