Interview with Russell Patton (1907-1994)
Recording 1: Patton shares stories about the Hueysville community, especially practical jokes his father played.
Recording 2: Patton shares more stories from the community. He talks about Garrett Theater, fox hunting, his father pulling teeth, going to dances, bean stringings, pie suppers, and watching films at Bosco Theater. He talks about his grandfather (Wiley Patton), a sulfur fire, and his skill at throwing rocks.
Recording 3: Patton talks about going to work in the coal mines as a teenager, as well as employment at a factory and Bethlehem Steel. He talks about his father's (Morgan Patton) work in logging and railroad, and his father's travels. He also shares stories from the life of his grandfather, Wiley Patton.
June 7, 1979
Submitted by Richard and Susan Salisbury.
1937 Flood - Prestonsburg
1937
Submitted by Richard Salisbury
Joseph Davis (1860-1950)
District Court Clerk for the Garrett Area
Davis was born on Right Beaver and died there, but led an interesting life, having twice walked out to Missouri with his uncles, the Riddles. He walked back both times, becoming dissatisfied. The second time finding that his parents had moved back to Virginia in his absence, leaving him to have to sleep out in the open. He felt safer sleeping in the trees, so that is where he set up residence. Alamander Coburn received word that a young stranger was sleeping in a tree on his farm, so he sent his son-in-law, a Combs, to see who it was. Joseph was invited to supper, and he ended up marrying Alamander's daughter, Sarah Coburn.
Joseph was the cause of the name "Pumpkin Center" at Estill when the superintendent of Elkhorn Coal saw a field of pumpkins Joseph had planted and said it was "the pumpkin center of the whole damn world".
ca. 1948
Submitted by Floyd D. Davis
Davis Family at Turner Branch
Floyd Davis, Alamander Davis, Raymond Davis, and Hattie Davis Hughes working mules in the log woods. Picture was taken at Turner Branch in Eastern.
ca. late 1930s
Submitted by Floyd D. Davis
<a title="Floyd Davis" href="http://history.fclib.org/items/show/17" target="_blank">Floyd Davis </a><br /><a title="Arrena Hicks Davis (1888-1971)" href="http://history.fclib.org/items/show/56" target="_blank">Arrena Hicks Davis</a>
Alamander (Alka) Davis
Picture 1: Alamander (Alka) Davis driving his yokes of oxen; pulling a steam boiler into the wilds of either Licking or Quick Sand. Davis was a contractor and drove oxen, horses, and mules.
Picture 2: Sitting with his favorite dog, Eisenhower. His son Raymond had given him a matched pair of coon hounds after the war, one named Eisenhower and the other named Patton. Davis was Maintenance Superintendent of Princess Elkhorn Coal's Camp at David at this time.
Picture 1: 1920s or 1930s
Picture 2: 1948
Submitted by Floyd D. Davis
Open Fork School
In 1949, Open Fork School was a two-room institution located on what would be the six and 1/2 mile of Route 850 at Good Loe, Kentucky. Edna Mae Castle Davis was one of the two teachers, and she took these photos.
1949
Submitted by Floyd D. Davis
Pitts Fork School
Picture 1: Alma Reffett-Lowe is the standing adult all the way to the left and Edna Mae Castle Davis is squatting in the front row before her.
Picture 2: Behind the woman and children is Pitts Fork School. This is the last building to be used, the first having been a log structure. It was two room with out side toilets and a dug and drilled well. The school was closed in 1965 when it was consolidated into Clark Elementary.
Pictured is O'Kala Reffett Ousley and her daughters Lois and Bonnie.
ca. early 1940s
Submitted by Floyd D. Davis
Floyd Davis
Picture 1: Floyd Davis, plowing with the mule Jim in about 1971. This picture was taken in the garden beside his house, just below the old Pyramid Post Office
Picture 2: Floyd Davis with a truck he used to haul logs from Turner Branch at Eastern to Knevoa, West Virginia. Davis said he could make two trips per day if he hauled dark-to-dark. Today, the trip takes about an hour. This picture was taken in the late 1930s, probably in Job Turner Branch.
1971
Submitted by Floyd D. Davis
<a title="Floyd Davis, WWII" href="http://history.fclib.org/items/show/55" target="_blank">Floyd Davis, WWII</a>
First United Methodist Church of Prestonsburg
Picture 1: First United Methodist Church
Picture 2: First Methodist Church has gone through a number of developmental phases. There was a long period before the Civil War when the congregation was not "Churched" and met in open field, court houses, school buildings, private homes and such places as it could. Then in 1883, thanks to a bequest of land from the heirs of Samuel Davidson, the congregation was able to construct Prestonsburg's first permanent Church building on a lot across from Turner Technologies.
Picture 3: In 1916, a great revival swept through the Church, and ground was broken for a new Church which became our present sanctuary.
Picture 4: The First World War, the Spanish Flu Pandemic, and material scarcity prevented the completion of the structure until April of 1919.
In 1952, the Church was overflowing with children; so the education wing was constructed on an industrial design drawn by local architect George Shannon.
Picture 5-6: In 1988, the congregation made a bold move to construct a Family Life Center to provide a venue in which all of family life might take place within the protection of the Church. This was completed in 1991.
Picture 7: In 1937, Josie Davidson approached the minister of the church and suggested that we should dig the box from the cornerstone of the church and open it. Very wisely, the minister said that would not be possible and instead suggested that an alternative box should be built that could be opened periodically. Accordingly, the church's memory box was built from the original church's alter rails (1883--1920 across from Turner Technology) and materials were sealed in the box for the future. In 2008, the box was unsealed for the first time in 50 years in conjunction with the 125th anniversary of the Anniversary of the completion of our first building. The first picture is a group picture of the congregational celebrants.
Picture 8: Minister Mark Waltz, opening the Memory Box in 2008.
Picture 9: Nancy Webb, lifting the lid of the memory box.
Picture 10: New items placed in the memory box to be sealed.
Submitted by Floyd D. Davis/First United Methodist Church of Prestonsburg Archives
<a title="Pledges for the construction of First United Methodist Church news clipping, 1916" href="http://history.fclib.org/items/show/42" target="_blank">Pledges for the construction of First Methodist Church, 1916</a> <br /><a title="History of First United Methodist Church of Prestonsburg" href="http://history.fclib.org/items/show/45" target="_blank">History of First United Methodist Church of Prestonsburg</a>
Kathryn Stumbo Frazier (1915-1998)
Picture 1: Kathryn as a young girl on her pony on the Stumbo Farm at McDowell. Circa 1920.
Picture 2: Kathyrn playing the organ at First United Methodist Church of Prestonsburg, something she did for more than fifty years, as well as teach music at the elementary level. She was the leader of David's Patsy Teenagers, and was married to Chalmer Frazier. Picture was taken in late 1980s.
Item 3: A brief biography of Kathryn Stumbo Frazier written by Floyd D. Davis.
Submitted by Floyd D. Davis/First United Methodist Church of Prestonsburg Archives
<a title="Patsy Teenagers" href="http://history.fclib.org/items/show/20" target="_blank">Patsy Teenagers<br /></a> <a title="First United Methodist Church of Prestonsburg" href="http://history.fclib.org/items/show/18" target="_blank">First Methodist Church of Prestonsburg<br /></a> <a title="Prestonsburg Elementary Christmas Pageant Programs" href="http://history.fclib.org/items/show/64" target="_blank">Prestonsburg Elementary Christmas Pageant Programs</a>