Bright GROOM and his wife Catherine WINDERS GROOM came to Weakley County, TN about 1826-27 from Todd County, KY.  Bright's brother Stephen and his wife Winifred came at the same time.   Their wives, Catherine and Winifred Winders, were twin sisters.  Bright Groom is listed #175 in the Occupant Entry Book for Weakley County.  In the 1850 census of Weakley County he was listed as a magistrate and owned 500 acres.  All of their 13 children were raised in the area.  They lived in District 12, in the vicinity of Meridian Church.  In 1857 Bright and Catherine with some of their children migrated to Mill Creek, Red River County, TX where they both died in 1863.

On September 8, 2003, I made a trip to Red River County, Texas in search of the grave site of Bright Marshall Groom and his wife Catherine Winders Groom.  I located it in Pope Springs Cemetery, Texas which is an old abandoned cemetery known only to a few of the older local residents of the area.  It is located in a pasture, back in a stand of trees, and is unattended and very badly overgrown.  All of the markers have fallen over, and I'm sure there are some hidden from view by the underbrush or have become buried. As it happened, the first marker I examined was that of Bright Grooms.  It was laying on its side, but the inscription was face up and easy to read.
. . .
             BRIGHT
             GROOM
              BORN
        DEC. 12, 1790
              DIED
         AUG. 5, 1863
The epitaph on the side reads:
        "These That We
          Loved So Long,
        and See No More,
           Is Not Dead, 
        But Gone Before."

 Submitted by ggg-Grandson, Tom Johnson