James Marshall Thomas was born on March 1, 1939 in Julien, Kentucky. He was the third of five children born to Zealous Earl Thomas and Cora Patterson Thomas. Zealous Earl was a native of Trigg County and had worked as an auto mechanic, a timber man and as a farmer. His wife, Cora, was a native of Lyon County, Kentucky. Marshall’s siblings were Preston Earl Thomas, born in 1932 and married Glenda Lorrell Cavanah; Albert Claude Thomas, born in 1936 and married Virginia Nell Skillion; Fred Allen Thomas, born in 1941 and married Vonnie Elaine Dalton; and Wanda Lee Thomas, born in 1948 and married Roy S. Rogers.
Marshall lived his early years in Christian County, but his family settled in Trigg County in the 1940s and he attended schools in Trigg County and graduated from Trigg County High School. He had worked as a truck driver for the Trigg County Trading Company.
On the evening of April 5, 1958, Marshall, who was 19 years old, was traveling in a vehicle westbound on US Highway 68 toward Cadiz, Kentucky with three of his friends, John Carroll Dawson, age 17, Ewin Futrell, age 16 and James Mathis, age 23. Both Dawson and Futrell were still students at Trigg County High School. A little after midnight at approximately 12:05 am, their vehicle approached a curve at King’s Chapel Church, four miles east of Cadiz. The curve was noted as the scene of a number of serious car accidents in the past.
The boys’ 1957 model car belonged to John Carroll Dawson’s father and it is believed that young Dawson was driving the vehicle. As it approached the sharp curve, it side-swiped an eastbound tractor-trailer truck. It appeared the initial impact was made at the left front fender of the truck. The car swiped past the door, then struck the rear dual wheels of the tractor-trailer with enough force to knock them from under the truck. The car then went out of control, left the highway and overturned, throwing all four occupants from the vehicle.
Three of the young occupants, Thomas, Dawson and Futrell were instantly killed as the result of the wreck. Young Mathis was the only survivor of the four. He received a fractured pelvis, broken ribs and kidney bruises. Mathis had lost an arm in a traffic accident a few years earlier. The truck driver and a passenger in the truck were not injured.
James Marshall Thomas who died at the age of 19 in the early hours of April 6, 1958 was buried on April 7, 1958 in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Trigg County, Kentucky.
Marshall Thomas Tombstone
LINEAGE: (James Marshall Thomas was the son of Zealous Earl and Cora Patterson Thomas, the grandson of Alfred Claude and Mamie Jane Stallons Thomas. Alfred was the third child of Robert Allison and Emma Nora Cunningham Thomas. Robert Allison was the fifth child of Stanley and Emily Ann Light Thomas. Stanley was the second child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas. Starkie was the fourth child of James Mary Standley Thomas.)
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