[1]It was written on October 26, 1906 and appeared in the "Lyon County Times". The author is unknown, but the essay speaks about the character and nature of the Doom family.
The Doom family who live in Lyon County, Kentucky, are industrious, honest to a penny, economical, none of the name having been accused of crime. They are quiet citizens. Many of them belong to the church, most of them in great number are farmers and cultivate sociability, especially the female portion. In young womanhood, most of them are handsome, but this is more than can be truthfully said of the male portion.
The family seems to hold a name all along down the generations. You will see John, Jake, James, Benjamin, Columbus, Nathaniel appear through the generations. The Doom blood has permeated almost every family in this section. Every Doom by name is a democrat in politics. Few among them are said to be office hunters, but when they get an office they rather like it.
At any rate, they belong to the class that likes to hold on to a good thing and they know a good thing when they see it.
They are mainly situated in the lower half of Lyon County, Kentucky, where their forefathers settled in the early part of the eighteenth century (1700's). Henry, Jacob, David settled the old Doom place, where the family grave yard has been constantly kept. They settled the farm on the creek near Macedonia Church, having owned several hundred acres of land in the northwest section of Lyon County. The old burying ground is still the place where they deposit their dead and a move will soon be put on foot to erect, near that point, a Methodist Church. This is a great need as no shelter is now afforded for funeral occasions.
When we write of these old characters and individuals we seem to think of them as something afar off, but their bodies are smoldering back to dust in their resting places in the old grave year. Some of the best people in the county have been laid to rest in the Doom Grave Yard.
The living have many loved ones resting there and around these graves and grave stones cluster memories that may revive in the world beyond. To contemplate the dead and to show our affections and love the departed are acts of our better nature and make us better men and woman. The greed seems to be in all of us for riches, but sooner or later we shall all fall victim to the grim monster death that knows no influence between the rich and poor, but who will sweep us all into eternity.
Cheryl, I got this from Aunt Glen and it really evokes emotion about those in our family who have lived and loved before us. Just a footnote: Dad and I visited the Doom Family Cemetery a few years back and we have videos of it. It is really a special place to anyone with Doom blood - and that includes you honey.