  Sherman Daily Democrat April 14, 1936 Educator Was Mississippian Post-Civil War Disaster Led Mrs. Kidd to Enter Education Field Mrs. Lucy A. Kidd-Key, who was a leading educational figure in the southwest from the time she came here in 1888 to her death in 1916, literally made Kidd-Key conservatory in that it was by her energy, perseverance, ability and foresight. Born at Bardstown, Kentucy, November 15, 1839, she came from the old Thornton family of Kentucky, allied with the Strothers of Virginia and with the Taylors, cavaliers who were well known in the social and political life of the colonies and early republic. Mrs. Kidd-Key's maternal grandfather was a Huguenot refugee to the Carolinas in the early colonial days. Her parents were Willis Strother and Esther (Stevens) Thornton, and on her father's side she was the great granddaughter of Sir William Thornton, who settled in Virginia, and a granddaughter of James Thornton of Kentucky. MARRIED PLANTER When she was 19 years old she married Dr. Henry Byrd Kidd of Yazoo City, Mississippi. He was also a Kentuckian by birth and became a leading physician and extensive planter and slave-owner in Mississippi, to which state he took his bride. After several years spent in the midst of luxuries incident to large wealth, the war between the states came and Dr. Kidd's fortune was lost in the changes that followed and during the five years of invalidism which preceded his death. Mrs. Kidd lived in Yazoo City 19 years and at the death of her husband had financial reverses and three children to care for, including Edwin Kidd, Sarah (Mrs. Joe H. Holt and later Mrs. Louis Versel) and Henry Kidd, who died while attending a medical school in Kentucky. Another son, Price Kidd died when 10 years old. So well did she manage her personal affairs that she finally paid off every cent of her indebtedness. She then accepted a position as presiding teacher at Whitworth college at Brookhaven, Mississippi, remaining there for 10 years before coming to Sherman in 1888. When she married Bishop Joseph H. Key in 1892, the ceremony was performed by Bishop Galloway of Brookhaven who had known her at Whitworth college. LAST YEARS Dozens of women today have an education solely through her personal assistance and backing. Each session at the college here she selected several girls whose parents were unable to afford a college training for their daughters, and through office and class work helped them to help themselves. Pianists with unusual talent were given opportunity to coach paying students with lesser ability. Class coaching and office work were usually available to all worthy girls. Trained herself in the traditional womanhood, Mrs. Kidd-Key's chief ambition in life was to assist both rich and poor girls to attain it. She placed in first rank the position of woman in the home and through her influence many Kidd-Key girls married outstanding business and professional men. Although Mrs. Kidd-Key was blessed with a strong constitution, the activity of her life with all its responsibilities finally resulted in failing health and for two years before her death September 13, 1916, she found quietude in her rooms, surrounded only by her more intimate friends and relatives. Seventy-seven years old when she died, Mrs. Kidd-Key had spent 37 years of her life in service of womanhood at Kidd-Key college. Bishop Key died in 1920.  Biography Index Kidd Key College History Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |