Oscar McAtee Grigsby -- Farmer Extraordinaire

 

Oscar and Irene Grigsby and family

Oscar McAtee Grigsby was born on June 8, 1914 in Trigg County, Kentucky, the son of John Garton Grigsby and Georgia Reid McAtee.  Both his parents were natives of Trigg County, his father being a descendant of Jemima Bridges Sholar and Drury Bridges.  Oscar grew up as a farmer’s son and as a youth attended Bethel School. He graduated from the eighth grade and then began his career as a lifetime farmer.

On December 11, 1937, when Oscar was 23 years old, he married Irene Gertrude Freeman. Irene was a native of Trigg County and the daughter of Lindsay Livingston Freeman and Elsie Diuguid who were also a family of farmers.  Oscar and Irene became the parents of four children, Clarence Ray, born in 1938; Lonnie Oscar, born in1939; Elsie Jean, born in 1946; and Perry Wayne, born in 1952.

After their marriage Oscar and Irene moved in with her parents on their farm. They lived on the Freeman farm until 1943 when they purchased the farm owned by Oscar’s great-grandfather who had settled there in 1855. Oscar and Irene began operating a Grade A dairy on the farm with the assistance of Oscar’s brothers.

In 1948, they sold their farm and bought a rundown farm located two miles south of Cadiz, Kentucky on highway 139.  Here they farmed 186 acres of land, continued to operate their Grade A dairy and later began raising beef cattle and sheep.  The land they purchased was so poor the previous owner had to buy hay to feed his cow, but soon this land became a model farm to which farmers from far and near came to see the fine things that were being done there.

The rundown farmstead began to undergo an immediate change with eradication of "briars, bushes and broom sedge." In 1947 the extension service enrolled the farm in the TVA test demonstration program. That program resulted in a high fertility program for Grade A milk production.  Oscar was committed to farm conservation and Its technical and applied use. He was among the first cooperators in the Trigg County Soil Conservation District program. In 1951 Oscar completed a conservation plan by accomplishing the following: installed complete tile drainage system on two fields; dug four ponds; constructed two miles of terraces; seeded 20 acres of forage crops and established 150 acres of pasture. The Grigsby farm became an example of what can be accomplished by .following a conservation plan. The Grigsbys turned a farm where animals once went hungry to one where 40 dairy cows and 30 heifers feasted dally. Where formerly you were lucky to harvest a half ton of hay per acre, Oscar was gathering three tons per acre. Tobacco yields jumped tremendously, corn production increased from 15 to 75 bushels per acre. Their herd of Jersey and Brown Swiss dairy animals reaped the harvest of productive land created by the Grigsby family.  An article in the Paducah Sun Democrat, on April 15, 1958 said that “The family is a shining example that farming efficiency can be attained by prudent use of technical and financial assistance available to all farmers today.”

On Sunday, February 13, 1977, Oscar was driving his 1965 Ford Mustang on highway 139. He was alone, except being accompanied by his dog.  He lost control of the car, ran off the road, went through a fence and into a pond.  Oscar was pinned in the vehicle beneath the pond.  He was dead upon arrival of the ambulance and his death was caused by drowning. Oscar was 62 years old at the time of his death.

Oscar was buried in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz, Kentucky.  Irene died on May 6, 2002 in Cadiz at the age of 83.  She was buried next to Oscar in the East End Cemetery.

 Oscar and Irene Grigsby Tombstone

LINEAGE:  (Oscar McAtee Grigsby was the son of John Garton and Georgia Reid McAtee Grigsby, grandson of John Ferguson and Mary Josephine Lawrence Grigsby and great-grandson of James Henry and Elizabeth Sholar Lawrence.  Elizabeth was the fifth child of Allen and Jemima Bridges Sholar.  Jemima was the first child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)

Starkie Armstead Thomas -- Founder of the Starkie Thomas Cemetery

 

 Starkie Armstead Thomas

Starkie Armstead Thomas was the tenth child and youngest son of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas.  He was born on November 20, 1844 in the Oak Grove community of Trigg County, Kentucky.  His father was a farmer and one of the seven children of James and Mary Standley Thomas.

Starkie Armstead married Inez “Mitt” Miller in Trigg County, Kentucky on February 23, 1881. At the time of their marriage Starkie A. was 36 years old and Inez was 25 years old.  Inez was of Spanish descend and was the sixth child and youngest daughter of John Lewis and Mary Ann Carloss Miller.  John Lewis had been born in Richmond, Kentucky and Mary Ann was a native of Dinwiddie County, Virginia.

Seven months after his marriage, Starkie Armstead’s father, Starkie died and he and his bride settled on his father’s farm where as the youngest son was responsible for the care of his widowed mother. Starkie Armstead lived his entire life on the farm where he was born and his parents lived.  He and Mitt had five daughters, Eunice Mae (1883- 1883), Lillie Jane (1884-1968), Martha Miller (1886-1981), Mary Ann (1890-1940), and Lena Armstead (1893-1981).

 In the division of the vast land holdings of his father,  Starkie Thomas’ estate, Starkie Armstead inherited the family’s home place and a large parcel of the surrounding land, much of which remains in the family today. Included in this inheritance was the family burying grounds which would in time be called the Starkie Thomas Cemetery. Starkie A. drafted a deed dated February 21, 1907, wherein he granted the cemetery to his brother “F. M. Thomas and all the heirs of the said Starkie Thomas for the purpose of securing it as a permanent family burying ground.” The only stipulation Starkie A. made in the deed was that an equal portion of the cemetery be reserved to him as grantor for his family. As dictated by the laws of the time, the deed includes language stating that Inez relinquished “her right of dowery” as part of the transfer of title. 

Records of the day and many personal accounts indicate that Starkie A. was an astute businessman and an upstanding citizen and neighbor. One must assume based on the date of the aforementioned deed and its filing date of September 6, 1907, that the gentleman knew he was in the final days of his life; he died at home just a few days after the filing on September 23, 1907 at the age of 62. Although her dowery rights granted Inez the right to remain in her marital home for the duration of her life, she would eventually move to Cadiz with her daughter Lena. Inez died at the age of 75 at Lena’s Main Street home on May 14, 1931.

Starkie Armstead and Inez were buried in the Starkie Thomas Cemetery; the cemetery he had ensured would be the permanent resting place for his beloved family.

 Starkie and Inez Thomas

LINEAGE:  (Starkie Armstead Thomas was the tenth 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.)

This leaf is based on an article appearing in the June 2022 issue of The Thomas-Bridges Newsletter, written by Thomas Harper, TBA Newsletter Editor.

Jemima Bridges Sholar -- Pioneer Matriarch of the Sholar Family

 

Jemima Bridges was the oldest child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.  She was born on October 12, 1795 on the plantation owned by Drury in the Tyancoca Swamp community in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. In 1804 when Jemima was nine years old, she along with her younger siblings, six-year old twins Selethia and Piety and younger brother, three-year old William migrated from North Carolina to Kentucky. The family settled down on a tract of land on Beechy Fork Creek in what is now Trigg County, Kentucky.  The family built a log cabin on the north side of the creek and two more children, Elizabeth and Mary, were born there.

On October 20, 1812, at the age of 17, Jemima married Allen Thomas Sholar; Allen was born in Bertie County, North Carolina on May 26, 1793.  Allen had also migrated to Kentucky in 1806 along with his cousin, Joshua Sholar and had settled in the eastern end of the Donaldson Creek valley. Allen was the son of Benjamin Sholar and Laodicea “Dicey” Thomas Sholar. Laodicea was the sister of James Thomas who migrated to Kentucky in 1806.  Benjamin and Laodicea were the parents of two other children in addition to Allen--Benjamin, Jr. and Sallie. Laodicea was also called Uredica in several recordings of the Sholar family history.

Jemima and Allen were the parents of eleven children who were the ancestors of the rather large Sholar family.  The children were: David or Davie Sholar, born in 1813; Polly Sholar, born in 1815; Sarah or Sallie Sholar, born in 1817; William Bridges Sholar, born in 1819; Elizabeth Sholar, born in 1821; Allen Thomas Sholar, Jr., born in 1823; Thomas J. Sholar, born in 1825; Emily Sholar, born in 1827; Alpha Gemima Sholar, born in 1829; Drewry Bridges Sholar, born in 1831 and Peyton Sholar, born in 1834.

All eleven children grew to adulthood and all but three of them married and had numerous descendants. Three of the siblings married into the Lawrence family.  No record has been found that Sarah, Allen, Jr., and Emily were ever married.

Jemima died on July 22, 1877 in Trigg County, Kentucky. She was buried in the James Thomas Cemetery located about 50 yards west of the original site of the Cullen Thomas home site on the south side of Donaldson Creek.  Her husband, Allen had died on January 29, 1853 in Trigg County and was also buried in the James Thomas Cemetery.

Tombstone of Jemima Bridges Sholar

LINEAGE: (Jemima Bridges was the first child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)

Velma Fay Bridges Hinson Green -- Arkansas to California Migrant Worker

 

Velma Fay Bridges Hinson Green

Velma Fay Bridges was born on August 11, 1914 in Viola, Fulton County, Arkansas.  She was the third child of William Stanley and Eva Rowena Haywood Bridges. William Stanley was a native of West Plains, Missouri and the grandson of Orren Dates Bridges who had migrated with his family from Trigg County, Kentucky to Missouri in the 1890s.  In 1905, William Stanley married Eva Rowena Haywood. Eva was a Cherokee Indian who was born in the Indian Territory in Oklahoma in 1885.  She was a small woman with long straight black hair that hung all the way down her back.

Velma had six siblings, a brother, Virgil Ray, born in 1907; a sister, Dahlia, born in 1911; a brother, Herman Freeman, born in 1915; a sister, Virna Marie, born in 1919; a brother, Eugene Paul, born in 1922 and a sister, Dorothy Agnes, born in 1924.

She grew up in Arkansas and only obtained a third grade education. On November 26, 1932, at the age of 18, she married Roaten Eugene Hinson, the son of a cotton farmer and a native of Logan County, Arkansas.  Velma and Roat, as he was known, both worked as sharecroppers working in the fields of Arkansas in the 1930.  Velma and Roat had four children, Sadie, Roaten, Jr., Kathron and Gwinn.

Life was very difficult for the Hinson family.  In was the middle of the depression, and they became what was known as “Oakies” or “Arkies. They worked their way across the country to California harvesting crops and working in the fields and living in migration camps. They drove a Model A Ford on their journey to California.

After arriving in California, they moved around the state working in the fields picking fruit, cotton, prunes and whatever they could to survive and feed their kids.  They finally got permanent jobs after the start of World War II working in defense plants.  They settled in Campbell, California and bought a small piece of land where they built a general store with a meat market and attached gas pumps.  The family lived upstairs over the store.

In the late 1940s, the Velma and Roat decided to sell their store and move back to Arkansas. They purchased a farm and began growing cotton.  Their children were especially happy living on the farm, but unfortunately the farm idea did not work out for the family.  So they sold the farm and returned to California.

Times were rough again for Velma and her family after they returned to California.  She and Roat were divorced and she had to work at several jobs to raise her four children. She finally got a job as a grocery checker and things improved for the family.  Velma then married her second husband, John Wesley Green. The family bought a home and settled in Campbell, California. Velma and John had one son, Jess Green, born in 1953.  A few years later, Velma and John were divorced.

Velma died on October 8, 1984 in Campbell, California at the age of 70.  She was buried in the Mission City Memorial Park in Santa Clara, California.

Velma Fay Bridges Hinson Green

 

Tombstone of Velma Fay Bridges Hinson Green

LINEAGE:  (Velma May Bridges was the daughter of William Stanley and Eva Rowena Haywood Bridges, granddaughter of John William “Buck” and Nancy Adeline Pugh Bridges, and great-granddaughter of Orren Dates and Mary Elizabeth Hixon Bridges.  Orren was the first child of William 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.)