Clifford Ray Sumner -- A Man of Many Jobs

 

Clifford Ray Sumner

Clifford Ray Sumner was born on September 11, 1912 on a farm in Arditta, Howell County, Missouri, the second child of ten children born to William Stanley Sumner and Frankie May Wilson.  William Stanley was a grandson of Orren Dates Bridges, who was born in Trigg County, Kentucky. Ray grew up on the family farm and attended a one-room school in Cureall, Missouri.

For two years prior to finishing high school, Ray hopped aboard freight trains and travelled over the country, working for his meals and lodgings and enjoyed new places and adventures. 

In 1934, Ray joined the U.S. Army where he was stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma from boot camp until his discharge as a master sergeant in 1937. Upon leaving the military, Ray married Frances Maurine Sullivan on July 11, 1937. Their son, Tommy Ray Sumner was born in 1938 and they had a daughter, Carole Ann Sumner, born in 1946.

When World War II began, Ray was recalled to his regiment where he served in Africa, Italy, France and Germany.  Ray was a top ranking NCO and was promoted to Second Lieutenant during the end of his military tour. 

After the war, Ray and his family settled in Bristow, Oklahoma where he opened a grocery store. However, Ray soon tired of working inside, so he and his father-in-law sold the store and moved both of their families to Costa Mesa, California in 1946. Ray, along with his brother-in-law owned a boat manufacturing company. After several years, business was slow and they changed from building boats to building kitchen cabinets and the business flourished.  In 1951, Ray left the manufacturing business and went to work for the Metcalf Company who built large commercial buildings. One of Ray’s favorite assignments was the building of the Prudential Insurance Building on Wilshire Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles.

The day after the completion of the insurance building, Ray left the construction company and moved his family to Yucca Valley, California.  There Ray worked as a general contractor building houses.  In March of 1960, Ray took a job as a building inspector for San Bernardino County.  Fourteen months later, he received a job offer to work as a construction superintendent for Homestead Supplies in Banning, California.  This job required a lot of travel and in 1963 Ray went back to working for himself as a general contractor. That same year he and his wife Maurine were divorced.  He later met Mary Ann Miller, whom he married on December 7, 1968 in Los Angeles.  Ray and Mary moved to Baldwin Park, California where he worked in the switch room for General Telephone. After five years, he was unhappy working inside again, so he and Mary moved to Big Bear, California where they both worked for Homestead Supplies.  In 1976, Ray and Mary were divorced.

Ray married his third wife, Hazel Huff Baxter on April 5, 1980.  On March 10, 1982 Ray and Hazel were riding their Harley Davidson motorcycle when they were involved in a traffic accident.  Ray sustained a massive brain injury and was in a coma for five months.  After he regained consciousness, he was allowed to return home.

Ray did well until the summer of 1986 when he slowly regressed by not talking or being able to walk.  In October of 1986 Ray was put into a convalescent center in Yucca Valley.

Later that year, Ray caught pneumonia and died in his sleep on December 20, 1968 at the age of 74 years.  He was buried in the Joshua Tree Memorial Park in Joshua Tree, California. His wife, Hazel, died in 2007 and was buried next to him.

Tombstone of Ray and Hazel Sumner

Ray, Maurine and son, Tommy

 Ray and his third wife, Hazel, in the 1980s

LINEAGE:  (Clifford Ray Sumner was the son of William Stanley and Frankie May Wilson Sumner, the grandson of Aaron Cornelius and Martha Caroline Bridges Sumner and the great-grandson 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 Cahoon Bridges.  Mary was the fifth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)

Dustin Roe Mayer -- Cowboy

 

Dustin Roe Mayer

Dustin “Dusty” Roe Mayer was born on a Sunday morning, June 26, 1983 in Greenfield, Massachusetts, one of the few members of this family born in New England.  He was one of the two children born to Loren Roe Mayer and Mary Elizabeth Cantrell. His only sibling, Molly Anne, was born in 1981.  His father, Loren was a native of Greenfield.   His mother, however, was a native of Tarrant County, Texas and was a descendant of Allen Sholar and Jemima Bridges.

Dusty spent his early years in New England.  When he was five years old, he and the family moved to Roy, New Mexico.  It was there that his fascination with the cowboy life began. The family moved for a short time to Houston, Texas, but moved back to Roy where Dusty completed his high school.  After completing his education, Dusty would never leave northern New Mexico again.

In high school, Dusty learned to play the trombone, was active on the soccer team, was a Boy Scout and attained a brown belt in judo. But mainly his high school days were filled with rodeos and bull-riding and he adopted and embraced the hard work required of an American cowboy.

In 2005, Dusty married Jessica de Baca and they moved to the Ojo Feliz Ranch, located near the community of Wagon Mound, New Mexico.  While living on the ranch, they became the parents of their three children, Jasper, Parker and Scarlett.  At the ranch, Dusty worked as his lifelong profession, a cowboy. In addition, Dusty continue to participate in rodeos, primarily working in the rodeo sport of bull riding. Dusty enjoyed working with leather crafts and had learned the art of saddle making. He was a great lover of animals, especially his horses and cattle, and he felt most at home outdoors.  While working on the ranch, he was responsible for gathering, branding and shipping many a head of cattle.
Dusty was an active member of the New Mexico Maverick Club.  The Maverick Club was the sponsor of quintessential small-town Fourth of July rodeos since 1923.  Dusty participated in a series of riding and roping contests derived from the working skills of the American cowboy.  

On Sunday morning, June 2, 2019, Dusty lost his life doing what he loved.  While working as a cowboy. Dusty’s horse fell on him as he was riding at the ranch in Ojo Feliz, New Mexico.  Dusty was only 35 years old at the time of his death and left behind three young children, Jasper 13, Parker 9, and Scarlett 5.

Dusty was buried in the Roy Cemetery in Roy, New Mexico.

LINEAGE: (Dustin Roe Mayer was the son of Loren Roe and Mary Elizabeth Cantrell Mayer, grandson of William Allen and Joyce Laree Hobbs Cantrell and great-grandson of William Emory and Vida Viola Vinson Cantrell.  Vida was the daughter of Jesse Allen and Elizabeth Sims Vinson.  Jesse was the first child of Thomas Allison and Alpha Gemima Sholar Vinson. Alpha was the ninth child of Allen and Jemima Bridges Sholar.  Jemima was the first child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)

Lindsay D. Thomas -- Military Air Crash Casualty

 

Lindsay D. Thomas

Lindsay D. Thomas was born on October 25, 1911 in Trigg County, Kentucky in the Pleasant Hill community which is located in what is now known as the Land Between the Lakes. He was the only son of Edward “Edd” Clark Thomas and his wife, Augusta “Gustine” Arbell Thomas.  He had two sisters, Edna Lucille Thomas born in 1909 and Ambie Marie Thomas, born in 1918.  When Lindsay was young, his parents moved to the Donaldson Creek community in Trigg County. It was on Donaldson Creek where Lindsay grew to maturity.

Lindsay was known as a carefree young man He was a talented guitar player and loved to sing county-western songs.  During his twenties he worked at many jobs including being a waiter, a cook, and a partner in a restaurant and even a gold miner.  

Lindsay had moved to Cripple Creek, Colorado and was a young man of only 30 when World War II began.  In July of 1942, he entered the United States Navy where he became a gunner’s mate.  He was assigned to the Navy Air Force and was subsequently sent to the South Pacific Theater where he was involved in several major battles against the Japanese.  His assignments included duty at Pearl Harbor, Wrigley Island, and other islands.

After the war ended Lindsay returned to the United States in 1945 and was assigned to the United States Navy Air Station at Whidbey Island located in the Puget Sound, south of Seattle, Washington. Lindsay was the rank of Aviation Ordnanceman, first class (AOM 1/c) and was responsible for the maintenance of aviation ordnance equipment. He also served as an instructor at the Air Station.

On the evening February 14, 1945, Lindsay was aboard a Navy plane that was making a routine night training flight in the Puget Sound area near the town of Arlington, Washington  The plane was apparently circling an airfield trying for a landing when it crashed into the side of a nearby mountain.  The bodies of the eight officers and men aboard the plane were recovered but their bodies were so badly burned that exact identification of the men was impossible.

Due to the lack of identification, all eight men on the flight were buried together in a joint grave at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California.  A memorial service was held for the men at the Naval Air Station at Whidbey Island on February 18, 1945.  Another memorial service was held on February 25, 1645 at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Shelton, Washington.  From there the bodies were sent under military escort to the cemetery in California.  Burial at the gravesite was made with full military honors. A common headstone was erected at the gravesite bearing the names of all the men who died in the crash.

In addition to the tombstone at the Golden Gate National Cemetery, a separate tombstone to honor Lindsay Thomas was erected near his parents’ graves in the Peyton Thomas Cemetery in the Donaldson Creek community. The Inscription on the tombstone reads “Killed in the line of duty, U. S. Navy, buried at San Bruno, California.”  The tombstone also has the name of his older sister, Ambie M., who died of influenza on February 16, 1937 at the age of 18.

Lindsay Thomas tombstone in the Golden Gate Cemetery in California

 

Lindsay Thomas tombstone in Peyton Thomas Cemetery in Kentucky

LINEAGE: (Lindsay D. Thomas was the son of Edward Clark and Augusta Arbelle Carr Thomas, the grandson of Carroll and Margaret Jane Reid Thomas and the great-grandson of James, Jr., and Margaret Ethridge Thomas.  James, Jr. was the sixth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)

William Bridges -- "Perpetuator" of the Bridges Family Name

 

William Bridges

William Bridges was born on May 30, 1800 in the Tyancoca Swamp community of Edgecombe County, North Carolina.  He was the fourth of the seven children of Drury Bridges and Charity Cohoon Bridges.  William became the patriarch, after his father, of the Bridges family of Trigg County, Kentucky.  All members of the family tree who carry the surname of Bridges descend from Drury Bridges through his son William Bridges.

Of William’s six siblings, he only had one brother, Orren Dates Bridges.  Orren Dates was born about 1802 as his exact birth date is not known.  Orren Dates died before the family migrated to Kentucky in 1804 and is buried somewhere in the Tyancoca Swamp community. William’s other siblings born in North Carolina were his twin sisters, Selethia and Piety, born in 1790 and his sister, Jemima, born in 1795.  William along with his three sisters traveled with their parents across the Appalachian Mountains and settled in the Donaldson Creek valley in western Kentucky.  William’s two other sisters were born in Kentucky, Elizabeth Josephine Bridges, born in 1804 and Mary Bridges born in 1807.

William was only about four or five years old, when his family moved from the Donaldson Creek valley and settled in a small cabin on Beechy Fork Creek in an area eventually called Maple Grove. William grew to maturity in that small cabin on the north side of Beechy Fork Creek where his father had acquired 85 ½ acres of land.

On June 20, 1820, William, at the age of 20 married Mary Thomas, the youngest daughter of James and Mary Standley Thomas.  Mary was born July 1, 1802 in Bertie County, North Carolina. William and Mary settled on a farm which was located about two miles west of his father’s original homestead.  His farm was in an area known as “Little Spring” also on the banks of Beechy Fork Creek.

William and Mary had twelve children. The twelve children were Orren, born June 27, 1821; Starkie, born February  15, 1823; Simco, born January 17, 1825; Drewry, born January 20, 1827; Burnetta, born March 5, 1830; James, born June 14, 1832; William, Jr., born October 3, 1834; Stanley, born February 14, 1837; Mary, born April 23, 1839; Charity and John, twins, born May 2, 1842; and Cullen, born August 12, 1844, who was born a month after his father’s death.  Through his nine sons, who lived to maturity, the Bridges name became well established in Trigg County, Kentucky and eventually throughout the United States.

William Bridges died at his homestead at the fairly young age of 44 on July 11, 1844.  He was buried in a family graveyard located on a hillside adjacent to the house where he lived now known as the William Bridges Cemetery.  His wife, Mary, outlived her husband by 32 years and died at the age of 74 on July 28, 1876.  She was buried next to her husband in the family cemetery.

 

Tombstone of William Bridges

LINEAGE:  (William Bridges was the fourth child of Drury Bridges and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)

Mildred Earl Thomas -- Died Tragically at the Age of Eleven

 

Mildred Earl Thomas was born on June 16, 1923 in Trigg County, Kentucky, but she only lived to the age of eleven when she died in a tragic fire accident.

Mildred was the oldest of three daughters born to Bluford Earl Thomas and Mildred Hawkins Thomas.  Bluford Earl was born in 1899 in Trigg County and was the son of Seldon Trimble Thomas and Bettie Bridges Thomas, both Trigg County natives.  Mildred Hawkins was born in 1897 and was the daughter of Robert Lee Hawkins and Ersula Elizabeth Adams Hawkins, who were also Trigg County natives.

Mildred’s two younger sisters were Ann Tressa Thomas who was born on January 18, 1925 and Clara Elizabeth Thomas who was born on November 17, 1930.

Bluford Earl worked as a farm laborer and he and his wife and three daughters lived on a farm in Trigg County, which according to the news articles at the time was located “far in the country.”   

On Saturday afternoon, March 17, 1934, Mildred Earl, age 10, was in charge of her two sisters, Ann, age 9 and Clara, age 3. The children were alone at the time.  Mildred Earl was washing dishes for the family when she noticed that there was leak in one of the pans she was washing.  She attempted to plug the hole in the pan using a patent solder. Some burning chemicals from the solder dropped on her dress and ignited it.  Mildred Earl with the assistance of her sisters tried to smother the flames using an oilcloth, but this method failed.  With her dress blazing, Mildred Earl ran to the well in the yard, drew water from the well and filled a tub and submerged herself.  

Mildred Earl was badly burned from her chest to her knees. Newspapers at the time described her valiant effort to save herself from the flames as an “…unusual manifestation of self-control….”  

 Unfortunately, Mildred Earl did not survive the tragedy.  She lived for over three months and died on June 26, 1934 just ten days after she had reached her eleventh birthday.  Her death certificate listed her cause of death as “third degree burns.” Mildred Earl was buried in the Lawrence Cemetery in Trigg County but no tombstone marks her grave site.


LINEAGE:  (Mildred Earl Thomas was the daughter of Bluford Earl and Mildred Hawkins Thomas, granddaughter of Seldon Trimble and Martha Elizabeth “Bettie” Bridges Thomas, and great-granddaughter of James Jasper and Mary Magdaline Cunningham Thomas.  James Jasper was the fourth child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas.  Starkie was the fourth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.  Mary Bridges was the seventh child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)