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.