Jean Thomas at Traipsin' Woman Cabin, 1934

Jean Thomas: Kentucky’s Traipsin’ Woman

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Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Photo above: Jean Thomas, holding a basket, stands in the doorway of her “Traipsin’ Woman Cabin” on the Mayo Trail near Ashland, KY. And American flag and a bronze tablet decorate one side of the doorway; on the other side hangs a large sign denoting that this is the site of the 4th annual American Folk Song Festival.

She had hosted Susan Steele Sampson, wife of Kentucky’s governor, the previous year at her first American Folk Song Festival, held at the Traipsin’ Woman Cabin. Now, in August 1931, Jean Thomas found herself invited to the Governor’s mansion in Frankfort to discuss the creation of an American Folk Song Society and an annual festival open to the public. How did Thomas get to this point, and why did she call herself the “Traipsin’ Woman?”

Jean Thomas was born Jeanette Mary Francis de Assisi Aloysius Marcissum Garfield Bell in Ashland, Kentucky in 1881. She earned the nickname “Traipsin’ Woman” when, as a teenager in the 1890s, she defied convention to attend business school, learn stenography, and become a court reporter, traveling by jolt wagon to courts in the mountains of eastern Kentucky.

Using money saved from her court reporter wages, Thomas moved to New York, where she attended Hunter College and the Pulitzer School of Journalism. She married accountant Albert Thomas in 1913, a marriage which lasted only one year. She then held a variety of jobs, including work as a script girl for Cecil B. de Mille’s The Ten Commandments, as secretary to the owner of the Columbus Senators of the National League and as press agent for Ruby “Texas” Guinan, the notorious entertainer and owner of prohibition-era speakeasies.

Jean Thomas poses at her desk in her long black "Narrator" costume from the American Folk Song Festival. Three of her publications ["The Singin' Fiddler of Lost Hope Hollow" "Devil's Ditties" and "The Traipsin' Woman"] are displayed on the desk. She was being filmed by Jack Jacumski of Georgetown, OH.
Jean Thomas poses at her desk in her long black “Narrator” costume from the American Folk Song Festival. Three of her publications [“The Singin’ Fiddler of Lost Hope Hollow” “Devil’s Ditties” and “The Traipsin’ Woman”] are displayed on the desk. She was being filmed by Jack Jacumski of Georgetown, OH.

In 1926 Jean Thomas met William Day, a blind fiddler from Rowan County. Using the skills she had acquired as press agent and manager, she changed his name to Jilson Settles, secured recording contracts and booked him (as the “Singin Fiddler from Lost Hope Hollow”) in theaters. Day eventually played in London’s Royal Albert Hall. He was the subject of Thomas’ first book, Devil’s Ditties (1931). Thomas went on to author another seven books including the semi-autobiographical The Traipsin’ Woman (1933), The Singing Fiddler of Lost Hollow (1938), and The Sun Shines Bright (1940).

The first American Folk Song Festival was held in 1932 in Jean Thomas’ home town of Ashland, and featured 18 acts. During the early years of the American Folk Song Festival, Jean Thomas carried a camera wherever she went as she sought out musicians who would perform at the annual event.

At the 8th festival, TIME magazine (June 30, 1938) noted with amusement that the musicians were presenting not only “ballads and hymns that can be traced to Elizabethan England,” but also “ballads from yesterday’s newspaper headlines.” One such example, titled “Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Brave Engineer (to the tune of Casey Jones)” [musician not cited in article]:

Now some folks kick, say he didn’t cut his pay
Remember, he’s not fishing, he’s working every day
He gave the Republicans a mighty slam
He didn’t take twelve years to start the Coal Creek Dam

He sent word to foreign countries, both near and far
Just what to expect if they started to war
He put the mills to working under the N. R. A.
Which means shorter hours, and much more pay

He’s made his stand, and you know he’s tried
He’s made many friends on the Republican side
He’s balanced the budget with revenue
He’s brought back whiskey and the three point two

With the exception of the years 1943-1948, the American Folk Song Festival was held annually until failing health forced Thomas to retire in 1972.

Jean Thomas - The Story of the Traipsin' Woman

Sources: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,788725,00.html
http://digital.library.louisville.edu/collections/jthom/

Article on modern stage adaptation of Thomas’ work here

10 comments

  1. I had the pleasure to get to know this woman in the last years of her life. She was in a care facility in the Ashland area where my great-grandmother lived. I would spend hours listening to her talk of days gone by, her mind was going fast at that time. Still she is one of the people I have met that I will never forget—even though she was in her 90s.
    Sean Collins

  2. My great-great-grandmother (known as “Aunt Polly”) played dulcimer in Catlettsburg, Ky., and was “discovered” by Jean Thomas.

  3. My friend Ken and I were hitchhiking thru Eastern Ky with his guitar and my harmonica. We had a wonderful time meeting the Folks down there. I was from Louisville and Ken was from Charleston, WVA. So we was city folk. Finaaly we somehow got to Traipsin Woman’s cabin. What a delight. She talked our heads off.

  4. I am Brenda (Browning) Johnson. I am from Ashland, KY. I was in one of her plays. We lived on Morgan Avenue. A lot of the kids I went to school with were in her plays, too. The song we sang was “Pickin up Paws Paws,” around 1953. Is there a list of the kids who played that year?

  5. My name is Lindsay Gargotto, and I am a Professor at Bellarmine University in Louisville, KY. I teach a class on Creative Storytelling and I came across Jean Bell Thomas in my research and I was immediately captivated by her story. I have searched where I can buy a copy of her autobiography The Traipsin Woman and I cannot find one to purchase anywhere. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? If you do please contact me!

    Thank you.

  6. Sitting here today gazing out of my family’s homeplace at the property which was the first site of Jean Thomas’ American Folk Song Festival in Ashland Kentucky.I was blessed to know her when I was a child. I used to take my grandmother’s wonderful German cooking to her. I realized even then that I was in the presence of unique greatness. She inspired me to be the best I could be and I am so grateful to her. She taught me to “push through and to continue onward”. I heard and saw those incredible festivals until they were moved to Carter Caves State Park. What a treasure! In all my life’s journeys I have never met anyone like Mrs. Thomas.

  7. William Day was my Great Grandfather whom I never met. His daughter Marie Day-Earwood was my mother’s mother. She often sang with him as he played the fiddle. i enjoyed listening to her singing so many songs that she sang with him. Most of the those songs were stories that were often very funny.

    If i could possibly find out more information about Jean Thomas or my Great Grandfather, i would simply be thrilled.

  8. She was not born Jean Thomas was born “Jeanette Mary Francis de Assisi Aloysius Marcissum Garfield Bell”, just simple Jeanette Bell. The longer, ridiculous name (she was not Catholic) is pure apocrypha.

  9. She was not born “Jeanette Mary Francis de Assisi Aloysius Marcissum Garfield Bell”. She was born just plain Jeanette Bell. The longer, ridiculous name (she was not Catholic) is pure apocrypha.

  10. My Mother played the non-speaking part of the bride in 1967 on this stage. Her on & only “acting” experience. I think they needed someone small enough to fit in the bridal gown. My step-father, brother and I viewed the performance.

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