Cullen Thomas --Early Trigg County Pioneer

 

Cullen Thomas was born on August 21, 1791 in Bertie County, North Carolina, the first child of James Thomas and Mary “Mollie” Stanley (Standley) Thomas.  Cullen was 15 years old when he and his family crossed the Appalachian Mountains and settled into what was known then as Christian County, Kentucky, later to become Trigg County. James had acquired about 200 acres in the Donaldson Creek valley and built a cabin which became the teenage years home for Cullen.

 On January 31, 1812, when Cullen was 20 years old, he made the long trek on horseback in the middle of winter to Hopkinsville.  There at the county clerk’s office he obtained a marriage license.  Apparently Cullen was in no hurry as it wasn’t until February 27, 1812 that he married Elizabeth Futrell, a young lady who lived next door on an adjoining farm.  Elizabeth was the daughter of Thomas and Sarah Bittle Futrell who had migrated to the Donaldson Creek area from Northampton County, North Carolina.  She had been born in 1790.

Cullen and Elizabeth built their own cabin on the south side of Donaldson Creek about a half mile from his father’s cabin.  Over the years, Cullen expanded his land to about 1,000 acres. Cullen and Elizabeth had five children, Alfred Thomas, born in 1813; Mary Thomas, born in 1817; Peyton Thomas, born in 1820; James Thomas, born in 1826 and Emeline Thomas, born in 1828. Alfred died at the age of 19 and had no children. Mary died at the age of 8.  James died at the age of  35, but he too never married and had no children.  Peyton lived to the age of 70 and married Sarah Ethridge and they had 10 children. Emeline, married Thomas Allison Vinson and had three children.  She died at the age of 24.  Peyton and Emeline provided many descendants of the Thomas family.

On March 8, 1844 Cullen’s wife, Elizabeth died at the age of 54.  The following year on August 7, 1845, Cullen married his second wife, Drucilla Carter.  Drucilla was born on August 11, 1810 in Virginia.  Cullen and Drucilla had two sons, William, born in 1846 and died at the of 4 and John Cullen who was born in 1851 and died at the age of 9 months.

Cullen was a farmer but he was very active in public service.  He served as a justice of the peace and was the oldest justice in the county at the time of his death.  A local newspaper published in Cadiz during the 1880’s had this comment on Cullen Thomas ; “He was a gentleman of considerable weight of character, very popular in his neighborhood, and as hospitable as a village landlord.”

Cullen died on June 8, 1862 at the age of 70.  He was buried in the James Thomas Cemetery  which was just west of his original home place on the south side of Donaldson Creek.  Both of his wives, Elizabeth and Drucilla are buried nearby in the cemetery.  Drucilla married William Kennedy after Cullen’s death and died on May 23, 1894.

Tombstone of Cullen Thomas

LINEAGE:  (Cullen Thomas was the first child of of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)

John Anthony Henneberger -- Banker and Businessman

 

 

John Anthony Henneberger

John Anthony Henneberger was born on September 4, 1923 in Mount Carmel, Illinois, the youngest child of Lawrence Francis Henneberger and Elmima van Dyke Utter Henneberger. He had two brothers, Francis James, born in 1910 and Robert Lawrence, born in 1913 and a sister, Virginia, born in 1912. His father was a successful businessman serving as a president of an ice and storage company and president of a bank and trust company.

John attended St. Mary’s Elementary School, Mt. Carmel High School and Culver Military Academy. He was a student at the University of Notre Dame in 1941 and after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he transferred to Indiana University where he joined the Army ROTC with a goal of joining the Army Air Corps.  John graduated from Indiana University with an A.B. degree in government and In November of 1942 he enlisted in the Army Air Corp.  He flew the P-51 Mustang, a long-range, single-seat fighter bomber.  As a pilot of a fighter bomber, he cheated death many times, but cheated death again in his twenties when he was involved in a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer truck. That accident left him paralyzed for six months.

After the war, John joined with his brother Bob and opened a popular Sports Center store on the main street of Mt. Carmel.  The business sold not only sports and scouting equipment, bikes, trains, toys, dolls, guns and boats, but many of the major appliances that had been in short supply during the war.  In the 1950s, they sold the store and John went to work with his father at Henneberger Services, Ice & Fuel Company, the oldest coal and home fuel distributor in Indiana.

In 1956, John met a young lady from Kentucky, Freida Bleidt Lawrence, who had moved to Mt. Carmel to teach in the local high school.  Freida had received her B. S. degree in business education from Murray State College and taught business classes at the high school. He proposed to her just three weeks after they met and they were married on June 22, 1957 in the parsonage of the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  John and Freida were married for 60 years at the time of his death.

In 1968, John’s father retired from the Security Bank & Trust Company of Mt. Carmel, a bank that he had co-founded and run for many years. Upon his father’s retirement, John joined the bank’s board of directors and went on to become president, CEO and chairman of the board. He served for 27 years with the bank before his retirement.

John was a proud and occasionally loud conservative.  He often stayed up late discussing politics with his siblings.  He chaired many local GOP committees and was active in and passionate about the right-to-life movement.  His favorite president was Ronald Reagan whom he had met when he was a student at Notre Dame when Reagan was starring in the movie, “Knute Rockne, All –American”.

John and Freida were the parents of three children. They had two daughters, Melinda Bleidt Henneberger, born in 1958 and Joane Drake Henneberger, born in 1961.  Their only son, John Lawrence Henneberger, who was born in 1963, was killed at the age of 16 in a motorcycle accident.

John died on July 18, 2017 in Evansville, Indiana.

 

 

 

John and Freida Lawrence Henneberger

LINEAGE:  (John Anthony Henneberger was the husband of Freida Bleidt Lawrence.  Freida is the daughter of Clarence Colley and Jettie Bleidt Lawrence, granddaughter of James Robert and Lucy Rebecca Mize Lawrence and great-granddaughter of William Allen and Margaret Jane Thomas Lawrence.  Margaret was the fourth 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 and Mary Standley Thomas.  Mary was the seventh child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)

William Joseph Bridges -- Early Trigg County Citizen

 

William Joseph Bridges

William Joseph Bridges was born on August 5, 1850 in the Maple Grove community of Trigg County, Kentucky.  He was the first of nine children of Simco N. Bridges and Emeline Martin Bridges. Simco, born in 1825 and Emeline, born in 1830 were both natives of Trigg County.  Bill’s siblings include Sarah, born in 1852; Mary Drucilla, born in 1854; Alfred Franklin, born in 1857; Morgan Hopson, born in 1859; John W., born in 1862; Peachie Ann, born in 1864; Louella E. born in 1865 and Nannie Adeline, born in 1872.

On December 24, 1872, Bill married Sarah Wills. Sarah was the daughter of Joe P. and Harriet Duncan Wills. Joe had been born in Virginia and had moved to Mississippi and Harriet was born in Tennessee.  They had become residents of Trigg County.  They subsequently moved back to Mississippi and Joe died there right after the Civil War.

Bill and Sarah were the parents of ten children, Cornelius Neal, born in 1873; Robert Lee, born in 1876; Luther Edward, born in 1879; Julia Belle, born in 1881; Emma Skaggs, born in 1884; Joseph Franklin, born in 1886; Lemuel Porter, born in 1889; Harriet Divinia, born 1892; Grace Mae, born 1896 and Ora Lee, born in 1899. All but one of their children grew to adulthood and produced a large number of Bridges descendants who grew up primarily in Trigg County.  Their young son, Lemuel Porter died of pneumonia at the age of 5.  Because of a snow and the impassability of the roads, Lemuel was buried on a farm where they lived in the Minton Community near where the old Cadiz radio station was located.

Bill was a sharecropper and he and his family lived on several farms in Trigg County. Records indicate the family lived in Canton, Linton, Montgomery, South Cadiz and other Trigg County locations. When the children were young, they lived in the Oak Grove Community on what was the Alf Thomas farm.  Bill served as a Magistrate in Trigg County from 1910 till 1913.

On June 29, 1909, Sarah, who was in good health, at the time, left her home to gather vegetables in the garden for dinner.  When she did not return to the house after a reasonable length of time, the children went to the garden to search for her.  She was found on the ground in the garden.  A doctor was summoned but it was too late. It was believed that a heart condition was the cause of her death.  She was 55 at the time of her death.

After Sarah had died and the children were married and left the home, Bill became a door-to-door salesman selling Watkins products.  He died on July 1, 1945 at the age of 94.  He and Sarah were buried in the Lawrence Cemetery in Trigg County.

William J. Bridges at 92 in 1942

Tombstone of William and Sarah Bridges

LINEAGE:  (William Joseph Bridges was the son of Simco N. and Emeline Martin Bridges.  Simco was the third child of William Bridges and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.  Mary was the fifth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)

Philomela Kay Thomas -- Killed by "Unloaded" Gun

 

Philomela Kay Thomas was born on February 16, 1941 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, the daughter of  Hulan Henry Thomas and Margaret Harrell Thomas. Both of her parents were natives of Trigg County, Kentucky.  She had one older brother, Hulan Glyn Thomas who was born in 1934.  In addition, she had four half siblings all older than her from her father’s marriage to his second wife, Joyce Dean Robertson.  They were Faye Thomas, born in 1948, Stanley Gerald Thomas, born in 1950, Maurice Wayne “Butch” Thomas, born in 1954 and Michael Lynn Thomas, born in 1963. 

In 1948, Kay lived with her mother about two miles east of Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  Her father, Hulan, lived at the time in nearby Russellville, Kentucky.  On the afternoon of August 31, 1948, Margaret was at work at nearby Hopkinsville and Kay was apparently alone at her home where she was playing a game of “cowboys and Indians” with a neighborhood boy, Billy Vinson.  Billy was 13 years old and was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Vinson.  Kay was wearing a bracelet which Billy said he wanted, but she would not give it to him. The young man then obtained a .410 gauge shotgun and playfully pointed it toward the girl and demanded the bracelet.  When she did not give him the bracelet, he pulled the trigger of the shotgun and the charge from the gun went through the girl’s head.   Kay died instantly in the yard. She was seven years old at the time.  The County Judge James E. Higgins paroled the young man to the custody of his father, Earl Vinson, pending an investigation of the shooting. 

A coroner’s jury met on the following day, September 1, and returned a verdict of accidental death. The jury ruled that the “unloaded” gun was fired accidentally by Billy Vinson after he had playfully demanded a bracelet that she was wearing. The boy told Sheriff Lance Futrell that he did not know that the gun was loaded.

 Funeral services were conducted on the same day that the coroner’s jury made  its ruling and Kay was buried in the Flat Lick Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery near Herndon, Kentucky. Her tombstone erroneously states she died on September 1, 1948, but all death records indicate she died on August 31.

Tombstone of Philomela Kay Thomas

LINEAGE:  (Philomela Kay Thomas was the daughter of Hulan Henry and Margaret Harrell Thomas, granddaughter of Stanley Dyer and Willie E. Hite Thomas and great-granddaughter of William Henry and Sidney Dyer Thomas.  William Henry was the third 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 and Mary Standley Thomas.  Mary was the seventh child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)

Joshua Stewart Meadows -- Killed in the Afghanistan War

 

Captain Joshua Meadows

Joshua Stewart Meadows was born on June 9, 1979 In Austin, Texas. He was the youngest child of Robert Read Meadows and Jan Ellen Hultberg.  His only sibling was his older sister Erin Read Meadows who was born in 1977.  His father was a rancher, a builder and a pilot who raised his two children in his beloved central Texas. Robert had served in the Marine Corps and had fought in the Vietnam War.

Josh’s family moved from Austin to Elgin, Texas where Josh graduated from Elgin High School in 1997. He was an Eagle Scout and earned his private pilot's license at the age of 16.  Josh’s desire to be a Marine like his father caused him to sign up for the Marine Corps on May 27, 1997 even before he graduated from high school.  He was on active duty after graduation and reported to boot camp in San Diego.  In January 1998, he enrolled at Texas Tech University where he earned a business degree. While at Texas Tech, he served in a reserve unit and was trained as a Pilot UH-IN Qualified. Upon his graduation from the university he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in December of 2001 and was designated as a naval aviator in March 2004.

On August 14, 2004, Josh married Angela Foster in Midland, Texas.  Josh had met Angela while they were both students at Texas Tech. Angela was born on September 18, 1978 in San Angelo, Texas, the daughter of Wayland Lee Foster and Debra Wynn McClure.

As a military family, Josh and Angela settled in Carlsbad, California where Josh was assigned to Camp Pendleton, California, where he served for more than five years and flew Huey helicopters. He had been deployed overseas several times throughout his military career. In August of 2008, Meadows was the lead Marine Corps Huey helicopter pilot seeing action in the Gulf of Aden in an operation that prevented a pirate attack on the Gem of Kilakarai, a Singapore cargo ship. Marines with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, were deployed aboard the USS Peleliu provided aerial support and explosive ordnance disposal during the mission.

He had reached the rank of Captain and in November of 2008 he was assigned to the 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command and his unit was assigned to duty in Afghanistan.

On Saturday, September 5, 2009, Josh who was 30 years old was killed while supporting combat operations in the western Afghanistan province of Farah, near the Iranian border in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He died from wounds sustained during a firefight. No other details were released by the U. S. Defense Department on the circumstances surrounding his death. He was two weeks away from returning home, and his wife, Angela, was waiting for his return to tell him whether the baby she was carrying was a boy or a girl.

Jeff Carter, president at Prosperity Bank in Elgin, said he has known the Meadows family for 25 years, and that Josh was deeply committed to his life as a Marine. "He was just a very polite young man, very 'Yes, sir, No, sir,'" Carter said. "He was also just a committed individual. Some people join the military, and it's just a job. But he approached it like it was his destiny. He really felt a sincere duty to serve his country." 

Josh was laid to rest in Greenwood, Texas, a small community south of the Midland/Odessa area.

Josh and Angela Meadows

Medals of Josh Meadows

LINEAGE: (Joshua Stewart Meadows was the son of Robert Read and Jan Ellen Hultberg Meadows, grandson of Henry Edward and Read Thomas Meadows, great-grandson of Claude William and Susan Martin Moore Meadows.  Susan was the seventh child of Thomas Oscar and Sarah Adelie Thomas Moore.  Sarah was the third child of Stanley and Sarah Thompson Rothrock.  Stanley was the seventh child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)