The Saga of Winnie's Trunk

    Winnie Fitzpatrick Johns was an avid genealogist.  After she died in 1979 I received her research notebooks from my father-in-law, Dr. Robert Johns Salisbury.  There was little information that I received.  I knew she worked on genealogy as early as 1916 and always wondered where all of her research and papers went.  I have been looking for them for 20 years.
    In 1987 the roof of the Johns House burned.  Our cousin, Dr. Herbert Salisbury, III, had possession of the home at that time.  The trunk, along with some antiques, were removed from the house to an out cottage to protect them while the contractors were there.  They ended up missing.  It is now known that the contractor removed them.  The antiques have still not been found.  To the luck of the family, the trunk turned up in the possession of Mrs. Stallard of Virginia.  When she found out what the trunk contained, Mrs. Stallard attempted to find the family to return the trunk and belongings to us to no avail.  The family had left Prestonsburg by 1990.  She turned it over to the Historical Society to help her find us.
    On Monday, 19 June 2000, David and I, along with a few cousins, went to Prestonsburg and retrieved the trunk and its contents.  Dr. Robert Perry of Prestonsburg was generous enough to copy all of the original documents and many of the photos in the trunk.  This enabled us to take all of the original court records to The State Archives, Frankfort, KY, Wednesday, 21 June 2000, to find their permanent home in their collections.  This will ensure that they will never be missing again. The Archives will supply a microfilm of the records to the Floyd County Clerk in the future so local researchers will benefit from the finding of the trunk.
    These pages will contain the contents of the trunk.  I will transcribe all of the documents, letters, and pictures.  I will add outline descendencies to make sense of who the players are and how they fit into the overall picture.  I will also add things that were not in the trunk but pertain to the families involved that I have worked on for the last decade.
    I would like to thank Dr. Robert Perry, Mr. Clifford B. Latta, Jr.,  Dr. Lynne Salisbury Middleton, Dr. Herbert Salisbury, III, Mr. Jim Spencer, Mr. George Johns, Dr. Richard Salisbury, and especially Mrs. Stallard for making this possible.
    Karen L. Salisbury, Gloucester Point, VA

Karen L. Salisbury

Last updated Tuesday, 11 June 2002