Emma Elizabeth Thomas was born on November 15, 1894 on a farm in Trigg County, Kentucky. She was the oldest of four children born to George Walton Thomas and Margaret “Jennie” Thomas Thomas. Both George and Jennie were natives of Trigg County. George was a farmer and was a grandson of Perry Thomas. Jennie was a homemaker and a granddaughter of James Thomas, Jr.
Emma’s siblings were three brothers, Perry Amos Thomas, born in 1896 and married Hattie Bell Adams; John Herbert Thomas, born in 1901 and married Willie D. Meador; and Ewing Odell Thomas, born in 1907 and married Virginia Leona Francis.
In her early childhood, Emma was afflicted with blindness which left her in total darkness. In spite of her handicap, Emma showed strong perseverance. She lived all of her life with her parents in the Donaldson Creek community.
When she was 15 years old, she joined Donaldson Creek Baptist Church and became one of the most earnest workers for the church’s activities. Even though she was blind, she went about among her neighbors and organized several groups relating to her church, including a Women’s Mission Society, Mission Study Classes and she helped to organize Sunday School classes. She was so successful with her organization skills in her home neighborhood that she traveled about the county to various other churches and helped to organize similar group there. As she traveled about the county, she made many friends wherever she went.
As a young woman, Emma took a study course on the Braile System which she easily mastered. She obtained several books of the Bible printed in that system so that she might read them. A member of the family taught her to use a typewriter where she was able to do most of her correspondence. She also completed a course of study from the Southern Baptist Convention and received her diploma even though she was completely blind.
In the last years of her life, Emma was stricken with an illness that prevented her from putting forth physical effort and rendered her almost helpless. She died on May 8, 1939 at the age of 44 at her parent’s home on Donaldson Creek. It was said that the community of Donaldson Creek had lost one of its best and most loved personalities. At her funeral at the Donaldson Creek Baptist Church, people from all over Trigg County and several from other counties were present to pay a final tribute to this widely known and beloved person. It was expressed at the funeral that: — “No funeral could be said which would do her justice; she lived a life that needed no words said.”
Emma Elizabeth Thomas was buried in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz, Kentucky.
Emma Thomas tombstone
LINEAGE: (Emma Elizabeth Thomas was the daughter of George Walton and Margaret “Jennie” Thomas Thomas. George Walton was the sixth child of Rufus King and Alvie Adeline Dunn Thomas. Rufus King was the fifth child of Perry and Elizabeth Josephine Bridges Thomas. Perry was the third child of James and Mary Standley Thomas. Margaret was the daughter of Carroll and Margaret Jane Reid Thomas. Carroll was the second child of James, Jr. and Margaret Ethridge Thomas. James, Jr., was the sixth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)
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