BIO: Lamert Willett, Bullitt County, KY ********************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net Transcribed by: Jan West awest1@tampabay.rr.com Date: 21 Jan 2000 *********************************************************************** LAMBERT WILLETT One of the most successful business men and extensive land owners of Nelson county is Lambert Willett, whose well improved and productive farm lies near Bardstown. Having been a lifelong resident of this county, he is widely known and all who have been associated with him regard him as a man of marked business capacity and enterprise. Mr. Willett was born in Nelson county on the 23d of September, 1883, and is a son of John D. and Mary Alice (Moore) Willett. The father was born in Bardstown, December 26, 1842, and died in that city, May 6, 1914. He was educated in St. Joseph's College, at Bardstown, and Florisant College, near St. Louis, Missouri, and became a member of the distilling firm of Mattingly, Willett & Franke. He was also a successful farmer. In politics he was a democrat and he belonged to St. Joseph's Roman Catholic church. His parents, George E. and Kittie A. (Miles) Willett, were natives of Nelson county and died in Bardstown. George E. Willett was a building contractor and erected part of the St. Joseph's College buildings and Nazareth Academy. He was a democrat and a member of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic church. His father, George Willett, was a native of Virginia, from which state he moved to Maryland, and later came to Kentucky, locating on Pottinger's creek, near Gethsemane, Nelson county, where he became a successful planter. He was a democrat and in his earlier years was a Protestant in religious faith, but later became a member of the Roman Catholic church. Mary Alice Moore was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and is a daughter of Charles Alexander and Kittie (Cotton) Moore, the former of whom was born in Bardstown, and followed farming during his active years, owning much land and many slaves. He died in Louisville. During the Civil war he was a Southern sympathizer; supported the democratic party and was a member of the Roman Catholic church. His wife, who also died in Louisville, was a native of Boston, Nelson county. Charles A. Moore was a son of Charles A. and Fannie (Warren) Moore, both of whom were natives of Maryland and died in Nelson county, Kentucky. Mr. Moore was a soldier in the War of 1812, followed the business of carpenter and builder, voted the democratic ticket and was a member of the Roman Catholic church. His wife was a daughter of a Revolutionary soldier. Lambert Willett received his education in the public and parochial schools of Nelson county. At the age of fifteen years he entered the employ of the Tom Moore Distilling Company of Bardstown, with which concern he remained five years, and was then with the Clear Springs Distilling Company of Nelson county, where he remained twenty years, during the last five years of which period he was one-third owner of the business and superintendent of the plant. Mr. Willett has a fine farm of six hundred acres near Bardstown, where he is giving his attention to general farming and stock raising, having operated this place for over twenty years, and has been eminently successful. On April 28, 1908, in Bardstown, Mr. Willett was united in marriage to Miss Mary Catherine Thompson, who was born in Nelson county, January 16, 1888, and is a daughter of Charles T. and Georganna E. (Coomes) Thompson. Her father was born in Bullitt county, Kentucky, October 9, 1843, and died in Nelson county in 1922. In early life he was a teacher, later was in the internal revenue service and eventually turned his attention to farming. He was a republican in politics and a member of the Roman Catholic church. His parents, Elias and Mary M. (Blanford) Thompson, were natives of this state and died in Nelson county. The father followed farming, was a republican in his political views and a member of the Roman Catholic church. Georganna E. Coomes was born in Nelson county, September 18, 1855, and died July 2, 1903. She was a daughter of Enoch and Minerva (Shepler) Coomes, the former of whom was a native of Maryland and became a farmer in Nelson county, where his death occurred. He was a democrat and a Roman Catholic in religion. His wife was a native of Bullitt county, this state, and died in Nelson county. Enoch Coomes was a son of Ignatius Coomes, a native of Maryland, who brought his family to Nelson county, Kentucky, where he was long engaged in farming. He too was a Roman Catholic in religious faith and a democrat in politics. Mrs. Willett was educated in the parochial school of Bardstown and St. Catherine's Academy, and is a member of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic church and the Daughters of Isabella. To Mr. and Mrs. Willett have been born nine children, namely: A. Lambert Thompson, born January 27, 1909; Ben Johnson, January 17, 1911; John Lambert, May 6, 1912; Mary Catherine, April 14, 1914; Paul Augustine, November 17, 1916; Joseph William, January 8, 1920; Robert Elmo, May 9, 1922; Charles David, December 3, 1924; and Patricia Therese, April 7, 1927. Mr. Willett is nominally a democrat but votes independently. He is a member of the town council and of the Chamber of Commerce, and also belongs to Bardstown Council, No. 1290, K. C., and Louisville Lodge, No. 8, B. P. O. E. He is a man of friendly manner and agreeable disposition; has always stood ready to cooperate in the furtherance of all measures for the betterment of his community, and is numbered among the influential men of his locality HISTORY of KENTUCKY The Blue Grass State 322886 VOLUME III ILLUSTRATED THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO - LOUISVILLE 1928 pp 683-684