Jasper Newton Sexton & Miriam Lambert Sexton: Whispers from the Grave; Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber

Jasper Newton Sexton was born 15 January 1869 in Boyd County, Kentucky, the son of Henry Powell Sexton and wife Julina McCormack. 

Jasper married 20 January 1898 Miriam Roberts Lambert.  She was the daughter of James Calvin Lambert and wife Marietta Davis.  Their reception was a big event on Garner and Luella Banfield carefully entered it in her day book[i].  Daughter Willa said her mother described the day of the wedding with a carpet from the road all the way to the house and butter molds in the shape of something special.  The marriage is recorded in the East Fork Methodist church records.  The marriage took place at Miriam’s father, Cal’s house on Garner.  John Childers and Thursy Davis[ii] were witness.

Jasper was a farmer all his life.  He and Miriam had ten children.  Harold Lee (b.1912) , Hopie (born 1910) and Wirt (b. 1918) were born in what today is the Klaiber Hood Cabin on our farm[iii].    Their first son Everett born in 1905 was their first child, to die and be buried in the cemetery. Everett died 17 June 1905. He was followed by Jasper II born 24 February 1916, died the same day.  Jasper was buried in Sexton Cemetery on Pigeon Roost. The next year they had another stillborn girl they named Maymie Lynd Sexton. 

The family buried son Royal Norman on the 10^th of November 1921 He had gone to Sullivan County, Indiana to work in the coal mines and died from the falling of slate  in a mine accident.  He was brought back for burial in Klaiber Cemetery.

Miriam’s nickname was “Toad.” She died 17 March 1930, from pneumonia, and was laid to rest in Klaiber Cemetery.  Three months later the family buried Hopie who I wrote about in our last blog post. 

Jasper continued to live on Garner for the rest of his life.  He died 10 November 1967. His funeral service was held at East Fork United Methodist Church. 

I love the inscription on their stone “We shall never grow old or be separated Again.”

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[i] Luella Banfield’s Day book is housed in the genealogy room of the Boyd County Public Library

[ii] KY Boyd mbk 16a p 47

[iii] Sexton Willa B telephone interview September 1997

Lula & Charles Edward Reeves: Whispers from the Grave; Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber

Lula M. Penix Gallion Reeves was born 3 April 1894 in Greenup County, Kentucky.  She was the daughter of Ursula Penix.  Her father, George W. Plummer, worked for the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail Road Company and married Luella Osburn the year after Lula was born.

By the time Lula was seven years old she was living with her mother in the Jasper Newton and Miriam Lambert Sexton[i] household, on Garner in Boyd County, Kentucky.   They were using Ursula’s maiden name of Penix.   Her mother was working as a servant.   Lula was sixteen by 1910 and still living with the Sexton’s.  Also in the household is Arthur Gallion, working as a servant for the Sexton’s.

Arthur L. Gallion was the son of John and Elizabeth Blankenship Gallion and grandson of Hiram Gallion, who is buried in Klaiber Cemetery.  Arthur married Minti  Stewart in 1913 in Carter County, Kentucky.  When He married Lula[ii] 7 April 1917, in Logan County, West Virginia, it says he was a widower.

Lula’s mother, Ursula “Essie” Penix had another child, Lucy Belle Penix, born about 1901.  She and her mother were living in the Dan Hogan household in 1910, on Garner Road. Ursula was again working as a household servant.  When Lucy Belle married in June 1917 to Millard Adams, at the age of 16, the record states her father was Tom Miller.   One of the subscribing witness, at the wedding, was William V. Sexton, brother of Jasper Newton Sexton.

Ursula Penix died 11 November 1918 at Lucy Belle Penix Adam’s home on Oakview in Ashland, Kentucky.  Lucy Belle gave the information for Ursula’s death certificate stating she did not know the name of Ursula’s parents nor even the birth date for her mother.  Burial was in “Sexton Cemetery.”  The question remains did the undertaker mean Sexton Cemetery on Pigeon Roost, just one ridge from Klaiber Cemetery, or was the burial actually in Klaiber Cemetery often called Sexton Cemetery, at that time? This compiler believes it is an unmarked grave in Klaiber Cemetery near the Jasper Sexton family plots.

Lula Penix Gallion and Arthur Gallion were divorced before 1930.  Lula returned to Boyd County and the federal census states she is working as a trimmer in a dress factory and is the “adopted daughter” of Jasper Sexton, living in his household[iii].  This compiler has talked with Jasper’s daughter Willa, as well as son Harold Lee Sexton, who told me Lula was “just one of the family”. 

Elisha H. Sexton deeded eight acres to Lula Gallion “a single woman” from the drain of AC&I Coal to an old corner of the  old Sexton farm 20 July 1933, in Boyd County, Kentucky[iv].  Elisha was another brother of Jasper Newton Sexton, one of eleven children of Henry Powell and Julina McCormack Sexton.

Lula married Charles Edward Reeves 24 June 1938 in Lawrence County, Ohio.[v]  At that time Lula was working as a cook in Ironton and Charles gave his residence as Logan County, West Virginia and occupation as engineer.

Charles Edward Reeves was the son of John and Cynthia “Anna” Stewart Reeves. He was born 8 May 1889 at Denton, Carter County, Kentucky.    By 1942 Charles was working on the Fred Ross Farm on Sugar Camp in Boyd County, Kentucky[vi].  Sugar Camp lays just south of Garner Road (854) before the curve and turn to Jack’s Fork, a small portion of the Ross farm.  This compiler had the honor to know Fred Ross as a child and visit that farm many times. His wife was a guest at our wedding. Lula had sold the eight acres on 27 January to Oscar McCormack.  The deed states “Lula Gallion Reeves, whose name was Lula Gallion…[vii]”  In turn Oscar[viii] sold the eight acres to Eastern Kentucky Lumber and Development[ix] within two weeks of the original transaction.[x]

Charles Edward Reeves died 10 August 1945 at his home at 2032 Front Street in Ashland, Kentucky 10 August 1945 of carcinoma of the lungs.  Lula was the informant on the death certificate[xi] and place of burial is sited as Sexton Cemetery another aka for Klaiber Cemetery.  The Ashland Daily Independent said he had been ill eleven months and gave his occupation as civil engineer working for Moore Branch Coal Company.  “The body was removed from Lazear Funeral home to the home of Jasper Sexton[xii] on Garner…”  There is no stone for Charles Edward Reeves. He lays to the right which is the south side of Lula.

Lula remained in Ashland, for a time, working in a restaurant[i].  She died 27 March 1958, on Garner.  Willa Sexton was informant for the information on her death certificate.     Only a funeral home metal marker remains today for Lula.  In 1996 the rod had rusted off and the metal marker was placed in cement to preserve her place of rest.

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[i] Federal Census, 1950, Ashland, KY, Greenup Ave. lodger

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[i] KY, Boyd, 1900 Federal Census; sheet 17

[ii] WV, Logan M spells Lula maiden name as  Plumley

[iii] 1930 Federal Census, Boyd County, KY house 104-115

[iv] KY, Boyd dbk 132 p 217

[v] Oh Law M, fhl film 001574156

[vi] KY Boyd 1942 Draft Registration

[vii] KY Boyd dbk 171 p 21

[viii] James Oscar McCormack b 1883 died 1950 in Boyd Co s/o John Samuel and Sarah Burke McCormack. Is buried in Ross Cemetery on Jacks Fork, Boyd Co., KY

[ix] At this writing is a small sliver of land adjoining compilers known as “Company Land” Eastern KY Development is owned by EB Lowman at this writing.

[x] Ky Boyd dbk 171 p 21

[xi] KY D cert 16155 1945

[xii] Jasper Sexton lived until 1967 and is buried in Klaiber Cemetery

Little Children - Our Ancestors' Lives

 Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2020

 

Genealogists build the life story of their ancestors utilizing family stories, court records and more.  The children of the household may be counted in the family census records or even a guardianship.  But they rarely show up in other court records until they attain the age of consent.  Did our ancestorial children have happy childhoods? Were they well fed and properly clothed?  Genealogists can assume religious upbringing and possible wealth through their parents records but personality and other factors in life may be harder to ascertain.

Julina McCormack was born on Christmas Day, 1836 in Lawrence County, Kentucky. By looking at calendars we know that day was also the Sabbath, Sunday.  In early December, prior to her birth, Martin Van Buren was elected the 8^th President of the United States.

Julina McCormack

Julina was the daughter of Lorenzo Dow and Emily “Emma” Brumfield McCormack.  Her father was born 11 October 1804 in Bedford County, Virginia and named for itinerant preacher, Lorenzo Dow.  An article, while Lorenzo’s mother, Mary, was pregnant, gives a clue as to why so many in Bedford county were named Lorenzo. “A brief account of the remarkable work of God, in Virginia, Bedford County, which originated at a Camp Meeting, held by the Rev’d Lorenzo Dow, in conjunction with eighteen Methodist Preachers … souls were …converted – with innumerable awakenings… …June 5, 1804[i].

Julina’s parents married 2 March 1826 in Giles County, Virginia.  Lorenzo Dow McCormack’s father-in-law to be, Micager Brumfield witnessed the marriage bond.  Lorenzo Dow and Emma Brumfield McCormack were married by Landon Duncan, a Baptist minister who the next year united with the Disciples of Christ Church.  Their first child, Ellen was born 25 December 1827, their first Christmas baby, in Giles County, Virginia.

There are several family stories handed down about Julina’s mother, Emma.  Some family members were told that Emma and sister Lucinda were Cherokee and either adopted or raised by the Brumfield Family. This is a fallacy, disproved by DNA.  This compiler’s husband has no native blood and over 100 dna matches showing that Micager Brumfield is the father of Emma. 

Another family story told this compiler says Emma was killed in a corn crib by Creek Indians in North Carolina and her husband (Lorenzo Dow McCormack) then brought the children to Kentucky after her death.  This also is a fallacy.  Emma/Emily is accounted for on her husband’s census in Giles County in 1830 along with a female child under five (Ellen) and a new son Micajah (named for his grandfather Micajah and called Cager).  There is a published story in the History of Tazewell County about the capture of the Andrew Davidson family along with a bound boy and girl “orphans whose parents were Broomfields.”  However, this incident occurred in the Spring of 1791 and both Lorenzo and his wife were not born until the early 1800’s. While this story may be connected to the Brumfield family it does not directly involve Julina’s mother.

Lorenzo and Emma did not own property and they may have been in financial trouble when an indenture was drawn up to Charles and Daniel Hale in September 1831, in Giles County, Virginia.  The other possibility is the McCormack’s were preparing to migrate to Kentucky and needed money, not material items. The indenture involved a debt of $45.75, Lorenzo, signing by mark. McCormack put up 44 shocks of hemp, one cow and calf, a two year old heifer, 12 hogs, two beds, furniture and all household and kitchen furniture.  Charles Hale was infirm and exempted from working the public roads the same year.   

What is clear is that early in 1832 Emma had another baby boy James Madison McCormack born in Giles County, Virginia and Lorenzo’s father also had a debt. Father Dennit McCormack signed an agreement, in September, with David and Andrew Johnston for $30.00.  Among the articles in the debt indenture was a “little wheel” (spinning). 

Lorenzo’s father, Dennit McCormack, died sometime before August 26, 1833 in Giles County. Among his inventory is a flax wheel, one loom and one set of spools.  Lorenzo’s mother, Mary/Polly retained the spinning wheel from the sale.  Lorenzo, Emma and the children had already begun their roughly 218 mile trek to Kentucky.  Lorenzo Dow McCormack appears on the 1833 tax list in Lawrence County, Kentucky, where they have another baby boy in March 1833, named Lorenzo Dow McCormack Jr.

Settled in Lawrence County, Kentucky, after three years, 25 December 1836, Julina McCormack was born.  The second Christmas baby born to the family.   There is no further record for Emma/Emily Brumfield McCormack after the birth of Julina. 

Emma’s parents had also migrated from Tazewell County, Virginia to Lawrence County, Kentucky.  Julina’s grandfather, Micajah Brumfield, died just a month short of Julina’s first birthday, 28 November 1837.  This is also the last appearance of her father, Lorenzo Dow McCormack, on Lawrence County tax rolls. 

Julina’s sister, Ellen, nine years her senior, was bound out to learn the trade of spinstress in February 1839.  She was bound out to uncle, James Brumfield.   This hints that her mother was not around to guide her.

Julina, a toddler, was 2 ½ years old, when father, Lorenzo Dow McCormack married a second time to Winna Bolling, across the river, in Lawrence County, Ohio, 26 September 1839.  I do not locate L.D. in 1840. But this compiler believes that Ellen, Julina, and Lorenzo are among the children listed in their grandmother Eleanor Clay Brumfield’s household during the census in Lawrence County, Kentucky.  She was probably under Eleanor’s care since the death of her mother. The family resided on the East Fork of Bolts Fork.    A court order in March 1839 describes the Widow Brumfield’s property in a county road order: “Widow Brumfield’s up the fork to the Carter County line.” Other records indicate the property very near Sandy Furnace.  This is all beautiful bottomland until it reaches the hill approaching Carter County.

Julina’s grandmother, Eleanor Clay Brumfield,  was cited as owner of cattle that family herded to Wabash, Illinois in 1842[ii].  Among other family members involved in a suit against Eleanor Brumfield was William McCormack, Julina’s uncle.  While the suit does not mention Julina’s father a lot of family was involved.  I usually think of cattle drives out west, but an excellent and informative read appears in Agricultural History, April 1954 titled Cattle driving from the Ohio Country, 1800-1850.  I now visualize them taking the cattle across to the Vincennes Trail, earlier known as the Buffalo Trail, to Wabash where cattle were bringing top dollar during this timeframe.

Sister Ellen again appears in a court record citing Peres Randall as her guardian 26 January 1846 stating that father Lorenzo Dow McCormack is deceased. Ellen is 18 and can chose her own guardian. Randall was a well- known physician in Lawrence and later Boyd County. Julina had lost both her parents by the time she turned nine years old.  Her life during this period is a mystery. I have not located a guardianship or apprenticeship for her or her other siblings. 

Step-mother, Winna Bolling McCormack, remarries 14 December 1845 to, German immigrant, Henry Osendott, in Lawrence County, Ohio. This suggests that Julina’s father died before December 1845. The Osendott’s are living in Vernon Township of Scioto County, Ohio in 1850. Julina’s  brother, James Madison McCormack, is residing with Ellen now married to Harvey Slusher, in Lawrence County, Kentucky.  Brother, Lorenzo Dow Jr. is residing with grandmother Eleanor Clay Brumfield along with cousin Malinda McCormack[iii], in Lawrence County, Kentucky. Neither Julina, now 14 years of age nor her brother “Cager”, age 20, is accounted for in 1850.  Either the census taker has slaughtered the spelling of names or they were not counted as members in a household which presents a conundrum.

The Osendotts had son Pleasant Osendott in 1851, in Ohio. He moves to Twin Branch, Lawrence County, Kentucky and dies in 1914 in Carter County, Kentucky.  Winna also has a daughter, Nancy, in 1852 in Kentucky.  By 1870 she is back in Lawrence County, Ohio.

Julina married Henry Powell Sexton in Carter County, Kentucky 2 March 1854.  She was 17 years old.  She like other members of the family learned and loved to spin. 

Julina McCormack Sexton spinning, Sophia Francis Crum[iv]and Henry Powell Sexton carding wool.

She would bare ten children all born in the portion of Carter that became Boyd County.  Her youngest child, a daughter, Julina Leota Sexton Horton Klaiber gave me her mother’s old spinning wheel which I cherish.

 

Julina McCormack Sexton developed pneumonia and died January 14, 1914. She is buried in Sexton Cemetery on Pigeon Roost, Boyd County, Kentucky.[v]

I often think of Julina McCormack Sexton's childhood. Especially those years between the age of 4 and 17. Formative years.  She taught daughter Julina all the things needed keep a household sufficiently.   The children of our ancestors had to be resilient, able to adapt to changes in circumstances and self-sustaining.

 

 

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[i] Carlisle Weekly Herald, 20 Jun 1804

[ii] Phoebe Anne Hale Webb, Lawrence County, Kentucky Annotates Abstracts Of Circuit Court Records 1821-1873 (McDowell Publications: n.p., 1984), Page 17.

[iii] d/o Wm and Lucinda Brumfield McCormack

[iv] Sophia Francis Crum b c 1892 d/o Henry Wiser Crum and Maggie Klaiber.  Sophia d c. 1894 and is buried in unm grave Klaiber Cem.

[v] KY, Boyd D Cert 311, 1914. Age 77.1.20

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

Come All You Tender Hearted

compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber
December 2010

By now all my readers should be aware of my love of ballads and how they can be used in genealogy and history.

My families genealogy includes the sad story of Floyd Alson McCormack [1836-1906] and wife Francis Jane Ratliff McCormack's two daughters deaths in Carter County,Kentucky..

A few years ago a family cousin, Robert McCormack, asked if I knew of a ballad sang by the Stanly Brothers. I immediately sent him the copy from Ballad Makin in the Mountains of Kentucky by Jean Thomas. What is interesting about her publication is that she says the ballad "came to Jilson Setters' ears..." It did not say that Jilson Setters aka William Day was the author.

Over the years Robert has collected several versions of the ballad and now has a web page that is a true delight. Simply titled The Fire Tragedy, I am sure my readers will enjoy it.

As the snow storm moves into Eastern Kentucky, I am scanning McCormack items in my collection and refreshing my memory concerning the ballad. Among my items is a copy of the Carter County Herald, Olive Hill, Kentucky, dated 26 October 1922. The article is titled "A Sad Recollection."

This article has a few inconsistencies and states that Mrs. Francis McCormick was a widow residing in Flat Woods, Carter County and suffered from rheumatism. After putting her little girls to bed, she went to the neighbor's house to get some liniment and while there the house caught fire and burned. This article states the the affair happened in 1867.

The newspaper version follows:

Come all ye tender hearted
Your attention I will call;
I'll tell you how it started,
Come listen one and all.
On Wednesday night there was a light
Saw shining on the hill;
A mother ran with all her might,
While everything was still.
Two little girls had gone to bed,
While mother ached with pain;
"I'll get some liniment," she said,
"And soon return again."
Don't stay too long, dear mother,
For well be lonesome here,"
And then mother might have seen
Them drop a silent tear.
She went into a neighbor's house,
Some hundred yards away,
Twas there she sat and talked with them
Bud did not mean to stay.
They hear a noise life thunder
As the flames began to roar;
Ain't it an awful wonder
They never went to the door?
Time passed on much longer,
But still she did not go;
Ain't it an amazing wonder
The mother acted so?
When she started home again
Her house was in a flame;
She cried, "My babies, you're gone,
I am the one to blame."
She burst the door asunder
The flames rolled over her head.
She cried aloud, "No wonder."
She found her babies dead.
The little ones had gone to sleep
Before their mother came.
Oh how still they slept,
Wrapped in the red hot flame.
Their little bones lay on the ground,
They both lay face to face,
Their arms they were entwined around
Each other they did embrace.
Don't grieve for them, dear mother,
For they are now at res,
Ain't it an amazing wonder
How soon they both were blessed?
If they had said with you, ma,
Till they had both grown old,
They could not have purchased what they have
Though they had a world of gold.
We know they are gone from you, ma,
It's their eternal gain;
They're beyond the curtains of the sky
Where they'll never know no pain.
We know they're gone from you, ma;
God will it so to be;
Just put your trust in him, ma;
Your babes you soon shall see.

This version published in the Carter paper states that it was composed by M. J. Williams in 1888. The version published by Jean Thomas varies in many ways and never uses the word ain't or ma.

The story has some twists. In 1870 Francis was living in Greenup County, Kentucky working as a seamstress with her children and an Elizabeth Williams age 67 born in East Virginia. The little girls vary in ages from 8 years old to 6 months. Husband Floyd is not in the household. However he reappears in 1880 in Lawrence County living with a younger wife Martha [Haney]. Thus she was not a widow in 1870. Floyd did not die until 20 June 1906.

Looking for M. J. Williams who composed the ballad in 1888, I found Montraville J. Williams, the son of Jefferson Brooks Williams living next door to John Q. A. Davis, a violin and dulcimer maker in 1880 in Olive Hill, Carter County, Kentucky. Williams is 22 years old working on his fathers farm but was certainly influenced by John Q. A. Davis and his music.

Kentucky Vital records show that Montraville J. [spelled a variety of ways] was born 24 February 1858 in Smokey Valley, Carter County to Jefferson B. and Mary Griffith Williams.

By 1900 Montraville Williams is living with a sister's family and is selling organs. Montraville appears to have never married and is found in 1920 living as a boarder in Eagle, Carter County with no occupation, just two years prior to the writing of the article in the Carter County newspaper.

I was able to to locate the obituary of "Mont J." Williams published 17 January 1929 in the Carter Herald. With a special thanks to James Powers at the Boyd County Library, I did not have to make the drive on this snowy day to obtain the obit. We discussed what a wonderful genealogy find the obituary was because it lists when each of the siblings pre-deceased Montraville. Sadly the article does not state the one thing I had hoped - which was his occupation and involvement with music and musical instruments. According to the obituary Montraville J. Williams died 12 January 1929 and was buried at Globe, Kentucky.

Anyone with further information on any other ballads that M. J. Williams may have compiled is encouraged to contact me.


clip art by: www.clker.com

Sandy Furnace And It's People

compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2010

For many years I have collected tidbits about Sandy Furnace. During a conversation with Ann Sutherland the other day, she mentioned she could recall standing at the John D. Ross Cemetery, and possibly see Sandy Furnace when she was a child. I closed my eyes to visualize the scene and together we decided if you climbed to the highest point just beyond the cemetery and looked down into the bottom lands, with the foliage gone, you probably could see remains of Sandy Furnace.

With the sun gleaming, today, I decided to see just how far the old Furnace was from John D. Ross Cemetery, located on Route 773, more commonly known as Bolts Fork Road to us locals, at the edge of Boyd County. By the road it is exactly 2.8 miles from the cemetery gate to Sandy Furnace located at 23330 Bolts Fork Road. While standing in the sun and humidity my mind began mulling over why the Kentucky Historical Marker was over 3 miles away from the actual furnace. I turned around and drove the meandering beautiful bottom farm land of Bolts Fork to Route #3 where the historical marker has been placed on the main thoroughfare. I am sure they meant well by putting it where most traffic would pass. Over the years I have practically memorized the wording knowing that besides placement of the sign, there was a much larger story.

Furnaces were prevalent in Greenup County and the northern edge of Boyd County and scattered in Carter County. But Sandy Furnace is tucked on the southern edge of the county far from the other producing furnaces. When built it was still in Lawrence County, Kentucky. Much has been written about area furnaces but very little has been compiled on Sandy Furnace. The longest general description was written in Donald Rist's publication Iron Furnaces of the Hanging Rock Iron Region in 1974. Rist had done a little more research than is posted on the Historical marker but gives the same simple basic information that the furnace was built in 1853 by Young, Foster and Company which included Dan and John Young, William Foster and Irwin Gilruth.

Interestingly both the historical marker and Rist lead one to believe that Sandy Furnace ceased operation in 1854 or shortly thereafter. This was not the case. Nor do these tiny blurbs give the general reader the feeling of just how many people in the community were involved or benefited from the Furnace. I can stand on the ridge of our farm nearly 5 miles away and see the indentations in the woods where ore was dug out. If I close my eyes I can imagine the oxen sledding the ore over the ridge, following the creek, struggling up and over Jack and finally arriving at the furnace.

The Geological Survey of 1856 talks about the ore beds being one hundred and five feet higher in the hills. It does not talk about the distance or the many farms that were tapped for the ore. According to the Survey Sandy Furnace was producing seven tons of iron in twenty-four hours and was then hauled to a depot at Catlettsburg and was "twenty-two miles, by the course of the stream, above the mouth of the East Fork of Little Sandy."

The planning and building of Sandy Furnace began in 1848. When John and Daniel Young of Hamilton County, Ohio began with mortgages on the tract of lands on Bolts Fork. William A. Foster and his son Henry were witness to the transactions. William A. Foster along with Theodore Royer began the task of buying up right of ways, timber and ore for the execution of an iron furnace. The deeds are a roll call of those families living at what would shortly be called Sandy Furnace, complete with its own post office. Lawrence County deeds were executed with Henry Morris, Thomas Coburn, William Messer, Madison Stewart, William McCormack, Ellis Taylor, William Brumfield, John D. Ross, James Prichard, William Webb and James Stanley.

John Foster had six sixteenth, Dan two sixteenth, William A. Foster three sixteenth and Irwin Gilruth three sixteenth interest in the furnace.

William A. Foster was already settled in Lawrence County and is not to be confused with William Foster, just several years his elder, who was working at the furnaces in Greenup County. Both were from Pennsylvania.

William A. Foster was settled in Lawrence County prior to the formation of Sandy Furnace. He ran for town trustee in May 1846 in Louisa but appears to not have stayed in town long. William Ely writes about William A. Foster in his Big Sandy Valley. Ely stated that William A. Foster had come to the area with a Pennsylvania Company and is "favorably known in Catlettburg" and had "first made his appearance in Sandy as store keeper for the company." The 1850 Lawrence County, Kentucky census shows William A. as a merchant along with his family including Henry who is listed as clerk and Irwin Gilruth giving occupation as a merchant from Ohio.

Theodore Royer was living in Hamilton County, Ohio in 1850 having married Elizabeth Young. He gave his occupation as a merchant and was also born in Pennsylvania. They migrated to Ann Arbor Michigan and in 1880 he gave his occupation as a retired manufacturer. Mrs. Louie Lovett [DAR #15022], Elizabeth Royer Slauson [DAR 14364], and Adaline Katharine Gross [DAR 14363] were all lineal descendants from the Royer and Young family.

Foster sold most of his interest to Young in 1850 and by 1860 was comfortably living in Catlettsburg listing his occupation as a clerk, owning property. By 1870 he lists his occupation as a retired dry goods clerk.

John Young and his wife Caroline never lived in eastern Kentucky. In 1850 They sold all their interest in Sandy Furnace to William Moore Patton which gave Patton controlling interest. Patton was born in 1803 in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. He had been involved in Vesuvius Furnace in Lawrence County, Ohio and Pennsylvania Furnace in Greenup County. He settled in Catlettsburg and the Patton's went on to own many varied concerns in the area.

Rist tells of the fall of the furnace stack in the summer of 1853 and advertisements in the Ironton Register for 25/26 stone cutters at the furnace. The 1856 Geological Survey talks of coarse sandstone which was over lower limestone "employed as hearth-stones for the furnace." By the time of WPA days there is only one known actual rock quarry in Boyd County located on this compiler's farm. Driving along the bottom land of Bolts Fork I am sure there are many hidden areas that were chiseled out and now overgrown.

By the time of the 1856 survey Patton had sold his controlling interest to William Wurts then of Hamilton County, Ohio. William along with several brothers were also from Pennsylvania and had interest in several area furnaces. A biography of William Wurts was published in Kentucky, A History of the State in 1888. Wurts lived until 1876 and died in Mason County, Kentucky.

The furnace was still active in 1859 when The Iron Manufacturers Guide to Furnaces and Forges...was written by Lesley. Lesley describes that Sandy Furnace makes a very liquid iron from the ores and that the bed was about 5 feet under sandstone "high in the hills" regarded as the "highest workable bed in Carter and Lawrence."

My active mind understands that these powerful manufacturers came into our area and created a living beyond the small poor farming interests. Some stayed like Foster and Patton. Some left legacies in our area and across the river in the iron region of Ohio.

It was hard labor intensive work from the cutting of timber to the digging of ore. The feat of hauling the raw goods to the furnace and the final product taken to the terminals had to be grueling. Stone masons were needed and furnace hands were in demand, animals had to be maintained, all of which helped put food on the table in the Bolts Fork area. A community was created and the deeds that purchased the timber and ore rights are more descriptive than any other historical local document of the time.

The furnace is fallen in now, hidden by a modern home built directly in front of it. Standing in the sun in the middle of Bolts Fork Road, quiet all around, not a person in sight, yet the history is so loud I can hear it. Close your eyes maybe you can share the view with me.

J. D. Garrett Touched Many Lives in Eastern Kentucky

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2010

Recently I wrote about preserving the early records of Garrett Chapel Church, located in Lawrence County, Kentucky. I mentioned that while J. D. Garrett, John Martin and J. C. Crooks were not on the minister's list for the church they had received many into the Garrett Chapel flock.

These minister's all traveled great distances sharing their Methodist Episcopal faith. I have heard the story many times that John Martin stayed so much at the Sexton/Klaiber home on Long Branch in Boyd County that one of the upper rooms in the home was simply called the Martin Room.

Of all the entries in the Garrett Chapel Ledger, J. D. Garrett's name appears repeatedly. Time and again I have run across marriage entries in Greenup, Boyd and Lawrence County where J. D. Garrett was the minister. The entries are always signed with given name initials: J. D. Garrett.

Strangely enough, J. D. Garrett never resided in Eastern Kentucky. J[ames] D[oliver] Garrett was born in Wayne County, Virginia [now West Virginia]. He appears consistently on the Wayne County, Virginia/West Virginia census from 1850 thru 1910. The only census that lists his occupation as "preacher" is 1900, all others list him simply as a farmer.

J. D. Garrett grew up in the household of Benjamin Garrett born about 1733 in North Carolina and wife Sarah. A simple Google search shows multiple entries listing J. D. Garrett as the son of Benjamin and wife Sarah Bloss Garrett who had settled in Wayne County. James Doliver Garrett married Mary Helen Staley 5 April 1864 according to Wayne County, West Virginia marriage records. Census records show eleven children all born in West Virginia.

Not only did J. D. and wife Mary Helen have 11 children, J. D. was one of 14 children of Benjamin Garrett. The Big Sandy News published that the surviving sons and daughters of Benjamin had a reunion at Reverend J. D. Garrett's four miles below Wayne in the 8 November 1901 issue. Busy in Wayne County West Virginia, J. D. Garrett still allotted valued time in Eastern Kentucky.

Not one of these genealogical entries shows the personality or a flicker of the person J. D. Garrett was. It is rather sad that our generated cut and dry data bases don't reflect the energy, vitality and personality of those we are trying to document.

J. D. Garrett was performing marriages in Wayne County prior to 1880. The "Rev." J. D. Garrett married Joseph P. Malcom and Sophia Sprecker at the home of Joseph McCormack's "all of Wayne County" 1 May 1879 according to The Central Methodist. When he married Henry B. Keyser and Ida Philbrick in Greenup County, Kentucky in 1885 he signed as "Elder M. E. Church" on the return filed in the courthouse.

The Big Sandy News proudly announced, 18 July 1889 that "The new Methodist church known as Cyrus Chapel on Durbin Road in Boyd County will be dedicated August 18, 1889. Reverend John W. Hampton of Ashland will preach. Dinner will be served on the grounds. J. D. Garrett, pastor." Colonial Dames XVII Century honored Cyrus Chapel a few years ago. I was privileged to sit among the members of this tiny rural church and enjoy a beautiful service followed by some of the best desserts you could put in your mouth. I can just imagine what that dinner was like in 1889.

The Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church published annual minutes. Several of these are readily available on line. J. D. Garrett is listed in the Prestonsburg District at Logan in 1889, the same year that he is cited as a pastor for Cyrus Chapel. Understand that travel back and forth across the Big Sandy River was and is done daily from West Virginia to Kentucky. The minutes in 1898 show him at Mt. Zion in the Catlettsburg District, as stated in my prior article. Mt. Zion is another pretty little white painted church on Route #3 just a few miles north of Garrett Chapel.

An inspirational story has been repeated at several religious web sites that involves J. D. Garrett. The story is found in Dying Testimonies of the Saved and Unsaved Part 3. It tells of a lady near death that had attended a revival conducted by Rev. J. D. Garrett. He visited her and as he entered she exclaimed "I am lost, lost, lost, lost, lost!" Thus the title of the segment. The ill woman felt that had she been saved during the revival it would have been ok but felt it was to late. The article quotes Garrett as saying "...it seemed as though hell were near them that night, and was uncapped as the poor, dying woman wept over her lost condition." ...."He went to her bedside, threw his arms about her, and told her of the Savior's love for sinners, but she cried, "It is too late for me...until her soul took its departure."

Garrett appears to have brought joy in marriage and stayed with many as they left our earthly home. As late as 1906 he presided over funerals. The Wayne News announced the death of Mrs. Lucy McComas near the Cabell County line who had died in April 1902 with the funeral conducted by Reverend J. D. Garrett.

A wonderful article about another circuit rider, Rev. John T. Johnson, appears in the History of Lawrence County 1991. The article submitted by Dallas A. Johnson states that John T. Johnson left a request for "a Rev. Garrett to preach his funeral..." There is no doubt in my mind that Rev. Garrett is J. D. Garrett. Johnson had been an active circuit rider in Boyd and Lawrence County even prior to the Civil War. He died in April 1906.

Knowing that J. D. Garrett's mother was a Bloss I turned to my office library and copy of Bloss, Pyles, Ross, Sellards published in 1990. I was hoping that the author Harry Leon Sellards had written more about Garrett's calling. The publication simply says "Rev. James Doliver Garrett. Born 22 March 1845 and died 12 February 1913 both on Garretts Creek in present day Wayne County, WV., son of Benjamin, Jr., and Sarah Bloss Garrett. ..." The publication gives data for his wife and children but no further acknowledgment on how he touched so many lives in West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky.

Many people were touched by J. D. Garrett at Garrett Chapel in Lawrence County, Kentucky as shown by the multiple entries in the copy of the ledger now on file at the Boyd County Library. Many were joined together in marriage and many blessed as they left this life by J. D. Garrett. The next time you fill out your genealogical forms take time to review information about the minister performing the many events in the lives of our ancestors and remember how they formed and touched their lives.

Garrett Chapel United Methodist Church Records

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber
May 2010

Many years ago cherished friend, Hazel Fannin Polokovs, showed me an early ledger of records for Garrett Chapel Church. Knowing my love of history and all things genealogical Hazel graciously allowed me to make a photo copy which I have kept in Family Lineage Investigations office.

On a recent family visit Hazel said she missed looking at the old ledger because another relative had taken it to another state. I immediately told her I would provide her a copy. Then I began to muse about all the times I have been involved with "lost" records.

There was the time when I worked with New Concord, Ohio Village Council and later published a book of early village records. When publicity went out that I was getting all the available records microfilmed, a package arrived from Florida with the first minute book of the village. A note explained that when a new village hall was erected items from the old building were dumped and this person had salvaged the book. Thrilled that it "came home" it has been microfilmed and is now housed in the archives of Muskingum University.

When I physically moved from Ohio to Kentucky we moved approximately 30 ledger books and diaries that I had purchased at auctions while in Ohio. They were used in my office, some with the intent to possibly publish in the future. But once I became settled I knew they needed to "go home." Those Guernsey, Noble and Muskingum County items were donated to the Guernsey County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society so that anyone with roots in that area will have ready access to them.

I stand firm that records belong where they were created in a safe environment for historical purposes. All of my office records are tagged to go to the Boyd County Public Library, eventually, but now that I am aware that the Garrett Chapel Records are not at home anymore it is a time for action. While the copy that has been in my files is not the highest quality it is still clearly readable. The Garrett Chapel Church ledger has now been created in .pdf format and safely filed at the Boyd County Public Library, Minnie Crawford Winder Genealogy Room. A back up .pdf resides in the office of Family Lineage Investigations on dvd [several backups]. The photocopy has been given to Hazel Fannin Polakovs so that she can continue enjoying reading about our area pioneers.

Garrett Chapel United Methodist Church sits along the side of Route #3 at the corner of Route 3399, 2 miles from the Boyd County line. The church ledger is far from complete. Many of the marriages are just notations that they have married without even the year cited. But still it is a goldmine for research.

The first appointment of a Pastor recorded in the book is for R. F. Rice dated 12 September 1887. He ministered for a year and then was replaced by Isaac Fannin.

The first marriage is for James Taylor and Sophia Savage [no dates] followed by the marriage of George Fannin to Emma Lambert 3 July 1910.

The baptismal and member list contains notations such as "gone to Portsmouth," "gone to West Virginia," and "joined the Morman's." While not listed as Pastors J. C. Crooks, John Martin and J. D. Garrett received several members into the fold. J. D. Garrett is listed in the 1898 Minutes of the Annual Conferences of Methodist Episcopal Church South for Mt. Zion in the Catlettsburg District and John Martin is listed at Grayson also in The Catlettsburg District as ministers.

James and Sarah McGlothlin Buckley were members of the church. The Buckley's and Sarah's parents Robert and Rebecca Correll McGlothlin are laid to rest in Buckley Cemetery on a high point across the road from Garrett Chapel. Wade Chambers married another daughter, Martha, and is listed as a member of the church. Wade "went back into the old sinful world."

David Elswick and his father in law Walter Queen appear side by side with the date 29 February 1896. Because the page is a register of members it is unclear if this is a baptism date or date accepted into the church because the notation for both is in the column of "whom married." None the less from my own research David Wise Elswick [1866-1941] married Laura Adelaide Queen 3 April 1890 in Lawrence County, Kentucky. David's parent's Tolbert Birdwin and Margaret McGlothlin Elswick are also members of the church.

Thomas and Rebecca Elswick Enyart appear in the church register. Thomas and Rebecca are also buried in Buckley Cemetery. William N. Bostick and wife Mary Elswick Bostick are listed. Mary died 3 April 1935 in Cabell County, West Virginia.

Charles Henry and Margaret Reynolds Fannin's daughters all attended Garrett Chapel. Their married names have been scrawled beside their maiden names. Emma Fannin Herald went to Columbus. Lewis P. Fannin's death date is entered as 1909. He is probably the son of John Fannin.

Robert C. Ross states "not baptized. Droped" Robert Crittenden Ross [1861-1931] was the son of John Davis and Martha Jane Leslie Ross. John D. Ross appears on the rolls with the notation of a baptism simply written as '40 [1840]. Much has been written about him as the first judge of Boyd County. He is buried in the J. D. Ross Cemetery, Bolts Fork Road, Boyd County, Kentucky.

Thompson Berry's entry says "d. 1898". Thompson was the son of Hiram and Kizziah Stewart Berry. This entry predates any vital records for our area.

J. S. McCormick [aka McCormack] has an entry stating "lost sight of." John Samuel McCormack lived most of his life around Boyd and Carter County, Kentucky. He is buried in Elijah Rice Cemetery Lawrence County, Kentucky. His wife Sarah Burke McCormack died 6 January 1935 in Carter County, Kentucky and was buried in Elijah Rice Cemetery. Two years later John Samuel died in Lawrence County, Ohio. Is this why they made the notation "lost sight of"? His daughter resided in Ohio.

The membership list is long. The handwriting is easy to read. With some genealogical research one sees that most are related to each other or close neighbors. I have only listed a few entries and comments from the material. The material is now available to be reviewed by anyone doing research in our area at our wonderful genealogical facility. The Boyd County Public Library is located at 1740 Central Avenue, Ashland, Kentucky.