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.”

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

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber

When I began this series, Whispers from the Grave, it was with the intention of sharing the many conversations (as well as research) I have done on this family for the past fifty-five years.  While I “married in” this is truly my family.  This land is where I belong.  This cemetery will be my last earthly home. 

Genealogists always feel a pull toward particular individuals.  Catherine Sexton has drawn me for years.   When I first started our family tree,  I asked my father-in-law what his great grandmother’s name was. His reply was Sexton – no I said “I mean her maiden name”.  He just shrugged.  My mother-in-law said she heard maybe Sutton and wrote that in a corner of a family paper.  Was Catherine related to Elizabeth Sutton Gallion, also at rest in Klaiber Cemetery? 

The biggest snafu beginning genie’s make fell in my lap.  The 1850 census showed Bartlett Sexton and another Catherine Sexton in Mark and this Catherine’s household.  The 1850 does not give relationships in a household. Like other newbie’s I assumed Mark’s parents because of age.  Never assume anything.  After years of deep digging (pun) Mark’s parents turned out to be Elisha and Tabitha.  It took dna to reveal that Catherine was indeed Catherine Sexton Sexton.

She is also an amazing pioneer true Appalachian pioneer.  So much so, that I wrote a book based on her life during the worst of Covid.  I am very proud of this publication and the only reason it is classified a “historical novel” vs. a biography is not knowing what and when she fed the chickens.

Catherine Sexton Sexton was born 15 March 1808 in Russell County, Virginia the daughter of Bartlett and Catherine Sexton.  She married Marcus Sexton and migrated thru Pound Gap and finally settled in what would become Boyd County, Kentucky.  She and Marcus had at least two children with Henry Powell Sexton surviving to adulthood.  Catherine died on Long Branch, Boyd County, Kentucky 7 June 1893.  She survived epidemics and the Civil War.  I invite everyone to read Catherine Heart & Soul which is still available on Amazon.  It is not only her history but the history of several counties, Kentucky migration and more.

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

Jackie Ray McCormick: Whispers from the Grave; Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2023

 

As I have said before we have several tiny angels at Klaiber Cemetery.  The grief and loss for a mother must be heart wrenching.   Jackie Ray McCormick was stillborn 11 March 1939 at Kings Daughters Hospital in Ashland, Boyd County, Kentucky[i].  Mother, Marie Griffith McCormick was in labor for two days and only eighteen years old. 

After the loss of Jackie, Hager and Marie were living on Pigeon Roost in Boyd County, with Marie’s parents Orville and Ella Griffith.  Both Orville Griffith and Hager McCormick were working on the roads with the WPA (Work Progress Administration).

Hager and Marie eventually moved to Ohio where both worked for Columbus Plastic Products Company.  The company was located on Mound Street in Columbus. One of their well - known products was a red retractable clothes line.  Hager and Marie both lived into their seventies  and are buried in Gallia County, Ohio.

Jackie Ray’s death certificate has several anomalies.   The death certificate says Jackie was female.  When Marie died 1 November 1998, the obituary states she was preceded in death by two infant sons. My father-in-law was married the same year, was caregiver of the cemetery for many years, and told me that Jackie was a baby boy.  Lazear Funeral Home in Ashland were the undertakers and when it was filed spelled the Cemetery name as “Clabber Cemetery.”

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[i] KY D cert 5816

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

Thomas J. Maddox & son Arlie Maddox: Whispers from the Grave; Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2023

    

Thomas J. Maddox was born 13 September 1895 in Elliott County, Kentucky, son of Charles and Margaret Creech Maddox.  He and his father were both farmers.  He had light brown hair and blue eyes[i] and possibly had some hearing difficulties according to his draft card.

He married Matilda Stephens about 1916. Tilda was also from Elliott County. Sadly, the Elliott County courthouse had a fire on 19 December 1957 which destroyed some records including early marriages.  Thomas and Matilda had seven children between 1917 and 1929.  Matilda died 25 June 1929[ii] in Elliott County from complications of childbirth of their last child. According to birth records, a son, Thomas[iii] named for his father was born 24 June 1929.  According to a death certificate a daughter, unnamed, was born stillborn on the same date[iv].  Both the infant and Matilda (Tilda) were buried in Stephens Cemetery.  The cemetery was also called Maddox Cemetery by some.   The cemetery is said to be up a hollow northwest of Wallowhole School and southeast of Little Fork Road, Elliott County, Kentucky.[v]   The family resided on Little Fork, Blaine Trace Road.

The following year (1930) Thomas J. Maddox was 34 with children living with his in-laws Daniel and Phoebe Stephens.  He married 2^nd to Amanda Marie Lucas Burke.  Amanda Marie Lucas was born 28 October 1908 in Boyd County, daughter of Frank Kane Lucas and Nancy Ann Perkins. Amanda was also widowed, having married Herman Burke who died 9 March 1930[vi].  She had one daughter Wanda Louise Burke born in 1927.  By the time the 1930 census was taken she was noted as a widow and living with her parents.

The family settled on Durbin Road in Boyd County.  Thomas J. Maddox was one of many that got a job doing road work for the WPA.  The WPA (Work Progress Administration) used crushed rock from a quarry across the road from Klaiber Cemetery during this time frame.  By World War II Thoma’ hair had turned gray according to the draft taken in 1941.

Son, Arlie Maddox, born 18 May 1921[vii], in Elliott County, to Thomas and wife Tilda, was working on the family farm in 1940 and 1941 when he applied for his military draft card.  Like his father he was of slim build with blue eyes and had red hair.

By 1950 Thomas and Amanda were living at Denton (leaving Bolts Fork going over the hill) in Carter County with Frank and Nancy Lucas.  This would be over the southern ridge of Klaiber Cemetery and a bit to the west.  Son, Arlie, had moved to Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio and married Betty Lou Jones 16 June 1950. This was his first marriage and her second.  Betty Lou was sister to Lottie Jones who married Norman Franklin Lucas. They were children of John and Goldie Ellen Walker Jones.

Thomas J. Maddox died 1 August 1960 in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio at the age of sixty-four. He was brought back to Klaiber Cemetery for burial next to Amanda Lucas Burke Lucas parents and grandparents.

Arlie Maddox and Betty Lou Sparkman Maddox were divorced 20 July 1977 in Franklin County, Ohio.  He died 14 August 1978, at Riverside Hospital, and was brought back for burial in Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky beside his father.

 

 His step mother, Amanda Marie Lucas Maddox died 17 October 1994,  at their home on Durbin Road, in Boyd County.  She also is buried in Klaiber Cemetery.

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[i] WWI Military draft card, Elliott County

[ii] KY death vital cert 16443

[iii] KY Birth vol  051 cert 25032

[iv] KY Vital death cert 16444

[v] http://kykinfolk.com/elliott/ellcem05.htm

[vi] He is buried in the Elijah Rice Cemetery, Lawrence County, KY

[vii] KY Birth index cert 29497

Virginia Myrtle Lucas: Whispers from the Grave; Klaiber Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2023

As I have said so many times our family lives on in our memories and our littlest angels should never be forgotten.  Virginia Myrtle Lucas was born 24 September 1924, and according to her death certificate the birth took place in Carter County, Kentucky. To date this compiler has not found an official birth record in Kentucky, Ohio or West Virginia.

Virginia Myrtle Lucas died in White Cross Hospital, Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio 29 July 1926[i].  White Cross had converted affiliation with the Protestant Hospital Association to the Ohio Methodist Episcopal Conference in 1922. 

The cause of death is cited as cholera infantum.  Cholera is an infectious disease caused by bacteria. A child could get cholera by eating food or drinking water contaminated with bacteria.  Combined with Infantum, a viral disease of infants and young children, it is deadly causing speedy wasting.

Virginia was the daughter of Reuben Harrison Lucas born 9 January 1889 in Carter County and wife Cora Combs.  She was the granddaughter of Henry Kane Lucas, Lucinda Sexton Lucas, John “Jack Combs and Martha J. Cotton.

Virginia had at least three siblings: John D., Lelia and Lewis, all born in Kentucky.  Her parents married 27 August 1910 in Boyd County, Kentucky[ii] and by 1920 are listed in Cabin Creek, Kanawha County, West Virginia where Reuben was trying his hand at mining.

The 1927 City Directory for Columbus, Franklin County, shows Reuben, laborer, and Cora residing at 1190 St. Clair Avenue.  This is the same address given on Virginia Myrtle’s death certificate.  I find there is often a lag time in posting in city directories and they did not appear in the 1926 edition.  By 1928 only Cora is listed working as a waitress.  I speculate that Reuben had returned to Cabin Creek, as they appear on the 1930 census in Burnwell, West Virginia where, once again “Rube” is mining, working for Case Mining Company. 

Virginia’s father, Reuben Harrison Lucas died 20 January 1972 in Kanawha County, West Virginia and buried in Montgomery Memorial Park at London, Kanawha County, West Virginia.   Montgomery Memorial Park is an active, perpetual care cemetery.   In 1971,  Cora was living in Rand, Kanawha County[iii] and died July 1980, according to the Social Security Death Index.

 

 

 

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[i] OH, Franklin d cert 44135

[ii] KY, Boyd M bk 32A p 97

[iii] Charleston Gazette 4 Mar 1971 obit of Stephen Franklin Combs