Our Family History
Note (2025-03-16): This content was mirrored from LooneyCuckoo.com on December 17th 2016, to make sure that this exhaustive research would be preserved in case that website went away. It would appear that some time between March 2020 and December 2021, that website disappeared. I (Matthew) did not research or write any of this content, but I hope that I can keep it available for the forseeable future for anyone interested to review.
It was during the early years of my childhood when I was about 13 or 14 years old, when interest in our family history was awakened by conversations with my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents. These remarkable people, whom were born and grew up in southeastern Kentucky, bestowed upon me their proud heritage as Kentuckians. They told stories about simpler times, times of plenty and not so plenty, and hard work. They talked of horse drawn buggies, wooden butter churns, and cooking on wood burning stoves. My grandmother spoke of a time when she was first married. After a winter snow, she and her new groom awoke in the morning with a dusting of snow on the quilts under which they had been sleeping in the upstairs of his grandparents farm house. Often, Dad told stories about his childhood when his family lived in a cabin while we sat around a campfire. Stories of past relatives, good and bad, were told. Then there were many times, when my Mom told us the stories about her friend old “Fish” being killed and visiting her grandparents farm located in Missouri.
I have attempted to preserve this heritage and stories of our family culture for the future generations through collection of stories, presumed true, photographs of known and unknown relatives and lineage charts. I have done my best to research and to include reliable information sources to verify information presented in this website. This encompassed gathering censuses, land grants, warrants, marriage certificates, photographs, lots of writing, walking through hundreds of cemeteries and numerous phone calls across the United States. I am sure that a million miles has been driven on country back roads too! The search for family relatives has caused my family to push my car through creeks, weather the environment, and put up with a million questions or just one more graveyard. This compilation of facts and photos is an attempt to perpetuate our family name and historical data for the next generation and for future generations linked to the Mize family through written history. I hope that you gain an insight in the travels, struggles, and victories in our family roots through this collection of faces, facts, and folk stories.
This website is intended for use by family members, descendants and others interested in the Mize family. Any additional information is welcomed to be included within this website considering it is in good taste and legal. Each family project contains information pertaining to a specific branch of our family. All material presented is for research and education purposes only and is written as close as possible to APA format for author credit purposes. Information in this website is as accurate and complete as possible. Some of the historic, autobiographical, and biographical quotes have been passed to me directly from Mize family members and descendants and I have done my best through years of research to present all information as factual and accurately as possible.
I have limited the scope of this site to the descendents Isaac Mize, John Harrison Lay, John Wilson, and Elmer Buchanan and some allied families. I assume no legal responsibility of accuracy of facts presented, although I believe them to be true. It is inevitable that mistakes and typographica (spic!) errors have crept into a work of this magnitude. Please overlook these occurrences. If you would like to present additional information concerning this family history, please send it to the website email address.
First, I want to thank God Almighty from whom the patience and tenacity to start and complete such an overwhelming endeavor was given to me. Without his kindness, teachings, and forgiveness, I surely would be “headin south!” We are all soldiers of the cross!
I am grateful and much indebted to all those who made me feel welcome in their homes and their lives, and those who extended innumerable courtesies that helped to make this record of the Mize family and allied family history possible. In particular I would like to thank my Dad and Mom who contributed in so many ways to this book and who reviewed the manuscript before it went to press; my Grandmother Stone who also contributed many stories about the Mize family; I would also like to thank all the Mize families who live in Rockcastle, Laurel, and Pulaski counties. They shared stories, photos, and their precious time with me while gathering the Mize family story.
I would like to thank Shelby Mize and his family for their warm patience and hospitality that they shared with me on the front porch of their mountain top home. Without your knowledge, much of this website and book would not have been possible especially pertaining to families on Eagle Creek in Rockcastle County, Kentucky.
Also I would like to thank Paul A. Mize, my cousin, who gave me insight and valuable information concerning my father's mysterious family. You gave me the clues that solved family riddles which were impossible to crack until meeting you. Thanks, Paul, for your time and your openness!
Another invaluable cornucopia of Mize information was Damon Mize. Your helpfulness and insight concerning the Billows area on the Rockcastle River at the adjunct of Laurel, Pulaski, and Rockcastle counties in Kentucky was truly significant. I am truly honored to be a part of the creation of your book, “Born in Hell.” Thanks again….
Finally I would like to thank everyone who shared a minute or a moment of time of their life with me while compiling this history. From the bottom of my heart , Thank You!
Please contribute your opinion, family information, photos, corrections, etc to our email address. We would like to make this the "Go to" site for all descendents, researchers, and anybody who wants to find out about our Isaac Mize family. Please be patient with the our posting of information. It takes a while to construct each family. As it was said in the Army, we're slow, but we're sloppy...just kidding! I am a direct descendent of Andrew "Jack" Jackson Mize and I have a vested interest to present all of our information with pride and dignity. There is a future goal to include the William Riley Mize family of Short Creek and Stab, Kentucky!