Clara Dell Gentry Lawrence -- Master Farm Homemaker

 

Clara Gentry Lawrence

Clara Dell Gentry Lawrence was born on November 6, 1937 in Trigg County, Kentucky, the fourth of five children born to Thomas Perry Gentry and Eliza Dell Hughes Gentry.  Her father was a farmer in the Oak Grove Community of Trigg County. Her siblings included one brother, Thomas Hughes born in 1925, and three sisters, Lillian Pearl, born in 1927 and died in infancy, Rachel Louise, born in 1931 and Mary Jo, born in 1939.

Clara attended schools in Trigg County and graduated from Trigg County High School in 1956. She went to work as a secretary and bookkeeper for the John Woodruff Construction Company in Cadiz where she worked for several years.  She later began a long career with the Trigg County Clerk’s Office. She eventually left that position to work for the Barkley Lake Water District where she worked until she retired.

On May 7, 1966, Clara married Ernest Ronald Lawrence, a Trigg County native and a local farmer. Ernest was born on September 22, 1938, the son of Clarence C. Lawrence and Jettie Bleidt Lawrence.  Clara and Ernest were the parents of one child, a daughter, Clara Elizabeth, born in 1969.

Although Clara worked as a secretary and bookkeeper for several organizations for many years, she was heavily involved in the daily operation of the family farm. Her husband, Ernest, along with his brother, Robert owned over 1,600 acres in the county and leased about 1,000 more known as the Lawrence Brothers Farm.  In addition, they owned the Lawrence Brothers Tobacco Warehouse in nearby Hopkinsville.  Clara worked as the bookkeeper for the farm and the tobacco warehouse.

In addition to being involved in the daily operation of the farm businesses, she was a charter member of the Town and Country Homemakers Club, serving as both treasurer and president of the Pennyrile Area Homemakers, and was a member of Kentucky's Master Farm Homemaker Guild. She served on the Trigg County Extension District Board and County Extension Council for many years, filling various offices. Her expertise as a homemaker on the farm was recognized in 1999 when she was selected as a Kentucky Master Farm Homemaker by the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture and the Kentucky Extension Homemakers Association. This honor is bestowed upon a select group of outstanding farm women from across the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Clara was also an organizing member of the James Thomas Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution as well as serving as a charter member of the Thomas-Bridges Association, serving in all offices throughout the years.

Clara Gentry Lawrence died on January 8, 2021.  She was buried in the Lawrence Cemetery in Trigg County, Kentucky.

 Clara Lawrence

LINEAGE:  (Clara Dell Gentry Lawrence was the daughter of Thomas Perry and Eliza Dell Hughes Gentry, granddaughter of Mason Hamilton and Mattie Pearl Thomas Hughes and great-granddaughter of Wesley Gunn and Eliza Henderson Thomas. Wesley was the sixth child of Stanley and Emily Ann Light Thomas. Stanley was the second child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas. Starkie was the fourth child of James Thomas and Mary Standley Thomas. Mary was the seventh child of Drury Bridges and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)

Walter Jagoe Nisbet -- Coal Miner

 

 

Walter Jagoe “Bud” Nisbet was born on July 6, 1872 in Hopkins County, Kentucky.  He was the second of four children born to William Alexander Nisbet and Nancy J. Jagoe. William was also a native of Hopkins County and Nancy had grown up in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. 

Walter made his home in Madisonville, Kentucky and on March 25, 1899, he married Cora Belle Head. They were the parents of one child, a son, William Alexander Nisbet, born on December 21, 1899. Unfortunately, Cora Belle died on July 18, 1900, leaving William with an infant child to raise.  William then met Emma Mills, the sister of former Madisonville County Judge William T. Mills.  Walter and Emma were married on November 30, 1905 in Earlington, Kentucky.  Emma was a native of Trigg County and was the daughter of John Richard Mills and Peachie Ann Thomas, both natives of Trigg County. Walter and Emma had no children of their own.

At an early age, Walter started out as a laborer in the coal mines in the Providence area of west Kentucky.  In 1891, the Providence Coal & Mining Company opened a slope mine which was the first commercial coal mine in Webster County, Kentucky.  Walter’s father who was a major stockholder in the company obtained Walter a job in the company.  Walter learned coal production the hard way—by digging, trapping, weighing and tipping coal.

Walter became very successful with the company and within a few months became a general manager. During his early years with the company he served as a civil engineer and electrician and designed many machines that were used for many years by the company.  After a few years, Walter became President of the company.  He designed plans for the company office and the Providence Coal & Mining store, which was built in 1879 and was declared to be the most modern building designs at the time.

On July 7, 1941, Walter died at his home in Providence at the age of 69 and at the time of his death he was the oldest active coal operator in western Kentucky, having spent 42 years actively engaged in coal mining. Walter was buried in the Grapevine Cemetery in Hopkins County.  Emma died on May 9, 1968 in Madisonville at the age of 89.  She was buried in the Grapevine Cemetery next to her husband.

Walter Nisbet Tombstone

Emma Mill Nisbet, wife of Walter

LINEAGE: (Walter Jagoe Nisbet was the husband of Emma Mills.  Emma was the daughter of John Richard and Peachie Ann Thomas Mills and granddaughter 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. Mary was the seventh child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)

Mary Grace Cunningham Thomas --Businesswoman and Sheriff

 

Mary Grace Cunningham Thomas

Mary Grace Cunningham was born on November 8, 1909 in Trigg County, Kentucky. She was the only child of “George Dab” Cunningham and Pocahontas Cunningham, both natives of Trigg County, Kentucky. Her father was a farmer in the county and her mother was a homemaker.

Mary Grace grew up in the Mershon’s Bridge community and graduated from Cadiz High School in 1927.  After graduating, she taught grades one through eight at Mershon’s Bridge’s one room school for a year.  On February 14, 1929, she married Luther T. Thomas.  Luther was the son of Wesley Gunn Thomas and Eliza L. Henderson. Wesley Gunn was a native of Trigg County’s Oak Grove community and Eliza had been born in Caldwell County, Kentucky.

Mary Grace and Luther settled in Cadiz where Luther was a salesman for Ford automobiles, and later became the owner of the Ford dealership for Cadiz as well as a Ford tractor and implement dealership.

Mary Grace and Luther became the parents of two sons, Luther Daniel Thomas, born in 1946 and George Wesley Thomas, born in 1949.

Luther also was involved in public service and politics, and had been elected Trigg County Tax Commissioner for four terms serving from 1933 to 1949.  In 1957, he was elected as Sheriff of Trigg County.  Near the end of his term as Sheriff in late September 1961, Luther was appointed by Governor Bert Combs as Warden of the Kentucky State Penitentiary at Eddyville. Mary Grace was appointed to serve out the remaining three months of his term as Sheriff.  She was only one of two women to ever serve as Trigg County Sheriff.

Mary Grace also worked, with her husband, in the Trigg County tax commissioner's office and in the family's Ford automobile and farm tractor and implement businesses in Cadiz. She was a well known and respected businesswoman in the community.

After her husband’s death in 1965, Mary Grace continued to oversee the operation of the family’s two farms and continued as a partner in Burke-Thomas Company, the family tractor and implement dealership until 1983.

Mary Grace died on June 12, 2005 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  She was buried next to her husband in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz.

 Luther and Mary Grace Thomas

 Tombstone of Luther and Mary Grace Thomas

LINEAGE: (Mary Grace Cunningham was the wife of Luther Thompson Thomas.  Luther was the son of Wesley Gunn and Eliza L. Henderson Thomas, grandson of Stanley and Emily Ann Light Thomas, and great-grandson of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas.  Starkie was the fourth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.  Mary was the seventh child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges)

Ida Light Bridges -- Grocery Lady

 

Ida Light Bridges

Ida Crutchfield Light was born on May 21, 1904 on a farm in the Oak Grove community of Trigg County, Kentucky.  She was the youngest of fourteen children born to John J. Light and Emily Catherine Thomas Light.  Ida had a twin sister, Ada Litchfield Light who lived only a few weeks and died on June 9, 1904.  Ida’s siblings were Mattie Patterson Light, born in 1879; John Wesley Light, born in 1882; William S. “Little Billy” Light, born in 1885; James Samuel Light, born in 1886; Francis Herbert Light, born in 1889; Elzie Bertram Light, born in 1890; Annie Light, born 1892; Lucy Nora Light, born in 1894; Robert Thomas Light, born in 1896; Mamie Adeline Light, born 1898; Starkie Light, born in 1900; Ethel Light, born in 1902.  

Even though born into a large family, Ida did not live in a large household as several of hers siblings died in their childhood and the older siblings were married.  Her father, John J. Light, died before she reached the age of one.  She always referred to her older brother, John Wesley Light, a bachelor, as her father figure.

On November 13, 1921, a Friday the thirteenth, she always recalled, she married Peyton Thomas Bridges at the courthouse in Clarksville, Tennessee. Pate, as he was known, was the son of Ghent Alfred Bridges and Nettie Cunningham Bridges. Ida was only 17 when she married.  Ida and Pate had four children,  A son, born in 1922, named Alfred Wesley after her father-in-law and her brother, died at the age of four in 1926 from diphtheria.  Their three other children were Chester Keidell Bridges, born in 1925, Juanita Katherine Bridges, born in 1929 and Charles Kenneth Bridges, born in 1944.
Ida and Pate lived in the Maple Grove community of Trigg County during the early years of their marriage.  Pate worked as a salesman for several companies during those early years and Ida was a housewife.

In the early 1940’s Ida and Pate moved to Cadiz, Kentucky and started on two careers.  Pate began operating a grocery truck where he delivered groceries throughout the county which was known as a rolling grocery, a self-contained vehicle where customers could select what they wanted from the stock.  In addition, they opened a restaurant in downtown Cadiz, known as the Bridges Café.  It was at the café, that Ida entered the workforce.  She was responsible for all aspects of the restaurant operations including the kitchen and the customers. She worked a waitress and as the chief cook.
 In the late 1940s, the Bridges’ gave up the operation of the restaurant and opened a small grocery store on Jefferson Street near downtown Cadiz. This was one of several small grocery stores that were located throughout the small town of Cadiz at the time.  One main difference of this grocery store was that it was the base store for Pate’s rolling grocery business where he daily restocked his grocery truck from the grocery store.  

Miss Ida or Miss Ida-Pate as she was known became the main operator of the Bridges Grocery store.  She ran all operations of the grocery, from stocking grocery products to being the chief sales clerk for the store.  After her husband died in 1962 she continued to operate the grocery store and all its operations without the rolling grocery element, until she retired in 1967 when the grocery closed.  During those years as a “grocery lady” she was well known in the community and especially liked by the kids in the neighborhood who stopped by the grocery store on their way to and from school, located just a block away, to warm up by the pot-bellied stove and buy candies and goodies from Miss Ida-Pate.  During that time, all grocery stores were closed on Sunday, but many times, Miss Ida-Pate would receive a knock on her house next door, asking if she could open the store so they could get that needed loaf of bread or quart of milk. Miss Ida-Pate always welcomed those Sunday customers.

Ida Light Bridges died on April 12, 1985 at a nursing home in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  She was buried next to her husband in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz, Kentucky,

Ida as a waitress at the Bridges Cafe

 

Ida and Peyton Bridges

 

Peyton and Ida Bridges Tombstone

LINEAGE:  (Ida Crutchfield Light was the daughter of John J. and Emily Catherine Thomas Light and the granddaughter of Stanley and Emily Ann Light Thomas. Stanley was the second child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas.  Starkie was the fourth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.  Mary was the seventh child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)

NOTE:  This leaf is published on this Mother’s Day Weekend 2022 in honor of my mother, Ida Light Bridges, who taught me to love and honor my wonderful Thomas and Bridges family.  It is with her inspiration that I am able to write this blog.   "I love you, Mama!"

Teresa Moll Coole -- Journalist

 

Teresa Amarette Moll Coole

Teresa Amarette Moll was born on October 27, 1953 in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents were Albert and Robbie Amarette Wilkins Moll. Her mother, Amarette, was born in Cadiz, Kentucky and her father was a native of Chicago.  Teresa or Terri, as she was known, had two siblings, a half-sister, Elizabeth Wilkins Young, born in 1933 and a brother, Jeffery Wilkins Moll, born in 1947.  Terri grew up in Illinois and graduated from Prospect High School in Prospect, Illinois in 1971. That same year she and her family moved to Central Florida.

The year 1971 was when Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, Florida.  Terri became a member of the opening team for Walt Disney World, working at the preview center as a preview guide. Later she became the editor of an internal publication at Walt Disney World known as "Eyes & Ears." While working at Disney, she juggled her work and continued her education attending the University of Central Florida in Orlando.  She graduated from the university in 1975 with a degree in Radio Television/Journalism.

It was while she was working at Walt Disney World that she met Stephen Wilson Coole from Lake Park, Florida.  Terri and Stephen were married on November 17, 1979 in Winter Park, Florida. Terri and Stephen became the parents of three sons, Randolph Wilson Coole, born in 1985, Jordan Albert Coole, born in 1986 and Spencer Thomas Coole, born in 1989.

After working for ten years at Walt Disney World, Terri joined the Red Lobster Company which had been founded in Orlando.  She worked in their offices of training, development and communication. In the mid 1980s she took time off from her corporate job to raise her three sons.

Instead of returning to the corporate world, Terri joined the South Lake Press in Clermont, Florida working as a reporter. She also wrote a column for the newspaper for which she earned the 1990 Central Florida Press Club’s First Place Award for Best Weekly Column. In November 1990, Terri went on to become a reporter for The Orlando Sentinel, the primary newspaper of Orlando and Central Florida. She became one of their major reporters and wrote numerous columns for the newspaper over the years.

In 1996, Terri joined the ranks of educators and became an English teacher and literacy coach at Windy Hill Middle School in Clermont, Florida and later at South Lake High School in Groveland, Florida.  At South Lake she was named teacher of the year for 2001.

While pursuing a career in journalism and as an educator, Terri was an active member of the Tomoka Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and a member and past president of the Clermont Junior Woman's Club where she received the 1993 Charlotte Meads Smith Volunteer of the year award and helped bring the club national recognition with a Chevron Corporation award for outstanding community improvement for the construction of Park Pals Playground. She was a member of the Central Florida Region-Sports Car Club of America, where she served with the pit crew for her husband Steve. In addition, Terri worked timing and scoring at regional and national events. She also covered regional and national races as a correspondent for SportsCar magazine.

Terri died on August 19, 2009 at her home in Montverde, Florida, after a two year battle with throat cancer.



LINEAGE: (Teresa Amarette Moll was the daughter of Albert and Robbie Amarette Wilkins Moll, the granddaughter of Lacy Hopson and Pocahontas Gentry Wilkins and the great-granddaughter of Robert Clements and Nancy Peachie Thomas Wilkins.  Nancy was the eleventh child of Stanley and Emily Ann Light Thomas.  Stanley was the second child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas.  Starkie was the fourth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.  Mary was the seventh child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)

Byron Keith Moore -- Professor Emeritus at Indiana University

 

Dr. B. Keith Moore

Byron Keith Moore was born on October 12, 1942 in Duncan, Oklahoma, a small town about 80 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.  His parents were Byron Lowell Moore and Elma Jewel Beaty.  Elma’s grandmother was Mary Stanley Thomas who was born in Trigg County, Kentucky.  Keith grew up in Enid, Oklahoma where his family had moved when he was young.  Keith was the oldest of four children.  He had two brothers, Monty Neal Moore who was born in 1947 and Craig Beaty Moore, born in 1950.  His only sister, Marilyn Moore, was born in 1954.

Keith became a National Merit Scholar and attended Phillips University in Enid where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics.  He then went on to attend the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign where he obtained a Master of Science degree in Physics and a PhD in mining and metallurgical engineering. 

A water skiing accident in 1969 shifted his life and focus to biomedical engineering. He received a post-doctoral fellowship to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he was involved in testing glue in hip replacements and taught dental materials. Dr. Moore was head of dental research at the American Dental Association for several years and later also taught at the University of Chicago.

In 1977 he joined the faculty of Indiana University School of Dentistry in Indianapolis. The impact of his teaching and research mentoring spanned the globe. Considered an expert in test development and methodology, he played a significant role in the development of many national and international dental material standards. He was an active member of the Dental Materials group at Indiana University for 30 years until he retired in 2007.

He was married to Diana Ruth Henry of East Peoria, Illinois on June 24, 1967, in Champaign, Illinois.  After his retirement, Keith and Diana became residents of Englewood, FL, to escape the cold winters in Indiana.

Keith enjoyed doing woodworking in his spare time.  He was a member of the Central Indiana Woodworkers, an organization for amateur and professional individuals having an interest in fabricating items form wood. Through this organization, Keith built wooden toys for children. The group gave out more than 15,000 toys each year at Christmas. Other woodworking ventures that Keith loved included making mission style furniture, tables and lamps and turning pens and bowls on the lathe.

Keith died on May 3, 2019, in Community Hospital North, in Indianapolis and was cremated.

LINEAGE:  (Byron Keith Moore was the son of Bryon Lowell and Elma Jewel Beaty Moore, the grandson of Clarence A. and Margaret Rae McCasland Beaty and great-grandson of Thomas Jesse and Mary Stanley Thomas McCasland.  Mary Stanley was the first child of James Clark “Muck” and Elizabeth Josephine Lawrence Thomas.  James Clark was the fourth child of James, Jr. and Margaret Ethridge Thomas.  James Jr. was the sixth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas. Elizabeth Lawrence was the second child of Ezekiel and Polly Sholar Lawrence.  Polly was the second child of Allen Thomas and Jemima Bridges Sholar.  Jemima was the first child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)

Marceline Moore Sumner -- Victim of Shotgun Accident

 

 

 

 

 

Mary Marceline Moore was born on September 15, 1929 in Trigg County, Kentucky.  She was the daughter of Omar Lamont Moore and Ambia Myrtle Hunter, who were both natives of Trigg County.  She grew up in the County and attended Trigg County schools.

On November 25, 1950, she married Lacey Davenport Sumner.  Lacey was the youngest of nine children of William Lowery Sumner and Mary Jane Thomas. Lacey and his family were all natives of Trigg County, Kentucky. Lacey and Marceline became the parents of three children, all sons, Kenneth Ray Sumner, born on June 3, 1953, Allen Lee Sumner, born November 7, 1957 and Gerald Lynn Sumner, born May 8, 1964.

Lacey was a veteran of World War II. After the war Lacey and Marceline lived for many years in Akron, Ohio where Lacey worked in the Firestone Tire and Rubber plant.  After his retirement they returned to live in Trigg County. Marceline was employed at the Mid-Continent Spring Factory at Hopkinsville after their return to Kentucky.

Marceline was involved in a tragic accident on November 15, 1974.  Marceline, who was 45 years old at the time, died about 3 p.m. that Friday afternoon at her home as a result of a gunshot wound.

An investigation of the death by the Trigg County’s Coroner’s office resulted in a ruling of accidental death in the case.  The investigation indicated that Mrs. Sumner was moving an old shotgun when the weapon accidentally discharged. The coroner said Mrs. Sumner was at home alone at the time and apparently was moving the shotgun from a corner where it had been left standing to a nearby gun case when the accident occurred. Death resulted from a single shotgun blast in the upper portion of the stomach.

Marceline was buried in the Bristo Lancaster Cemetery in Trigg County.  Her husband, Lacey, died three months later on February 18, 1975 from an apparent heart attack and was buried next to his wife in the Bristo Lancaster Cemetery.

Tombstone of Lacey and Marceline Sumner
 

LINEAGE:  (Mary Marceline Moore Sumner was the wife of Lacey Davenport Sumner. Lacey was the son of William Lowery and Mary Jane Thomas Sumner and the grandson of Rufus King and Alvie Adeline Dunn Thomas.  Rufus King was the fifth child of Perry and Elizabeth Bridges Thomas.  Perry was the third child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.  Elizabeth was the sixth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)