Below are two images cropped from the same aerial photograph taken from 36,000 feet by the US Geological Survey on 17 March 1952.
Both images are from the same general area, at or near the intersection of Geiger Lane and KY SR 1654, just inside the Carter County KY line in the greater area called Rush KY. This area is just south of the main part of the Rush subcommunity called Geigerville. But, many also refer to this area as Geigerville. It is also often referred to as Meadow Branch.
A spur rail track ran off the main rail line from Ashland KY to Lexington KY, and proceeded up the hollow called Meadow Branch to service drift coal mines then in operation. This switch off the main line was called “Burton Switch”, so many older area residents called this general area “Burton Switch”. Note the “Burton” name associated with this switch is not connected to the many in the Burton Family that lived in this immediate area. It is likely the “Burton” name for this switch came from an outside mining superintendent for the Meadow Branch coal drift mining operations. This switch and the spur rail line going up Meadow Branch, the hollow, were long gone by 1952, when this image was snapped.
Below the two images is a legend that shows the location of features in this area. Each feature is numbered (1 to 26) with a concise name associated with each number. Below the photographs is a listing 1 to 26 with far more detail about each location.
Virtually all of the location detail was provided by my Brother-In-Law, Jerry Burton (b 1938). Jerry has lived in the immediate area of these images for most of his life. He has lived in 6 or 7 different houses in this small area.
1 Roger Johnson Shoe Store – Roger Johnson operated a shoe store here. After this Otis Enyart (1915 – 2004) and Nellie Grace Schmidt Enyart (1913 – 1908) lived here. Later Jerry Burton (b 1938) and my sister Charlotte Ann Coleman Burton (1943 – 2017) lived here. This house burned in about 1961 while Jerry and Ann were residents.
2 Dan Schmidt House and Barn – Daniel Schmidt (1869 – 1960) and Eller Edison Schmidt (1871 – 1955) lived here. Later these others lived here: Harry Raymond “Ray” Hall ( 1932 – 1995) and Phylis A Johnson Hall (b 1935), Jerry Burton and Charlotte Ann Coleman Burton, and Dorothy Elizabeth “Dot” Burton Lemaster (1909 – 2000). Even later Ray and Andrea Middleton purchased this house for rental, and subsequently they rented this house to numerous individuals.
3 Andrew Thompson House – Andrew Thompson (1894 – 1971) a gregarious longtime USPS mail carrier at the Rush post office and his wife Edith M Scott Thompson (1896 -1969) built this house. Later their granddaughter Adele Wells Holley (b 1943) and her husband Grant G Holley Jr. (1939 – 2012) lived here. Grant Holley Jr is buried just beside the house. Many renters have lived here since Adele.
4 Thomas Burton House – Thomas Cecil Burton (1878 – 1938) and his wife Laura O’Neil Burton (1879 – 1938) purchased this community landmark house. The house is a large 2 story frame house that had a large addition on the back. It had previously been owned by W L Geiger and was sold at public auction at the Boyd County Courthouse when other W L Geiger’s (1819 – 1897) holdings were liquidated. Thomas Burton did not purchase this at the auction but purchased it from an intermediary. Thomas and Laura raised at least 10 kids here including Jerry Burton’s father, Paul Burton (1913 – 1981). Later Paul Burton and Elma Lou Thornberry Burton (1918 – 2011) lived here with their family, and then Paul’s brother, William Howard Burton (1911 – 1985) and his family. The property is currently owned by Jerry Burton’s son, J P Burton (b 1960). While the house still stands it has been unfit for habitation for many decades.
5 Otto Saunders House – Otto Saunders (1912 – 1989) and Irene Mae Saunders (1912 – 2001) lived here. Otto and Irene later lived in a large two story frame house at Coalton KY. After Otto and Irene moved, Otto’s parents Bert Saunders (1890 – 1986) and Bertha Qualls Saunders (1892 – 1971) lived here. Others that have lived here include the Stidham Family, the Colgrove Family, Frank Moore (1910 – ????) and Becky Kazee Moore (abt 1907 – 1985), George Washington “Ted” Crance (1907 – 1976) and Edna Moore Crance (1911 – 1976), Danny Burton (b 1945) and Deloris McCown Burton (b 1947), and Red Jordan. This house is still standing.
6 Otto Saunders Pig Pen and Barn – Pig pen and barn associated with the house cited in #5 above. This barn and pig pen has been gone for many decades.
7 Millard Ellenberg House – Millard Avon Ellenberg (1906 – 1980) and Mabel Bates Ellenberg (1902 – 1999) lived here. Later their daughter, Helen L Ellenburg (b 1941) and husband Teddy J Thornberry (b 1942) lived here. There is a structure still standing on this site, but I am unsure if it is the structure from the 1952 image or a replacement structure.
8 Herman Ellenburg Barn – Barn associated with the house cited in #9 below. This structure no longer exists.
9 Herman Ellenberg House – Herman Ellenberg (1881 – 1961) and Winnie Evans Ellenberg (1888 – 1953) lived here. Millard Ellenberg from #7 above is their son. Herman’s daughter Bessie Alice Ellenberg Hall (1931 – 1992) and her family lived here. Bessie’s son Rick Hall (b 1956) and wife Connie Berry Hall (b 1958) also lived here. The original house still stands.
10 Garland Fannin House – Garland Wesley Fannin (1916 – 2004) and wife Lillie K Tackett (1913 – 2000) lived here. Later Rex Beech “Top” Savage (1925 – 1979) and Edith Jean Thompson Savage (1926 – 2004) lived here. This house was likely an old C&O Railroad “Section” house. And there were likely a couple more that were gone by this 1952 image. Employees of the C&O lived in these houses and maintained the rail line in the nearby vicinity. There were a few other C&O “Section” houses near the Williams Creek Rail Tunnel at Music, about 4 miles southwest. Top and Jean also lived in another nearby house cited as #13 below. This house is gone.
11 Preacher John Stewart House – Preacher John W Stewart (1877 – 1966) and Alice Clark Stewart (1877 – 1968) lived here, followed by Russel Marshall (1937 – 2014) and Glenna Dickens Marshall (1946 – 2014). This house still exists on this site.
12 Truman Wells House – Truman Winford Wells (1904 – 2000) and Thelma Thompson Wells (1916 – 2003) lived here. The house still stands and is owned by Truman and Thelma’s descendants.
13 Dan Sexton House – Clifton Dean Sexton (aka Dan) (1861 – 1950) and Anna Belle Locey Sexton (1874 – 1965) lived here, followed by Top Savage and Jean Thompson Savage, Allen R Hupp (1955 – 2020) and Kathy McGranahan Hupp (b 1955), and later by the Maddox Family.
14 Banfield House – The Banfield Family seem to have owned a large parcel of land in this area circa 1900 or possibly earlier. The cemetery on the hill behind this house is called the Banfield Cemetery. I am unsure if this house was occupied when this 1952 image was taken. If it was, it is unlikely to have been anyone in the Banfield Family. This house no longer exists.
15 Bruce Leslie House – This is a large 2 story frame house. Franklin Bruce Leslie (1906 – 1943) and Mary Ellen Collins Leslie (1907 – 1980) lived here, as did Chester Arthur Gillum(1907 – 1976) and Clarys Leslie Gillum (1905 – 1990), and later their son Leslie Keith Gillum (1932 – 2004). This house still stands but it is not inhabited. Most in the area call this the Gillum House.
16 Bruce Leslie Barn – Barn associated with the house cited in #15 above.
17 Geigerville School – Geigerville one room elementary school (grades 1 to 8). Consolidation in the fall of 1958 sent the elementary students from this surrounding area to a much larger school on US 60 on Star about 2 miles away. The school building remained for at least a couple of decades after the school closed but is no longer there.
18 Mack Burton House – Malcolm Arnold “Mack” Burton (1913 – 1982), his wife Ruth Lee Burton (1916 – 1967), and his mother Chloe F McBrayer Burton (1882 – 1987) lived here. Betty Kay Burton Porter (b 1947), the daughter of Mack and Ruth Lee Burton, later lived here. This house has been gone for several decades.
19 Dock Copley Barn – Small barn constructed of logs associated with the house cited in #20 below. This structure no longer exists.
20 Dock Copley House – This was a large two story frame house. Allen “Dock” Copley (1897 – 1963) and Clara Ethel Stewart Copley (1899 – 1974) lived here. George Washington Lee (1892 – 1953) and Bessie Rowe Lee (1889 – 1975), Dan Cochran, and Paul Burton (1913 – 1981) and Elma Lou Thornberry Burton (1918 – 2011) also lived here. The frame house burned in December of 1978 and Paul and Elma Lou constructed a brick ranch house on the same house site. J P Burton (b 1960), Paul and Elma Lou’s grandson, currently lives in the later house. Dock and Clara Ethel Copley later lived in house about 1/2 mile east on KY SR 1654 near the Rush Holiness Church.
21 Paul Burton House – This was a one story frame house and was likely an old coal mining company house from the drift mining initiative in Meadow Branch. There were a few other similar mining company houses nearby that were already gone before this 1952 aerial image. Paul and Elma Lou Burton lived here before later living in the house detailed as #20 above, and they also lived in this house more than once. Raymond Burton (1914 – 1968) and Ruth Brainard Burton (1915 – 1994), Luther Henry “Lum” Bates (1895 – 1952) and Grace Stewart Bates (1908 – 1992), James “Jim” O’Neil (1916 – 1992), and later Clay O’Neil also lived here. This frame house was torn down and the recycled material used to construct a garage on the site of the lot cited as #1 above (after the house there burned). Later a large brick ranch house built by Jerry and Ann Coleman Burton was constructed on this #21 site.
22 Bob Carrol House – Bob Carrol, Clifford Davis (1903 – 1991) and Annie Tempest Burton Davis (1906 – 1989), Paul Burton and Elma Lou Burton, Danny Joe Burton (b 1945) and Christine Delores McCown Burton (b 1947), John Fisher, Teresa Young, and Jerry McCallister lived here. The original house still stands.
23 Bob Carrol Barn – Barn associated with the house cited in #22 above. This barn no longer exists.
24 Adolph Huff House – John Adolph Huff (1909 – 1976) and Edna Sexton Huff (1911 – 2001) lived here. This house no longer stands.
25 Adolph Huff Barn – Barn associated with the house cited in #24 above, as with the house, this barn no longer stands.
26 Strip Mine Area – Jerry indicates this was the second strip mine for coal on Williams Creek in Carter County. Note that this same area’s coal seams had already been drift mined several decades before. The outsider supervisor of this stripping operation was Ed Kelly. Kelly hired Rush locals, and brothers, Dillard Jenkins (1922 – 2001) and Charles Roy “Pranker” Jenkins (1925 – 1990) to operate the required machinery for this stripping operation. Jerry also indicated the first strip mine was on Swanson, a couple of miles southwest and also just off KY SR 1654. A few years after these photos, the opposite ridge of Meadow Branch was strip mined. I swam a few times in the resultant ponds from these later strip mines in Meadow Branch.
A grand thanks to my Brother-In-Law, Jerry Burton, for his kind and focused help. His daughter, my niece, Tina Burton Badgett, also was very helpful by relaying my dozens of follow up text message questions to Jerry for a most efficient response.
Enjoy! Lon
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I just love your posts and interesting articles. I live in the Old Shawhan Place. Corner of 1654 and Shawhan lane. I can’t tell if it’s mentioned in your article. I went to the courthouse to try to research my house. I think the original owners may have been James Deaton (Deatin). A Stephen Clark is mentioned then Shawhan. Any information you may have would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Barbara,
The area covered in the Meadow Branch article does not quite make it to the Shawhan property. I knew some of the Shawhan’s that lived there a bit, my parents knew them much better.
Have you tried the US Census? They are available on Ancestry.com
Enjoy! Lon