Three surviving members of a Breathitt County family met Tuesday to talk about growing up, and the good times they remember. There were also some sad times to discuss - one in particular affecting all three of them. It caused them to leave this area as youngsters back in the height of the Great Depression. Only now are they getting the inside story of the father whose violent death caused them to leave Kentucky, some 73 years ago.

Mabel Raftery is from Independence, Missouri, just a crow’s hop from Kansas City. Edward Francis calls the Puget Sound area of Washington state his home these days. And Frances Pike is living these days “Down East” in New England, near Portland, Maine. All three are the children of Ambrose Francis. Ambrose was a Magistrate in Breathitt County back in 1933. That same year, Ambrose and his brother Earl were killed. At the time of their father’s death, Mabel was only three years old. Edward was seven years of age, and Frances was just nine years old.

Fast forward to the present. Edward, Frances and Mabel came to the Breathitt County Library to look up information on their father. They had already done some research on him from visiting Frankfort, checking state records there; as well as calling relatives over the phone and visiting the Internet. “Our father died here in Breathitt County at the mouth of Ten Mile, which runs into Lost Creek,” said Frances. “They said he was shot where Highway 15 and the Ganderbill Branch Road is today.” “We had a reunion (Francis reunion) last Saturday at Kincaid Lake State Park in Northern Kentucky” (near Falmouth), added Edward, “and because of my neice, Dianne Hale from New Jersey (Fillmore Francis’ daughter), we were able to start the search for the truth about our father.” Mabel also wanted to know what happened. “We just wanted to know more about our father and his brother. Nobody really knows what really happened and all we wanted were the facts.”

Facts that had been eluding Ambrose’s children for almost three-quarters of a century. Facts that would help them put together the pieces of a man that was in their flesh and blood. “Dianne said ‘I don’t know if you’ll find the truth’, and she didn’t know if it would be all of what happened,” Edward, who will be 92 years of age, said at the Library. “I wanted to know more about my Dad before I kicked the bucket. It’s been gnawing on me since 1933.”

In Jackson, Ambrose’s children met up with Head Librarian Steve Bowling, somewhat of a history and reserach buff himself. They also met up with Flo Pugh from Quicksand, who knew Olga Combs of Rowdy in Perry County. It turned out, Olga remembered Ambrose and the children.

“I remember the whole family,” Olga said next to Flo with Ambrose’s children listening intently. “They said, and again, what I heard was hearsay, was that someone stole a fireplace grate from his house. In return, Ambrose opened up all the canned fruit in the house, and liked to joke about it. He always was joking around people and laughed a lot. But really, he was upset about losing that fireplace grate. And we were told that’s what led up to the shooting, and his death.”

Now that they’re finding out what happened on that fateful day, the children say they’re getting some answers. They say they’re not bitter. But they want more answers. “It wasn’t enough to kill him. They said everyone liked Ambrose,” Olga remembers. Edward continued. “It does help. At least it’s helped to soothe some of the hurt. I think we waited too long.” But Frances goes a bit farther. “There’s still not any closure to me. I feel like we’ve been cheated out of life.” Finally Mabel spoke. “But at least from the time we’ve been here we know more.” Janet Neace, a former Breathitt Countian who now lives near Somerset, and who was with the children at the library, had another observation. “All the people who saw the shooting are dead now. There was a certain lady who witnessed all this when it happened back in 1933. She passed away three years ago.”

The sudden death of their father changed the children’s lives forever. “There were nine of us when he died. Five girls and four boys.” After the shooting in 1934, Edward, Mabel and Frances were taken by their aunt, Bertha Back Bell, up to Maine to live. They’ve been back to Kentucky over the years. And one day, Mable even came face-to-face with one of her father’s murderers. “My twin sister, Maude, and I were down here in the 1950’s. And we saw a man on a mule or a horse in Clayhole. He told me his name, and said to me, ‘I’m sorry’, and then rode off. I later found out that he was one of the people who killed my father. I knew some of the others went to prison. I’d have given anything to know who he was.”

The experience over the past seventy-three years left a wound in the Francis children, and while time has healed it to an extent, it will never quite go away. But in the short time they’ve spent here recently, some answers have come up. They’ve gotten a lot of help from a lot of people digging into their past. One of them could be Codell Combs, says Flo Pugh. “We understand that Codell is now in his 90’s, and they say he remembers all of this.” No matter what happens from here, Frances, Mabel and Edward feel some relief by learning more about the land they were born in. The people who were part of that land. And more about their father. The father they barely knew. “We’ve learned, and we don’t harbor any ill will for what happened. We’ve also met some of the finest people in the country.” Frances added, “This is home to us, and we’ve finally returned home to Breathitt County.” And Mabel closed it out with this. “By coming here, and getting help from others, we’ve learned more aobut our relatives. And our father. And in turn, we’ve learned more about ourselves.”