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Each month, The Kentucky
Explorer magazine receives literally scores of letters from
our faithful readers. Whenever possible, we try to publish as
many of them as possible in the 12 pages we have set aside for
"Letters to the Editor."
Here are actual letters from June
2009
Mann/Manns Clan
To Be Featured
Dear Editor:
The 31st Annual Magoffin County Founders' Days will be celebrated
the first week of September 2009, just before Labor Day. Since
1979 the Magoffin County Historical Society, located in Salyersville,
Kentucky, has sponsored the family-oriented event which spotlights
a different family surname each year, complete with parades,
pageants, and contests. This year "The Mann/Manns Clan"
is being featured and the historical society is gathering family
information on the earliest known Mann/Manns ancestors who settled
in Eastern Kentucky.
The earliest members of the Mann family to settle in the area
appear to be two brothers and a sister, all born in the late
1770s in Virginia. The group has found that most people who have
Mann ancestry descend from Samuel Mann whose children were William,
married Rhoda Howard; Sally, married Reuben Arnett; John, married
Lucinda Craft; Thomas, married Eliza Craft; and Mary. No descendants
of Samuel's brother, William Mann, are presently known. Samuel's
sister, Nancy Mann, married Jeremiah Patrick, and they had at
least three children: Jeremiah, Jr.; Delila; and James.
Another line of ancestry being compiled leads to Charles Mann,
born 1796, and Lucinda Whitaker Giles, whose son, Joel Richard
Mann, was born in 1831. Joel was first married to Martha Ratliff
and had a daughter, Patty Mann, who married Henry Green Gardner.
Children of Joel's second marriage to Nancy Caroline Baker were
Minnie B. Mann and Henry Camille Mann. Minnie married Tone Gardner,
and Henry married Florence Gardner and Susan Hyte.
The historical society holds meetings each month on the third
Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at 191 S. Church Street in Salyersville.
Everyone is welcome to attend.
Magoffin County
Historical Society
P. O. Box 222
Salyersville, KY 41465
Magoffin@foothills.net
Thanks To Explorer Readers
Dear Editor:
I would like to thank Brett Young for the CD and the songbook
I ordered recently which was advertised in The Kentucky Explorer.
Also, thanks to Bob O'Flynn for the tomato seeds I requested.
I think there are more honest people in Kentucky than anywhere
else.
I really enjoy the magazine.
Jesse Sheets
806 Trust Way Court
Mason, OH 45040
Thanks For Song Lyrics
Dear Editor:
I want to thank those who answered my request for the words to
the old song Ezekiel's Bone Yard. I got many responses, and I
am thankful for each one.
I enjoy The Kentucky Explorer and tell everyone about the magazine.
Keep up the good work.
W. R. Lloyd
5311 E. Manslick Road
Louisville, KY 40219
lloydwmr@aol.com
Revisiting The Floyd County
Bus Crash of 1958
Dear Editor:
As a young boy growing up in Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky,
my parents and I would often make the brief, two-hour trek to
Prestonsburg to visit family. My mother grew up in Floyd County
and spent her entire youth there until 1955, when most of her
family uprooted to Michigan when her father found work there.
Just three years later, tragedy struck Floyd County when a school
bus carrying 48 children crashed on the morning of February 28th.
The bus careened into the Big Sandy River, quickly sinking into
the dark and violent waters that had swollen to a depth of 30
feet. Although 22 of the children on board managed to swim to
safety, 26 children, as well as the driver of the bus, perished
in the accident.
In the years that followed, I often wondered what had become
of the 22 children who survived the accident, but more importantly
I wondered how the families of the victims were able to cope
with these most unimaginable circumstances. Last year, inspired
by an article in the Lexington Herald Leader that commemorated
the 50th anniversary of the crash, I decided to make a documentary
film about the tragedy. I began researching the accident, accumulating
pictures, newspaper clippings, and conducting several interviews
with those who were personally touched by the tragedy.
The film, which will be completed in early summer 2010, is titled
The Very Worst Thing, and it will be shown theatrically at film
festivals across the country, bringing the story of the bus crash
a brand new audience who might never have heard of the incident.
More importantly, I hope to bring a better understanding of the
strength, resolve, and perseverance of the people of Floyd County
and Eastern Kentucky as a whole.
As I move closer to post-production, I am still searching for
video footage from the crash site, and I am hoping that someone
reading this article might assist me. During the two-day search
for the bus that fateful February, WSAZ-TV, out of Huntington,
West Virginia, sent a television news crew to the river to cover
the story, and they took video of the scene. The footage was
eventually donated by WSAZ to Marshall University, however Marshall's
library lent the footage out to a private individual, and it
was never returned. According to Marshall University the footage
was soon reported lost in a fire.
According to some people I have spoken to, the footage aired
sporadically throughout the years on local television, occasionally
on programs that would deal with the Kentucky history or life
in Appalachia. Two people claimed to have clips of the footage
on KET many years ago, and one Ashland resident says he thinks
he saw it on a military newsreel while serving in Germany just
days after the crash.
If anyone knows where I can find a copy of this footage, or has
a program that might contain the footage, please let me know.
Michael Crisp
Agency Entertainment
agencyent@hotmail.com
859/509-0494
www.theveryworstthing.com
Reared In Lincoln County
Dear Editor:
I enjoy The Kentucky Explorer very much and look forward to its
arrival each month.
I was born and reared on a farm in Lincoln County, Kentucky.
I can identify with many stories in the magazine, some of which
bring tears and some laughter.
I have lived in different states, but to me there is none other
like Kentucky.
Violet James
1219 Lakeview Drive
Somerset, KY 42603
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