Sidney Gordon Bridges -- Trigg County Carpenter

 

Gordon and Ernestine Bridges

Sidney Gordon Bridges was born on July 22, 1906 in the Blue Spring community of Trigg County Kentucky.  He was the third of eight children born to Drew Manley Bridges and Lena Mae Guier.  Drew was a farmer and he and Lena lived on a farm in the Mount Pleasant community of Trigg County until 1925 when they moved with their family to farm they bought in the Maple Grove community.  

Gordon’s siblings were Lola Jo, born in 1901; Robbie Bell, born in 1904; Sarah Elizabeth, born in 1907; Clifton Earl, born in 1910; John Thomas, born in 1915; Clovis Manley, born in 1918; and Mosco Doris, born in 1919.

On December 11, 1927 Gordon married Jane Ernestine Bridges in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.   Ernestine was born on June 9, 1906, in the Maple Grove community and was the daughter of Durwood Stanley Bridges and Jane”Jennie” Thomas.  Ernestine’s father Stan had taught school in Maple Grove and later became a merchant in Canton, Kentucky before becoming a famer.  Stan and Jennie settled on a farm in the Maple Grove community.  Gordon and Ernestine lived on the farm with her parents after their marriage.

Gordon did not find farming to be a successful careen and in 1934 he decided he would quit farming and become a carpenter.  He worked on many local projects in the Trigg and Christian County area building homes and barns.  He built the log American Legion Club house in Cadiz as well as working on the CCC Camp.  In 1951, he helped to build the Trigg County Hospital, the first large medical facility in Cadiz.  In addition to his carpentry work, Gordon worked with the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Corps of Engineers on several projects on dams on the Ohio, Tennessee and Cumberland rivers.

Gordon was known as a passionate sportsman loving to hunt and fish.  He would travel to Colorado numerous times to hunt deer and trips to South Dakota to hunt pheasants.  He had the reputation of being the best known fisherman in the western Kentucky area.   After his retirement, Gordon worked as a fishing guide on Barkley Lake.  Country music star Eddy Arnold was one of the many fishermen that Gordon helped as a guide.  Gordon’s fishing adventures were even the subject of a newspaper article in the Louisville Courier Journal.

Gordon and Ernestine were the parents of three children, Betty Jo who was born in 1928; Billy Gordon, who was born in 1931; and Robert Stanley who was born in 1934.  Gordon and Ernestine continued to live on the farm where Ernestine was born until their deaths.

Gordon died on February 25, 1986 at the age of 79 in Cadiz, Kentucky.  He was buried in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz.   Ernestine died four and one half years later on December 11, 1990 at the age of 84 in Cadiz.  She was buried in the East End Cemetery next to her husband.

 Ernestine and Gordon

 

 Gordon Bridges

 Gordon and Ernestine Tombstone

LINEAGE:  (Sidney Gordon Bridges was the son of Drew Manley and Lena Mae Guier Bridges, and the grandson of Starkie T. and Elizabeth W. Lawrence Bridge.  Starkie was the second 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.