I was born on January 14, 1899, in Madisonville, Hopkins County, Kentucky. Parents, Mildred Jones Cunningham and Edwin Soper Cunningham. Both families, the Joneses and Cunninghams, resided in Madisonville, and since I being the first child in either family, I came in for a great deal of attention. My father was a baritone singer, and member of a local quartet. He being unemployed, we lived with my Jones grandparents. The Joneses were parents of five daughters, my mother, Mildred Ella Jones, being the third oldest, and one son. The youngest were twins, a girl and the one son. My grandfather, Thomas Burton Jones, fought in the Civil War as a Captain. Later he and my Uncle Blount were in business together. They owned a wagon and buggy manufacturing company. My grandfather had a great friend in Walter P. Chrepeler. He approached my grandfather with a proposition to turn the factory into building automobiles, at that time called horseless carriages. The offer was refused.

I will endeavor to put down facts as I can remember them, about the Jones family. Ola Jones Prichet was the oldest daughter. They had no children. Georgie Jones Compton was a widow, after a marriage of one year. She had no children. James R. Rash was calling on her, and I became very fond of him. They were married shortly and lived in Earlington, Kentucky where he was President of St. Bernard Coal Company. Nan Jones Franceway was just a few years younger than my mother and her husband, James, was a friend of my father and a member of the same quartet. Blount Jones was unmaried when I went with him to call on Katherine Tate and to play with her afflicted sister, Ermie. They were married later. Blanch Jones Simpson was married to William Simpson and they had one child, a daughter. My grandfather was born a Quaker, and his family were farmers, but not slave owners. My grandmother was a Ramsey and they owned a large plantation and had many slaves. She was a devout Baptist, as was my mother.

Suzanne's notes:

1) Actually, Blount Jones and Katherine had one child, a daughter, Virginia Jones who was born in 1899 and died just a few years ago in a nursing home in Bowling Green. She never married.

2) Blanch Jones and William Simpson had three children, Margaret Ramsey Simpson, John Burton Simpson, and Betsey Simpson. Margaret married James Gideon Dollar and they had three daughters.

3) Thomas Burton Jones was a son of Solomon Walker Jones, a Methodist minister and farmer who moved his family to Hopkins County from Granville County, North Carolina about 1841. I have not been able to reconcile my mother's statement that Thomas Burton Jones was "born a Quaker" with this information.

4) Georgia Jones Rash and James R. Rash had one child who died as an infant, possibly at birth. I happened upon his grave at Grapevine several years ago.

I will write down what I can remember and what I have been told about the Cunningham family. Sometime in the 1700s the property and holdings of three Cunningham brothers, of the aristocracy in Ireland, were confiscated by the Crown, and the men were exiled to America. One of them settled in Kentucky. I am directly descended from this Lord Cunningham, the one who settled in Kentucky. My grandfather (Fountain Cunningham, Jr.) died before I was born. He had been a wealthy man, owning and operating the only livery stable in Madisonville. Through his business, he made friends with racing people, and eventually went on the road with a string of race horses. He was a drinking man. He lost all his money and died with 'delirium tremens'. He left his wife and three half grown children penniless. My grandmother (Kate Champion Harris) was descended from an English General, who fought on America's side in the War of 1812. His name was William Wingate. His daughter was Rebecca Wingate Campbell, and she was the mother of my great grandmother, Sophronia Campbell Harris. My grandmother was Kate Harris. Her children were my father, Edwin, another son, Percival, and a daughter Campbell who was called Cammy. When my grandfather lost everything, that included the livery stable and their beautiful home. My great grandmother, Sophronia, had a home and property on the corner of Main Street and Broadway. She built a home on her lot, facing on Broadway, for her daughter and children. Cammy eventually married a man named Steven (Stephens) and they lived in Paducah. They had no children. Percival was unmarried until in his forties. My father was the only one with children.

Suzanne's Notes:

1) Fountain Cunningham, Sr., born in Franklin County, KY in 1804, was the son of John Cunningham and Sally Hickman. Sally was a daughter of William Hickman, the first Baptist preacher in Forks of Elkhorn Baptist Church in Franklin County. Fountain migrated to Henderson County about 1823 and brought his younger brother, William, with him. Both brothers are well documented in Henderson County.

2) William Wingate and his wife, Sarah Chase, and their family are well documented in Boone County, KY where they moved after the War of 1812. I have not been able to confirm his part in the War, not even his supposed rank.

3) The home place mentioned actually belonged to Sophronia's brother, James E. Campbell. He was a bachelor who was cared for by his sister and her daughter. He left the houses and property to them when he died in 1909.

During the time we lived with the Joneses, my sister Georgia was born. My father took a job with the L & N Railroad as a brakeman and we moved to Nashville, Tennessee. Dates and times skip me, so I do not know how long we lived in Nashville. Only a short time I am sure, for my father was transferred by the railroad to Earlington, Kentucky as the conductor on a short run train called the "Dinky". We lived in Earlington for a few years. My brother Edwin was born there and then, on my ninth birthday, my sister Nan was born. My father was at great pains to stay put for very long at a time, so we moved back to Madisonville. We had a home next door to my Aunt Ola and Uncle Jim Pritchet. My father went into the laundry business with my Uncle Perce. My best girl friend was Martha Lou Lafoon. Her father had at one time been the Governor of Kentucky. He was also, as a young man, a candidate for my mother's hand in marriage. In fact, she was courted by several wealthy young men, but chose the poor one of the bunch.

During the time I lived in Madisonville, a monument honoring the men of Hopkins County who fought in the Civil War was erected in Court Square. Since I was the granddaughter of a prominent citizen in Hopkins County, I was chosen to unveil the monument during the presentation ceremony.

While we were living in Earlington, my mother's favorite sister, my Aunt Nan, died at childbirth, leaving her first and only child, James Francway.

Suzanne's Notes:

The Memoirs continue, but will not be continued here for my mother's family soon moved to Arkansas after selling the laundry business.

If anyone reading this memoir can help with any missing pieces, please let me know. I would love to find the parents of Fountain Cunningham Sr., and his wife, Sarah Faulkner. I would also love to confirm, or disprove, the family legend of "General William Wingate". Another 'lost' ancestor is the husband of Rebecca Wingate Campbell. He was Thomas Waller Campbell of Boone County. I think, but have been unable to confirm, that his parents were William Campbell and Amelia Green.