William C. Mayhew family: Whispers from the Grave; Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2023

Background removed using AI a rather grainy scan provided by Joy Mayhew Heard 2010

William C. Mayhew was born 2 November 1832 in Greenup County, Kentucky. His parents, William and Matilda Kazee Mayhew, were married in Greenup County 1 December 1829[i].  His grandparents, Myra and Rebecca Curran Farmer[ii] Mayhew, also married in Greenup County, Kentucky 13 January 1805.

William crossed the river to marry Mary Elizabeth “May” Ross the 19^th of June 1854 in Lawrence County, Ohio[iii].  She was a daughter of the first judge of Boyd County, John D. Ross.  Her mother was Susan Lockwood Ross, another pioneer family from Boyd County.

Boyd County, Kentucky was formed in 1860 from portions of Greenup and Lawrence County, Kentucky.  That year the census shows the family with three children: Grace, John D, and Susan.  The census indicates that William has no value in real estate at that time.  In all they had a total of six children, all born between 1854 and 1872.  The other children included: George W., John D., Susan Evangeline, Dimma and James Taylor Mayhew.  All the children were born on Big Garner, Boyd County, Kentucky. 

The first tax list of Boyd County shows William Mayhew with no land values but does own a horse and one cow.  By 1862 William C. Mayhew is enlisted in the county militia and now had two horses and two cows.

William C. Mayhew enlisted in the 45^th Regiment, Kentucky Infantry (Union), Company K on 7 October 1863 at the courthouse in Louisa, Lawrence County, Kentucky. He mustered out at Catlettsburg on 14 February 1865.

 

 

The 1866 Boyd County tax list shows William being assessed for 158 acres on Garner.[i]  Their property adjoined what is today this compilers land at the fork of Solomon’s Branch and Long Branch.  The family once again has two horses, two cows and William is still on the county militia list. As late as 1871 he served the Boyd County Militia, at the age of 39.

In April 1875 the Mayhew’s daughter married Charles W. Diamond.  John D Ross deeded 12 acres on Garner, for love and affection to both William and Mary Elizabeth in 1885[ii] and   daughter Susan married in June 1886 to John Henry Harris. 

William C. Mayhew died 3 May 1890 and was buried in Klaiber Cemetery, Long Branch Road, Boyd County, Kentucky, on the road where he resided.

Two years after William died, son George purchased a “lot” in the cemetery described as “…on a point nearly opposite the mansion house and on the south side of the creek the same is for a grave yard where William Mayhew is now buried….[i]”  The grantor was Henry Powell Sexton who owned the land surrounding the property.

Daughter Dimma was friends with Lorain Klaiber whose nickname was Raney.  In April 1893 the young ladies of Garner attended a quarterly church meeting[ii].  Dimma died 9 April 1895 and was buried next to her father on the point. At one time there was a fence around the plot.

Mary Elizabeth Ross Mayhew continued to live on Garner until her death 8 September 1904.  She is also buried on the point next to William.

Mary Elizabeth Ross Mayhew

I wrote about the Mayhew’s son-in-law John Henry Harris in May.  John Henry Harris, Eva, and their children, resided with her widowed mother, Mary Mayhew in 1900, on Garner, Boyd County, Kentucky.  In the 1970’s the state of Kentucky conducted a project to collect and catalog cemeteries in the state of Kentucky.  Evelyn Jackson was coordinator in Boyd County.  Besides “reading” stones she collected information from family and caretakers of the family cemeteries.  Among the names listed in Klaiber Cemetery is “Flora Mayhew” with no dates.  There is a field stone in the Mayhew plot.  When John Henry Harris died in 1909 he was buried in Klaiber Cemetery close to the Mayhew plot.  The Mayhew’s did not have a daughter Flora.  But John Henry Harris and Susan “Eva” Mayhew Harris had a daughter Flora born in December 1889.  Flora was the granddaughter of William and Mary Elizabeth Mayhew.  This compiler believes that the KHS cemetery reading may be incorrect and should read “Flora Harris.”   I believe she died between 1900 and 1910.  Nola Harris wrote me in 2009 stating: “all I have…is my great – aunt Angie’s word (Mary Angeline Harris Pelfry) and I don’t know if there is existing family bible records.  Angie called it Sexton Cemetery[i] and said that her dad, mom, and little sister were all buried there.  The only gravestone seems to be that of her father John H. Harris.”

There is no stone for Susan Evangeline “Eva” Mayhew Harris either but it does appear there is an unmarked grave next to John Henry Harris.  At this writing this compiler has not found a death record for her.  She died 4 May 1924 and had been living with another son Charlie Harris, a coal miner, in Logan County, West Virginia.

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[i] Klaiber Cemetery has several alias names including Sexton, and  Hood.

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[i] KY, Boyd dbk 25 page 513

[ii] Ashland Republican, 27 April 1893

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[i] KY, Boyd tax fhl 008188344

[ii] KY, Boyd dbk 19 page 438

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[i] KY, Greenup  Marriage , page 57.  The clerk spelled Matilda’s last name as   Kesee. Joseph Arthur was bondsman.

[ii] In published Greenup  Marriage records & History of Greenup County by Biggs she is referenced as Rebecca Farmer d/o John Currant

[iii] OH, Lawrence, page 80 #483

John Henry Harris. Whispers from the Grave; Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2023

John Henry Harris was the son of Lawrence and Cynthia Collingsworth Harris, born in Johnson County, Kentucky, 2 March 1860. 

Family traditions have whispers of truths, some flamboyant, but mostly hearsay.  Thus a repeated story appeared in 2007 on a noted genealogy site stating that “John Henry Harris wandered into Rush, Boyd County, Kentucky and went to work for Evie’s uncle, Taylor Mayhew…” and that is how he met his wife.[i]

John Henry Harris was one of ten known children of Lawrence and Cynthia.  The family had moved to Johnson County from Floyd County before some of the family migrated to Boyd County.  By 1869 John Henry Harris’ older sister, Nancy, had married George W. Crum[ii] and resided on Bolts Fork of Boyd County.  One of Crum’s brothers, James Crum, would later marry, Susannah “Susan” Sexton, the daughter of Richard Sexton and Mary Lucas[iii].  Susannah was a grandniece of Marcus/Mark Sexton buried in Klaiber Cemetery.

By 1880 John Henry Harris and father Lawrence Harris, are residing next door to the Mayhew Family on what is now Long Branch Road, along with John’s sisters Sarah A. and Mary.  Indexing of census records is done by volunteers and unless the indexer is familiar with a local area many errors are made.  Thus the indices show Lawrence as “Lance” misread and easily overlooked.

John Henry Harris and Susan Evangeline “Eva” Mayhew were married 13 June 1886 on Williams Creek in Carter County at the “Pleasant Church”[iv].  Eva’s father, William Mayhew died 3 May 1890 and is buried in Klaiber Cemetery.  John and Eva resided with her widowed mother, Mary Mayhew in 1900.

In 1903 Taylor Mayhew, brother of Eva, was deeded the north side of Salmons Fork at the mouth of Long Branch to a corner with the property of Philip Howe from brother John D. Mayhew, all part of William Mayhew’s, then deceased, property.[v]  In turn, in November  Taylor had several transactions involving the north side of Salmons Fork which partitioned  William Mayhew’s property.  71 acres on the north side of Salmons Creek  was deeded back to siblings including one to John and his sister Susan E. (Eva Mayhew) Harris[vi].  All the property in turn reverted back to Mary “May” Ross Mayhew, widow of William C. Mayhew.

Ever confusing is the renaming of this part of the creek on early maps.  Today maps show Long Branch Creek going straight up Long Branch Road into Carter County.  But early maps and deeds show Long Branch Creek turning at the bridge (the mouth of Long Branch) and running up the lane past  what is now this compiler’s home, then past the Philip Howe aka Klaiber log one room house.  Long Branch Creek meanders through the bottom fields behind our home and then curves back  left where the head of Long Branch ends in the water shed in Carter County.  Salmon’s Fork was in fact the stream continuing up what is now Long Branch Road in front of then Mayhew property[vii].  The Philip Howe log home still stands behind our log home and is a Kentucky Registered Landmark.

Mary Elizabeth Ross Mayhew, mother of Eva died 8 September 1904 and is buried in Klaiber Cemetery.

John Henry and Eva Harris had six children by the time of William Mayhew’s death[viii].  John Henry Harris died on 11 March 1909 here on Garner.

 Eva, widowed with five of her children are still residing next to the Mayhew holdings.  By 1920 Eva had moved to Logan County, West Virginia where, son Charles was renting and working in the coal mines.

In the 1950’s Julina Sexton Klaiber, campaigned for funds to fix the road and  fence around Klaiber Cemetery. Among the responses was a letter dated  May 1956 “…Dear old friend and neighbor. I am Mae Harris daughter of John and Eva Harris, now Mrs. R. E. Bryant…”  The Bryant’s were living in Worthington, Franklin County, Ohio and donated for the care of the road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[i] Angie Harris Pelfrey, Ancestry.com, original submitted by NolaBull

[ii] s/o Reuben and Pricilla Mutters Crum

[iii] Carter County Circuit Court Bk 30/31 Divorce 1911

[iv] FHL 1842850

[v] KY Boyd deed book 40 p 2

[vi] KY Boyd deed book 4-0 p 4

[vii] Today what was then Salmons Fork runs along Blanton  and Stewart, Green and others property on the south and  across the road, Wright’s, Stewarts, Tolliver’s on the north.  Today the creek and road running into Carter County is simply all labeled Long Branch. While the turn at the county bridge at 22937 and creek running up the hollow is simply not named on most maps.  By experience this compiler can tell you that when there are heavy rains the water rushing from the water shed into Long Branch,, down the hollow and into the main Long Branch is not something for the faint of heart.   Long Branch flows between the old Howe/Klaiber one room and our log home flooding the lane and leaving  us to wait for receding waters.

[viii] Clarence Burns Harris m Ethel Rice; Flora Fain Harris; Elizabeth Ethel Harris m Ed McCormick; Ida Mae Harris m Robert Bryant; Mary Angeline Harris m Bert Allen Pelfrey

An Interview with Ruth Hazlett Faulkner

compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber

Ruth Hazlett Faulkner's obituary appeared in the Daily Independent, Ashland, Kentucky, Monday, June 21, 2010. I have mentioned a comment she made concerning Memorial Day in past blogs but never mentioned her by name. As I read her obituary my mind went back to the interview I did at her home in January 2006.

When interviewing anyone for genealogical purposes I always carry a tiny tape recorder and usually transcribe the material when I get home. Checking Family Lineage Investigations files, I found the tape and the transcription.

Ruth was 95 years old when I visited with her at her home on Edgewood in Ashland, Kentucky. While there she gave me several grainy copies of old photographs in her possession.

Ruth grew up on Clay Jack, Boyd County and the picture is of the old Hazlett home that is no longer standing. William R. and Elizabeth Hazlett are in the buggy in the picture.

Ruth had invited me to her home because she wished to talk about the Robert Hazlett Cemetery, also known as Hazel Dale Cemetery on Clay Jack. Ruth thought it would be nice to plant some Walnut trees in the cemetery but was no longer able to visit herself. She provided me with a handwritten list of people she remembered buried in the family cemetery which I later compared with with Boyd County Cemetery Database.

Ruth, one of six children, remembered her brother Wilbur Hazlett born 7 July 1916 when she was only 5 years old. Wilbur died 11 January 1917 and was buried in the cemetery. Talking about her mother and the twins Ruth said "...twins with red hair and she felt like the good Lord was punishing her because she didn't like red hair and she had two boys with red hair. One of them died at six months old with chicken pox."

Ruth reminisced about going to school. "...[Hazel Dale School]... you turn up Clay Jack Road it is land right where you turn. It [is] like an acre or something. ...one of the Hazlett's donated the land for the cemetery and the other donated the land for the school....May Fannin Lockwood she sold it...."

While we talked Ruth's memory would jump around. But during our conversation continued to mention Hazel Dale School. She talked about it being a one room school and when asked about her first teacher she believed it was Junior Fields then Clyde Bolt. " [The boys] were all mean...The girls sat on one side and the boys on the other. We didn't play together."

"And I remember a neighbor lady came and she had her little boy about my age and mom said, she was visiting with the neighbor ...she said take Howse [Harris] out to play...I got up and whispered to mother But he is a boy. She said well that is alright he is used to playing with his sisters you can play with him it will be alright. So I said come on Howse and I took him out in the sand pile and I built a sand castle, built a farm and had people, cattle and had a fence around it. ...I told dad I got everything and I have a garden laid out but I don't have any seeds. Dad said he would give me seeds to put in my garden so he got me some beans..."

She attended high school with Martha Klaiber. The school was at Cannonsburg and both she and Martha stayed with the Eastham family, coming home on Friday for the weekend. It was to far to go to school otherwise.

When she was older Ruth attended Morehead for less than a year and qualified as a teacher but there were more teachers than schools in Boyd County and she did not like being a substitute so begged her parents to go back to school. Ruth then attended Eastern to study business. During WWII she worked at Willow Run near Yipsalaniti and Detroit, Michigan. She helped build radios for B-52's matching up the wiring.

"My family was Baptist. But it kinda fell by the wayside. The Baptist ...my dad...had a little bit of education for an old timer. They got in the church, you know, as leaders, and were not qualified, and he just could not take it so he didn't go anymore...Mt. Olivet. So we didn't go anywhere for a long time and then when I got up in high school and got to know the Hogan's...lived down by the church...So I started going to the Methodist Sunday School and dad's first cousin, a McGlothlin...was the Sunday school teacher...Dova Hazlett married a McGlothlin." [Married John Chapman McGlothlin - tk note.]

"Then Trudi Hazlett married Ed Chaffins." I asked her if she was a short lady. "Yes a little dwarf. They had two. They had one that was smaller than Trudi that never married. She died rather young."

Ruth mentioned several times that the girls all wore ribbons in their hair. She showed a picture of the Hazlett reunion on Bear Creek at the L. C. [Tobe] Hazlett farm. The picture included the house in the background which Ruth informed me later burned down. As she remembered the reunion she described the afternoon. "...they killed a fatted calf and cooked all kinds of chicken...they put tables along that fence line...They come in there and cooked. And maybe some of them brought them with them...They killed a beef and anyway I just remember having a lot to eat and having my picture made. And Oh they had ice cream that the boys, the young people, made after we all ate...the boys turned, mostly the crank and made the ice cream. They had a great big ice cream maker...we never did have one...."

The ice cream triggered another memory with Ruth because they did not have the ice cream machine. "...we had such cold, cold winters and we had a lot of rocks on the property. Caves. And the water that was flowing over these would form big icicles so it might be a warm day in March or February and we would take, the kids would take a bucket, a big tub and go up on the hill and get the ice. While we was gone mother would be mixing up the ice cream and we would come down and the way we would do it. She put the ice cream in a gallon syrup bucket then we would put that ice all around it in a bigger container and would just, took that bucket with a bail and went around and around and around and around. And dad said he didn't like it, it was to cold. We all loved it. And Mom was right there with us."

When speaking of her parents Ruth became very lively. "She [her mother] was eight years younger than dad and a little more lively. Dad was anemic part of the time and he just had some problems. Like he just didn't have the energy. But he always had help on the farm...he had a rent house and he kept, I'll tell you what he did. A family man, he give him a dollar a day, free rent, a gallon of milk a day, a garden spot, I forget what else... we had a cellar, a nice cellar and all that concrete from the kitchen door into that cellar and it had shelves in there to keep canned goods. It had a pump right outside that went through and had like a trough built [of] concrete and cold water ran through there. Mom put milk and butter and she could even put set jello in there. It was cold water flowing through there. ...we had another we called the smoke house. Great big, it was originally a old school house. Mother and dad bought it for $100.00 and had it moved. It was the original school house...Hazel Dale. And they built another new school at Hazel Dale...and momma had a cook stove in it [smoke house] and when she was going to can instead of heating up the house she cooked out there in the smoke house...she did her canning out there. ... I guess looking back my family was pretty much up to date. We had a cream separator."

I asked her how many cattle her father ran. "Oh I don't know he sold off every year and that was cash. And he never did raise tobacco for sale. He raised a little for his own use and at one time he raised sheep but the dogs made it very difficult. They killed the sheep."

Asked how many acres the family owned she stated: "360. He bought the extra that was momma's old home. It joined after, I don't know, after I was pretty grown up. I guess. And we had a dairy farm and sold milk. So I milked my way through high school...the worst time was Sunday evening to go milk...you had to get your good clothes off and the day was over {laughing}. You couldn't be dressed up and cleaned up to milk cows... I remember momma sold butter. And she had her own bank account. Maybe a sugar bowl account or something. When she got married her daddy gave her a cow and ten hens and one rooster and that was it I guess. So she claimed that when a cow would have a calf that was hers...."

Ruth remembered the first car the family had. "Boggs the blacksmith came and took my older brother out every day for a week and taught him how to drive. So my dad said he would learn how to drive later. ...He just didn't jump right into anything. He had to think about it awhile. He could figure it all out ahead of time and then done better than he could johnny on the spot. Anyway I remember my brother took us and the family different places. Like homecoming at church and one time we went home with a couple. Mom said we was related, some kind of cousins. We went home to eat and my brother was about 15 or 16. He was driving us and had on a suit of clothes but the knickers were like here and then big fancy socks up here and a cap. The girls were quite a bit older and lived at this house and said you are to old to be dressed like that you need some long pants, you are a man now. So he wouldn't wear those clothes anymore. We came home and he said he had to have new clothes. And I guess they ordered them from Sears Roebuck."

I asked her if her father ever learned to drive. "Yes he was sorta forced. And my older sister was that way...didn't want to drive. She put it off for a long time ...I couldn't wait to drive. I was always wanting dad to let me. He let me drive when I was ten or eleven years old with him sitting beside me. You didn't have to have any [license] and then later my older sister was teaching. She went away to school when she was 14 and by 18 she was teaching. So you had to live away from home. And my job when I was think I was 15 when I got home from high school every Friday I had to go get my sister and bring her home for the weekend. That was my job. Everybody else was busy. You know farm work. You never get it done."

The complete interview will remain in my office files and eventually will be donated to the library along with the rest of my collection. I enjoyed my visit with Ruth very much and appreciate her sharing memories with me. Ruth was buried yesterday [June 22, 2010] in Rose Hill Cemetery, Ashland, Kentucky. Her obituary stated that she worked for Ashland Asphalt and Paving for many years. At the time of her death she was a member of the First Presbyterian church in Ashland.