John Quincy Thomas
John Quincy Thomas was born on April 12, 1860 in Trigg County, Kentucky. He was the sixth of nine children born to Allison William Thomas and Catherine Elizabeth Carloss Thomas. Allison was a farmer and a native of Trigg County. Catherine was a native of Sumner County, Tennessee. John Quincy was a grandson of Perry Thomas.
John’s siblings were Sarah “Sallie” Elizabeth Thomas, born in 1849 and married James Judson Patterson; Benjamin Clay Thomas, born in 1852 and died at the age of three months; Charles Edgar Thomas, born in 1854 and married Fannie Quick; Martha Jane Thomas, born in 1856 and married John Carr Quick; Thomas “Tommy” Wilson Thomas, born in 1858 and died at the age of eight years; Mary Allison Thomas, born in 1862 and married James Henry Carloss; Kate Eliza Thomas, born in 1864 and married John Howard and later married James Watson “Pete” Bruff; and George Prentice Thomas, born in 1869 and married Annie Laurie Meacham.
Although his family lived in Marshall County, Kentucky soon after his birth, the family returned to Trigg County and John grew up in Trigg County. As a youth, he worked on his father’s farm and received a basic elementary level of education.
On January 24, 1888, John married Catherine Moore Bruff. Catherine was born on October 17, 1867 in Lafayette, Kentucky and was the youngest daughter of George Bruff and Mary Howell Bruff. George was a native of Christian County and Mary was a native of Tennessee. Catherine was a teacher and was teaching at the Bethel School when she met John.
John and Catherine established their home in the Bethel community where John became a very prominent and leading farmer of the community. He was public spirited and always took great interest in the educational and material welfare of his county. Catherine had lost her father when she was nine months old and her mother when she was fifteen. She grew up in the home of her grandparents in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. After finishing her primary and grammar schools, she entered Bethel College in Hopkinsville. Upon graduation she began teaching school primarily in the Trigg County schools. She was affectionally know as “Miss Cattie” by her students as well as her friends and neighbors. Her teaching career lasted for fifty years and had been a teacher at the Cadiz Graded School at the time of her death.
John and Catherine were the parent s of nine children, Mary Catherine Thomas, born in 1889; John Allison Thomas, born in 1892 and married Grace Bell Hammonds Witt; Howard Ranson Thomas, born in 1896 and married Ruth Breeding Hulse; George Edgar Thomas, born in 1899 and married Nellie Drew Keatts, and then married Helen Ruth Haupert and later married Ella Helen Orth; Perry Stanley Thomas, born in 1900 and married Jessie M. Ware; Sarah Elizabeth Thomas, born in 1903 and married William Lloyd Sumner; Howell Moore “Billy” Thomas, born in 1906 and married Opal Garnet Charles; William Hardin Thomas, born in 1907 and married Geraldine Rose Atkins and then married Elsa Carolyn Hoyt Clifton; and Benjamin Carloss Thomas, born in 1911 and married Dorothy Mae Randolph.
John died on April 8, 1915 at the age of 54 at his home in the Bethel community. He was buried in the Bethel United Methodist Church Cemetery in Trigg County. Catherine died at the age of 71 on January 6, 1939. She was buried in the Bethel United Methodist Church Cemetery next to her husband.
Catherine Bruff Thomas
John and Catherine tombstone
Home built by John in the Bethel community
Stone in memory of John Q. Thomas family in the Bethel United Methodist Church Cemetery
LINEAGE: (John Quincy Thomas was the son of Allison William and Catherine Elizabeth Carloss Thomas. Allison was the third child of Perry and Elizabeth Josephine Bridges Thomas. Perry was the third child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)
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