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The Big Sandy Valley, which is today situated mostly in Eastern Kentucky, encompasses all or part of sixteen counties in Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia. Unlike Willard Rouse Jillson's excellent regional history with the same title (also available from Clearfield Company), Ely's book is crammed with annals, sketches, and anecdotes of the settlers of the Big Sandy Valley. It consists mainly of biographical sketches of individuals and their families, with considerable genealogical data, the period covered being 1790 through the 1880s.