Appalachian Community Histories – Job, Martin County: Mail, Schools, and Memory Along Rockcastle Creek
Job does not have a courthouse square, an old city hall, or blocks of brick storefronts to mark its history. Its story follows the waterways of western Martin County. Lick Branch, Little Lick Branch, Petercave Branch, and Rockcastle Creek formed the natural boundaries of the community, while a rural post office gave the settlement a name that survived long after the mail ceased being sorted there.
The United States Geological Survey still recognizes Job as an unincorporated populated place in Martin County. Historically, however, Job was not a town in the conventional sense. It was a scattered creek community whose residents gathered around family homes, country stores, churches, schools, road forks, and the local post office.
The surviving records are equally scattered. Job appears in federal postal applications, postmaster appointment registers, surveying reports, maps, school records, deeds, census schedules, church minutes, and the memories of families who lived along Rockcastle Creek. Together, these sources reveal the outline of a small Appalachian community that once possessed all the institutions necessary to make a place feel permanent.
A Community Built Along the Creeks
The community that became Job developed in a landscape defined by water. Rockcastle Creek provided the larger geographic corridor, while smaller branches created narrow areas where families could build homes, raise crops, operate stores, and travel toward neighboring settlements.
Before improved highways crossed Martin County, creek valleys often determined where roads could be built. Houses stood close to the water and beneath the surrounding hills. Roads followed the bends of the streams, crossing branches where the terrain allowed. A traveler did not describe a destination by a street address. A person lived at the mouth of a branch, above a road fork, beside a church, or near the home of a well-known family.
That older geography remains visible in the records of Job. Federal surveyors described the community through Lick Branch, Little Lick Branch, Petercave Branch, stores, residences, a church, and a schoolhouse. Their notes preserve a verbal map of a settlement that was recognizable to local residents even though it had no formal municipal boundaries.
Sam Pack and the Proposed Pack Post Office
The earliest direct evidence concerning the name of Job comes from postal research compiled by Kentucky place-name scholar Robert M. Rennick.
According to Rennick’s notes, Sam Pack submitted an application for a new post office on May 12, 1903. The first name proposed for the office was “Pack,” apparently in reference to Pack himself or the Pack family living in the area. The proposed location stood on the west side of Lick Branch, at or near the branch’s junction with Rockcastle Creek. The application placed it approximately three miles west of the Calf Creek post office and six miles northeast of the Peach Orchard post office.
The post office was ultimately called Job rather than Pack. The surviving online summary does not explain why the proposed name was rejected or why Job was selected in its place. There may have been another Kentucky post office using the Pack name, or postal officials may have requested a substitute to prevent confusion. Without the complete application and correspondence, any explanation would remain speculation.
The original site report should survive among the United States Post Office Department’s reports of post office locations. These applications commonly recorded nearby roads, creeks, postal routes, railroad lines, neighboring offices, and the number of families expected to receive mail. Many also included a manuscript map drawn by the applicant or postmaster. The Job application should be located in National Archives Microfilm Publication M1126, Roll 226, which contains Kentucky records for counties from Martin through Mercer.
The appointment of Job’s postmasters should appear in National Archives Microfilm Publication M841, Roll 48. Those registers normally provide the official dates of establishment, appointments, replacements, name changes, discontinuance, and conversion to rural delivery. The records could identify the men or women who operated the office and reveal how long Job functioned as an independent postal community.
What a Post Office Meant to Job
The post office did not create the families who already lived along Lick Branch and Rockcastle Creek. It gave their neighborhood an official name.
In rural Appalachia, a post office could transform a loosely defined settlement into a recognized community. Letters, newspapers, government notices, pension documents, money orders, catalogs, and packages passed through the office. Residents began using the post office name when recording births, marriages, deaths, land transactions, and military service.
The office may have operated inside a general store or private residence, as many rural post offices did. The postmaster was often a merchant or landowner who could provide a public location where neighbors already gathered. Confirming the exact building used in Job will require the original postal site report, deeds, family photographs, and recollections from descendants.
Once the name appeared on postal records and maps, it became part of the public identity of western Martin County. Even residents living some distance from the office could describe themselves as being from Job because it was the name attached to their mail route and surrounding community.
Job Appears on the Map
Job was established firmly enough to appear on a Rand McNally map of Martin County published around 1911. The map places Job west of Inez and near Calf Creek, Peach Orchard, Milo, and other rural post office communities that once structured life across the county.
The map is important because it captures Martin County during the era when small post offices served as geographic anchors. Many communities shown on such maps were never incorporated. They consisted of a post office, store, church, school, mill, or collection of residences distributed along a creek.
Job’s appearance confirms that the name had moved beyond the original postal application. By the early twentieth century, mapmakers recognized it as one of the named places through which Martin County could be understood.
Older geological and county maps may help reconstruct the area before the Job name appeared. They can reveal roads, waterways, landowners, and neighboring settlements that existed before 1903. Later topographic maps can show how the community changed as schools consolidated, highways improved, and older buildings disappeared.
The Federal Surveyors Come Through Job
Between 1914 and 1916, federal surveyors traveled through eastern Kentucky establishing elevations and permanent benchmarks. Their work was published in the United States Geological Survey’s Spirit Leveling in Kentucky, Bulletin 673.
The surveyors recorded a benchmark approximately 425 feet east of the Job post office. They described the office as being near the road forks at the mouth of Lick Branch. A church stood nearby, on the east side of the branch and west of the road. The survey does not identify the church by name, but its presence demonstrates that organized religious life existed near the center of Job by the middle of the 1910s.
Continuing through the community, the surveyors reached the mouth of Little Lick Branch, where they noted a road crossing and a nearby store and dwelling. At Petercave Branch, they recorded another road fork. Farther along the route, they identified the residence of Mont Pack and a store building standing close to his home. Approximately 3.2 miles north of the Job post office, they passed a schoolhouse.
These brief technical descriptions provide one of the clearest surviving pictures of early Job. The post office stood near a road junction. A church occupied a nearby site. At least two stores served the surrounding population. Mont Pack’s residence was important enough to be used as a survey landmark. A schoolhouse provided education for children living farther along the route.
Job was not simply a name printed on a map. It was a functioning rural neighborhood.
Stores, Families, and Community Life
The stores mentioned in the federal survey probably served purposes far beyond selling food and household supplies. A country store could be a community’s informal center, especially when it also housed a post office.
Residents came to purchase flour, coffee, salt, tools, lamp oil, cloth, medicine, tobacco, and other goods that could not easily be produced at home. They exchanged news, collected mail, learned about county events, and discussed marriages, deaths, elections, crops, church meetings, and road conditions.
The reference to Mont Pack suggests the Pack family remained prominent in the community after Sam Pack submitted the postal application. Deeds, tax books, census schedules, probate inventories, and death certificates may reveal the family’s landholdings and business activities. They may also establish whether Mont Pack operated the nearby store or whether the store belonged to another merchant.
Other families associated with the surrounding area can be traced through cemeteries, marriage records, school registers, and church membership books. Family burial grounds such as the Dalton, Kirk, Bowen, Cassell-Baisden, and Cox cemeteries may preserve the names of generations who lived along the branches surrounding Job.
For communities without a formal archive, cemeteries often function as historical records written across the landscape. Their stones document family connections, infant deaths, military service, epidemics, migrations, and the long occupation of the valleys.
The Church Near the Post Office
The unnamed church recorded by the federal survey stood close to the Job post office and Lick Branch. Its location placed religious life near the community’s postal and commercial center.
Churches in rural Martin County were gathering places for worship, funerals, baptisms, revivals, weddings, association meetings, and community discussions. Membership books and minutes may record residents whose names do not appear prominently in government documents.
Rockcastle United Baptist Church is associated with the modern Job area, but additional records are needed before identifying it conclusively as the same congregation or building observed by the surveyors. Church deeds, association minutes, anniversary histories, cemetery records, and photographs could establish whether the congregation existed near the post office during the early twentieth century.
The distinction is important. Churches sometimes moved, divided, reunited, or changed names while continuing to serve the same families. The building seen by federal surveyors may have been an earlier structure connected to a congregation that survives under another name.
The Early Schoolhouse
The schoolhouse recorded approximately 3.2 miles north of the Job post office represents another important institution in the community’s early history.
Small rural schools were positioned so children could reach them on foot from nearby branches and hollows. A single teacher might instruct students of several ages in the same room. Attendance varied according to weather, road conditions, family labor, illness, and the demands of planting and harvesting.
The Martin County Board of Education’s minutes, school censuses, teacher registers, and property records may identify the schoolhouse noted in the survey. These records could reveal its official name, teachers, enrollment, building dimensions, heating system, textbook purchases, and eventual closure.
The early schoolhouse should not automatically be identified as Grassy School. Grassy School was constructed decades later, and the available records do not establish that the two buildings occupied the same property.
Grassy School and a New Generation
Grassy School became one of the most recognizable institutions associated with the later history of Job.
The school was constructed in 1961 and remained open for 41 years. Generations of children from Job and the surrounding branches attended classes there. In 2002, Grassy School and Tomahawk Elementary were consolidated to create Eden Elementary School.
The consolidation reflected larger changes occurring across eastern Kentucky. Improved roads and school bus transportation allowed county boards to replace small community schools with larger centralized facilities. The change offered access to newer buildings and expanded services, but it also removed institutions that had served as centers of local identity.
When Grassy School closed, Job lost more than a classroom building. Schools hosted ball games, ceremonies, holiday programs, elections, reunions, and public meetings. Former students remembered teachers, classmates, meals, playgrounds, and routines that connected individual families to the wider community.
The Martin County Fiscal Court later acquired the former school property with plans for Grassy Park. The building deteriorated, and portions of its roof collapsed. In 2024, the county received a $125,000 grant to address asbestos and lead contamination. Officials planned remediation and demolition, with hopes that the property could eventually support a community center. Reports published in early 2025 said demolition was expected to move forward that year.
The former school property therefore represents both loss and possible renewal. Even if the building cannot be saved, photographs, floor plans, school records, student lists, and oral histories can preserve its place in the history of Job.
The Changing Meaning of a Community Name
The disappearance of the post office and school did not immediately erase Job. Community names often survive because families continue using them, even after government agencies adopt larger mailing areas or emergency service addresses.
Modern residents may receive mail through Inez or another postal designation while still describing their homes as being in Job. Older road names, churches, cemeteries, branches, and family properties continue to preserve the community’s geography.
This difference between a mailing address and a historical place is common throughout Appalachia. A person can live within an Inez mailing area while belonging culturally and geographically to Job. The official address reflects the modern postal system. The older name reflects community memory.
The United States Geological Survey’s continued recognition of Job as an unincorporated populated place confirms that the name remains part of the geographic record.
What the Records May Still Reveal
Much of Job’s history remains recoverable.
The original postal application could contain a hand-drawn map of the proposed office site. Postmaster appointment registers could provide the names of those who operated the office. Deeds could identify the owners of stores, churches, and school properties. Census schedules could reconstruct families living along Lick Branch and Rockcastle Creek.
School records could name teachers and students. Church minutes could record baptisms, funerals, disputes, revivals, and membership changes. Mineral deeds and mine maps could show how coal development affected landownership and employment. Highway records could document bridges, road relocations, and buildings removed during construction.
The most valuable sources may remain in private hands. Family Bibles, funeral cards, letters, photographs, store ledgers, school pictures, and oral recollections could supply details absent from official records.
Each item may appear small by itself. Together, they could restore the people to a landscape currently preserved mainly through place names and government descriptions.
Remembering Job
Job was never a large town, but size is not the measure of historical importance.
Its history represents the experience of hundreds of Appalachian communities that grew around a creek, received a post office name, built stores and churches, educated children in local schools, and gradually changed as transportation and public institutions became centralized.
The 1903 postal application, the 1911 map, and the federal survey of the 1910s preserve Job during its formative years. They show a community connected by roads and waterways, with a post office at the mouth of Lick Branch, a church nearby, stores along the route, Mont Pack’s residence, and a schoolhouse farther north.
Grassy School carried that community identity into the second half of the twentieth century. Its closing in 2002 marked the end of another era, but not the end of Job itself.
The name survives in records, maps, cemeteries, churches, family stories, and the memories of those who attended school or lived along the surrounding branches. Job remains part of Martin County because its people continue to understand the valleys and roads around Rockcastle Creek as more than an address.
They are a community.
Sources & Further Reading
Marshall, Robert Bradford. Spirit Leveling in Kentucky, 1914 to 1916, Inclusive. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 673. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1918. https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/b673
United States Post Office Department. Post Office Department Reports of Site Locations, 1837–1950. Record Group 28, National Archives Microfilm Publication M1126, roll 226. National Archives and Records Administration. https://www.archives.gov/research/post-offices/locations-1837-1950.html
United States Post Office Department. Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832–September 30, 1971. Record Group 28, National Archives Microfilm Publication M841, roll 48. National Archives and Records Administration. https://www.archives.gov/research/post-offices/postmasters-1832-1971.html
Rennick, Robert M. “Martin County: Place Names.” County Histories of Kentucky. Morehead State University, 2000. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/kentucky_county_histories/243/
Rennick, Robert M. The Post Offices of Kentucky’s Big Sandy Valley: A Survey of the 341 Post Offices of Floyd, Johnson, Magoffin, and Martin Counties. Lake Grove, OR: The Depot, 1984. https://search.worldcat.org/title/12682191
Rennick, Robert M. Kentucky Place Names. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1984. https://www.kentuckypress.com/9780813101798/kentucky-place-names/
Morehead State University. “Robert M. Rennick Kentucky Place Name Collection.” ScholarWorks. Accessed July 13, 2026. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/robert_rennick_collection/
Martin County, Kentucky, Rufus Reed, and Robert M. Rennick. “Rufus Reed Interview, Part 1.” Robert M. Rennick Oral History Collection, July 4, 1971. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/rennick_oh_collection/208/
Martin County, Kentucky, Rufus Reed, and Robert M. Rennick. “Rufus Reed Interview, Part 2.” Robert M. Rennick Oral History Collection, July 4, 1971. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/rennick_oh_collection/207/
Works Progress Administration and Historical Records Survey. “Martin County.” County Histories of Kentucky. Morehead State University, 1936. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/kentucky_county_histories/43/
Works Progress Administration and Rufus Reed. “Martin County: Miscellaneous.” County Histories of Kentucky. Morehead State University, 1939. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/kentucky_county_histories/263/
Patera, Alan H., and John S. Gallagher. A Checklist of Kentucky Post Offices. Lake Grove, OR: The Depot, 1989. https://search.worldcat.org/title/20322199
McCarter, John G. Kentucky: A Postal History and Reference Guide, 1790–1985. 1985. https://www.philbansner.com/Philatelic-Literature/kentucky_a_postal_history_and_reference_guide_1790-1985/mccarter__john_g/
Rand McNally and Company. “Martin County, Kentucky.” Map, 1911. Reproduced by My Genealogy Hound. https://www.mygenealogyhound.com/maps/kentucky-maps/KY-Martin-County-Kentucky-1911-Rand-McNally-map-Inez-Warfield-Tomahawk.html
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. County Road Series Map: Martin County. 2006. https://transportation.ky.gov/Planning/Maps/Martin_cmap.pdf
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. “Historical Maps.” Accessed July 13, 2026. https://transportation.ky.gov/Planning/Pages/Historical-Maps.aspx
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Martin County General Highway Map. Accessed July 13, 2026. https://transportation.ky.gov/Planning/SPRS%20Maps/Martin.pdf
U.S. Geological Survey. “Geographic Names Information System.” Accessed July 13, 2026. https://www.usgs.gov/tools/geographic-names-information-system-gnis
U.S. Geological Survey. “Job, Martin County, Kentucky.” Geographic Names Information System, feature ID 508347. Accessed July 13, 2026. https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/summary/508347
U.S. Geological Survey. “TopoView: Historical Topographic Map Collection.” Accessed July 13, 2026. https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/
Kentucky Geological Survey. “KGS Interactive Map Services.” University of Kentucky. Accessed July 13, 2026. https://kygs.uky.edu/maps/
Kentucky Geological Survey. “KGS GeoPortal.” University of Kentucky. Accessed July 13, 2026. https://kgs.uky.edu/kgsmap/kgsgeoportal/kgsgeoportal.asp
Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet. “Mine-Permit Maps and Spatial Data.” Accessed July 13, 2026. https://eec.ky.gov/Natural-Resources/Mining/Mine-Permits/Pages/maps-spatial-data.aspx
Kentucky Mine Mapping Information System. “History and Mine Map Resources.” Accessed July 13, 2026. https://www.minemaps.ky.gov/Home/History
Martin County Clerk. “Records.” Accessed July 13, 2026. https://martin.countyclerk.us/records/
Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives. “Requesting Records from the Archives.” Accessed July 13, 2026. https://kdla.ky.gov/Archives-and-Reference/Pages/Records-Requests.aspx
National Archives and Records Administration. “1950 Census Records.” Accessed July 13, 2026. https://www.archives.gov/research/census/1950
National Archives and Records Administration. “Official 1950 Census Website.” Accessed July 13, 2026. https://1950census.archives.gov/
Kentucky Historical Society. “Finding Kentucky Place Names in Family History Research.” Accessed July 13, 2026. https://history.ky.gov/kentucky-ancestors/where-in-kentucky-is
University of Kentucky Libraries. “Kentucky Digital Newspaper Program.” Accessed July 13, 2026. https://saalck-uky.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?vid=01SAA_UKY%3AKDNP
Kentucky Virtual Library. “Kentucky Digital Library.” Accessed July 13, 2026. https://kdl.kyvl.org/
Library of Congress. “Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.” Accessed July 13, 2026. https://www.loc.gov/collections/chronicling-america/
University of Kentucky Libraries. “Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History.” Accessed July 13, 2026. https://libraries.uky.edu/locations/special-collections-research-center/louie-b-nunn-center-oral-history
Martin County Schools. “Martin County Schools.” Accessed July 13, 2026. https://www.martin.kyschools.us/
The Mountain Citizen. “Grassy School Fated for Demolition amid Asbestos and Lead Paint Concern.” September 27, 2023. https://mountaincitizen.com/2023/09/27/grassy-school-fated-for-demolition-amid-asbestos-and-lead-paint-concern/
The Mountain Citizen. “Martin County Secures Brownfield Grant to Clean Up Grassy School.” January 27, 2024. https://mountaincitizen.com/2024/01/27/martin-county-secures-brownfield-grant-to-clean-up-grassy-school/
WSAZ. “Dilapidated Former School to Be Demolished.” January 2, 2025. https://www.wsaz.com/2025/01/02/dilapidated-former-school-be-demolished/
Author Note: Job’s history survives in postal files, federal surveys, school records, and the memories of families along Rockcastle Creek. Readers with photographs, documents, or recollections of Job and Grassy School are encouraged to help preserve this community’s story.