Kate Eliza Thomas was born August 10, 1864 in Trigg County, Kentucky the eighth of nine children born to Allison William Thomas and Catherine Elizabeth Carloss Thomas. Her siblings were Sarah “Sallie” Elizabeth Thomas, born in 1849; Benjamin Clay, born in 1852; Charles Edgar Thomas, born in 1854; Martha Jane Thomas, born in 1856; Tommy Wilson Thomas, born in 1858; John Quincy Thomas, born in 1860; Mary Allison Thomas, born in 1862 and George PrenticeThomas, born in 1869. Kate’s father was a farmer in Trigg County.
Little is known about the early life of Kate. Being born near the end of the Civil War, she apparently lived with her family in a home in Cadiz until 1895. On June 12, 1895, Kate married John Howard who was born January 2, 1825 in Trigg County. John was 70 years old and Kate was 30 years old at the time of the marriage. A news article in the Louisville Courier Journal on June 15, 1895 cryptically announced the wedding: “John Howard, a wealthy old farmer and Miss Katie Thomas, both of Trigg county, were married at a hotel in Hopkinsville with great secrecy. The New Era says: ‘No Hopkinsville person saw the marriage, and the person who accompanied the couple to this city left town directly after the ceremony’.”
In the 1910 census the John Howard household included Kate and listed a daughter, Marguerite Howard, who was 15 years old which would indicate that she was born in 1895, the year John and Kate were married. Interestingly, the 1900 census lists John and Katie with no children. No evidence could be found as to the absence of Marguerite from the 1900 census.
John Howard died on May 13, 1910 in Trigg County at the age of 85. He was buried in the Bethel United Methodist Church Cemetery in Trigg County. Shortly after her father’s death, Marguerite married Roger Drake on June 9, 1910 in Hamilton County, Ohio (Cincinnati). Roger was a laborer born in Kentucky. Kate became the heir to John’s extensive farm holdings. On her marriage certificate, Marguerite listed John Howard as her father and Kate Howard as her mother.
After Howard’s death, there were several lawsuits filed over his estate. His will was contested by his family members and they claimed that Kate unduly influenced her husband into leaving his estate to her. Amid all this legal tangling, Kate married her second husband, John Watson “Pete” Bruff on August 13, 1912 in Louisville, Kentucky. Pete was born on September 20, 1878 in Trigg County and was the son of James W. and Virginia Ladd Bruff. Their wedding announcement in the Louisville Courier Journal stated that he was a nephew of John Howard and that Kate was the sister of the Cadiz Postmaster, G. P. Thomas.
Both Bruffs died in early 1928, just a few weeks apart. Kate has been suffering with an illness and was bedridden most of the time. Rumors began to flow that Pete was trying to poison her. She died on January 22, 1928 which was three days after Pete was involved in an incident where he shot as his sister-in-law and had disappeared. Kate’s death certificate stated her cause of death was “general paralysis of the insane”. Pete died on February 4, 1928 following his being missing after his sister-in-law’s shooting. He was found in an abandoned house just north of Hopkinsville with his throat cut and pistol wounds in his abdomen. While officially ruled a suicide, the multiple causes of his death cast a large shadow of doubt on the verdict. Local neighborhood lore suggests that Kate may have been poisoned, and that Pete’s demise may have been retribution.
Over the years following the death of Kate and Pete, there were several lawsuits concerning their wills and ultimately who would inherit their extensive property holdings. On March 14, 1928, all parties agreed to transfer the property to George Prentice Thomas, Kate’s brother.
Kate and Pete were both buried in the Bethel United Methodist Church Cemetery.
Kate Thomas Bruff's tombstone
John Watson "Pete" Bruff's tombstone
John Howard's tombstone
Newspaper article on Pete Bruff's death
LINEAGE: (Kate Eliza Thomas was the daughter of Allison William and Catherine Elizabeth Carloss Thomas and the granddaughter of Perry and Elizabeth Josephine Bridges Thomas. Perry was the third child of James and Mary Standley Thomas. )
Sir, I vaguely recall seeing a record somewhere that Marguerite married in another State. No record after that.
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