NEWS: Wiley, Samuel H., 100th Birthday - Woodford Co, Ky

From: WRFC71A@prodigy.com (MRS BEULAH A FRANKS)
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 00:24:20, -0500

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SAMUEL H. WILEY OBSERVES 100th BIRTHDAY

 Samual H. Wiley, a former resident of Woodford County, celebrated
his 100th birthday with an open house Sunday, Dec. 11, at the home of his
daughter, Mrs. Fred Weidmen, Bowling Green, where he has made his home
for the past four years.
Mr. Wiley was born Dec. 14, 1877, to Mrs. and Mrs. Joe Wiley of
Boyle Co., near Danville.  As a boy he helped his father along with his
brothers, Jim and Bud, and sisters, Nannie and Seradia, run the McCowan's
Ferry that shuttled between Woodford and the Mercer County line.  They
lived in the big white house that can still be seen from the Woodford
County side of the river.
In 1899, Mr. Wiley married Nancy Graves of Mercer County.  To them
were born one son and four daughters.  In 1903 he took his wife and
young family to Alberta, Canada, and took up a half section of land,
sponsored under the Homestead Act by the Canadian Government, near Mt.
Sterling, Canada.
Mrs. Wallace Ready, of Woodford County, his daughter, says she
remembers those years as being years of cold and hardship.  The land was
perfectly level and crops of wheat and flax were grown.  She can still
remember the blue bloom on the flax waving like waves on a river in the
wind.  Neighbors helped with the large acreage of plowing and only work
horses and milk cows were kept.  No cattle were raised.  Each homesteader
had to start by erecting his own dwelling, which was a box type house with
a slanted roof to protect the home from the fierce winds and winter snows
which leveled with the roof that always slanted facing the winds. Veins of
coal were found in the land and each homesteader dug his own supply of
winter coal, covered it with sod, and dug it out in the winter as needed.
After a five-year stay the homestead was secured and Mr. Wiley then
rented it out and returned to Woodford County.  Here, he moved down on
the Oregon Bend Road near Lock 6, then later to Mortonsville, and then
near Clear Creek.  Mrs. Ready says she remembers attending all three
Woodford Schools, Oregon, Clear Creek and Mortonsville.
Later Mr. Wiley bought a farm and moved to Franklin County.  After
the death of his wife he made his home with another daughter, Miss Mildred
Wiley, in Frankfort, before going to Bowling Green to live.
In addition to Mrs. Weidmer, Mrs. Ready, and Miss Wiley, Mr. Wiley
has another daughter, Mrs. Lewis Miller, of Bowling Green, and a son,
Freddy Wiley, also of Bowling Green.  He has six grandchildren, a number
of great-grandchildren, several great-great-grandchildren, and a number
of nephews and nieces in Woodford County, including Mrs. Marshal Smith,
Mrs. Nell Watts, Mae Mitchell, Mary Lois Haydon, and Dennie and Melvin
Beckley.  The late Mrs. Earl Clough was also a niece.
Mr. Wiley enjoys good health and cares for himself with the aid of
a walker.

>From the scrapbook of Irene Judge Wiley