| Home | Email Us | Membership Form | LCGS Events | LCGS Library | Publications | Pioneer Certificate |

Mildred Jane Thomas was born October 5, 1853 in Casey County, Kentucky to George and Louisa Robertson Thomas. She was the oldest of the family of five children. She was a very special person to my self and my brothers and sisters.

She had the patience of a saint and would spend hours telling us things that happened to her when she was a child.

One story she told was the time that Buffalo Bill (William Cody) visited their home in Kentucky. He just stopped at their house for a meal and a good nights rest, before continuing his travels.

She was blind. This seemed to me to be the most natural thing for her. Shelling peas from the garden was one thing she did very well. Feeling each pea to make sure that it was okay before putting it in the bowl. I remember one summer she and I were working on the back porch and she began making a game of shelling peas. She would say, "I have six peas in this shell" and then she would help me count mine.

We snapped beans and cleaned the silks from corn, always asking one of us to look over the corn before she would decide that she had got all of the silks out.

I watched her peel apples for canning, never missing a peel and for certain not cutting her fingers.

Many lessons were learned from her.

The way she had to tell us never to dry a sharp knife with the blade pointing toward the palm of the hand. I could never figure out how she knew we were listening or watching her. I think that we respected her for the things that she could do and it seemed that she could "see" things that a sighted person could not see. Therefore we paid total attention to her when she talked with us.

She had a great faith in God and would always ask the blessing at dinner and supper. Breakfast for her would be around 10:00 a.m. and the blessing was said by her.

Going to church on Sunday with her son and daughter-in-law was very important and she always went when able. Mildred's husband, Sylvester was a preacher before his death in 1932.

Great-Grandmother, Mildred Jane Thomas Kirk was a delightful person and one that I truly did admire.