Table Of ContentPike County, Kentucky
1821-1983
Historical Papers
Number
Five
Original Publication of the
Pike County Historical Society, Inc.
Pikeville, Kentucky
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2013
in
http://archive.org/details/pikecountykentuc05pike
Pike County, Kentucky 1821-1983
Number
Historical Papers, Five
In memory of
Dr. Leonard Ward Roberts
Original Publication ofthe
Pike County Historical Society, Inc.
Pikeville, Kentucky
1983
Reprinted
Pikeville College
2002
%
*& pu
.
Z3
Co
11129PleasantRidgeRoad,Utica.KY 42376
1-270-275^1075 1-800-285-4075
5ammcpuMaol.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 4
In Memoriam A Poem byConnie Ratliff 5
Biography
A Section Reserved for Dr. Leonard Ward Roberts. It includes
Tributes, Pictures, and a Story which Could be Autobiographical
for Leonard AND Other Mountain Boys. 6-13
A Poem by William McKinley Justice and an Article, a Poem
and Pictures Submitted by His Daughter, Alice Kinder. 14, 15
ABiography ofRichard Keesee by Clyde Runyon. 15-17
History
The 1810 Floyd County Census by Claire Kelly 17-24
The 1840PikeCountyCensus by Dorcas Hobbs 24-29
SomeRecords ofDr. W.H.C.Johnson (1849-1942) 30,31
The Roll of Company "E" of the 39th Mounted Infantry Volunteers
oftheUnion Armyin "TheWar Between the States" 31-33
A Pike County Voting Report for 1868, Transcribed by
Faye Burke 33-44
AMortality Scheduleby Dorcas Hobbs 45
Cemetery Listings
Dils, Lesley, Hamilton, Phillips, and Robinett 46-52
Genealogy
Clevinger-Ramey; Elswicks, with Two Pictures; Osborns, with
Two Pictures; Roberts, One Picture; Smith, with Five Pictures; and
Taylor. 53-74
Miscellany
Pictures: ClaraSaad, Tennis Players 75, 76
Baseball byAliceKinder 76-78
The StoryoftheBand byFrank Forsyth, Sr. 79-84
Dils Residence 85
Poem by Gayle Compton 86
HistoryofPikeCounty Chamber ofCommerce 87, 88
Installation ofthePikeCountyElectedOfficials 89
CityofPikeville 90
First National Bank 91
W. B. Call, Inc. 92
Subject Index ofPikeCounty Papers 93-95
In Closing
ATouching Letter 96- 00
1
3
INTRODUCTION
The Pike County Historical Society continues its printing program with this collection of
articles and pictures. Most members have helped the new president and his committee get
this memorial issue ready for publication in the same year the former president, Dr. Roberts,
met his untimely death in a traffic accident.
The book is arranged by biography, history, cemetery listings, genealogy and miscellany.
We wish to thank everyone who has loaned us materials; particularly, the grieving Roberts
family.
The tributes remind us that telling about this "giant" among men could be compared to
the proverbial story of several blind men exploring an elephant and trying to describe it by
what they felt. Each man could only communicate what he knew and the truth became evi-
dent. Namely, the whole was greater than the sum of all its parts.
The maps are to show researchers which counties they might find information about their
families. The oldest division ofEastern Kentucky is shown as Bayless Hardin's map of 1792.
It is found in the First Census ofKentucky: 1790 by Charles B. Heineman, published by the
Genealogical Publishing Company in 1971. The Floyd County map of 1799 was made by
Henry P. Scalfin 1950 and published in his EastKentuckian in March, 1966. The other map
is from a highway map of about 1980.
EDITING COMMITTEE:
Eldon "Jack" May, President
Ruth May
Dorcas Hobbs
Anna Forsyth
Edith Thornbury
Marie Justice
Claire Kelly
Formerpresidents whohavenurturedthepublishingprogramoftheSociety:(Lefttoright) George T. Thornbury, Dr. Leonard W. Roberts,
Claire (Coleman) Kelly, andFrank J. Forsyth, Sr.
—
In Memoriam
A kind man, a master of the art
Of storytelling, he had a heart
Full of love for everyone around him,
To make him truly happy, one needed only surround him
With people, and give him a chance to share
His wealth of stories and of living experiences
beyond compare
He appreciated talent in others too,
About our mountain heritage, he had a point of view
That made one proud indeed to be
A
part of the mountain culture, for he
Saw beauty and promise in all things, and, with
others wanted to share
These were the qualities that made Dr. Roberts a rare
And treasured friend, who'll be sadly missed
By those of us who knew him. Who could resist
The charm of his stories about our mountain land?
Our Lord loved him too, so He leaned down and took
his hand.
Written with deep affection and genuine respect to the memory
ofDr. Leonard Roberts. May his Eternal Bed be covered by a
Blanket of Heaven's Brightest Stars!
Connie Ratliff
No captive audience! Children ofallages enjoyed Leonard Roberts'folk tales.
Leonard Roberts By LOYAL JONES
From "TheNews Letter" of
1912-1983 TheAppalachian Center,
Berea College, Spring 1983
If you ever heard Leonard Roberts relate a tale, at the Pine Mountain Settlement School. The result
you know he was a truly unique man. During the tell- of Leonard's Ph.D. labors was the book Southfrom
ing, which involved episodes strung together to make Hell-fer-Sartin, published by the University of Ken-
wonderfully long narratives, you would become tucky Press. He went on to write and edit many
aware that he enjoyed his stories more than anyone in others: / Bought Me a Dog; Nippy and the Yankee
his audience. Often he would be overcome by the Doodle; Up Cutshin and Down Greasy; The Sang
humor or the absurdity of his tale, and he would Branch Settlers: Folksongs and Tales ofa Kentucky
pause to snicker or laugh outright and slap his leg, all Mountain Family; Old Greasybeard: Talesfrom the
the while regarding his audience slyly and wisely. He Cumberland Gap; and In the Pine: Selected Ken-
remained a boy, full of fun and perceptiveness. In tucky Folksongs (with C. Buell Agey). The Sang
many ways, actually, he seemed the essence of Jack, Branch Settlers, published for the American Folklore
the character in the tales with which he delighted Society by the University ofTexas Press in 1974, was
generations of listeners. his best-known work and a model of its kind. The
—
This past April 29, Leonard writer, folklorist, subject was the cultural life of the Couch family of
—
publisher and teacher was killed in a highway acci- southeastern Kentucky and southwest Virginia, in-
dent near his home at Stanville, Ky. A pioneer collec- cluding their tales, riddles and songs.
tor of folklore, he earned the first doctorate in the After receiving his Ph.D., Leonard taught and
subject ever granted by the University of Kentucky. headed departments of English or languages at
—
This achievement followed a varied series of life and several colleges Piedmont in Georgia, Union and
educational experiences. Born on Toler Creek in Morehead in Kentucky, West Virginia Wesleyan and
Floyd County, Ky., he dropped out ofhigh school in finally Pikeville in Kentucky, where he established
1930 to join the Army, and he mastered enough the Appalachian Studies Center. At Pikeville he
music to play in the 21st Infantry band at Schofield published Twigs (later Cumberlands), a literary
Barracks in Hawaii. When he finished high school at magazine, and edited and published many books
—
the age of 23, he went to Berea College, where he through the college press books on subjects like the
won a degree in English and also excelled in the Hatfield-McCoy feud, books by mountain poets such
javelin and lowhurdles. Afterteaching in high school as Lillie Chaffin and Sylvia Auxier, and works of
and junior college, he took a partially finished novel history, folklore and genealogy.
off to the University of Iowa, studying creative The man was always a delight, laconic at first
writing and receiving a master's degree. Teaching meeting but with a twinkle and alurking smile. In his
followed in wartime Army and Navy programs at the lectures he often dropped into his narrative style,
University of North Carolina and North Carolina complete with storyteller's inflections, but
State. underneath was a thorough knowledge of literature
Leonard Roberts reached a real turning point as a and culture. He was a scholar's scholar, always at
teacher ofEnglish in theFoundation School ofBerea work on a project, editing someone else's work,
College. Although he had grown up in the midst of scouting for the moldering manuscript that might sh-
the folk-tale tradition of the Appalachians, he ed new light on some pet subject. His last scholarly
became aware forthe first timeoftherichness ofthis endeavor was the editing of a book on John C.C.
tradition and of its social and aesthetic value for our Mayo, the eastern Kentucky entrepreneur who built
own day. His students were his instructors. Wishing an empire out of the infamous "broad form"
to help them write expressively, he encouraged them mineral deeds, assembling a large and wealthy group
to put down the tales they had heard from their of capitalists to exploit the riches of the region.
families. The results were so fascinating to him that Although Leonard was a folklorist, his interests ran
he invited himself home with the students, to places deeper and wider than the collecting of tales and
like Hell-fer-Sartin and Cutshin and Greasy Creeks, songs, and he edited and published books of general
where he recorded songs, tales, riddlesandlifestories importance to Appalachia.
on rather primitive equipment. After five years of It is to the credit ofLeonard Roberts that he chose
collecting he went to Indiana University to learn how to teach mountain young people in small regional in-
to classify and index his treasures. stitutions, but it must be considered a great pity that
By this time Leonard was married to the former only a few people at these schools seemed to
Edith Reynolds; the couple had four children: Sue recognize his true worth. He was an original man,
Carolyn, Margaret Anne, Rita Helen and Lynneda whose like we shall not see again. We miss him
Jane. When Leonard was working for his doctorate already.
at Kentucky, Edith supported the family by teaching
