JAMES THADEUS LOCKE

 The following bio was taken from page 290 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

 Transcribed by Shirley Koym

 Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Cemeteries of Texas

 James Thadeus Locke was born August 5, 1903, and died September 11, 1978.  He married Gertrude Welch, daughter of Brother J. R. Welch, on May 15, 1934.  The one son born to them died at birth, and both James and the baby are buried in the Zion Hill Cemetery.

 James Thadeus Locke’s maternal grandparents were:  Thadeus Sobisca Akin (February 2, 1851-January 17, 1929) and Susan Ann Elizabeth Duke (March 30, 1856-August 27, 1894).

 The parents of James Thadeus were James Lafayette Locke (April 7, 18- November 28, 1926) and Melissa Dea Akin (July 16, 1876-December 31, 1964).  Both are buried in Jumbo Cemetery.  They were married January 31, 1901 in Rusk County, and were parents of the following children:  William Conda Locke, born August 5, 1901, who married Bertha Rousseau, November 14, 1922; James Thadeus Locke (Subject of this sketch); Henry Grady Locke, born January 22, 1905, now deceased, who married Dean Cadenhead November 10, 1922; Thomas Franklin Locke, born October 5, 1906, now deceased, who married Velma Adams, August 24, 1940; Harvey Lee Locke, born March 31, 1908, who married Nellie Lou Fears, February 13, 1928.

 James Thadeus Locke lived his entire life in Rusk County.  He was a farmer and rancher and also drove a bus for many years for Minden Independent School District.  His wife, Gertrude (Welch) Locke, graduated from Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, Texas, with a Bachelor of Science degree on May 24, 1943, and obtained her Master of Arts degree on August 23, 1948.

 She states, “I was issued a Teacher’s Temporary Certificate December 30, 1929 and began teaching at Rhodes School in September 1931 and continued until 1934.  This was a one-teacher school with eight grades.  There were neither buses nor lunchrooms.  Water and firewood were brought into the school room by the pupils.  The children came up to the front of the room, by grades, to recite their lessons’.

 “I served as a first grade teacher in the Sulphur Springs Independent Schools from September 1939 until 1943.  This was an eighteen-teacher school.

 “In the term 1943-1944, I started teaching in the Minden Independent School District and taught until 1967, making twenty four years.  Then I began teaching in the Henderson Independent Schools in the term of 1967-1968 and retired after spending five years as a fourth-grade teacher in Montgomery School.

“After thirty-six years in the classroom, because of my love for children, I spent five more years as a substitute in the Henderson District.

“James and I were members of the Maple Grove Missionary Baptist Church.  I have attended and have been a Senior Sunday School and B. T. C. teacher since September 14, 1952,  a total of twenty-nine years.  I reside at Minden.”

 Submitted by Gertrude Locke