William and Mary Thomas Bridges’ oldest child, Orren Dates (pronounced Day-teez) was born June 27, 1821 in Trigg County, Kentucky. He was named for William's only brother who died in North Carolina before the family migrated to Kentucky.
On May 27, 1852, Orren--often referred to as "Uncle Iron" or just "Arny" married Mary Elizabeth Hixon, daughter of John and Elizabeth Hixon of Trigg County. He was member of the Masonic Lodge at Canton, Kentucky. During a revival in 1871, both became members of Donaldson Creek Baptist Church. They were parents of twelve children, four boys and eight girls.
In the early days of their marriage, Orren and his wife Elizabeth lived on what then known as the Middleton "Mid" Francis place located in a little valley extending north from the beech Fork Creek Valley near Little Spring. Their home was a big log house on top of a range of hills. Later, they moved into a new frame house Orren built in the valley.
In the 1870's Orren sold that farm and acquired another a few miles away in the Craig's Branch community on the south side of Donaldson Creek. He lived there until the late 1890s, at which time, his wife and all their children except two married daughters, packed their belongings and migrated west to Howell County, Missouri, where lived the remainder of his life. An obituary in the then Kentucky Telephone newspaper at Cadiz and written by Cullen Bridges, Orren's youngest brother, stated that he had been ill for almost a year, and death was "due to kidney trouble and other complications." He died in Howell County April 27, 1904 at the age of eighty-three, and is buried in the Fowler Cemetery near Caulfield, Missouri. The account also said that he had 70 grandchildren and twelve great grandchildren -- 82 living descendants. His wife Elizabeth died March 11, 1912, at age eighty, and is buried in the town cemetery at Koshkonong, in adjoining Oregon County, Missouri. His grave is marked, but hers is not, so a descendant said.
Their children were: Martha Caroline, James R., John William, Mary Adeline, Sarah Augusta, Peachie Elizabeth, Orren S., Susan Jane, Charity Aurora, Eliza, Drewry T., and Jennie B. The children eventually married and settled in that area of Missouri, in adjoining Arkansas and in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). Their descendants today are scattered throughout the United States from Florida to California. Mary Adeline who married Cornelius Sholar, and Augusta, who married Wade D. "Brunk" Miller, were the two daughters who remained in Trigg County.
By Edison Thomas, The TBA Newsletter, July 2002.
THE LINEAGE:
(Orren Dates Bridges was the first child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges. William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges. Mary Thomas was the fifth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)
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