Kentucky History Excerpts; "Tales From Buffalo Creek"

This is an excerpt from a short history of Buffalo Creek in Owsley County Kentucky. Titled "Tales From Buffalo Creek" and written from personal memories by Leon Sandlin
Leon Sandlin comes from a long line of old Dean family friends. Our ancesters grew up together in that little remote area. Like every place Buffalo Creek has enormous amount of history lost for good because of the passing of generations and failure to write it down. Thanks to Leon a bit of the history of Buffalo Creek will remain. Through his memories his family and a lot of the history of mine lives on.
This excerpt tells of my great grandfather Ezekial Dean coming into Kentucky, sometime around 1870 and established his life, family and a long Dean history on Buffalo Creek in Owsley County Kentucky.



The Dean's Come to Kentucky and to Buffalo Creek in Owsley County.
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Tales From Buffalo Creek
"..It is my intent to write about all the families that lived on Buffalo Creek during the 1940' and 50's. The Dean family has been on Buffalo(*) since sometime during the 1870's. Ezekiel was the beginning of the Dean line in this area. Ezekiel was born sometime around 1840 in Virginia. He had a sister that married Abraham Carmack. Abraham and his wife lived around the mouth of Island Creek. It is not known for sure when Ezekiel came to Kentucky. He married Kizzie Barrett, a daughter of Jesse and Polly Asher. They were married in Clay County on August 6, 1859. Ezekiel joined the Union during the Civil War. It was during the 1870's that Ezekiel's family along with some of the Carmack's came to Buffalo Creek and settled on the Rattlesnake Branch. Ezekiel and Kizzie("Coon" as she was called) had a large family. Their children were Rachel born 5/1/1861, John born 2/25/1863, Mary Jane born5/7/1865,Else Ann born 2/20/1867, James born 5/7/1869, Brice born 10/1/1871, Nancy Margaret born 4/7/1873,, Jesse(*2) born 10/10/1875, George born 10/15/1877, Daniel Boone born 9/15/1879, and Cattie born 4/15/1881.
Rachel married William Davidson they had several children. William hanged himself. All of Rachel's children left Buffalo. John married _?_ Webb. I don't know if they had children. John was killed in a fight that took place during a card game.Mary Jane married Harve Abner. They lived in Clay County and had several children. Some of them were Luch, John, Brice, James(known as "Jim Black"), Ezekial and Anna. Jim Black came to our house quite often when I was a small boy. I remember the first time I saw him. He came to our house one afternoon and I was surprised to see he was missing both hands. It was getting quite late as my mother was in the kitchen cooking supper. When it was apparent that he had come to spend the night I began to wonder how he would be able to eat his meal without hands. When supper was cooked and we were called in to eat I was surprised to see him pick up a fork between the stubs he had left and eat as well as we did. Jim Black was out in a boat throwing dynamite in the river to kill fish. He had cut a stick in half and was holding them one in each hand, one went off prematurely and the explosion set the other one off. Else Ann married John Bishop, their children were Scott and Jessee. James married Elizabeth Riley, their children were Nancy and Jimmie. Brice married 1st Ara Daniel, their children were Ester, Lucy, and Colson. Brice's 2nd wife was Mary Ellen Rice and their children were Bradley, Ezekiel, Thomas, Geneva, Woodrow and Shirley. Most of Brice's family lived around Booneville. Nancy Margaret married William Clark. Their children were Rushia, Della,Rose and Nettie. Nancy Magaret died Jan. 28, 1906. Jesse Dean married Jane Riley(*3), their children were Johny, George, Ellen, Albert, Florence, Mark, Edd(*4), Ledford, Ray, Myrtle, and Elvia. Jesse Dean died on Buffalo Creek in 1930. Most of his family left Buffalo except Edd, who lived on Buffalo Creek until around 1950. George married Martha Gay, their children wereNellie, Stella, Clay, Ida, Chaney, Hazel, Wilton, Addie, Effie, and Opal. George lived his entire life on the Rattlesnake Branch where he died 4/28/1951. Daniel Boone married Ida Neace, their children were Violet, Fannie, William, Sam, Arthur and Ruth. Daniel's family lived around Booneville. Cattie Dean married Green Burns, their children were Jimmy, Ernest, Kinard, Nancy, Levi, Frank, Dan and Steve. Green Burns died while cleaning out a well for WIlliam Clark on the Rockhouse Branch this was around 1914. Cattie died in Indiana around 1965.."
-Leon Sandlin

(*) Dean Note; I don't think any Deans have lived on Buffalo Creek for a long time now.
(*2) Dean Note2; Jesse Dean is my grandfather
(*3) Note3; My grandparents
(*4) My father

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