Clara Dell Gentry Lawrence -- Master Farm Homemaker

 

Clara Gentry Lawrence

Clara Dell Gentry Lawrence was born on November 6, 1937 in Trigg County, Kentucky, the fourth of five children born to Thomas Perry Gentry and Eliza Dell Hughes Gentry.  Her father was a farmer in the Oak Grove Community of Trigg County. Her siblings included one brother, Thomas Hughes born in 1925, and three sisters, Lillian Pearl, born in 1927 and died in infancy, Rachel Louise, born in 1931 and Mary Jo, born in 1939.

Clara attended schools in Trigg County and graduated from Trigg County High School in 1956. She went to work as a secretary and bookkeeper for the John Woodruff Construction Company in Cadiz where she worked for several years.  She later began a long career with the Trigg County Clerk’s Office. She eventually left that position to work for the Barkley Lake Water District where she worked until she retired.

On May 7, 1966, Clara married Ernest Ronald Lawrence, a Trigg County native and a local farmer. Ernest was born on September 22, 1938, the son of Clarence C. Lawrence and Jettie Bleidt Lawrence.  Clara and Ernest were the parents of one child, a daughter, Clara Elizabeth, born in 1969.

Although Clara worked as a secretary and bookkeeper for several organizations for many years, she was heavily involved in the daily operation of the family farm. Her husband, Ernest, along with his brother, Robert owned over 1,600 acres in the county and leased about 1,000 more known as the Lawrence Brothers Farm.  In addition, they owned the Lawrence Brothers Tobacco Warehouse in nearby Hopkinsville.  Clara worked as the bookkeeper for the farm and the tobacco warehouse.

In addition to being involved in the daily operation of the farm businesses, she was a charter member of the Town and Country Homemakers Club, serving as both treasurer and president of the Pennyrile Area Homemakers, and was a member of Kentucky's Master Farm Homemaker Guild. She served on the Trigg County Extension District Board and County Extension Council for many years, filling various offices. Her expertise as a homemaker on the farm was recognized in 1999 when she was selected as a Kentucky Master Farm Homemaker by the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture and the Kentucky Extension Homemakers Association. This honor is bestowed upon a select group of outstanding farm women from across the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Clara was also an organizing member of the James Thomas Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution as well as serving as a charter member of the Thomas-Bridges Association, serving in all offices throughout the years.

Clara Gentry Lawrence died on January 8, 2021.  She was buried in the Lawrence Cemetery in Trigg County, Kentucky.

 Clara Lawrence

LINEAGE:  (Clara Dell Gentry Lawrence was the daughter of Thomas Perry and Eliza Dell Hughes Gentry, granddaughter of Mason Hamilton and Mattie Pearl Thomas Hughes and great-granddaughter of Wesley Gunn and Eliza Henderson Thomas. Wesley was the sixth child of Stanley and Emily Ann Light Thomas. Stanley was the second child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas. Starkie was the fourth child of James Thomas and Mary Standley Thomas. Mary was the seventh child of Drury Bridges and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)

Walter Jagoe Nisbet -- Coal Miner

 

 

Walter Jagoe “Bud” Nisbet was born on July 6, 1872 in Hopkins County, Kentucky.  He was the second of four children born to William Alexander Nisbet and Nancy J. Jagoe. William was also a native of Hopkins County and Nancy had grown up in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. 

Walter made his home in Madisonville, Kentucky and on March 25, 1899, he married Cora Belle Head. They were the parents of one child, a son, William Alexander Nisbet, born on December 21, 1899. Unfortunately, Cora Belle died on July 18, 1900, leaving William with an infant child to raise.  William then met Emma Mills, the sister of former Madisonville County Judge William T. Mills.  Walter and Emma were married on November 30, 1905 in Earlington, Kentucky.  Emma was a native of Trigg County and was the daughter of John Richard Mills and Peachie Ann Thomas, both natives of Trigg County. Walter and Emma had no children of their own.

At an early age, Walter started out as a laborer in the coal mines in the Providence area of west Kentucky.  In 1891, the Providence Coal & Mining Company opened a slope mine which was the first commercial coal mine in Webster County, Kentucky.  Walter’s father who was a major stockholder in the company obtained Walter a job in the company.  Walter learned coal production the hard way—by digging, trapping, weighing and tipping coal.

Walter became very successful with the company and within a few months became a general manager. During his early years with the company he served as a civil engineer and electrician and designed many machines that were used for many years by the company.  After a few years, Walter became President of the company.  He designed plans for the company office and the Providence Coal & Mining store, which was built in 1879 and was declared to be the most modern building designs at the time.

On July 7, 1941, Walter died at his home in Providence at the age of 69 and at the time of his death he was the oldest active coal operator in western Kentucky, having spent 42 years actively engaged in coal mining. Walter was buried in the Grapevine Cemetery in Hopkins County.  Emma died on May 9, 1968 in Madisonville at the age of 89.  She was buried in the Grapevine Cemetery next to her husband.

Walter Nisbet Tombstone

Emma Mill Nisbet, wife of Walter

LINEAGE: (Walter Jagoe Nisbet was the husband of Emma Mills.  Emma was the daughter of John Richard and Peachie Ann Thomas Mills and granddaughter of William Bridges and Nancy Jane Rogers Thomas.  William Bridges was the first child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas.  Starkie was the fourth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas. Mary was the seventh child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)

Mary Grace Cunningham Thomas --Businesswoman and Sheriff

 

Mary Grace Cunningham Thomas

Mary Grace Cunningham was born on November 8, 1909 in Trigg County, Kentucky. She was the only child of “George Dab” Cunningham and Pocahontas Cunningham, both natives of Trigg County, Kentucky. Her father was a farmer in the county and her mother was a homemaker.

Mary Grace grew up in the Mershon’s Bridge community and graduated from Cadiz High School in 1927.  After graduating, she taught grades one through eight at Mershon’s Bridge’s one room school for a year.  On February 14, 1929, she married Luther T. Thomas.  Luther was the son of Wesley Gunn Thomas and Eliza L. Henderson. Wesley Gunn was a native of Trigg County’s Oak Grove community and Eliza had been born in Caldwell County, Kentucky.

Mary Grace and Luther settled in Cadiz where Luther was a salesman for Ford automobiles, and later became the owner of the Ford dealership for Cadiz as well as a Ford tractor and implement dealership.

Mary Grace and Luther became the parents of two sons, Luther Daniel Thomas, born in 1946 and George Wesley Thomas, born in 1949.

Luther also was involved in public service and politics, and had been elected Trigg County Tax Commissioner for four terms serving from 1933 to 1949.  In 1957, he was elected as Sheriff of Trigg County.  Near the end of his term as Sheriff in late September 1961, Luther was appointed by Governor Bert Combs as Warden of the Kentucky State Penitentiary at Eddyville. Mary Grace was appointed to serve out the remaining three months of his term as Sheriff.  She was only one of two women to ever serve as Trigg County Sheriff.

Mary Grace also worked, with her husband, in the Trigg County tax commissioner's office and in the family's Ford automobile and farm tractor and implement businesses in Cadiz. She was a well known and respected businesswoman in the community.

After her husband’s death in 1965, Mary Grace continued to oversee the operation of the family’s two farms and continued as a partner in Burke-Thomas Company, the family tractor and implement dealership until 1983.

Mary Grace died on June 12, 2005 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  She was buried next to her husband in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz.

 Luther and Mary Grace Thomas

 Tombstone of Luther and Mary Grace Thomas

LINEAGE: (Mary Grace Cunningham was the wife of Luther Thompson Thomas.  Luther was the son of Wesley Gunn and Eliza L. Henderson Thomas, grandson of Stanley and Emily Ann Light Thomas, and great-grandson of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas.  Starkie was the fourth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.  Mary was the seventh child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges)

Ida Light Bridges -- Grocery Lady

 

Ida Light Bridges

Ida Crutchfield Light was born on May 21, 1904 on a farm in the Oak Grove community of Trigg County, Kentucky.  She was the youngest of fourteen children born to John J. Light and Emily Catherine Thomas Light.  Ida had a twin sister, Ada Litchfield Light who lived only a few weeks and died on June 9, 1904.  Ida’s siblings were Mattie Patterson Light, born in 1879; John Wesley Light, born in 1882; William S. “Little Billy” Light, born in 1885; James Samuel Light, born in 1886; Francis Herbert Light, born in 1889; Elzie Bertram Light, born in 1890; Annie Light, born 1892; Lucy Nora Light, born in 1894; Robert Thomas Light, born in 1896; Mamie Adeline Light, born 1898; Starkie Light, born in 1900; Ethel Light, born in 1902.  

Even though born into a large family, Ida did not live in a large household as several of hers siblings died in their childhood and the older siblings were married.  Her father, John J. Light, died before she reached the age of one.  She always referred to her older brother, John Wesley Light, a bachelor, as her father figure.

On November 13, 1921, a Friday the thirteenth, she always recalled, she married Peyton Thomas Bridges at the courthouse in Clarksville, Tennessee. Pate, as he was known, was the son of Ghent Alfred Bridges and Nettie Cunningham Bridges. Ida was only 17 when she married.  Ida and Pate had four children,  A son, born in 1922, named Alfred Wesley after her father-in-law and her brother, died at the age of four in 1926 from diphtheria.  Their three other children were Chester Keidell Bridges, born in 1925, Juanita Katherine Bridges, born in 1929 and Charles Kenneth Bridges, born in 1944.
Ida and Pate lived in the Maple Grove community of Trigg County during the early years of their marriage.  Pate worked as a salesman for several companies during those early years and Ida was a housewife.

In the early 1940’s Ida and Pate moved to Cadiz, Kentucky and started on two careers.  Pate began operating a grocery truck where he delivered groceries throughout the county which was known as a rolling grocery, a self-contained vehicle where customers could select what they wanted from the stock.  In addition, they opened a restaurant in downtown Cadiz, known as the Bridges Café.  It was at the café, that Ida entered the workforce.  She was responsible for all aspects of the restaurant operations including the kitchen and the customers. She worked a waitress and as the chief cook.
 In the late 1940s, the Bridges’ gave up the operation of the restaurant and opened a small grocery store on Jefferson Street near downtown Cadiz. This was one of several small grocery stores that were located throughout the small town of Cadiz at the time.  One main difference of this grocery store was that it was the base store for Pate’s rolling grocery business where he daily restocked his grocery truck from the grocery store.  

Miss Ida or Miss Ida-Pate as she was known became the main operator of the Bridges Grocery store.  She ran all operations of the grocery, from stocking grocery products to being the chief sales clerk for the store.  After her husband died in 1962 she continued to operate the grocery store and all its operations without the rolling grocery element, until she retired in 1967 when the grocery closed.  During those years as a “grocery lady” she was well known in the community and especially liked by the kids in the neighborhood who stopped by the grocery store on their way to and from school, located just a block away, to warm up by the pot-bellied stove and buy candies and goodies from Miss Ida-Pate.  During that time, all grocery stores were closed on Sunday, but many times, Miss Ida-Pate would receive a knock on her house next door, asking if she could open the store so they could get that needed loaf of bread or quart of milk. Miss Ida-Pate always welcomed those Sunday customers.

Ida Light Bridges died on April 12, 1985 at a nursing home in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  She was buried next to her husband in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz, Kentucky,

Ida as a waitress at the Bridges Cafe

 

Ida and Peyton Bridges

 

Peyton and Ida Bridges Tombstone

LINEAGE:  (Ida Crutchfield Light was the daughter of John J. and Emily Catherine Thomas Light and the granddaughter of Stanley and Emily Ann Light Thomas. Stanley was the second child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas.  Starkie was the fourth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.  Mary was the seventh child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)

NOTE:  This leaf is published on this Mother’s Day Weekend 2022 in honor of my mother, Ida Light Bridges, who taught me to love and honor my wonderful Thomas and Bridges family.  It is with her inspiration that I am able to write this blog.   "I love you, Mama!"