Martha Helen Terrell Braboy -- Wife of a Farmer

 

Boyce and Martha Terrell Braboy

Martha Helen Terrell was born on August 23, 1913 in the Blue Spring community of Trigg County, Kentucky. She was the fifth of nine children born to Robert Terrell and Emma Skaggs Bridges Terrell.  Both Robert and Emma were natives of Trigg County and Robert was a farmer.  Emma was a granddaughter of Simco Bridges.  The Terrell farm where she was born was located in what is now the center of the Boots Randolph Golf Course along Blue Spring Creek.  

Martha’s siblings were Mary Cicero Terrell, a twin born in 1907 and married John Carter Mitchell;  Mary Eldo Terrell, the other twin born in 1907 and died at birth; Sarah Frances Terrell, born in 1909 and married Clyde Crenshaw Stallons; Myra Dean Terrell, born in 1911 and married Clarence Monroe Stallons; Virginia Irene Terrell, born in 1916 and married Ernest Lee Bridges; Robert Joe Terrell, born in 1918 and married Nellie Myrtle Peal; George Edward Terrell, born in 1921 and married Gladys Opal Gray; and Grace Annalene Terrell, born in 1924 and married Herbert Haydon Braboy.

On June 23, 1933, Martha married Boyce Taylor Braboy.  Boyce was born on April 23, 1912 in Trigg County, Kentucky.   He was the eighth of eleven children born to Richard Thomas “Dick” Braboy and Lora Boyd Braboy.  Her parents were both natives of Trigg County and her father was a prominent farmer. His grandparents were also natives of Trigg County.  He was born in the Blue Spring community on the Braboy Farm which was on the Cumberland River south of where the Little River empties into the Cumberland, now Barkley Lake.

Boyce and Martha initially started out living on the Braboy farm located on the Cumberland River.  Boyce became an extremely active farmer and in 1942 they left the Cumberland River farm and purchased a farm six miles south of Cadiz in what was then called “The Big Woods” area.  In 1945, they purchased a farm in the Warrenton community located about 2½ miles west of Cadiz. Boyce was a successful tobacco farmer and a producer of “country hams” which became a famous Trigg County product.  As an active farmer, Boyce was a strong supporter of the local and state agricultural programs.  After a dedicated career of farming, he retired in the late 1970s.

Boyce and Martha were the parents of three daughters, Virginia Nell Braboy, born in 1934 and married John Marshall Gray; Bernice Rhea Braboy, born in 1940 and married Jessie Reide Brown; and Janice Carol Braboy, born in 1944 and married Robert Michael Holloman, and then married Troy Lee Josey and later married Joe Powell.

Martha died on November 24, 1993, at the age of 80 at the Britthaven Nursing Home in Benton, Kentucky.  She was buried in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz, Kentucky.  

Boyce married for the second time to Mary Pauline “Polly” Lisanby Mason.  Polly was born on December 27, 1920 and was the daughter of Albert Lisanby and Bertha Jane Menser Lisaby.  She was a Licensed Practical Nurse and also worked as a secretary for State Farm Insurance in Hopkinsville.

Boyce died on December 24, 2006 at the age of 94 at the Trigg County Hospital in Cadiz.  He was buried in the East End Cemetery next to Martha.

Martha in the 1930s

 

Boyce and Martha tombstone

LINEAGE: (Martha Helen Terrell was the daughter of Robert and Emma Skaggs Bridges Terrell.  Emma was the fifth child of William Joseph and Sarah Wills Bridges.  William Joseph was the first child of Simco N. and Emeline Martin Bridges.  Simco was the third child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)