Frank Sexton: Whispers from the Grave; Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber

Frank Sexton’s death information is a good example of “carved in stone” not always being correct.

Frank was the son of Elisha “Lige” Sexton and wife Elizabeth Hicks. He was born 3 June 1904 in Boyd County, Kentucky.  He moved to Logan County, West Virginia, when he was 21, where he married Ivy Vannatter on 21 May 1927.  The first error in official records was when the clerk recorded Frank’s father as Elias in the marriage records. The couple had three boys: Charles Percy born 1928; Franklin born 1929; and Joseph Harrison Sexton born 1932.

Family told this compiler Frank died in the mines in West Virginia.  Since the stone said the death date was 21 January 1935 I did a deep search of newspapers which was futile. My search coincided with the Boyd County Library project of indexing obituaries.  As luck would have it, at the time, fellow library worker, Nancy Schnitzker knew I was working on the Sexton surname and would alert me when she made any new entries. Bingo! The obituary appeared in the Ashland Daily Independent one year later!  The article posted on 26 January 1936 stated that the funeral service of Frank Sexton was held Thursday from the Sexton resident on Garner.  This newspaper stated that he was killed in a mine accident at Holden, West Virginia but that the paper did not learn of the accident details.

Hoping I could glean what reporters in Ashland could not, I began a search in West Virginia papers.  The Charleston Daily Mail posted Frank Sexton’s obituary on the same date, 26 January 1936, stating that funeral services were held Thursday and burial was at Catlettsburg, Kentucky.  “He was killed instantly in a mine accident at Whitman, Monday.”  Thus the tombstone, handmade much later is off by one year.

Both Holden and Whitman do lay in Logan County, West Virginia. Once again I had two conflicting bits of information. As far as I can ascertain there were three large mining operations in Whitman and as many as twelve mining camps containing homes and boarding houses. Holden was surrounded by mining operations as well.  The 26^th was on a Sunday.  The accident according to the Charleston paper occurred on Monday which would be January 20th.  With one last ditch effort to find out more about the accident I finally located a one-line entry in the Charleston Daily Mail on Wednesday the 22^nd “Whitman. Frank Sexton 34 died beneath a slate fall.”