Ira Clifton and Flo Bridges -- Construction Worker

 

Ira and Flo Bridges

Ira Clifton Bridges was born on August 15, 1897 on Beechy Fork Creek in the Maple Grove community of Trigg County, Kentucky.  He was the third of five children of Durwood Stanley Bridges and Jane “Jennie” Thomas Bridges.  Stanley was a successful farmer and a native of Trigg County and Jennie was also a native of Trigg County. Stanley was a son of Drewry Bridges and Jennie a granddaughter of Starkie Thomas.

Ira’s siblings were William Durwood Bridges, born in 1891 and married Ruth Alida Cunningham; Homer Dorris Bridges, born in 1895 and died at the age of one; Hubert Prentice Bridges, born in 1901 and died at the age of two; and Jane Ernestine Bridges, born in 1906 and married Sidney Gordon Bridges.

Ira grew up in the Maple Grove community and on February 11, 1917, he married Flo Templeton Bridges in Bumpus Mill, Tennessee. The couple had traveled to Bumpus Mills on a bitter cold day by horse and buggy to obtain their marriage license.  They returned the following week and were married while seated in their buggy.  Flo was born on March 8, 1897 in the Maple Grove community and was the second of five children of Mark Dale Bridges and Mallie Mae Lancaster Bridges.  Both Mark and Mallie were natives of Trigg County and Mark was a son of Cullen T. Bridges.

Flo’s siblings were Nellie Cleveland Bridges, born in 1892 and married Mark McCarty; Preston Dale Bridges, born in 1899 and died at the age of one and one-half years; Percy Dillard Bridges, born in 1902 and married Edna Pearl Thomas; and Douglas Eugene Bridges, born in 1909 and married Katherine Edwards and then married Dixie Minton and a third wife, Letha Plumbee.

Ira was a farmer for the first few years of his career and then went into the construction business.  He worked in Jacksonville, Florida in 1926 and then returned to Kentucky to build houses and barns in the resettlement projects in Christian County in the 1930s. He worked on several dams being built on the Ohio and Cumberland rivers in Kentucky and Tennessee and was the second carpenter hired for the construction of Kentucky Dam in 1938.  The family moved around several times to be near the construction jobs where Ira worked.

Ira and Flo were the parents of four children, Morris Dale “M.D.” Bridges, born in 1918 and married Lora Dean Cunningham; Barbara Mae Bridges, born in 1920 and married William Eugene McBride; Ira Clifton Bridges, Jr., born in 1923 and married Margaret Frances Church; and Frieda Nell Bridges, born in 1933 and married Eugene Lewis Sumner.

Ira and Flo made their final home in the Maple Grove community in a house built by Flo’s father, Mark Dale in the early 1900s that had been named “Woodlawn.”  While remodeling the house, Flo was stricken with a heart attack and died on March 3, 1955 at the age of 57.  She was buried in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz.

Ira lived with his daughter, Frieda and her family after Flo’s death and continued to do construction work.  He died of cancer on November 2, 1960, at the age of 63.  He was buried in the East End Cemetery next to his wife.

 A young Ira and Flo

 

Ira and Flo's tombstone

LINEAGE: (Ira Clifton Bridges was the son of Durwood Stanley and Jane “Jennie” Thomas Bridges and the grandson of Drewry and Peachie Ann Tart Bridges and William Bridges and Nancy Jane Rogers Thomas.  Drewry was the fourth child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.  William Bridges Thomas was the first child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas. Starkie was the fourth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)

(Flo Templeton Bridges was the daughter of Mark Dale and Mallie Mae Lancaster Bridges and the granddaughter of Cullen T. and Virginia Thomas Bridges.  Cullen was the twelfth child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.  Virginia was the third child of Peyton and Sarah Ethridge Thomas.  Peyton was the third child of Cullen and Elizabeth Futrell Thomas.  Cullen was the first child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)