Fielding Newton SALYER¹ {M} = Katherine Conley WHITAKER {F}

Married ABT 1887

Fielding Newton SALYER:

Born 17 September 1854, Floyd Co, KY²
Died 30 July 1931, Bakersfield, Kern Co, CA³
Subj: Re: Fielding N. Salyer Date: 6/29/99 10:07:32 PM EDT
From: Normiehall To: LaurieMcK

Hi Laurie,

At the prompting of my sister in the Denver area, I have made several visits to the Kern County Hall of Records to try and fill in blanks on some of our departed relatives. It has been quite an interesting experience.

You may recall I contacted you about Fielding N. Salyer a few months back. My sister wanted to know the date his wife died so I checked it out today and looked at Fielding's death record also.

If the death records are accurate, Fielding was born in 1858 not 1856 as we had it or 1854 as it was listed in your information. His middle name was apparently Newton rather than Nelson. He died 30 Jul 1931. His father was listed as Butler Salyer which tracks with William J. "Butler" Salyer. His mother was not listed but both his and his father's place of birth were simply "Kentucky." Not a lot new but thought you might like to have it.

His wife, Katherine Conley Whitaker, was born 20 Nov 1867, in Kentucky rather than Kansas as you had it. She died 11 Dec 1956, at the age of 89. Her father is listed as Thomas Whotaker (which is a typo) and his birthplace is also just Kentucky according to the record. We, of course, have a lot more information on the Whitakers but don't suppose you are interested in them.

Hope you are well and enjoying your research into genealogy.

Sincerely,

Norman Hall
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Subj: Re: Fielding N. Salyer Date: 8/19/99 12:59:26 PM EDT
From: Normiehall To: LaurieMcK

Hi Laurie,

Thanks for the message. I'm not sure about the Whitakers you mentioned since I don't have any information on the branches of the family after each generation except for the siblings of my direct ancestors. I don't remember how much I mentioned about the Whitaker-Salyer connection, but Fielding N. Salyer (apparently there were at least two, maybe three) married my great grandmother's sister. My g grandmother was Harriet Elizabeth Whitaker Gilroy. Her sister was Kathryn C. Whitaker Salyer (some records show her as Katie or Kate - I just called her Aunt Kate when I was a boy). Their father was Thomas P. Whitaker born June 12, 1830 in Floyd County, Kentucky and died in Kingfisher, Oklahoma after having been hauled by wagon to a train line and transported by train to Kingfisher where he was cared for by members of the Odd Fellows lodge and died soon after. He had been unwell in Sun City, Kansas and his wife and one of his daughters hoped that he would do better in a less harsh climate. He had three sons and three daughters and we only have information on the descendants of our family and Aunt Kate's family. One son, Estell, is buried in Sun City, Kansas so he probably didn't leave any children in Kentucky. Wilkerson b. 6-20-1856 and Francis A. b. 5-6-1851 may have stayed in Kentucky but I have no information at all about them. I wish I did!

I am located in Bakersfield, Kern County, California. I think you told me about Tom Whitaker, the artist, before and I looked at his web page. The information I have mentions Floyd County, Breathitt County and Magoffin County. Apparently Floyd County was divided at some point before 1861 when my g grandmother Harriet Elizabeth was born. Aunt Kate's middle initial "C." is for Conley. Coincidentally, I found a little wide spot in the road east of Salyersville named Conley! Not sure what it means but it is interesting to think about anyway. I spent several days looking at the local paper archives at the public library and at the county recorders stuff and found little clues about relatives that have died here in Kern County over the past 85 years. I even found a first wife of my dad's Uncle Harry Gilroy who died of tuberculosis in 1915! I had never even heard of her! Anyway it is lots of fun! If you can trace your Whitakers back to any of my g grandmother's brothers or her dad's brothers then maybe we have a connection!
We have a Mark b. 1819 and Robert b. 1825 as brothers. Their father was Francis A. Whitaker b. 1796 in Tennessee and died about 1863 in Magoffin County, KY we think. Francis A. had brothers Johnson, James O., Mark R.,
Harvey and William. All were born before 1814 we think. I do have dates for some of them but nothing more.

Let me know if you see anything that rings a bell.

Regards,

Norm Hall


Katherine Conley WHITAKER:

Alias Katie WHITAKER
Born November 1867, KY⁴
Died 11 December 1956, Bakersfield, Kern Co, CA⁵

1 : "Email information sent"
2 : "1860 U.S. Census, Magoffin Co., KY"
2a: "Shepard, Clarence E, Vital Statistics, Floyd Co, KY 1852 - 1"; Page p 3
3 : "Email information sent"
4 : "Email information sent"
5 : "Email information sent"