2006 April 23
Ann and I are sitting at the kitchen table having coffee. I didn’t know that she didn’t know who her ancestors are; so I am going to tell her.
I am the oldest daughter of Leonard and Myrtle Shoupe. My mother’s mother and father were Albert and Bettie Lanter Vaughn. On dad’s side, his parents were Florence and Henry Shoupe. I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and came to Harlan at the age of 6. Because my dad was prejudice, we moved to Yancy where we lived above the colored camp. There is a story there about how I met my best friend, Annalee, in Yancy, Harlan County, Kentucky. A best friend who taught me how to cook and clean; a friend who taught me to look beyond the color of the skin.
Since then I have traced my "roots" on both sides of my "tree" back more than ten generations. I know that: I am Alberta Ann Thomas, daughter of Harold Lee Thomas and Edith Alberta Shoupe Thomas. My siblings are: Harold Danny, Clara Jean, and Sharon Gail (deceased).
My father was Harold Lee Thomas, 8/4/1924 – 1/14/1968 (Born in Gatliff, Kentucky; died in Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Kentucky).
His Father was: Finley Thomas, who was the son of Sampson, who was the son of Daniel, who was the son of Robin, who was the son of Stephen, who was the son of Stephen, who was the son of Tristram born in Sundridge, Kent, England and Judith Clayland born in Talbot, Maryland, USA
His Mother was Rachel Elizabeth Powers, 10/31/1905 – 4/25/1999, Rachel was the daughter of Jesse LaMance Powers and Susie Campbell.
My father’s siblings were: Arville, Ruth, Henrietta, Robert, Wilma, Nell, Kenneth, Marvin and Jimmy, also Charles and Eula both deceased; Charles from cat scratch fever and Eula Nadine lived only one day..
My mother was Edith Alberta Shoupe (Thomas Brandon), 8/1/1926 – 5/4/2011, who was the daughter of Leonard Edgar Shoupe, 9/22/1901 – 6/14/1978 and Myrtle Evabelle Vaughn, 5/5/1909 – 12/1/1989. Alberta’s Siblings were : Ardith Faye, Willis Ray, and Dessie Sue Shoupe
Leonard Edgar Shoupe was the son of Henry Shoupe, 8/4/1877 – 8/9/1955 (died in Evarts, Harlan County Kentucky) and Rachel Florence Trosper, 1/14/1877 – 8/10/1949 (died Evarts, Harlan County, Kentucky).