ABRAHAM MUSICK
MARRIED
RACHEL L. COLLINS
Abraham MUSICK was the fourth born to James C.& Mariah Shell MUSICK.  He married in Jul.03 1857 to Rachel L. COLLINS dau of William & Rachel Cunningham COLLINS  After the death of Abraham, Rachel lived with her daughter Tiny, wife of John CASTLE(1900 Johnson Co. Census). The 1910 census shows Rachel as head of household and one person living with her, her grandson Alford MUSIC (Alfred) and he is 17 at that time. This census also shows that 9 of her 10 children was still living then. It also shows that her Mother and Father were born in Virginia.  Rachel was borned in Russell County,Virginia according to census reports. It has been told to me by family members that Rachel was born a Cuningham and raised by a Collins Family, although I could not find anything to substantiate this. As her mother was a Cunningham she could have been born before her mother was wed but that is also unknown to me. There are also several Rachel Cunningham’s in the 1850 census.
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      In 1900 Rachel Collins Music  & Alfred Music  was living in the Household of John & Loutiney Music Castle whom was her daughter and Son-in-Law. It is unknown to me as to why they were living there for in 1910 they were both back at the old homestead where  Abraham & Rachel had always lived in Sycamore Hollow.Alfred was the son of James & Trinvilla  Vanhoose Music and the grandson of Abraham & Rachel, James died in 1892 and members of his family lived with other family members after his death.
 A few miles North of Paintsville, Johnson Co.Ky is a mountain that has belonged to the “Castle” family’s of Johnson Co.for many many years. In the 1880’s a Cemetery was started on top of this mountain called the “Clark Castle Cem.”. Many of the "MUSIC'S" from these’s generation’s are buried in the Clark Castle Cemetery and many are buried there throughout the following Music generations. A lot of the graves have stones in this cemetery but are unidentifiable. There are over 150 graves that are unknown. The CLARK CASTLE CEMETERY  was called Sycamore Cemetery by some,it has even been called the Castle Cemetery by newspapers. If you stand on top of the south side of this cemetery in Nippa,Johnson Co Ky, you will look down on the Sycamore Hollow area. This is the Hollow that Abe & Rachel lived in most of their lives. They bore & raised their children in this area.
There was not much bottom land in Sycamore Hollow for farming but they seem to make it work. There are area's where it is only about 50 feet between Sycamore and the next Mountain. So this family raised a lot of what they ate and did some Logging, & farming.
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   From one Mountain-side to the next where they lived was about 100 feet and that is a long estimate. There house was positioned where they looked toward the southern mountain. From the front porch of this house about (40 feet) was a rockcliff where the mountain started back up again, there was then and there is now a small clear stream that runs down the hollow, my Uncle Kelly had told me that his father and his father before him raised hogs in the same place and that they loved to wollow around in that stream to keep cool,I also have memories as a young boy of seeing hogs in the same area he spoke of.
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      The house that Abe & Rachel lived in, in Sycamore Hollow had birthed ten and raised nine of their children (according to 1910 census). One being Christopher Columbus "Lum" Music (no K)  Christopher grew up and build a house about 200 yards down the road (or a long stones throw) from the house of his parents. Christopher spent his whole life in the same house,raising 11 of his own children, and doing about the same thing his father did throughout his life. When Kelly Music grew up and started his family he ended up in the same house he was born in, in Sycamore Hollow,(the old homeplace of Christopher)when Kelly passed away in 1995 he left the house to his daughter and in 1996 one of Kelly’s grandson’s lives in it.
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     Another story that my Uncle Kelly had told me was that as a young man he and his father (Christopher) had made a trip to the back end of Sycamore Hollow and climbed the mountain to a huge Rockcliff, and at the bottom of the Rockcliff his father showed him where Abraham had chieseled his & Rachel's name in it and that it was still there and would be for many years to come. I would have loved to see that cliff but it was impossible for him to make the trip and show me.
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     Although I never asked at the time, I realize now that I should have, as all are dead that could answer, was if the old home of Abraham & Rachel was torn down or just rotted away. Where the old house was located the cornerstones to it are still there with wood piled inside it. Whether it is part of the house or what i could not tell.
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In 1963 right behind what remains of this house Kelly Music buried a Granddaughter named Tina Marie Music B-Mar.15 1963  D-Mar.15 1963. This started a Graveyard that has since been used by Kelly's family to bury their dead in, Including Kelly & Wife..
My views on the name "MUSIC"/"MUSICK" after all my research shows ME that my name should be MUSICK instead of MUSIC. From MUSEK the orginial Spelling to MUSICK and to MUSIC is because (I think) of poor education in the times. A great deal of these people could not read or write and they relied on other people to write their name and then they would make their "X". Some of these MUSICK'S  had marriage bonds spelled with, and some without the "K" in their name's. The 1870 Census shows the "K". For anyone who still spells their name with the "K" I would say that at some point they could find where their lineage runs into the MUSIC'S without it. My brother Ronnie MUSIC was born into a family of 13 and he was the only one with the last name of MUSICK, it was simply a mistake on someones part and took several months to rectify for social security reasons later in his life.
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In 1998 I continue to put the pieces of these families together, so if you have any input that may be helpful in this project please let me know..

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS (Lum) MUSIC
                MARRIED
                  CLARISSA (RISSIE) CASTLE

    CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS (Lum) MUSIC: Throughout his life he was known  as "Lum Music", very few people knew his real name. Lum was born in the head of "Miller's Creek" at Butcher Hollow in Van Lear, Kentucky, the fifth issue of Abraham  & Rachel L.(Collins) Musick. he died at the age of 89 of Cancer on his Nose, and other illness's. His obituary states he was one of the Oldest and most Respected citizens of Johnson County Kentucky (at the time of his death). He died on a Tuesday afternoon at the home of his son Kelly Music. He was affectionately known to many as "Uncle Lum". Funeral services were held for him at the "Mouth Of Rush Church" in Nippa Ky. Both he and his wife are buried in the Clark Castle Cemetery.
      He married at the age of 21 to Clarissa Castle, daughter of Amos & Lucinda Jane Castle.They were wed at the home of Clarissa's parents in Dogwood Forks of Sycamore Hollow in Johnson County Kentucky. This information comes  from Marriage records and census reports, also from Kelly Music 10th issue of this family, in May 1987 he is the only living member of Christopher's children.
      Clarissa Castle  was known mainly as "Rissie" even her obituary list her as Rissie Music. She was born somewhere around 1868 in Johnson County to Amos (B-ca1841) & Lucinda Jane (B- Lawrence Co.Ky.) (Castle) Castle. She was the second of nine born in her family. They were Catherine B-ca1867, Amos A., William "Bill Dock" B-Nov.13 1872, James Willie B-Oct.31 1875, Rutha Ann B-ca1880, Lucinda B-ca1886, Sam. B. B-Jun. 3 1887, Sarah Alpha B-Sep.21 1890. Amos was the son of Zachariah & Rutha Ann (Sellards) Castle. Zachariah came from Scott County Vir. with his family in 1824. He was  the son of Benjamin & Elizabeth (Salyer) Castle. On Jan.9 1863 Zachariah received a portion of his father's farm on the Sycamore Branch of Tom's Creek in Johnson County. Rutha Ann was the daughter of John & Annie (Alford) Sellards. John Sellards was the son of Hezekiak known well as a great pioneer of eastern Kentucky.
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      It has been told to me by "Gertie Music VanHoose" the daughter of Ervin Music and the Grand-Daughter of Christopher Music that Christopher and Clarissa had given birth to a son named "Jim" and that after his death they had then named a son James Andrew, she also told me that he (Jim) was buried next to Christopher and Clarissa in The Clark Castle Cemetery. Gertie was very close to her Grand Parents and had always lived near then while growing up. After their death, she had been mainly responsible for taking care of their graves on the Clark Castle Cemetery.
      Even though I could not find any records of a "Jim" born to Christopher & Clarissa for that time  period I have admitted him to the list of Issue's for this family, because of her relationship to her grandparents. Elizabeth the third born to Christopher & Clarissa died of "Flux" shortly after birth.
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      It was also told to me by "Virginia Jacqueline Ratliff," the daughter of Virgie Music and grand daughter of Clarissa Castle, That her Great Grand Mother Lucinda Jane was the sister of the Great Tracker and Indian Fighter "Kit Carson," she says she had a good relationship with Lucinda and she knew her well, she remembers very well the Buffalo Rope that she had on a sitting chair, she always told Jacqueline that her brother had brought it from the west and had given it to her.  Although I could never obtain any factual information that Lucinda Jane Castle was in any way related to Kit Carson.
So who knows ...

      Amos Music was a Coal Miner for many years in the Van Lear Mines. Clarinda 
      Ratliff was known all her life as "Clara". She was the dau of Harvey & Genoa
      (Nola) Hampton Ratliff. She was born in Sycamore Hollow of Dogwood Forks,north
      of Paintsville Ky. Aunt Clara had "Sugar" bad, she also had Hardening of The 
      Arteries. She lived with this for many years. At one point before her death she
      had to have a leg amputated because of sugar.

      James Andrew Music grew up in the Sycamore Hollow of Nippa Ky. He was
the fourth issue of Cristopher Columbus (Lum) and Clarissa (Castle) Music he
was a Coal Miner in Muddy Branch Coal Mines and also in Van Lear Ky. He
married Aug.11 1910 at the age of 18 to Martha Elizabeth VanHoose who was 19
years of age, she was the dau of John C. & Louisa (Gibbs) VanHoose.

      In Dec.of 1929 James and his son Ernest James heard gunshots in their
woods so they both went to investigate the shooting, as they came upon a large
sycamore tree James sat down on a rock to rest, that is where he was fatally
shot in the head by a teenage boy shooting sycamore balls off the tree with a
22 rifle, The story goes his friend had bet him that he couldn't shoot Jame's
hat off from that distance so the boy tried and missed the hat, shot James in
the head he died the same day. The boy that shot James was underaged and only
served a small amount of time in reform school, his name was Everett Brinkley
his nickname was "Snoots".

      Ernest James Music grew up to be a Police Officer in Kentucky. James had 
always swore revenge on the boys that were responsible for his father's 
death and as a Paintsville Police Officer that chance arrived one evening 
during a burglary at a local store in Paintsville, James answered the call and
came face to face with the man who had shot his father as a teenager his gun
was cocked and ready to shoot when he realized that this man was a father too, 
and he knew what it was like to have one of your loved one's killed, He was 
also a father now and he realized how he would feel if it were his son in this
position,he made the arrest and took the man to jail.

      Ernest James served twenty years as a Paintsville Policeman. After 
retiring from that job he went to Morehead Kentucky and served twenty years as
head of Security at "Morehead State University", after retiring from that job 
James and wife Ulea retired to Staffordsville in Johnson County near his old
homeplace.

 In the later years after James death, Martha Elizabeth (VanHoose) Music
married a Lewis Isaacs the father of Hobert Neal Isaccs. (Hobert Newel married
Sarah Music the sister of James Andrew, and can be found later in this chapter.)
      Lewis Isaacs (B-Jun.13 1887 J.C. D-Mar.14 1959 in Tutor Key Ky) died of
a Heart Attack. Four hours after his death, Martha Elizabeth also had a Heart
Attack and died.

[Source of information Ernest James Music 1994]

      Beecher Music was the fifth born to Christopher Columbus and Clarissa
(Castle) Music. He was born in Johnson County Kentucky. At the age of 26 he
married Minerva Castle she was 26 at the time, she was the daughter of Andy
J. and Martelia (Salyer) Castle. Beecher was primarily a Miner and Preacher
he was a longtime religious man from what I knew of him. He also farmed but
his main objective in life was to preach the word of God. He preached at the
Mouth Of Rush Baptist Church. Beecher and Minerva lived in Lindy Branch hollow
in Nippa, Kentucky. Many of his family still reside there.

      Ervin Music was 21 & Delphia 17 when they married in Johnson Co.Ky. He was the sixth issue
of Christopher Columbus(Lum) & Clarissa Castle Music. Delphia was the dau of Amos and Sara 
Francis (O"Brian) Skaggs, (she always called her father "Poppy").
      Ervin was a miner by profession. Before his death he had a 17 year battle with Ashma and 
Black Lung. He is buried in the Clark Castle Cemetery in Nippa,Kentucky. After his death Delphia
never remarried her words regarding the subject of marriage was "God gave me a good man and he 
will be waiting for me" she always believed that Ervin would be waiting for her in Heaven. She 
also let me know that she was a very deeply religious person. She lived with her daughter Ethel 
Crider in Urbana, Ohio. In 1990 she was placed in the Urbana Nursing Home. Her mind was still 
very detailed at times and she could remember the old days as if they were yesterday. As long as
she was able she would return to their church yearly in Kentucky for footwashing,and services, 
she also returned to take care of the family graves their.
      Ervin died a year before i was born so never knowing him, I have wondered what kind of man
he was (my Uncle and I never knew him) for this woman loved him dearly. From what time I knew 
her I felt my life had missed a lot by not knowing her longer than I did. She was a remarkable 
person indeed.

      William McKinley Music was born on Jan.11 1906 in Sycamore Hollow, Nippa Johnson County Ky. He was the son of Christopher Columbus "Lum" and Clarissa "Rissie" Castle Music. He had only a third or fourth grade
education but was a self taught reader and writer and could do both well.
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      He Started his first job in the coal mines in Van Lear Ky, sometime between the age of 13 to 15. He married in Johnson County Ky. at the age of  18 to Venious Mae Ratliff also of Sycamore Hollow, she was born Oct.26 1904, in Johnson Co. the daughter of Harvey and Genoa (Nola) Hampton Ratliff, her family also lived in Sycamore Hollow. After their marriage they
lived in Van Lear, there he worked in the No: 5 mine. They gave birth to their first four children there.
The delivering doctor for these four children was a Dr.Whitaker.
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      Between the years of 1930 and 1932 they moved to No:4 hollow in Glo, Floyd County, where he worked in the Glo Glora Coal Mines, there their other nine children were born, the delivering Doctor for these children was a Dr. Mark Dempsey,
except for Gary Ronald Music, he was born in the Paintsville Hospital because Venious was visiting a daughter
that had been in a car accident and she was in the hospital when labor began.
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      He worked some 20 odd years at the Glo Glora Mine, during this time they moved to three different homes in Floyd County, before moving to Mason just outside Salyersville,(Magoffin County)and going to work at the Pond Creek Polkahontas Mines in Quicksand,(Breathit County). This mine was underground and was very gaseous thereby making this a very dangerous place to work.
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During their years at Pond Creek they moved from Mason to Royalton also Magoffin
County, from there they moved to a little place called Frogpond, also Magoffin County. Sometime around 1952 there was a bad explosion at the Pond Creek Mine that killed some miners, some were on McKinley's crew, the company wanted him and his men to re-enter the mines before they had been retimbered and he refused to send his men into a dangerous mine, so the next day he quit coal mining,and shortly thereafter he moved his whole family to Greenwich, in  (Huron County) Ohio.
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      Upon their arrival in Ohio he went to work with the  "Ohio Department of Transportation" building roads etc, he also worked almost full time for Casey Stevens a Farmer in the Greenwich area. He worked with the  State  until Feb.3 1953 at which time he took a job with "Empire Reeves Steel" in  Mansfield, Ohio (Richland County). He worked there until his retirement on Mar.30 1971. He had over 18 years in the steel industry after leaving the Coal Mines of Eastern Kentucky.
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      After retiring he did odd jobs for people such as plowing gardens,mowing and anything else he knew how to do, ( which he was very talented at different things) he also had a fulltime job taking care of a bed-fast wife, who had hardening of the arteries, he never complained. I think it would be very sad if I did not mention the way my wife Mary, and my sisters, and in-laws helped take care of my mother in her long years of  need. The tradition of "You Are Your Brothers Keeper" that came from the Hills of Kentucky with my family rang very sacred at that time. Sometime in late 1982 or early 1983 it was learned that McKinley had Lung Cancer probably from the coal dust he received in the Coal Mines. He Later died May 15 1983 in the Willard Memorial Hospital, Willard Ohio.
He was buried in the Greenlawn Cemetery in Greenwich, Ohio.
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      On Jun. 7 1984 Venious Mae (Ratliff) Music died in Mansfield General Hospital Richland Co. Ohio of Conjestive Heart Failure dew to strokes and hardening of the arteries, she had lived with her daughter Annis Mae (Music) Deskins untill a week before her death, she is also buried in the "Greenlawn Cemetery" beside McKinley Music.
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      It is thought by myself and others that even though she did not acknowledge knowing or speaking to anyone at the time of her death, that she just didn't want to live without him and finally died of loneliness for him.
      As writer and also the Eleventh Issue of this family I have a great amount of comfort and serenity in knowing that both are in the hands of GOD. There was no fear of death for either of them. The last words my Father said to me was
" Don't Worry About Me I'm Going To A Better Place." I Knew.