Mary Jane Montgomery Klaiber: Whispers from the Grave; Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2023

Mary Jane Montgomery was born 22 January 1879 in Carter County, Kentucky, the daughter of John Howe Montgomery and Samantha Jane Boggs.  John and Samantha Jane were married 27 January 1874 in Carter County.[i]  Samantha Jane was only sixteen years old. They were married at her father, Elihu Bogg,s home in Carter County.  Mary Jane had two older brothers James W Montgomery born in November of 1874 and Elihue, named after Samantha’s father, born in 1876.

Very shortly after Mary Jane’s birth, John Howe Montgomery departed for the west, settling in Iowa.  Family tradition says Samantha Jane had him declared deceased, only to have him come home, find out he was supposed to be dead, turned around and headed back to Iowa.  This compiler has not reviewed circuit court records for a divorce at this writing. 

Samantha Jane Boggs married James B. Hall on 29 November 1883[ii], when Mary Jane was about four years old.  Samantha utilized her maiden name of Boggs when she remarried.  Hall was born December 1858 in Greenup County, Kentucky, and became Mary Jane’s guardian.  The family resided in the Willard vicinity of Carter County[iii]. 

A horse path from Denton leads across the hills to Long Branch Road, now Boyd County, Kentucky.    From Denton it was an easy ride to Willard.  Long Branch is still a dead end road leading out of Boyd County into Carter County, today.  On 15 September 1896 Mary Jane married John Marcus Klaiber the youngest son of John Andrew and Mary Ann McBrayer Klaiber.  Mary Jane was just seventeen. James B. Hall, her guardian gave consent to their marriage.  They were married in the clerk’s office at the courthouse in Catlettsburg, Kentucky[iv].

The family first rented at Star Furnace.  The 1900 census marked out farming as John Marcus Klaiber’s occupation.  The surrounding men were all marked as miners.  By 1910 they had six children and had moved to Stoner in Clark County, Kentucky where they rented and he did general farming.

Mary Jane Montgomery Klaiber developed pulmonary tuberculosis and died 9 August 1912 at Stoner[v].  Mary Jane was just thirty-three years old.  She was brought back to Garner for burial in Klaiber Cemetery.

 

 

The photo that must have been inserted on the monument as been gone for at best fifty-five years, as it was not there when this compiler became a member of the Klaiber family.  The widow, John Marcus Klaiber remarried to Ruth Margaret Chatfield in June 1918 in Lawrence County, Ohio and settled at Ohio Furnace, Scioto County.  Klaiber and Chatfield had seven more children together.

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[i][i] KY, Carter M   film 004260201

[ii] Ky, Carter Mb 1 p 276

[iii] Circa 1910 the Hall’s moved to Magnolia, Mingo County, West VA where he tried mining.

[iv] KY, Boyd M bk 15A p 213

[v] Stoner or Stoner’s creek was named for pioneer Michael Stoner.  The creek flows thru Bourbon and Clark counties.

[vi]

Henry Preston Scalf: Day Tripping in Eastern Kentuck

compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber

The sun was blazing on our day trip to Ivel, Floyd County, Kentucky. Our outing to Davidson Memorial Cemetery was two fold. We wanted to pay our respects to aunt Mildred Rucker Hall Crisp and Boone Hall. Both Mildred and Boone had taught for many years in the Floyd County school system. Secondly we wanted to see if there was a marker for Confederate Soldier Middleton Garrett.

The office 3x5 cards quickly verified that there was no marker for Middleton Garrett. We parked the car on the hillside and walked among the various sections taking the stairs up and down the hillside. Flowers overwhelmed the cemetery that is teetering, literally on the hill. As I turned to head back to the shade of the car I smiled as I recognized a very familiar name.

Henry Preston Scalf was one of the first people I corresponded with when I began genealogy in the 1970's. [Ok I admit I have been around awhile!] Sadly I was introduced to him near the end of his life. We became acquainted when I subscribed to The East Kentuckian. Scalf was editor and I looked forward to the quarterly bringing me a little flavor of Kentucky while living in New Jersey.

Looking back at the old newsletters that have traveled with me from New Jersey to Ohio and finally back to our beloved Eastern Kentucky, I see the love he put into everything he did. Each of my 1978 editions are hand addressed. By 1979 Scalf's friend and fellow writer, Clayton Cox had taken over as editor of the publication. The front of the March issue shows a wonderful picture of Henry P. Scalf standing beside a Kentucky highway marker commemorating Tandy R. Stratton on Mare's Creek, Floyd County. I had found my way to this wonderful publication because of connections between the McBrayer and Stratton families.

Cox began the issue with information on the founder of The East Kentuckian stating that he was a "distinguished historian and genealogist of Eastern Kentucky." Henry Scalf was also a distinguished teacher in the Floyd County School system but for most of us we will forever remember him for his many publications on history and genealogy and what he has taught us about our Eastern Kentucky ancestors. He was awarded a Kentucky Citation for Outstanding Journalism in 1954.

Among his many publications was Kentucky's Last Frontier with an honored forward by Thomas D. Clark who was named Historian Laureate of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The book is still available and gets a five star rating on most sites handling the publication. Another favorite publication of Scalf's was Four Men of the Cumberlands which told of the story Devil John Wright and others and is now out of print.

Henry Preston Scalf married 21 October 1831 in Pike County to Norah James who also loved teaching. When her husband became ill Norah took the reins of the quarterly to keep it going until Clayton and wife Elizabeth Cox stepped in. At that time the publication shifted from Stanville, Kentucky to a Lexington address.

If it were not for teachers and genealogists like Henry Preston Scalf, I may not have taken up pen and paper to follow the path I have taken. It has been a good journey and because of Scalf and his creative publications I have been able to formulate a respect for the pioneers that proceeded me in these wonderful hills that I call home. His research was grass roots and in depth research without aide of the click of a computer. He knew the importance of sharing information with others so that our history would continue to be handed down from generation to generation.

Standing on the side of the hill just outside Allen at Ivel, Floyd County, Kentucky I paid my respects and knew the warm feeling was not just from the sun beating down but the warmth of good feelings for those that came before us so we could continue on the journey.

Henry Preston Scalf
20 February 1902-2 September 1979

Pike County, Kentucky War Heros

compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2010

Memorial weekend 2010 is now a memory and I am back at my desk with another tidbit.

The National Daughters of the American Revolution do remarkable tributes and is a society I have always held dear to my heart for all the things they do beyond being a lineage society.

May 30, 1929, The DAR dedicated a bronze tablet containing the names of sixteen Revolutionary soldiers at Pikeville in the public square. Both the National Guard and American Legion assisted the ladies at the unveiling. School children sang America the Beautiful and the address was given by A. F. Childress of the Sons of the American Revolution.

The 16 names inscribed on the tablet were:

John May
[ From NC died 1813]

Moses Stepp
[ From VA died Floyd County, KY 1856]

Joseph Ford
[From NC]

Robert Mimms
[Not on DAR nor SAR rolls at this writing.]

Rodden Hall
[Is not on DAR or SAR rolls at this writing.]

John Johnson
[From VA d 1850 Pike County, KY]

Dennis Dailey
[1820 Pension transferred from OH to Kentucky Pension Rolls is on roll 1835 listed Preble Co.]

James Jackson

Abram Potter
[From NC d 1837 Pike County, KY]

James Atkinson

James Maynard
[1850 is listed as 107 years of age in Wayne Co., VA]

Christian Trout
[Ashland paper 1929 calls him Christopher. He died 1847 Pike County, KY]

Thomas Stewart

Meredith Collins
[From VA died before 1841 Pike County, KY]

Pleasant Childress
[From NC died 1839 Pike County, KY]

William Blankenship
[From VA died before 1835 Pike County, KY]