Thompson, Martha

Twenty-seven year old Martha Thompson, from Paris, KY, was listed in the 1910 U.S. Federal Census as an African American women who worked in the horse industry. Though it is most likely the census taker entered the wrong information into the record for Martha Thompson, and she was actually a cook for a private family. Finding the names of African American women who worked in the horse industry is an extremely difficult search. Martha Thompson is the only African American woman in Kentucky listed in the 1910 U.S. Federal Census as a "horse trainer." She and her daughter, Nannie Thompson, lived at 121 Marshall Street along with her mother who was also named Martha Thompson, two brothers, a niece, and an aunt. In the previous Census, there were 10 people in the family and they lived in Little Rock (Bourbon County) [source: 1900 U.S. Federal Census]. Martha Thompson was listed with the family, though not with an occupation, she was 17 years old and her daughter was 2. One of Martha's brothers, Marion Thompson, is listed as a horse trainer in the 1900 Census, and it was probably he who was actually the horse trainer in the 1910 Census. Martha Thompson was born on Christmas Day in 1882 and died April 28, 1942, she was the daughter of Kemp and Martha Yates Thompson [source: Kentucky Death Certificate State File No.8128, Registrar's No.59].