Perry Thomas Jr.
Perry Thomas, Jr. was born on November 14, 1836 in Trigg County, Kentucky, the eighth of fourteen children born to Perry Thomas and Elizabeth Josephine Bridges Thomas. Perry, Sr. was a native of Bertie County, North Carolina who was nine years old when his family arrived on Donaldson Creek in Kentucky in 1806. Elizabeth was born in Trigg County shortly after her family arrived from North Carolina in 1804.
Perry Jr’s siblings were Albert Thomas, born in 1822 and married Mary Jane Frizzell Futrell; Alpha Thomas, born in 1823 and married Alfred Boyd Coleman; Allison William Thomas, born in 1825 and married Catherine Elizabeth Carloss; William Stanley Thomas, born in 1827 and married Sallie Jacqueline Thomas; Rufus King Thomas, born in 1829 and married Avie Adeline Dunn; Benjamin Franklin Thomas, born in 1832 and married Ruth Noe; James Hervey Thomas, born in 1834 and died at the age of four; Eliza Jane Thomas, born in 1839 and married William R. Futrell; Chilton Allen Thomas, born in 1841 and married Martha Ann Duncan and then married Amanda Ellen Chewning; Starkie Duprey, born in 1843 and married Sarah Francis Pugh and then married Permelia Elizabeth Pugh Ingram; Josephine Thomas, born in 1846; Etna Thomas, born in 1848 and married William Jackson Turner; and Winfield Scott Thomas, born in 1850 and married James Cassandra Jemima Futrell.
Perry, Jr. grew up on Donaldson Creek and worked as a young man on his father’s farm. On February 24, 1859 when Perry Jr. was 23 years old, he married Aurora Wimberly, who was only 15 years old. The marriage took place in Trigg County in the home of Aurora’s grandfather, Solomon W. Barnes. where Aurora lived at the time of her marriage. Aurora was born on September 1, 1843 in Trigg County the daughter of John Dillard Wimberly and Cynthia F. Barnes Wimberly. John Dillard was a native of Bertie County, North Carolina. Cynthia was born in Trigg County, and had died at the age of 30 when Aurora was only eight years old.
After their marriage, Perry, Jr. and Aurora lived with her father and Perry continue his career as a farmer. By 1870 Perry Jr. has established his own farm and he and Aurora lived separately from her father’s farm.
Perry Jr. continued to be a prominent farmer in Trigg County and in 1889 he was appointed by Kentucky Governor John Feland to a position in the Office of Collector of Internal Revenue for the state of Kentucky. In December 1889 he and Aurora moved to Owensboro, Kentucky to fulfill his duties in his new job. While Perry’s position with the state government only lasted for four years, Perry Jr. and Aurora continued to make their home in Owensboro the rest of their lives.
Perry, Jr. and Aurora had no children of their own, but they took in several orphan children to raise in their home. One child died when very young but the others were raised to adulthood in the Thomas home. Among the orphans raised in the Thomas household were three sisters, Pop Boyd who later married King Cunningham; Fannie Boyd who married Bart Cannon; and Lou Boyd who married Nathan Wallace. Others raised in the home were Henry Kennedy, Willie Batts, and Eliza Guier who married Will Gregston. Two individuals, Mary Cayce and Alice Cunningham lived in the household after Perry’s death and were with Aurora during her declining years.
Perry, Jr. died on October 13, 1902 at the age of 67 in his home in Owensboro. He had been diagnosed with Bright’s disease which is known today as nephritis. He was buried in the Rosehill Elmwood Cemetery in Owensboro. While his funeral was attended by numerous citizens of Owensboro, only one person from Trigg County was known to be in attendance, his brother, Allison W. Thomas. Aurora continued to live in Owensboro after her husband’s death. She died on June 16, 1932 at the age of 88 in the local hospital from injuries sustained from a fall at her home. She was buried in the Rosehill Elmwood Cemetery next to her husband.
Perry Jr. tombstone
Aurora tombstone
LINEAGE: (Perry Thomas, Jr. was the son of Perry and Elizabeth Josephine Bridges Thomas and the grandson of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)
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