Hattie Marie Bridges Fort Hammortree -- Homemaker and Waitress

 

Hattie Bridges Fort Hammortree

Hattie Marie Bridges was born on September 3, 1923 in Trigg County, Kentucky. She was the youngest of five children born to William Durwood Bridges and Ruth Alida Cunningham Bridges.  William Durwood was a farmer and both he and Ruth were natives of Trigg County.  Hattie was a descendant of Drewry Bridges and Starkie Thomas. 

Hattie’s siblings were Mahalia Irene Bridges, born in 1912 and married Morris Henshaw Bradford; Gilbert N. Bridges, born in 1915 and married Forest Hilda Bridges; Amos Taylor Bridges, born in 1920; and David Stanley Bridges, born in 1921 and married Ruby Lee Bennett.

Hattie grew up in the Canton area of Trigg County and attended the local rural schools there.  During World War II, Hattie worked in national defense in Evansville, Indiana.

While working in Evansville, she married Wilton Blane Fort in a ceremony in St. Louis, Missouri on December 20, 1943.  Wilton was a sergeant in the Army Air Corps.  He was on furlough visiting relatives and friends in Trigg County when the couple went to St. Louis for their marriage.  The young couple left immediately after the ceremony to live in Amarillo, Texas where Wilton was stationed.

Wilton was born on July 16, 1913 in Trigg County, the son of William Thomas Fort and Ambelina “Ambie” Adams Fort.  William Thomas was a farmer and both he and Ambie were natives of Trigg County.  Wilton was drafted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on August 12, 1941.  After serving at several U.S. locations, he was sent overseas to the South Pacific area where he served for four years including in the Philippines, Netherland Indies, Maylasia, New Guinea and Okinawa.  He was honorably discharged on October 22, 1945 as a staff sergeant.

After the war, Wilton went to Murray, Kentucky where he operated a grocery store.  Later, he went to Cadiz and joined his brother, Willie Fort, to form a partnership to operate a grocery in Cadiz.  After many years, Wilton bought the Cadiz Restaurant which he operated until his retirement after spending thirty-five years in this profession.  Hattie spent most of her time as a homemaker, but later worked at several restaurants as a waitress.

Hattie and Wilton were the parents of one child, a son, Carl Blane Fort, who was born in 1952.

Hattie and Wilton were divorced and she married her second husband, Clarence Hammortree in 1972.

Wilton died on September 24, 1997 at the age of 84 at the Trigg County Hospital in Cadiz of an apparent heart attack.  He was buried in the Jesse Adams Cemetery in Trigg County.  Clarence Hammortree is also deceased.

Hattie died on June 14, 2017 at the age of 93 at the Princeton Health and Rehabilitation Center in Princeton, Kentucky.  She was buried in the Trigg Memory Acres cemetery in Trigg County.

Wilton

 

Wilton tombstone

LINEAGE: (Hattie Marie Bridges was the daughter of William Durwood and Ruth Alida Cunningham Bridges.  William Durwood was the first child of Durwood Stanley and Jane Thomas Bridges.  William Durwood was the sixth child of Drewry and Peachie Ann Tart Bridges.  Drewry was the fourth child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges. Jane Thomas was the eighth child of William Bridges and Nancy Jane Rogers Thomas.  William Bridges was the first child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas.  Starkie was the fourth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)