Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber October 2020
The “mansion house” was
built in the 1860’s, in Boyd County, Kentucky, similar to another house on the
road that was utilized as the Poor House. The name is derived from a cemetery
deed that called it by that name.
The “mansion house” last breath 1996You step out of the kitchen with a slam of the screen door to a small porch. Just steps away is the well. You pull up the bucket and dip the metal ladle to get the coldest, clearest, best drink of water in the world. So cold your front teeth ache from the tin. By the time I “married in”[i] the Sexton/Klaiber house was empty and sagging. But when I walked through, I still felt the energy of family and history. That water is still the clearest and best water I have ever tasted.
Julina Sexton Klaiber and daughter Martha at the well.
#2 Julina and unknown
James David Klaiber getting a drink from the well 2006
Behind the well is the
two-story smokehouse. It is all that
remains at this writing. The plat map simply called that portion of the land where
the smokehouse sits as the “widow’s portion,” when Henry Powell Sexton died in
1912.[ii]
The bottom made of hand-hewn stone from the rock quarry on the property has a
heavy wooden door. While technically not
underground, as a cellar would be, it was used for cold storage of canned
items. Shelves lined the walls and even
after being abandoned blue Ball fruit jars were discovered on the shelves. It was not pleasant salvaging the jars, emptying
the old contents.
You climb the narrow steps
to enter the smoke house where meats hung to be cured. When I first started exploring the farm, the
smokehouse was locked. I asked my
father-in-law what was in there. With
his distinct laugh he said “not to worry, Missy”. I quickly translated that as off-limits.
After John Henry Powell
Sexton Klaiber (yes, his official name) died in 1995 we inherited the
farm. We dubbed our beautiful gift
Deliverance Farm and built our dream log home utilizing square logs to honor
the tradition of both the “mansion house” and the one room log “parlor” that
was a part of the house hubby grew up in.[iii]
Concerned that the old mansion house
would be dangerous the remains of the home were burnt and dozed in 1996. It was time for the lock to come off to
discover what had been the secret at the smokehouse.
My imagination wondered if
there were valuable antiques, jars of money or a farm treasure. As a genealogist, and cemetery advocate, I
was already giddy with pleasure at having the privilege of becoming a trustee
of Klaiber Cemetery. My hubby pried off
the rusted lock and I clapped with glee as my husband rolled his eyes. Once several snakes were shooed away, we were
looking at huge piles and large fruit baskets filled with papers. I dove in elbow deep ignoring silver fish and
pesky paper mites. I quickly ordered him
to not throw a single thing away. I
think he already knew that.
It took several days to
salvage the paper items, placing them on a wagon so I could look at each
individual piece. There were holiday
cards, letters, clippings, calendars, you name it. Some were beyond salvage. Many had bug holes
or corners missing. When a cousin visited, we made one last trip and hubby took
a shovel and scrapped across the dirt that had accumulated on the floor
uncovering one last treasure – one of the earliest documents, a “Resolution of
Decease” for Marcus Sexton dated 16 November 1877.
The next task was to
“debug” and rid the items of the musty smell.
Several archivists suggested putting items in a plastic bag with baking
soda and placing them in the freezer. It
was a time-consuming task which we had to repeat several times. But it worked. The salvaged items are now in acid free
sleeves to prevent further damage.
Among the treasured items
was a group picture. I held my breath until I found the bottom half. Once I found that the pieces fit together perfectly,
I did another happy dance. A small string
is threaded in the center top of the backing as though it had been displayed on
a wall at one point.
The last resident of the
“mansion house,” was “mamaw”, Julina Leota Sexton Horton Klaiber. We quickly identified her as the tiny lady,
sitting on a chair with dotted dress, on the far-left front. For as long as we can remember she wore “ear
bobs,” her word for pierced earrings.
She does not have them on in this picture. She appears to be a teenager. To her right, this compiler believes, is
Lorain Klaiber born in 1872 sister of Julina’s future 2nd husband, James
Matthew Klaiber.
Julina Leota Sexton Horton Klaiber with her “ear bobs.”
A study of the photograph
leads this compiler to believe it is a church gathering with children holding
up certificates and books or bibles on their laps. It would not be a school
picture because of the diverse ages of participants.
Both Baptist and Methodist
held quarterly meetings. Julina was a
member of Second Baptist Church later in life.
While, her husband James Matthew Klaiber’s family were Methodist. Usually a presiding elder would visit four
times a year for quarterly meetings. The
Baptist in our area were part of the West Virginia Association while the
Methodist were part of the West Virginia Conference.
Armed only with the old
proverb “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” I plunged on going through
the chronology of citations I have on “mamaw.”
A newspaper article dated
27 April 1893 practically slapped me in the face. The Ashland Republican[iv]
[v]published
long social articles. I believe the smokehouse
picture may have been taken in April 1893 and correlates with the picture. There
are exactly five other ladies gathered with Julina, on the far right, for a
total of six young ladies.
“Garner, Ky. Misses Sude Ross, Olive Hazlett, Ramy Klaiber, Demmie Mayhew, Lade Sextone and Gracie Davis attended quarterly meeting at no 11 last Sunday.”[vi]
The paper was published on
Thursday and “last Sunday” would have been April 23nd, 1893.
The article references “no
11” which would be the county district number 11 at Grassland on Bear
Creek. The Methodist Episcopal Church
South bought property on Bear Creek at Grassland to build a school and a chapel
in 1872 known as Fannin Chapel.[vii]
[viii] By 1890 Mattie Colbert French was the teacher
at Bear Creek School.
These social articles were usually
submitted by someone in the neighborhood who would sometimes using
pseudonyms. The article Garner, Ky.
was written in two parts. The first unsigned and the second signed simply “By
Another Correspondent.
Several of the girls are mentioned in part two of the Garner Article as well.
“Misses Gracie Davis and Belle Banfield are both suffering with an attack of fever, which Dr. B. Banfield and his assistant, are trying to check.”
“Miss Lade Sexton was the guest of Miss Kate Selbee Saturday evening.”
The William Selbee family also
lived on what today is Long Branch Road, Boyd County, Kentucky along with the
Sexton, Klaiber, Mayhew and other families.
“Miss Olive Hazlett, Gracie Davis, Ramy and Miriam Klaiber have returned from Ironton, and peanuts and candy will find no favor in their eyes for a long time.”
Miriam is Miriam Frances Klaiber daughter of
John Andrew and Mary Ann McBrayer Klaiber.
Ramy could only be Lorain
“Rany” Klaiber daughter of John Andrew Klaiber and Mary Ann McBrayer Klaiber. She
crossed the river to Ohio to marry ,15 June 1893, James Oscar Cornwell in
Lawrence County, Ohio. Her marriage was
just two months after her visit to the quarterly meeting. The Klaiber’s resided on the same road as the
Sexton’s and Mayhew families.
Demmie Mayhew was born 2
June 1867 and would be 25 if she is one of the ladies behind Julina in the
picture. The Big Sandy News
copied an article from The Smokey Valley News 16 June 1893 stating that
Miss Dimma Mayhew and Sude Ross of Boyd county had been visiting their aunt
Mrs. Dimma Riffe (of Smokey Valley).[ix] Dimmie’s mother was Mary Elizabeth Ross who
married William Mayhew 19 June 1854.
Dimma Ross Riffe was sister to Mary Elizabeth Ross Mayhew. Mayhew’s farm laid just east of the Sexton/Klaiber farm
on the road. Dimmie died just two years
after she attended that Quarterly Meeting, 9 April 1895, and is buried in
Klaiber Cemetery.
“Sude” Ross was Susan
Elizabeth Ross, daughter of William Isaac Ross and wife Mary Francis Riffe.
Sude was born July 1874 and would be 18 years old when the girls attended
meeting together. In November 1893 she
and James Franklin Leslie crossed the river to marry in Lawrence County, Ohio.
“Lade” was the nickname
that Julina Leota Sexton had all her life.
Julina was born 30 June 1877, in Boyd County, daughter of Henry Powell
and Julina McCormack Sexton. She was 15 years old when the article
appears. Three years later on 28 October
1896 she married William Harry Horton, Jr. After he blew up, in 1902, in an
accident in the saloon he owned, in Ironton, Ohio she returned to Boyd county
and married James Matthew Klaiber on 2 April 1905. She lived in the “mansion
house” as long as able and in her later years lived with John and Elsie Klaiber
on the portion of the farm that I write from.
She would also spend time with daughter Martha on Valley Street in
Catlettsburg, KY. Julina aka Lade was
100 years old when she died 20 May 1978.
She is laid to rest in Klaiber Cemetery.
Olive Hazlett may be the
nickname for one of eight daughters born to John Hazlett and wife Hannah
Hensley Hazlett. James Matthew Klaiber sold John Hazlett land on Garner in
1895.[x]
James Matthew’s first wife Kathryn Stewart Klaiber sold a piece of property on
Jacks Fork to John Hazlett in 1896. The
Klaiber’s officially divorced 7 May 1897.
Further research is needed to determine more about the family of “Olive
Hazlett”.
Like Olive, I have not been
able to pinpoint which of the various Boyd County Davis branch’s Gracie is
from. Leaving this post a bit more of a
fishing expedition hoping others can verify the other ladies in the picture and
possibly identify the Elder and others gathered. Feel free to email me at deliverancefarm@gmail.com
[i]
1968
[ii]
KY, Boyd deed book 57, 482
[iii]
The one room cabin still stands and is marked as a Kentucky Historical
Building.
[iv] A
huge Thank you to Judy Fleming for correcting my handwritten extraction and
providing the proper newspaper microfilm (UK).
[v]
Library of Congress, Chronicling America Newspaper list. Ashland Republican,
publisher JM Huff
[vi] Copied
as originally spelled in paper. Sextone should be Sexton and Ramy should be
Rany
[vii]
Klaiber, Teresa. Monographs II. Boyd County Kentucky Genealogy, Stories,
Articles & Research. 2006 p 67.
[viii]
KY, Boyd deed book 12 p. 54
[ix]
Cora Meek Newman, Big Sandy News. Page 82. 2000.
[x]
KY, Boyd deed book 26 p 70
