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Editor's Note:
Readers of The Kentucky Explorer have been introduced to the
Rev. John J. Dickey in past issues. Remember that he was a traveling
preacher throughout the eastern part of the state during the
years between 1880 and 1925. He helped to establish numerous
churches and at least two colleges. He was also a teacher and
a newspaper editor. However, his most enduring gift to us today
may well be his diary that he kept faithfully during some 50
years of his later life beginning in the 1880s. In all, over
6,000 pages written in his own hand make up this interesting
digest.
In this journal of his, Dickey often wrote down accounts of events
daily. Much of the material concerns his day to day life. However,
during the late 1890s he began to gather family history on various
families he met in his travels. We are offering these interviews
to our readers in the hope that they will be appreciated in the
sense that Rev. Dickey intended. These interviews were written
word for word as they were given to Rev. Dickey. Nothing has
been changed.
Andrew Joseph
Wooton's Creek
May 30, 1898
My father was John Joseph. He was born in Wise County, Virginia,
and came to Leslie County, Kentucky, about the time peace was
made. His father's name was Clemmie Joseph, my grandfather. He
came to Leslie County with his family. William Joseph of Magoffin
County is related to us.
John C. Lewis
Wooton's Creek, Kentucky
May 31, 1898
Yesterday morning, Monday, I left Hyden to come to this neighborhood
to see about getting permission to furnish a teacher for this
school district. There are 109 scholars in the census. I want
to put a Wilmore teacher here, full of the Holy Ghost, to get
the people saved. As I passed near the schoolhouse, there were
10 or 12 men sitting at the roadside on blankets or coats playing
cards. There were two games on. I stopped and warned them mildly;
they never stopped playing or made any reply. I went to see Harrison
Napier, a trustee, a merchant living two miles above the mouth
of Wooton's Creek. He is 44 years old or nearly so, and five
weeks ago he married a girl not quite 14 years old. He has grandchildren;
several children at home. She came to the store, looked as she
is, a little girl, with short dress on, very childlike in her
manner and appearance. Mr. Napier told her to go back to the
house as that was the place for the children. He is a bright
man and is considered the best salesman in the county. He said
that he would employ any teacher that the district wanted, but
I am told he has a man whom he wants to put in. He gave me no
encouragement and was not disposed to talk about the matter.
He is very mean, and his impurity led him to kill a man whose
wife's affections he had alienated; a man named Bailey. His excuse
for marrying a child was that he knew that she was pure, and
being a child she and his children would get along pleasantly
together. This is a hard community, though there are some good
citizens in it. There is a lawless element; two stills were cut
up a few days ago.
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