Douglas Eugene Bridges -- Tavern Operator

 

Douglas Eugene Bridges

Douglas Eugene Bridges was born on August 11, 1909 on the Beechy Fork Creek in the Maple Grove community of Trigg County, Kentucky. He was the youngest of five children born to Mark Dale Bridges and Mallie Mae Lancaster Bridges.  Mark Dale was a farmer and both he and Mallie were natives of Trigg County.  Eugene was a descendant of both Cullen Bridges and Cullen Thomas.

Gene’s siblings were Nellie Cleveland Bridges, born in 1892 and married Mark McCarty; Flo Templeton Bridges, born in 1897 and married Ira Clifton Bridges; Preston Dale Bridges, born in 1899 and died at the age of 1½  years old; and Percy Dillard Bridges, born in 1902 and married Edna Pearl Thomas.

Gene grew up in Maple Grove and attended the one-room Maple Grove School. When he was a young man he went to Paducah, Kentucky to attend a business school and then he later went to work as a printer.

On December 24, 1928 Gene married Katherine Elizabeth Edwards who he had met while working in Paducah.  Katherine was born on June 27, 1909 in Ballard County, Kentucky.  She was the daughter of William Francis Edwards and Nora Lee Stewart Edwards.  William worked as a railroad employee and both he and Nora were natives of Ballard County,  Katherine came down with scarlet fever and died on February 14, 1929, six weeks after their marriage. She died in Paducah and was 20 years old.  She was buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Paducah.

Some time after Katherine died, Gene left Paducah and settled in Alton, Illinois where he was employed as a factory worker. In Alton he met Dixie Louise Minton.  Gene and Dixie were married on August 24, 1931 in St. Charles, Missouri. Dixie was born on February 2, 1913 in Kansas City, Missouri. She was the daughter of Louis Naplian Minton and Maude Sanders Minton.  Louis had worked as a coal miner and in the restaurant industry and he was a native of Webster County, Kentucky.  Maude was a native of Clinton County, Illinois.

Gene and Dixie were the parents of two children, Jacquelyn Lee Bridges, born in 1932 and married William Henry Wohlert and later married Eldon C. “Twirp” Williams and Ronald Eugene Bridges, born in 1936 and died at the age of three months.

Gene and Dixie returned to Cadiz where they operated for some time the American Legion Hut located on the Legion Hill.  Gene and Dixie were divorced and Dixie and their daughter, Jacquelyn moved back to Alton where Jacquelyn grew up.  Dixie died on April 14, 1982 at the age of 69 and was buried in the Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in Godfrey, Illinois next to her second husband, Clyde Hitch.

On April 23, 1943, Gene married his third wife, Leatha Louise Plumlee.  Leatha was born on August 21, 1919 in Sullivan, Kentucky and was the daughter of Ellis Davis Plumlee and Nancy Della Wilson Plumlee. Ellis worked as a coal miner and was a  native of Allen County, Kentucky.  Nancy was a native of Warren County, Tennessee. 

Gene and Leatha lived in Alton, Illinois where they lived for 30 years and then moved to East Alton where he lived for 14 years.  He was the owner and operator of the NoMan’s Tavern in Wood River, Illinois.

Gene and Leatha were the parents of one child, a son, Michael Dale Bridges, born in 1947. Michael worked in Hollywood, California in the costume and wardrobe department for several television series.

Gene died on April 9, 1969 at the age of 59 at the Alton Memorial Hospital in Alton.  He was buried in the Rose Lawn Memory Gardens in Bethalto, Illinois.  Leatha died on January 1, 1996 at the age of 79 in East Alton, Illinois.  She was buried in the Rose Lawn Memory Gardens next to her husband.

Katherine Edwards Bridges

 

Gene and Leatha tombstone

LINEAGE:  (Douglas Eugene Bridges was the son of Mark Dale and Mallie Mae Lancaster Bridges.  Mark Dale was the fifth child of Cullen Thomas and Martha Ann Virginia Thomas Bridges.  Cullen was the twelfth child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.  Martha Ann was the third child of Peyton and Sarah Ethridge Thomas.  Peyton was the third child of Cullen and Elizabeth Futrell Thomas.  Cullen was the first child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)

Visit the entire Thomas-Bridges family tree at:   http://tinyurl.com/thomasbridgesfamily2