Saving Voices Part 2

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber

May 2011

This is the second installment of Saving Voices. Extractions from a cassette tape recorded at the Klaiber farm, Long Branch Road, Boyd County, Kentucky, the summer of 1978.  The tape has started to deteriorate and now has been converted to .wav.

John Henry Klaiber:  … the McWhorter’s, Jim McWhorter’s girls lived up here. Well they wasn’t girls they was old women.

[McWhorter’s lived at the end of Long Branch across the Boyd County line in Carter County, Kentucky.] 

Elsie Rucker Klaiber: …I went there when I was first married [married 1939].

John Henry Klaiber: And I went by there one day and they keep two hogs and when they fed em, one would get over in the pen with the other hog and  take a stick to keep the other one away til it ate.  Then when it ate the other one would get over and feed her hog and keep the other one away.

Elsie Rucker Klaiber: They were the descendents of Dr. McWhorter, the heart specialist in Ashland.

John Henry Klaiber: And they bought two pigs off dad one time and I took them up there on horses and maybe a sled. Anyway I took them up to em.  They put the money in my overall pocket up here and took a needle and sewed it up.

Elsie Rucker Klaiber: Afraid he would lose it.  I have penned many of dollar bills in Jimmy’s pocket  when he would go down and take his grandmother some money or something for something.

John Henry Klaiber: They [McWhorter’s] were dandies.

Elsie Rucker Klaiber:  I went up there to see them.  John took me up there to see them.  John just drove through and down the creek up and around in the old pickup truck, when we was first married and this old log house.  It was so fascinating.  Big fire place. And the women were kinda, they didn’t want anyone to come because nobody hardly came because it was so far. And I tell you I sat there and looked at Mrs. Klaiber [Julina Leota Sexton Horton Klaiber] and John.  We was looking at the fire and we was talking and I saw that cedar chest. It was one of those chests  on chests. They call them blanket chests. Oh that was the most beautiful thing. How I would have loved to have that. I just sat there and wished for that the whole time.  And I heard when they moved they moved the furniture out on a sled some way over the hill and I just wondered if it broke that chest.  And they took me back.  I had never seen anyone drying pumpkins.  Of course I had to ask for a drink or something. [Saving Voices to be continued next blog.]

Today Long Branch Road pavement ends at the Carter County, Kentucky line.  The road continues as gravel until it dead ends at the hillside within Carter County, Kentucky.  The McWharter home stood at the end of the road on the left side and was finally torn down about six years ago.   Denton, Kentucky is just over the hill.  To get to Denton from Long Branch one must either ride a horse or possibly attempt it with a 4-wheeler, even today.

The McWharter sisters in the taped story are America Ella, born November 1868,  and Elizabeth A. McWharter born about 1869.  They were the daughter's of James McWharter and wife Margaret Davis and the grand daughters of Harvey McWharter and America Ulen.

Evelyn Scyphers Jackson did an article on the Harvey McWharter family in her column "Boyd County Ancestors" published in the Press-Observer in January 1976.    By then Evelyn wrote "...the home place stands abandoned at the head of the left fork (Long Branch) of Garner, just across the Boyd County line, in Carter County. Nat Burke had a new roof put on and used the building to store hay while he owned it."

The girls father James McWharter purchased  the property containing 87 acres on 15 February 1871 from John and Ann Hazlett.

In the story Elsie worries about the chest being damaged when moved "over the hill."  Both the sisters went to live with their brother John L. McWharter in Denton, Carter County.  The only way to get the furniture across the hill would be with horse and wagon and even then it would be a rough ride.

Elsie retained an undated clipping of the death of Miss Elizabeth Ann "McWhartar" in her scrapbook.

"Funeral services for Miss Elizabeth Ann McWhartar, 89, of Denton, KY., will be conducted ...today at the residence of her brother John L. McWhartar at Denton...burial will be in the family cemetery..."

America Ella died 1 February 1936.  This is prior to the marriage of the Klaibers.  There were only two McWharter daughters in this family.  Either Elsie & John visited prior to her marriage or another lady has moved in with Elizabeth in 1939.  America and Elizabeth were residing together in the house in 1930 when the census was taken. America Ella is buried in McWharter Cemetery as well.  Their brother John L. McWharter died 24 March 1957 at Denton at the age of 86.

Their parents, James and Margaret Davis McWharter are also buried in McWharter Cemetery at the end of Long Branch Road on the left side of the road on the hill.

James W. McWharter 2 Jan 1842 - 24 Nov 1919

Margaret McWharter 23 Feb 1844 - 2 Aug 1920

This series of Saving Voices will be continued as the story unfolds with memories of drying those pumpkins leads to many details about food on the table in rural Boyd County, Kentucky.

Forget Me Not

compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber
January 2011

No better time to write about historical quilts than when the temperatures dip to single digits across the United States. I have written about signature quilts and utilized them as examples in many genealogical speeches throughout the years.

Some of my most treasured documentation comes, not from courthouse paper sources, but rather from the items that surround me. My beautiful blue garnet ring bears the inscription date that my great grandparents were engaged. I carefully dust a tiny porcelain bride and groom from 1918 that sat on top of the cake when my grandparents were married. Quilts tell stories as well.

The documented provenance of an artifact is as important to a genealogist as it is to any archaeologist or antique auctioneer. Lose the link in the provenance of a bible, for example, and we lose a little more of our personal history. Elizabeth Shown Mills provides family historians and genealogists a template to cite our source, including the provenance in Evidence Explained [page 105]. While many provide footnotes and sources for books and documents, I rarely see artifacts having a full citation.

One blustery, cold November day in 1996 while visiting Martha Klaiber Cox [1908-2005] in Catlettsburg, Boyd County, Kentucky, she pulled out a fragile quilt from beneath many others quilted by her mother, Julina Leota Sexton Horton Klaiber.

As Aunt Martha lovingly spread the quilt on the bed I could see the deterioration, especially of the early silk materials which is commonplace in crazy quilts. She told me that either her mother Julina [1877-1978] or her grandmother, Julina McCormack Sexton [1836-1914] had pieced the quilt. The quilt simply has initials but Martha explained they were initials of friends and family that lived on or around Garner, Boyd County, Kentucky.

It is possible that both Julina's worked on the beautiful stitches.

The initials with probable names:

AJS
AS = Anne [Caldwell] Sexton [1856-1892]
ASS
BS = Bertha Sexton [1888-1890 d/o James & Missouri]
BW
CE = Cora Enyart [d/o Wm F. & Sarah Lett Enyart]
DWM
DM = Dimma Mayhew [1867-1895]
DS
EHS = Elisha H. Sexton [1856-1946]
EWS = Edward Sexton [possibly 1880-1892 s/o LD & Miriam]
GMH
GWM
HB
HPS = Henry Powell Sexton II [ 1874-1963]
HS
JFR = James Franklin Reeves [1828-1921 1st cousin of Julina McCormack Sexton]
JH
JLR = Julina L. Reece [1891-1893 d/o D. W. and Martha E. Sexton Reece]
JM
JMc
JMS = James McClelland Sexton [1865-1941]
JS = Julina Sexton [1877-1978]
LB
LDS =Lorenzo Dow Sexton [1858-1949]
MFS = Miriam Frances [McKnight] Sexton [1861-1931]
MHS = Missouri Haines Sexton
MLS =Marcus Lindsey Sexton [1857-1880]
MM
MS =
NS = Nelson Sexton
OMH
RC
TMS = Telitha nee May Sexton [1862-1945]
WCS
WDR
WH
WVS =William Vincent Sexton [1861-1936]
WW

At 88 years of age, Martha was generous and gave me the quilt that day. Having family of her own, I knew that I was meant to be the guardian of the quilt for just a short time and would some day return the quilt to her branch of the family.

I purchased a large textile acid free box and tissue and lovingly cared for the quilt from November 1996 until the summer of 2009. In 2009 the quilt was given to Freda Cox Tackett, daughter of Martha to deliver to Martha's grand daughter Tina Lynn Tackett Toth. Another generation can now cherish the history of this beautiful artifact.

My own home has many reminders of both Julina's including several pieced quilts by Julina Sexton Klaiber. She walks with me in spirit as I see the spring daffodils she planted many years ago. In February 1962, nicknamed Lade, she wrote:

"This is my request - Lade Klaiber. One thing I am - if I should pass away I do want you all to be good to each other and devide {sic} the dishes and quilts and the other things in the house if you want them and the pictures take care of them and each one will know what yours that you gave me. And one thing please take care of the flowers for I did love them and hope all will be happy and live for Jesus."

In 1996 James and Teresa Martin Klaiber divided some of the daffodil bulbs sharing them with others within the neighborhood. On Memorial Day 1997 we donated bulbs in Julina Leota Sexton Horton Klaiber's name to a daffodil project in Greendale, Wisconsin as part of a program for Birds & Blooms.

Forget Me Not

Garner, Boyd County, KY 1923 Diary Entries

Transcribed and annotated by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2010

Diaries come in many shapes and forms. This particular diary is simply one, moth eaten sheet of paper, written in blue ink on the back of a NeedleCraft Magazine form letter.

The author is not cited nor is the year cited. However, with a little sleuthing this compiler has been able to ascertain that the compiler was Julina Leota Sexton Horton Klaiber. Besides the entry that President Harding has died, other entries concerning deaths have been confirmed as 1923 as well.

This flimsy, fragile, tattered sheet is just one of many treasured items discovered in the smoke house on property that has been in the Sexton and Klaiber family for 125 years.

The area is known as Big Garner and over the years the road has had several names including Poor House Fork and finally Long Branch Road. The smoke house and cellar still stand beside the well as a testament of days gone by.

Original entries are in bold. Annotations in brackets.

Jan. 23 Ruth Fannins baby died buried...[Hattie May Fannin daughter of Thomas & Ruth Stapleton Fannin. Buried in Sexton Cemetery on Pigeon Roost, Boyd County, KY. Death certificate 217.]

Feb. 7 School closed.

Feb. 19 Mrs. Fannin died buried the... [Samantha Jane Fannin born 20 June 1839. A widow, died at Coalton and buried at Fannin aka Sexton Cemetery. Death certificate 6755.]

March 3 Lelia [Horton Meeks, daughter of Julina and first husband William Horton] and Wilmont [Meeks son of Lelia] came out home went back. [Went back to Ironton, Lawrence County, OH where resided.]

March 5 Mrs. Lambert died buried 8, Thurs. [Marrieta,as spelled on the death certificate, born September 25, 1848, widowed. Daughter of Aaron and Miriam Eastham Davis. Burial was in Sexton Cemetery. The certificate says the death occurred on the 6th. Certificate 6756.]

March 20 Lizzie Sexton baby borned. [Juanita Catherine daughter of John Milton Sexton and Elizabeth - Lizzie- Mae Klaiber Sexton.]

March 31 Goldia and Mattie were out home.

April 1 Mr. Pinkins died buried Tue 3 [? very difficult to read.]

April 2 Ed Harris died at 5:30 buried -- 5 pm.

--- I did my first washing machine.

April 22 Sunday. Cynthia, Arthur and Martha [Klaiber would later marry 1. Zachary Jones 2. Fred Cox] went to Mrs. --

April 28. Saturday. Nick cat kittens born 3 Sat 12

May 1. Sunday. Martha went to Millards K. [Klaiber] I went to Lelia's.

May 19. Saturday Lelia, Wilmont and myself came home.

May 21. Tuesday. Millard [Klaiber] moved to Detroit.

June 5. Tom Kitten died.

--- Alice Kittens were borned.

June 22 Sunday. Mrs. Selbee died at 4:40. [Kate born 1866 wife of W. R. Selbee, buried in Banfield Cemetery.]

June 24 Lelia and Wilmont came out.

--- School at East View started. Mrs. Te--- [East View located on Garner on RR 854 facing the junction of Jacks Fork.]

---Willa S. baby borned and buried 31. [Willa Sexton. Infant death certificate 19880.]

---Thursday. Uncle Walter Reece, Bird and Paul Ambs were here. Went home from here Aug. 8. [Bird is Virginia the daughter of Walter and Martha Sexton Reece who married Paul Ambs.]

August 3. Friday. President Harding died buried the 10. None Charged.

August 4. Saturday. Gladys baby borned. [Gladys Klaiber married Richard Otworth, baby is Elizabeth Jane.]

August 6. Monday Fred Elzwick baby died buried 7. [Fred Elswick Jr. born at Normal, Boyd County, son of Fred and Melissa Boggs Elswick. Buried at Seed Tick in Lawrence County, Kentucky. Death certificate 19881.]

August 10. Friday. Ollia Church baby born. [The child was Virginia Evans born in Boyd County, certificate 39821. The index spells mother's given name as Ola.]

August 17. The horse fell on me.

--- Monday school began.

September 3. Aunt Miriam, Alle, Frank, Wren, John, Ethel come and we went ---

--- Saturday Goldia and Mattie married.

---Thursday Esther married.

September 17. Wednesday. Mr. John Lambert died buried the 20. [Death certificate states he died on the 18th. He was the son of Cal and Anna Hogan Lambert. Buried in Ashland Cemetery. Death certificate 27172.]

September 19. Friday Mrs. Hubert died buried 21.

September 21. Sunday. Martha Lucas burned died the 22. [Born 23 June1919. Her full name was Martha Edith. The certificate states she died on the 22nd. Her clothing caught fire. She was the daughter of Frank and Nancy Perkins Lucas. Burial was in Klaiber Cemetery.]

On the form letter side there are several entries written over the printed heading which are very hard to read:

--- Lewis Combs got killed. [The tombstone says 1923 with no month or day. A train hit his automobile. He was killed at Frazeysburg, Muskingum County, Ohio November 15, 1923. His usual residence was Columbus, Ohio. The certificate says he was to be buried in Ironton, Ohio. He is buried in Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky.]

---Louise Carmack [??? very hard to read.]

--- Mrs. Kounse died buried 11.

---18. Harry Church

--- [unreadable]

--- [unreadable] Wilmont came out.

--- 24. Mrs. Bell Job died buried 26. Preacher stayed here one night. [Belle Jobe died 24 December 1923. She was born 28 Sep 1872 the daughter of James Stanley and Sarah Clark. She was a widow buried at Garner, Kentucky. Death Certificate 29604. Other siblings of Belle say their mother was a McGuire. Further research is suggested by anyone working on this line.]

END

Julina Leota Sexton Horton Klaiber

The author of this sheet of paper with so much genealogical information, Julina Leota Sexton Horton Klaiber was born 30 June 1877. She was the daughter of Henry Powell Sexton and Julina McCormack. She married 28 October 1896 William Henry Horton and for a short time resided in Ironton, Lawrence County, Ohio. Horton died in a gas explosion in the saloon he ran in Ironton. Julina married 2nd James Matthew Klaiber 2 April 1905. She lived for 101 years and died 20 May 1978. She is buried in Klaiber Cemetery on the property where she spent most of her life. Her flowers still grace my gardens.

Treasure Chest Thursday - Sexton Spinning Wheel

Pregnant with my first child in 1971, Julina Leoto Sexton Horton Klaiber said she was "heiring me" her mother's spinning wheel. I was in the early stages of my genealogical journey. Julina told me her mother had brought it from Virginia to Kentucky with her. Over the years the spinning wheel would move with us from Ohio to New Jersey, back to Ohio before finally returning to Boyd County, Kentucky & the farm where it had been a functional household item. As tiny boys, my sons all learned how to get a rhythm with the pedal to make the wheel go round. A spinning lesson in New Jersey added to my appreciation of pioneer ingenuity.


Julina Leoto Sexton Horton Klaiber lived to 100 years of age and was buried in Klaiber Cemetery in 1978. She was born 30 June 1877 in Boyd County, Kentucky to Henry Powell Sexton and wife Julina McCormack Sexton. One day my mother-in-law produced a picture of Henry Powell & Julina McCormack Sexton. What a serendipty moment. Not only was I able to see these wonderful ancestors, I was looking at Julina using the spinning wheel while her husband was carding the wool. A look at the Carter County, Kentucky tax records for the late 1850's show that the Sexton's did own their own sheep.

Like most family stories there are few questions remaining. "Mamaw" [Julina Sexton Klaiber] had stated that her mother brought the spinning wheel from Virginia. Genealogical documentation shows that her mother was born and raised in eastern Kentucky. Julina McCormack was born in Lawrence County, Kentucky, Christmas Day 1836, the daughter of Lorenzo Dow McCormack and wife Emily Brumfield. Her parents were from Giles County, Virginia having settled in Lawrence County by 1833. Julina's husband Henry Powell Sexton was born in Virginia 24 April 1835. His father Marcus Sexton had migrated through Pound Gap into Letcher County and the family migrated northward to a portion of Carter County that would become Boyd County, Kentucky.

The photograph is easy to date. The child in the photograph is Julina Lorraine Sexton born 15 August 1907, daughter of Henry Powell Sexton [II] and wife Katherine Allen. By her size the photograph appears to be taken about 1909. Henry Powell Sexton [I] died 24 September 1912. His wife Julina McCormack Sexton died 14 January 1914. Both are buried in Sexton Cemetery, Pigeon Roost, Boyd County, Kentucky. The information I have gathered about the small wheel is that it was manufactured in the 1800's and may have been called a "Naomi."