Temperance Thomas was born on February 7, 1794 in Bertie County, North Carolina. She was the second child and oldest daughter of James and Mary Standley Thomas. She was twelve years old in 1806 when her family traveled from North Carolina to settle in Christian (now Trigg) County, Kentucky.
James Thomas and his wife Mary along with their six children settled into a one-room cabin made of white oak logs that James and his son Cullen built with the help of their neighbors. It was located at what is now the intersection of the Donaldson and Cadiz roads in southern Trigg County. Their youngest child Stanley was born in November after the family had arrived in Kentucky in July and was their only child born in Kentucky.
Temperance or “Tempy” as she was known did not have a very easy life. As the oldest daughter, it was her duty to help care for the younger children of the family as well as to help with the many household chores.
A few years later in 1812, two of Temperance’s first cousins, Ezekiel Thomas, Jr., and Luke Thomas from Bertie County, North Carolina came to live in Kentucky. Ezekiel, Jr. was born in 1792 and he and Luke were the sons of Ezekiel Thomas, Sr., a brother of James Thomas. On November 11, 1813, after having been accused of disgracing the family by becoming pregnant outside of wedlock, Temperance married her first cousin, Ezekiel Thomas, Jr.
Temperance and Ezekiel set up housekeeping in a log cabin on land which had been acquired by Ezekiel that was located about two miles from her parent’s cabin. On March 4, 1814, Temperance gave birth to a daughter whom she named Clarissa and they called her Clerry. Three years later on October 22, 1817, Temperance died at the young age of 23. She was buried a short distance from their cabin which is reported to be near the graves of the Futrell family members.
Her grave was never formally marked and today no one knows the exact location. The gravesite area has been completely obliterated by numerous cultivations on the site over the years. A memorial monument honoring Temperance was erected in the Peyton Thomas Cemetery in Trigg County by a group of her descendant nieces and nephews. The stone is engraved with the words, “Buried in unknown wilderness grave 1 mi. SE. Presented in loving memory by nieces & nephews August 1989”.
Three months after Temperance’s death, Ezekiel, Jr. married Abrilla Parry Standley, a first cousin of Temperance, on her mother’s side of the family. Around 1824, Ezekiel along with his brother, Luke and their families migrated to Tennessee and settled permanently in the Hico community in Carroll County. Ezekiel and his second wife, Abrilla, had nine children. There is no further trace of Clarissa, his daughter by Temperance, but it is believed that she accompanied the family to Tennessee. Some records indicate that Clarissa died in her childhood.
Ezekiel died on January 3, 1850 at the age of 58 and was buried in the Ezekiel Thomas Cemetery in Hico, Carroll County, Tennessee. The Ezekiel Thomas Cemetery contained an unknown number of his family. Unfortunately, the cemetery was bulldozed by a Huntingdon, Tennessee motorcycle dealer in the 1970s. None of the stones exist today and even the skeletal remains may have been disturbed.
Damaged Tombstone of Ezekiel Thomas, Jr.
LINEAGE: (Temperance Thomas was the second child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)
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