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Archiver > KYCLAY > 1998-08 > 0903274712


From: Tudie Alsbury <>
Subject: Re: [KYCLAY-L] Dickey Diary Index - Letter A
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 08:38:32 -0500


Was part A of the diary listed in a message, if so, I didn't receive it. Thanks
Tudie

Jess Wilson wrote:

> Kelly, You ask about the Rev. John Jay Dickey’s diary. He was a Methodist
> preacher. He came to Jackson, Breathitt County, about 1883, for his health.
> Why he thought his health would improve in Breathitt County, I could never
> discover. He seemed to suffer from a nervous disorder. He would be on Cloud
> 9 one day and in the depth of Despair the next.
>
> In Jackson he was instrumental in creating what became Lee's Junior
> College. For a while he published The Jackson Hustler, a county newspaper.
> He was one of a half dozen preachers that baptized Bad Tom Smith before he
> was hanged for killing Dr. John Rader, who came from Jackson County. Most
> everyone in this area attended the hanging. Dr. Rader’s wife was a d/o
> Delaney Bowling of Terrills Creek in Jackson County.I was told that someone
> held Dr. Rader’s 9 year old do
> aughter over the heads in the crown so that she could see her father’s
> killer, hanged.
>
> Don’t confuse Jackson County with the city of Jackson, which is in
> Breathitt County.
>
> About 1896, Dickey attended a conference of the Methodist Church where he
> met the Bennett sisters. I have been told that he was smitten by the beauty
> of Sue Bennett. Shortly thereafter, he moved to London, in Laurel County
> where he was instrumental in establishing Sue Bennett Junior College.
>
> In the latter part of 1897, he was read out at the Methodist Conference as
> a supernumerary. (Look it up yourself) HE moved TO Manchester in Clay
> County and became a semi permanent resident in the Lucas Hotel which was
> located on the square where the Cumberland Valley National Bank is now
> located.
>
> >From here he visited various Methodist churches from Wyatt’s Chapel in
> Laurel County to churches in Harland, Leslie, Breathitt and Perry counties.
> In Clay County and particularly in Manchester he became involved in the
> doings of the day. During all these days he kept a diary. In what has been
> refered to as Reel #3, he began recording interviews with individuals as to
> what they remember of their family origin. His daily entrees also recorded
> the news he heard about the various killings that were taking place during
> this dreadful feuding time that involved most of the principle families in
> the area.
>
> He preached the funeral of “Baldy” George Baker, when Baker was killed by
> James Howard. He also preached Deputy Will White’s funeral when White was
> killed by “Baldy’ Baker’s son, Tom Baker. Then when Tom Baker was killed
> while being held a prisoner for killing White, Dickey also preached Tom
> Bakers’s funeral. All the while he made several mentions of the whiskey
> saloon that the Bakers ran in the store across Anderson Street from the
> Lucas Hotel.
> { If you want more information on the Clay County feud of that time ask me
> for a copy of A Latter Day Look at Ky Mtn Feuds and Baker Stories, $5.00,
> if you think it worth it. Don’t send money until you receive the booklet.}
>
> One of Dickey’s comments about Clay County people was that they were the
> finest people and the men most handsome and rode the finest horses.
> Another comment was that they were the danceingest people on earth, of
> which he did not approve. He wrote, “If it was given out that Judgement Day
> was to be on Saturday, they would announce a dance for Friday night, and
> they would dance, dance, dance.
>
> Jess Wilson, Possum Trot Road, Manchester, Ky 40962
>
> ----------
> > From:
> > To:
> > Subject: Re: [KYCLAY-L] Dickey Diary Index - Letter A
> > Date: Saturday, August 15, 1998 11:06 AM
> >
> > Hello all ,Please excuse my lack of knowledge here , But would someone
> tell me
> > what the Dickey Diaries are about?? Thank you,Kelly
> >
> >
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> >
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> >
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> >
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