What I Know About Nancy

 

“Very often I’ll find out at the end of a book what I put in at the beginning. A sort of process of elimination and discovery in one.” — Jonathan Carroll

Nancy A. Hudson was born around 1810- 1812 in Anson County, North Carolina. There exists no documentation on who her parents were. Some have her as a child or grandchild of Joachim Hudson, my 5th Great Grandfather. Anything is possible, I suppose, but it seems he, and most of his family, seem to have relocated to Darlington County, South Carolina by then. Others have her as the daughter of Josiah, or Joshua Hudson, Sr. and her mother as a Miss Culpepper. The Culpepper may have derived from the fact that one of her sons was named Culpepper, or it could have been true. There's really no way to know. 

Descendants of Evan Hudson have her as his sister, due to the closeness of associates, and the fact that they may both would migrate to Tennessee. There is more information on her husband, of course, as women remained primarily in the background in the 19th century. This is what I know about the recondite Nancy.

Previously, in my previous post on Evan Hudson, I briefly examined a man named Archibald Helms, who had lived in what is now Union County, prior to traveling west with Evan Hudson and his group, that included his in-laws, the Hargett's and Helms. Archibald Helms and Evan would purchase neighboring properties in Lawrence County, Alabama, but had lived in neighboring counties while in Tennessee. When he was a young man still in North Carolina, Archibald Helms lived near a man named Shem Yarbrough, as shown above.

The name Yarbrough is one of multifarious configurations. Yarboro, Yarborough, Yarbrough and on and on. The name originated from the old Norse term of "Jardborg" and evolved into an English place name of Yarborough in Lincolnshire, meaning earthworks or fortifications. Locally, and this will become important momentarily, Carolina Piedmont southern twang has turned the name to a sound more like "Yar-burr", much like we pronounce the name of the local town of Oakboro, as "Oakburr". Transplants do not, but locals do.

Shem Yarborough

Shem was born around 1774 or 1775. He was the son of a very prolific Joshua Yarbourough and wife, Susanna Thompson. They lived in what was Mecklenburg County but would become Union County in 1842. Shem had five brothers, and between them, they would send Yabouroughs southward into Alabama and Georgia and westward into Tennessee and beyond. The Yarboroughs preferred biblical names for their children. Shem's brothers were Benjamin, Jeptha, William Cornelius, Reuben and Gideon. Shem would marry a girl from the most numerous family name in Union County, Nelly Helms. They would have eight children: Jeptha, Thompson Shem, William Dawson, Henry Clay, Deborah, Nelly, Susanna and Melissa.

As shown in the above record of Darling B. Belk's property, dated 1835, Shem Yarbourough lived on Richardson's Creek. If one recalls from my post, The Truth About Joshua, Joshua Hudson and his family began along Richardson's Creek before moving slightly north into Stanly County. His father, Joshua Hudson, Sr. had lived on Richardson's Creek.

Richardson's Creek

Richardson's Creek is a tributary of the Rocky River. It begins in Union County near Monroe and journeys northeast through Anson County, becoming wider along the way. So, while the widest and deepest part of the creek is in Anson County, as it empties into the Rocky River, the longest part of it remains in what is now Union County.

It passes between New Salem and Olive Branch, only three miles apart, around the foot of Polk Mountain, the only Mountain in Union County, runs north of Fairfield, and then splits into two small branches, one that ends in Lake Twitty, while the other cuts east through Monroe, becomes Little Richardson Creek, feeds into Lake Lee, and ends, or begins, just west of East Sandy Ridge Road. This is the Creek along which our Hudson family was founded after leaving Amelia County, Virginia.

Shem Yarbrough to Westford Garris for 120 acres of Land Bearing date the 7th day of September 1826 by John M. Ingram. 

Some would leave the area during the 1820's, a few of these being veterans of the War of 1812 pursuing bounty lands. Others would follow a decade later, perhaps persuaded through letters, or even visits, of the joys of greener pastures and cheap, or even free, land, for the taking.

And then I found the above document. Mecklenburg County, November 24th, 1824, Benjamin Hutson (Hudson), "a tract of land in the said County, containing 110 acres of the waters of Beaverdam fork joining the lines of Shem Yarborrow, Sampson Doster, and the Wido (sic) Bennett."

Was this Benjamin Hudson of Anson County, son of Joshua Sr.? He was born in 1803 and would have been a young man of 21 on the above date. He wouldn't appear in a census until 1840, in Anson County, which means he was not a head of household, he was living with someone else, but who? The location tells us this was not modern Mecklenburg County, but Union County, NC and the property bordered that of Shem Yarborough. 

Nancy Hudson would marry a son of Shem Yarborough, William Dawson Yarborough/Yarber.

Another option was Benjamin Hudson, the uncle of Joshua Hudson Jr., Benjamin and Evan Hudson, brother of Joachim and Joshua Sr. 

The family had originated in Amelia County, Virginia and had migrated into North Carolina just before the death of their father, Hall Hudson. Joachim was here, in Anson County, by 1777. Brothers Joshua and Obediah didn't show up until a bit later. That doesn't mean they hadn't arrived with him, just that they hadn't purchased land. Or, they could have remained with their father, Hall Hudson, until he passed away.

Amelia County, Virginia

He executed his will on March 3, 1778, and it was probated on September 28, 1780, in Nottoway Parish, Amelia County. Peter Hudson was the executor. Heirs named were:

Obedience Hudson, granddaughter, a cow and heifer, a sow with four shoats.

Noe Hudson, grandson, a feather bed and furniture, a cow and calf.

Richard Hudson, the "Great Family Bible".  - Glad it existed!

His other named children, Isaac Hudson, Hall Jr., Joshua, Benjamin, Joakim, Obediah, Elizabeth and Susannah, received only one shilling each, "and no more of my estate".  It appears these children had angered him, going against their father's wished is some manner.

Peter Hudson, the executor, received a man name "Guy" and "all the rest of my living".

Witnesses were John Grey, Elizabeth Grey, Richard Ward, Robert Hudson, and George Snelling. 

......................................................................................................................................................................

My take is that Benjamin, son of Hall, would have been too old, if he was yet alive at all, to have been purchasing this land next to Shem Yarbourough. It was more likely to have been the 21-year-old Benjamin, son of Joshua. Jr.

Above is the front page of Benjamin Hudson's grant in Mecklenburg (now Union), on Richardson's Creek. How long did he stay there?

The above attachment to the same document gives us an interesting clue. Benjamin Hutson's plans 110 acres on the waters of Richardson Creek Shem Yarborough son in law...... Mecklenburg .. Jan 20th 1824. Does this mean that Benjamin Hudson was the son-in-law of Shem Yarborough? I know it was not the other way around as Shem was married to Nelly Helms, daughter of George Helms and Margaret Falkenburg. 

Son-in-law at this time could have a variety of meanings. It could have been the husband of a daughter, as we use it now. It could also have meant a stepson, or child of your spouse by a previous marriage. It could have also meant a child appointed to the individual under a guardianship role, but that was not typical. Most likely, Benjamin Hudson had married one of Shem Yarborough's daughters, or either Shem Yarborough had married the widow of Joshua Hudson Sr.'s wife. Joshua Hudson Jr. maintained that his mother had passed away when he was 10 days old, so he may have been a half-sibling to his father's youngest children. We do know that Nancy Hudson married a son of Shem Yarborough, so it would be of the greatest degree of probability that Benjamin Hudson had married a daughter of Shem Yarborough. It was a common occurrence for sets of siblings to marry other sets of siblings in the 19th century. 

If this was Benjamin Hudson of Anson County, his first known wife was Esther Broome, daughter of William Jackson Broome and Elizabeth Helms, daughter of Tilman Helms and Rachel Craig. Esther was born in 1810, which would put her extremely young upon the birth of Benjamin's oldest daughter, Lucinda, on April 22, 1823. But the possibility that Ben Hudson was married previously, but briefly, lines up exactly to memoirs I've found in the Hudson Family file at the Stanly County History office at the County museum. In written accounts from the family of Ben's oldest son, Joshua, who was born in 1828, Joshua had two half-sisters, Lucinda and Patsy (b 1824), by Ben's earlier unknown wife. I will examine this closer in a post on Benjamin himself. 

Benjamin Hudson shows up as a debtor in the estate records of the John Connor Estate in February of 1833, held by Thomas P Dillon, an Irish immigrant who is recorded in Anson County in the 1840 census and the Union County census in 1850, passing away there in 1851. John Connor was also an Irish immigrant. Where they settled was quite predictably, in what is now Union County.

The list of all listed in the Estate of John Conner

The names of all the persons listed in the estate file of John Conner reveals many familiar Union, and Anson, County names

A closer look at Benjamin Hudson (Hutson) grant in Union (Mecklenburg) County.

Surveyed for Benjamin Hutson one hundred and ten acres lying on the waters of Richardson's Creek..

Beginning at a post oak Burnett's corner and Squire Ingrams corner and runs with Ingram's line south...Harris's corner...near Leggett's line near a small branch...to a pine on the race paths...to a small post oak on Sampson Dosser's line.....Dosser's corner.....Gabriel Sibley's corner...to a pine on Shem Yarbroughs corner...Burnetts corner.. " Witnessed by Shem Yarborough and Armstead Helms.

Elijah Hudson

There is one other Hudson in this area around this time, and that is Elijah Hudson.  Other Hudsons will appear, but not in this area, the part that becomes Union. They may have been distantly related, but I am not ready to go down that rabbit hole right now. In the 1820 census of Mecklenburg County, Elijah Hudson is living next to Frederick Starnes, James Starnes, Nathaniel Starnes, David Starnes. Having Starnes heritage, I know this places him squarely in Union County. Above him is Ganders (or Sanders) Burnett, whose land Benjamin Hutson's grant adjoined, Shadrack Yarborough, a relative of Shem, and several of the Rape family, Peter, Samuel, and Charles.

This Elijah heads a young family, as he and the adult female are between 16 and 25, giving their birthyear a range of 1795 to 1804. This places him in the same generation as Joshua Hudson of Ugly Creek and Benjamin Hudson of Lilesville, Anson County.

Name	Elijah Hutson
Home in 1830 (City, County, State)	Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5	1
Free White Persons - Males - 15 thru 19	1
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39	1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5	2
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9	2
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 14	2
Free White Persons - Females - 30 thru 39	1
Free White Persons - Under 20	8
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49	2
Total Free White Persons	10
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored)	10

In 1830, no Elijah Hudson is in Mecklenburg County, but instead, is the only Hudson headed household in Anson County. The household matches up with being the same one. The parental couple are now in their thirties, giving a birth year range of 1791 to 1800, a decade older than they were before. Merged together, the range is 1795-1800. Before, there were three girls under 10 and one boy. In 1830, there is one boy aged 15 to 19, and a new one under 5, and two girls 10 to 14, two 5 to 9 and two under five, for a family of ten.

Elijah Hudson's neighbors in 1830 are multiple Haglars, James Mullis, James Love and John Polk.

And then he disappears. 

Looking for the brief mentions of him in Mecklenburg County, we find that in 1827, he sold 120 acres on Crooked Creek to Alexander Phillips.

"This Indenture made this 21st day of Feb 1827 between Elijah Hudson of the County of Mecklenburg and the state of North Carolina and Alexander Phillips.. same...sum of $300 paid by Alexander Phillips unto the said Elijah Hudson...on the waters of Crooked Creek.. bounded ...head of a spring..containing 120 acres."

In the Presence of 

William Phillips

Charles Rich (Or Rice)

 On June 4, 1821, Elijah Hudson purchased 100 acres from Solomon Harris on Beaverdam Creek.

This nearly, some might say wholey, illegible document, can be found in the Mecklenburg County deeds, Book 19, Page 301. He seemed to have some association with a John Hinson also on Crooked Creek, which is interesting as there is a John Hinson in early Stanly and Union County records.

Beaverdam Creek is in Union County, near Marshville, and to be connected to the others I've been looking at, in exactly the place we'd be expecting him to be. 

Crooked Creek is an offshoot of the Rocky River in Upper Union County, near the Stanly/Union County line and the Cabarrus/Union County line.

Benjamin Hudson has two land grants, the one in Mecklenburg (Union) dated 1824, on Richardson's Creek and one in Anson, dated 1835, joining his own land and the Rocky River. There's no explanation, that I've yet tumbled across, of how he disposed of his land in Union, or how he obtained the "his own land" in Anson, prior to his grant adjoining it.

Likewise, it is not known how or to whom Elijah Hudson disposed of the land purchased of Solomon Harris in 1821 on Crooked Creek, or how he had acquired the land sold to Alexander Phillips in 1827.

Yet, Elijah appears in two census records, 1820 in Mecklenburg (Union) and 1830 in Anson. Then disappears, the entire family to a child. This informs me he did not die, but more likely, migrated away with one of the many wagon trains out of the area, south or west. 

Benjamin and Joshua are the only ones who appear in 1840 in Anson, and many afterwards.

But what about Nancy? This post was supposed to be about her. To know more about her, it was important to begin with the people she was connected to. 

The date given for the marriage of Nancy A Hudson and William Dawson Yarborough by some of their descendants, is July 24, 1828, which makes sense, as their first child, Reuben, was born in 1829. The location given, Bedford County, Tennessee, makes no sense, however, as William and his father, Shem and brother, Jeptha, are all still in Mecklenburg County, todays Union section, in the 1840 census.

I would, instead, guess their marriage happened in Mecklenburg, along Richardson's Creek.

Name	William Yarborough
Residence Date	1840
Home in 1840 (City, County, State)	Mecklenburg, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5	1 John Culpepper b 1839 infant
Free White Persons - Males - 5 thru 9	1 William D.  b 1834 age 6
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 14	1 Reuben b 1829 age 11
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39	1 William Dawson Sr.
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9	1 Abigail age 7
Free White Persons - Females - 30 thru 39	1 Nancy
Free White Persons - Females - 80 thru 89	1 Unknown
Persons Employed in Agriculture	1
Free White Persons - Under 20	4
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49	2
Total Free White Persons	7
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves	7

William and Nancy are counted as a couple in their 30's, with four children already, and that totally makes sense. The mystery is the woman in her 80's in the home. She would not be Dawson's mother, as Nellie and Shem were together and, in their fifties. 

Name	Shem Yarborough
Residence Date	1840
Home in 1840 (City, County, State)	Mecklenburg, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5	2
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29	1
Free White Persons - Males - 50 thru 59	1 Shem
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5	2
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9	1
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29	1
Free White Persons - Females - 30 thru 39	1
Free White Persons - Females - 50 thru 59	1 Nellie

Could this have been Nancy's mother, or a grandmother? Shem and Nellie's mothers had both passed away by this time.

1844

In Mecklenburg County Court in the fall of 1844, William Yarborough was brought to Court in a case against a woman named Sarah Griffin. The Griffins were another family populous in the northeastern part of Union County and northwestern part of Anson County, and remain so to this day.

A sizable committee of 21 men were held in bond of $2.50 each to control and encourage Sarah Griffin to behave and "keep the peace towards the good citizens of this county", but especially towards William Yarborough.

Shortly after this time, Shem Yarborough, William Dawson Yarborough, Jeptha Yarborough and Thompson Yarborough, and possibly several more Union and Anson County families and kin, load up their wagons with a destination of Washington County, Tennessee.

Traveling through the Cumberland Gap and coming out on the western side of the Blue Ridge, the Yarboroughs were soundly confronted with an already developed Appalachian brogue. Borough, a word derived an English village, town or district, became squelched into the sound "burr" or "ber". The Carolina Yarboroughs became Tennessee Yarbers. 

Washington County became a first stop, a way station, just across the Tennessee, North Carolina line. They would stay there a decade or more, and some of the family would remain. A few of the older children would marry there.

The Yarbrough Family Quarterly would mention William Dawson Yarber, with the dates of the father's birth years, as having wed there.

However, Nancy outlived William, and there is no indication he ever had another wife. They had wed well before arriving in Tennessee. It was their son, William Dawson Yarber, Jr. who married in Washington County.

1850

Shem and Nelly are shown in their 70's, with four young children, presumably grandchildren, perhaps orphaned by a deceased child of theirs. Clinton, the only boy, is the only one I've succeeded in tracing and he ended up in Kentucky. Shem's house is enumerated at the top of the page in Temper, Washington County, Tennessee.

On the preceding page, at the bottom, which would be the house just before his on the list, is found Jeptha Yarborough, now 52, with his wife Elizabeth, 36, and six children: Alonzo, Frances, Talbot, Lucinda, Middleton and Burt. This generation will spread far and wide. Lucinda ends up in Oregon, having braved, and survived, the Oregon Trail.

On a different page, but still in Temper, we find two of Shems younger sons, living side by side, Thompson S. 'Yarber' and William D. 'Yarber' Thompson, named for Shem's mother, Susannah Thompson Yarborough, was 32, his wife, Nancy Burnett Yarbourough, 25, and they had three daughters, Winny, Elizabeth Melissa and Eva A. Thompson "Tom" Shem Yarber will settle and pass away in Jefferson County, Tennessee.

The next household is that of William D and Nancy Hudson Yarber (Yarborough). They're up to ten living children, including two sets of twins. Twins did not run in the Yarborough family, but they certainly did in the Hudson line. Rueben is 18, William D. Jr. is 16, Abigail, 13, John 10, twins Thompson and Rebecca are 9, Caroline is 7, identical twins, Jaspar and Newton are 4 and James Finley Yarber is two. There will be at least one more. All are shown as being born in North Carolina. They will not linger her long.

Before 1860, Dawson moves the family south and west 134 miles to Roane County. 

The older sons now on their own, Abigail was the oldest child in the home. The 18 year old twins, Rebecca and Thompson were the last on the page,.

The rest of the family were continued on the next page, and they were living in the town of Lenoir.

Caroline, Jaspar, Newton and James, now 12, were followed by Angeline, aged one. With Nancy enumerated at age 48, she would have been 46 or 47 when this child was born. I can't say if Angeline was a grandchild or a menopause baby, but James, the youngest son, was 11 years older. 

Reuben had married Lucinda Spradling in 1851 and Harriett Tucker in 1858. In 1860, he is living in a community called West's Store, in Washington County, still, and working as a Boot and Shoemaker, which will become his lifelong trade. Living with him are his two oldest children with Lucinda, Mary Evaline and William Alfred, and his first child with Harriett, Belle Annis Jerusalem Yarber.

Lucinda, his first wife, did not pass away, in fact, she outlived him. In 1860, she is living nearby in a spot called Coxes' Store, with their, or her, daughter Sarah, age two. 

William Dawson Yarber is listed in the agriculture schedule for Roane County, Tennessee in 1860, taxed or counted with the following crops and livestock, , two 'milch' cows, one other cow, 15 bovine, 300 lbs. wheat and 200lbs of tobacco.

Roane County must not have suited them very well, as they would move over to rather soon to Knox County, Tennessee.

The aging couple is found in the Campbell Station area of Knox County, Tennessee.

The couple is now in their 60's, with no children left at home. They have a five-year-old in the home, however, Grant Maroney. This turns out to be the future Reverand Ulysses Samuel Grant Maroney (1865-1962), son of their daughter, Martha Caroline, by her first husband, William O. Maroney, who was killed in the Civil War. They had married December 2, 1862, in Roane County, Tennessee. Caroline would go on to remarry William Keth, or Keith, by whom she would have five more children, the oldest whom she would interestingly name General Spencer Sherman Keith. Next to William and Nancy, in household 37, is the family of their oldest daughter, Abigail, who was also remarried Civil War widow, having married James W. Craig on July 30, 1857, in Knox County, Tennessee, and is found with their son, William Craig, age 6, and her second husband, Henry James Wilkerson, whom she married April 19, 1869.

William Dawson Yarber/Yarborough would pass away sometime before 1880. In that year, Nancy A. Hudson Yarber/Yarborough is found living with the family of her son, Thompson W. Yarber in Monroe County, Tennessee.

Nancy is marked as a widow. She is now 75 years old, and it is not known when she died, or where she or William are buried. There is no evidence of who the parents of Nancy Hudson Yarber were. The circumstantial evidence of location of those associated with her supports the theory that she was a sibling of Benjamin, Evan and Joshua Hudson, sons of Joshua Hudson, Sr. As they say in business, location, location, location. That she married a child of Shem Yarborough and Benjamin Hudson also married a child of Shem Yarborough certainly extends a hand pointing to further research being a worthwhile pursuit. 

Rueben Yarber 

The Children of William Dawson and Nancy A. Hudson Yarber were:

A) Rueben Yarber (Dec 30, 1829 - 8 Oct. 1890) Born in North Carolina. Married Lucinda Spradling 1st assumed divorced. She had 5 children, but only the oldest two are presumed to be Rueben's. He married 2nd Harriett Tucker on July 21, 1858. Reuben remained in Washington County, Tennessee until his death and was a merchant, boot and shoemaker, and real estate wheeler and dealer. He had five children with his second wife, Harriett, and she also sued for divorce, but he paid her off with property not to finalize it. He was caught with Dicey Willam six years later and when on trial for that. He may have had other children. 

B) William Dawson Yarber Jr. (1832-1897). Junior would remove to Missouri and died in Pettis County, Missouri at 64. He was a farmer by trade and married twice. First to Susannah Francis Rogers in May of 1853 with whom he had 8 children and later to Margaret Lane with whom he had three. 

C) Abigail Yarber (1837- ?) Married 1st James W Craig, on July 30th, 1857, in Knox County, Tennessee, one child. Became a Civil War widow.  Married 2nd James Henry Wilkerson on April 18, 1869, also in Knox County, Tennessee. Fate unknown.

D) John Culpepper Yarber (Nov 5, 1839 - Oct 22, 1916) John was a Miller. Born in Union County, North Carolina, he followed his parents' movements through Washington, Roane and to Monroe County, Tennessee, where he first established his Mill. He may have been named for the beloved Anson County Baptist minister, Rev. John Culpepper. 

He married Lucretia Hampton on August 7, 1861, in Monroe County. They settled in Bell Town. They raised 12 children born between 1863 and 1887. John Culpepper Yarber was a citizen of the Civil War. He became the Postmaster of the village of Joe, Monroe County, in 1881. After the birth of the last child, Albert, in 1887, they would relocate, first to Pope County, Arkansas, where he tried farming next to his sons, Wiley and Marvin. His last move was to Charlton County, Georgia, with his youngest children. He's shown there in 1910 and died there in 1916, being buried at the Homeland Cemetery.

E) Joshua Yarber was recorded in a Family Bible as being born in 1840 and dying at about aged 9.

F) Rebecca Yarber, one of the first set of twins, was born in 1841 in Union County, North Carolina. She married at 24 to Edmond Moss on August 12, 1865, in Roane County, Tennessee. They raised their five children in Roane County, and Rebecca was widowed 1898, later removing to Louden County, TN, with her single daughter, Francis, and three grandchildren in her care. She passed away sometime after 1910.

G) Thompson W. Yarber, twin of Rebecca, also born in 1841, in Union County, NC. He married three times, to Elizabeth Fox in 1869, to Nancy Liles in 1877, and to Mary Scott in 1884. He had two sons by Elizabeth and one by Mary. He moved through various counties in Tennessee, before arriving in Scercy, Arkansas, then returned to Tennessee as an elderly man and died about 1921 in Monroe County.

H) Martha Caroline Yarber was born in 1843 in North Carolina. She married William O. Maroney on December 3, 1862. One son, Ulysess Samuel Grant Maroney. She was widowed and remarried William Keith or Keth, having 5 more children: General Spencer Sherman, Malinda Josephine, William Alozo "Wilder", Magnolia and George Mack Keith. She died at age 37 in Robertson, Anderson County, TN.

I) Newton Yarber, born in 1846 in NC, was one of the second set of twins. He married Nancy Callie Daniels in 1865 in Jefferson County, Tennessee. They raised seven children and he died at 65 in 1911 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Newton Yarber and family

J) Jaspar Yarber, the identical twin of Newton Yarber, was also born in NC in 1846. Both twins were Civil War veterans. Jaspar married in October 1865 to Rebecca Caroline Rogers in Roane County, TN. They had 8 children, including a set of twin boys, Alfred and Alvin. He married Mary, unknown, and had two more sons, then Addie Bell Morrow, from NC and had three daughters. Jasper died May 31, 1920, in McMinn County, Tennessee and is buried at the Cunningham Cemetery there.

Jaspar

K) James Finley Yarber was born in North Carolina in 1848 and died at the age of 17 in the Civil War.

L) Angeline Yarber was born in 1859 in Tennessee. No further information. She is living with the family in the 1860 census, and it is unclear who she is, a child or grandchild.

Westward Ho, Evan Hudson's Westward Crawl

 

Grave of Evan Hudson in Denton County, Texas

In a wooden plot in the old Graham- Argyle Cemetery lies the grave of Evan Hudson (1808-1880). He is a long way from Anson County, North Carolina, where he was born. He was married twice, but neither wife is found beside him in his eternal slumber. Evan's life was a journey. His first wife, Mary Hargett, was born in that part of Mecklenburg County that would become Union, daughter of James Hargett and wife, Diana Johnson Hargett. Mary's grave is found in Lawrence County, Arkansas. His second wife, Alzira, sleeps forever in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The Graham Baptist Church was organized in 1876, in a one-room framed schoolhouse. An area near the church had already been claimed for use as a cemetery. It began on an idyllic little hill, overlooking a stream, known as the Graveyard branch. The first grave there was that of a child in 1865. Two other children, siblings of each other, soon followed, all before the official use of the land as a cemetery, in a time and place that child mortality ran high. So how did Evan Hudson get here, and who was he?

Evan Hudson was born on August 15, 1808, and from best observations of the evidence, along Richardson Creek in upper Anson County, NC. His father was Joshua Hudson Sr., son of Hall Hudson of Virginia. His descendants, some of them, give his mother as a Culpepper, which would make sense, given the location, but the wife of Joshua Hudson Sr. remains unknown, in my book. Others link him to a family in Wake County, people who do not know much about the geography of North Carolina. I am satisfied with those who have confirmed Anson County as his place of birth, and I hope the circumstantial evidence provided in this post will prove why.

While Joshua Hudson, Jr. and Benjamin Hudson (or Hutson, as the name is found both ways, due to phonetic spelling), both show up for the first time in census records, in Anson County, NC, Evan first shows up in Smith County, Tennessee. Joshua will remain in Anson for the first 50 years of his life, before moving north across the Rocky River, into Stanly County, a distance of just a few miles, while Benjamin remained in Anson. Both were also sons of Joshua Hudson, Sr., who died while they were yet minors. They supposedly, by family stories, were raised by an uncle, Joachim Hudson, who was my 5th Great Grandfather. After his death, which was also while they were young adults and teenagers, they seemed to have taken residence among his own children, which were a little bit older than them. We really don't know, but there is some small evidence that they were in the companionship of their cousins, if not in their homes.

Many families, especially young ones, were migrating west and south at this time. Some would remain, often the eldest sons who inherited property, married daughters, who stayed with their spouse, or youngest children, carrying for widowed mothers. The ones who had the traveling jones were seldom alone, and neither was Evan Hudson.

Name	Evans Hutson
Residence Date	1840
Home in 1840 (City, County, State)	Smith, Tennessee
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5	1
Free White Persons - Males - 5 thru 9	1
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39	1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5	1
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9	1
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29	1
Persons Employed in Agriculture	1
Free White Persons - Under 20	4
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49	2
Total Free White Persons	6
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves	6

The above look at the 1840 census show Evan as the head of a family of six. He is counted in his 30's and indeed was 32. His wife, who I know was Mary Hargett Hudson, was still in her twenties. They appear to have had four children, two of each. These would have been oldest son, Joshua, named for his father, apparently, who was born on May 25, 1833, in Anson County, and Elizabeth, born in 1834, in Anson County, Lucinda, born in 1837 and James Franklin, born in 1838, were the next two, born in Tennessee. From this we know the timing of their removal was between 1835 and 1836, most likely.

There were definitely more families who had loaded up their wagon trains and headed west with Evan and his family, but the driving force may have been the individuals seen above, near him, in the 1840 census of Smith County, Tennessee. Listed above him was his father-in-law, James Hargett. I know James Hargett. Well, not personally, what I mean is that I have come across James Hargett during previous research in the Helms Family tree, which I had prepared for a dear friend, and James is one of his ancestors. Now, this friend grew up in Union County, NC, as a result of James leaving many of his adult children behind. 

James Hargett, born in 1775, in the area of Mecklenburg County, NC, that would become Union County in 1842, was the son of John Henry Hargett (1752-1827). He would marry Diana Johnston, daughter of Samuel Johnston and Lydia Cuff. These are familiar names to Union County researchers. James Hargett would pass away around 1850 in Putnum County, Tennessee.

The name below Evan Hudson is another very familiar name. Robert Traywick had been born around New Salem and Mount Olive in northern Union County, North Carolina, which at the time was in the part of Anson County that became Union, around the year 1810. He was the son of Berryman Traywick (1778-1819) and his wife, Dorcas Hyatt Traywick. These are also familiar names for anyone with upper Union ancestry. Robert died in Smith County, Tennessee in 1887. Having been married twice, he left a large family in Tennessee.

Frederick Hyatt, shown below Robert Traywick, grew up around Burnsville, in northern Anson County, and was about the same age as Evan Hudson. There were more, who probably had arrived to Smith County, Tennessee together in a row of Conestoga Wagons.

Map of Union, Anson and surrounding counties along the Rocky River area of North Carolina

  Evan Hudson had a total of six children who were born in Tennessee. In addition to Joshua and Elizabeth who had been born in Anson County, and the two born in Smith County, Tennessee, Lucinda and James Franklin, Joshua and Mary would become the parentis of Benjamin Washington in 1842, Mary Ann in 1847, David in 1848 and Elijah in 1849. Right after the birth of Elijah, the Hudson family would be on the move again, and again they seem to have been in the company of people they knew from back home. 

1850 - Spring River, Lawrence County, Arkansas

Name	Eavin Hudson
Gender	Male
Race	White
Residence Age	42
Birth Date	abt 1808
Birthplace	North Carolina
Residence Date	1850
Home in 1850	Spring River, Lawrence, Arkansas, USA
Occupation	Farmer
Industry	Agriculture
Cannot Read, Write	Yes
Line Number	33
Dwelling Number	541
Family Number	541
Inferred Spouse	Mary Hudson
Inferred Child	Joshua Hudson; Elizabeth Hudson; Lucinda Hudson; James Hudson; Benjamin Hudson; Mary Hudson; David Hudson; Elijah Hudson

Household members

Name	Age
Eavin Hudson	42
Mary Hudson	37
Joshua Hudson	18
Elizabeth Hudson	16
Lucinda Hudson	14
James Hudson	12
Benjamin Hudson	9
Mary Hudson	5
David Hudson	3
Elijah Hudson	1

Enumerated on November 11, 1850, the Evan Hudson family was now composed of ten people. There was something very, very familiar about the list. In Anson County, Benjamin Hudson also had a son named Joshua, his born in 1828, he also had an Evan, born in 1835, and his Lucinda was born in 1823. Of course, the more common names of Elizabeth, Mary, and James were not remarkable, and I'm sure his wife, Esther, had some input from her family roster. 

Over in Stanly County, Joshua Hudson, another brother, also had a Lucinda, a James, and an Elijah and while his 22 children covered a great number of names, he didn't have an Evan, but he did have an Eben, which was close. He also had the normal gamut of Elizabeth's and Mary's and all of that. He and Benjamin had both named their oldest daughters Martha, too.

The Hudson family was fully counted at the bottom of the page. It was the next page that caught my interest. 

Their Arkansas neighbors were the Archibald Helms family, followed by the Wyatt Helms family.  Wyatt was a son of Archibald and Eleanor Helms. Archibald Helms was born about 1800 in what would become Union County, NC, in the same area as the families previously mentioned above.

He was married to Eleanor (or Elendar) Hargett, daughter of James Hargett and Diana Johnston.  Sound familiar?  Evan Hudson's wife and Archibald Helms wife were sisters! To make things even more complicated, Archibald Helms was the son of William B. Helms and Rebecca Broom. Rebecca Broom Helms was related to Esther Broom Hudson, the first wife of Benjamin Hudson of Anson County. 

Archibald Helms first appears in the 1830 census of Mecklenburg County, before the formation of Union. In 1840, he was in Jackson County, Tennessee, not Smith County.

Then in 1850, he is in Alabama with Evan Hudson and family. The above map shows Smith County, Tennessee in the middle, connected to Jackson County connected to its upper east side. The families may have lived near the border of both. Archibald would die in Lawrence County, Arkansas in 1853 at the age of 53. I could dive into more families with Anson and Union County roots, and ties to Evan and his family, who had also moved westward with him, but you get the point. One observation I will share is that a few of the children of Archibald and Mary Hargett Helms children had married into the Presley family. These were descendants of Andreas Preslar/Presley, also my ancestor, and the ancestor of the infamous Elvis. Andreas, or Andrew, was a German immigrant who settled in the current Stanly/Anson area. I wondered, were these the folks who had moved the Presley genes from the Rocky River in the southern piedmont of North Carolina into Tennessee?

Above is a list of Helms family genealogy from Conrad Raymond Helms research dated 1962. Item 'c' shows William Helms, born 1752, having married Rebecca Broom, Archibald's parents. Item (d) shows Tillman Helms Jr., born 1754, having married Elizabeth Presley. These are my ancestors.

While Archibald Helms was still in the Union County, (then Mecklenburg area), he lived near a few individuals of note.

Among them were Phillip Richardson, Shem Yarborough, Ewell Alexander, Jacob Hooks and Joseph Starnes. Some of them show up in various roles in my distant family tree, and others play a part in this whole Hudson story. One of the people I am looking at, but not 100 percent sold on, but leaning there, is a woman named Nancy A. Hudson, born around 1810, who married William Dawson Yarborough, a son of the above Shem Yarborough who lived near Archibald Helms. Shem's wife was Elizabeth Nelly Helms. They loved marrying back into the family, or people they were close to. Nancy Hudson Yarborough's descendants are of the opinion that Nancy's mothers was a Culpepper, and her father, Joshua Hudson, some spell it Josiah, but there was not a Josiah in the area. Joshua Senior, father of Joshua of Ugly and Richardson Creek, father of Benjamin of Richardson Creek, father of Evan Hudson of Smith County, Tennessee, Lawrence County, Arkansas, and Denton County, Texas. Evan's westward crawl was far from over. And Culpepper, another name in my family tree, makes a lot of sense.

1853

On November 15, 1853, in Lawerence County, Arkansas, Evan was called as a juror in a case against Bailey Barbee. Also called were James Webb, Alfred Phillips, William Weatherford and other names that I would find in other records involving the Hudson family. This just shows that he was firmly rooted by then.

1859

In an 1859 tax record, Evan is shown with two properties valued at $800. Joshua is taxable, but not yet a land owner. Casper Hargett, Joshua's boss, in also a land owner by then.

1860

Name	Evin Hudson
Age	51
Birth Year	abt 1809
Gender	Male
Race	White
Birth Place	North Carolina
Home in 1860	Strawberry, Lawrence, Arkansas
Post Office	Smithville
Dwelling Number	1566
Family Number	1591
Occupation	Farmer
Real Estate Value	700
Personal Estate Value	775
Cannot Read, Write	Y
Inferred Child	Lucinda Hudson; Benj Hudson; Mary A Hudson; David Hudson; Elijah Hudson; Martha J Hudson

Household members

Name	Age
Evin Hudson	51
Lucinda Hudson	23
Benj Hudson	18
Mary A Hudson	14
David Hudson	12
Elijah Hudson	10
Martha J Hudson	8

Mary Hargett Hudson died sometime between 1852 and 1860. Evan is shown still farming in the quaintly monikered village of Strawberry, six of his younger children still living with him, and a new one, Martha Jane, had joined the fold. These were the last of his children with Mary Hargett.

Joshua, the oldest son, was boarding in the community of Strawberry with Millwright Caspar Hargett. He may have been an employee or apprentice. Caspar, his kinsman, also harkened back to the Hargett and Broom families of Union County, NC.

Oldest daughter, Elizabeth, had married Lundy C. Price about 1854. They were living in Strawberry and already had 4 children, two a set of twins. Twins ran in the family. She had named her oldest son for her father, and her third for her grandfather.

Son James Franklin was undoubtedly in Strawberry, Arkansas somewhere. He would be found there in 1870, but not to be found in 1860

Several of Evan's sons served in the Civil War. 

Joshua B. Hudson was a 2nd Lieut. in Co. K 30th Arkansas Infantry.

James Franklin was a Private in Co D 7th Arkansas Infantry.

Benjamin Washington was in Co. D 38th Arkansas Infantry.

Above, Evan Hudson's register of land in Lawrence County, Arkansas.

April 7, 1864, Evan Hudson married Alzira Matthews Buchanon. Alzira was a Tennessee girl, whose grandfather had Guilford County, NC roots. No earlier connection to Evan, or members of his family. She and Evan would have three children together. Alzira, born in Tennessee, was the daughter of James Knox Polk Matthews and Nancy Tuck. She had married 1st, William Samuel Buchanan, who died in 1851, and had one son, Kellis Newton Buchanan. Her son was obviously not placed in her care, and seems to have been raised by his father's people. Born in 1832, Alzira was Evans junior by 24 years.

Evan's home was an early one in Lawrence County, Arkansas, and road orders describe a road to be built called "Warm Fork Road". It would begin at Evan Hudson's home, lead to Culpepper Price's home, to Alfred Phillip's, James McKinney's, Mrs. Well's, Isaac Harris's, John P. Smith's, then to John McKinney's,(probably related to James), to John Sandifer's, to S. Robert's, to Samuel Watkins, to G. A. Bakers and then to the Intersection of the Powatan and Fulton County Road. It was signed by Joshua Hudson, son of Evan. There is another paragraph by Alfred Phillips that the road beginning at Evan Hudson's and extending to Lebanon Township.

Evan Hudson went to court on financial reasons, like everyone else in that day, either owing money or,as in this case, being owed money. His presence in this area was fully noted.

A few years later, after the last tax record, I believe a decade, Evan has acquired a considerable increase in property, as has his oldest son, Joshua. Second son, James F. Hudson has now joined them as head of his own household among the taxable.

Again, Evan Hudson's property became the fulcrum upon which a new road was devised. This one was instigated by the petition of John Sandifer, that would lead from Smithville to the Fulton County line at one Thomas Humphrey's. It was to "commence at Evan Hudson and pass near the residence of Culpepper Price on Pine Creek".  Other names mentioned were now familiar, Alfred Phillips, James McKinney, Claypool's on Osbornes' Creek, and others, including Sandifer the petitioner. He proposed they meet at Evan Hudson's on the 3rd Saturday in May. Evan must have been a good host like his brother, Joshua was rumored to be.

The Civil War changed everything in the south, and even in the westernmost parts of it. Evan and much of his family would be on the move again. This time they had their sights on Texas. The paragraph below gives a harrowing account of what would awake them, found in "The Portal to Texas History", https://texashistory.unt.edu" History and Reminiscences of Denton County, by Ed F. Bates, page 181.

Because of military campaigns, rampant guerrilla warfare, and destruction from both sanctions, families like the Hudson's and their neighbors were driven by desperation to abandon their homes in Arkansas and flee further west. For Evan, this had included the murder of some of his North Carolina kin. To prevent valuable resources becoming available to Union forces, Confederates would burn crops, primarily cotton and corn, and destroy the private property within their own territory. Both armies were prone to commandeer livestock and valuables to 'pay' their troops, from the farms and towns they came across. In the latter days of the war, organized battles gave way to bushwhackers, jay-hawks, red-legs, jack-legs and guerrilla warfare. Bands of deserters would pillage for survival, all the while chased by home-guards and vigilantes who trusted no one and gave no quarter. In the spring of 1867, after Martha Ross Murray, the widow of Benjamin Murray, would return to Stanly County, NC from Arkansas, with her widowed daughter Rebecca Murray Hudson and her little girl, and the three orphaned children of her son, Jesse Murray and his wife, Mary Ann Poplin, Evan and his family would head out to Texas with a handful of hopeful neighbors. Benjamin Murray had set out to Arkansas at the beginning of the War with his only son, Jesse, and son-in-law Henry Hudson, a deserter, and their young families, to escape the War, and ended up losing their lives, even Mary Ann, wife of Jesse. Henry was a son of Evan's oldest brother, Joshua Hudson Jr., back in North Carolina. While in Texas, the beleaguered travelers encountered Indian attacks. Gathering what little they still had, Evan Hudson, with his family and the Lanes and Matthews, retraced their steps and ended up settling in Argyle, in Denton County, Texas.

1870

The 1870 census show Evan and his family in Precinct 1, Denton County, Texas. The James Matthews family lived nearby, Alzira's brother. Evan's youngest son with Mary Hargett Hudson, Elijah, is still in the home. His oldest two with Alzira, William and Nancy, ages 6 and 4, were born in Arkansas. The youngest, James Conrad Hudson, was born in Texas.

Death

The exact date of Evan's death is unknown. The engraving on his tombstone is faded mostly away and the date illegible. He lies peacefully in the Argyle Cemetery. Some give the year of his death as 1880. His widow, Alzira is alone and widowed in the 1880 census with her three children, William, Nancy and James. She will remove with her sons to Oklahoma. Alzira is found in the home of her son James, in 1900, in the town of  Altus in Greer County, Oklahoma, as the mother of 4 children, with 2 living, as Kellis and Nancy had passed. In 1910, she is in the home of her son, William E. Hudson, in the town of Duke, in Jackson County, Oklahoma.

Alzira would live to be 88, passing away on December 7, 1918 and is buried in Highland Cemetery in Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma.

A Family Bible listed the names and dates of birth, in order, of all of the children of Evan Hudson and his first wife, Mary. It only names the oldest son, William E. Hudson, of Evan and Alzira. Included are the children who where never found in a census, and must have died as young children, among them Polly Ann (there would be a later Mary Ann), Evin A., and John C. Hudson, showing how large the family actually was and the devastation of infant mortality.

Children:

The children of  Evan Hudson were: 

1) Joshua B Hudson was born May 25, 1833, in Anson County, North Carolina. He married Almira Gibson on October 28, 1865, in Lawrence County,  Arkansas at the close of the Civil War, in which he served. Two children, Mary Ellen and Evan J. Hudson. He died at 79 on July 12, in Logan County, Arkansas and did not accompany his father to Texas.

Joshua B Hudson 

2) Elizabeth Hudson was born November 26, 1834, in Anson County, North Carolina. She married Lunday Culpepper Price on August 22, 1852, in Lawrence County,  Arkansas. There were 8 children.

Lundy or Lunday Culpepper Price was also born in Anson County, NC, son of John Culpepper Price and Charlotte Spicy Trull. His mother, Charlotte, was the daughter of Solomon Trull and Nancy Helms and the sister of Jackson Trull who married Harriet Ramsey, daughter of my ancestor Stark Ramsey. 

Elizabeth Hudson Price died in 1866, and was buried in the Dry Creek Cemetery in Lawrence County,  Arkansas. Her husband married three more times, to Elizabeth Roberts in 1865 in Illinois at the close of the Civil War, to Massey Jane Wilson in 1883 in Sharpe County, Arkansas and to Melissa Prentice in 1901 in Shape County, where he died in 1908. All of his children were by Elizabeth Hudson except one son by Massey in 1885. He was in Kansas in 1880, but returned to Sharpe County, Arkansas. I know the math doesn't add up with Elizabeths death and the marriage to the second Elizabeth, but strange things occurred during the Civil War days. Men abandoned families and started new ones, and Lundy was a strange man. 

3) Lucinda Hudson was born October 22, 1836, in North Springs, Jackson County, Tennessee. She married Hugh Garcide, an Englishman, who was naturalized in South Carolina and served in the Civil War, on February 20, 1867, in Lawrence County,  Arkansas. They would follow her father to Texas in 1867, and settle in Wise County, Texas, where Hugh would become a Justice of the Peace. Both died there in the early 1880's, possibly during an Indian raid. No children known or survive. 

4) James Franklin Hudson was born October 22, 1838, on Lucinda's second birthday, in Smith County, Tennessee. He married Mary A. Norris on November 3, 1865, in Lawrence County, Arkansas. Mary Alice Holt Norris was a Civil War widow, wife of Thomas Norris. James helped her raise her four Norris children; Martha Jane, Thomas Jefferson, Laura Francis and Sarah Alice. I name them because at times they are shown under the Hudson name, as they were raised by their step-father. James Franklin Hudson and Mary Ellen Holt Norris Hudson had an additional 6 children together; Edward Lee, Mary Ellen, James Whitfield, Elijah A, Oscar J and Absolom Barksdale Hudson. 

James Franklin was also a Civil War Veteran, was in Strawberry, Lawrence County in 1870, but followed his family to Denton County, Texas by 1880. He later moved to Grayson County, Texas, and lastly to Fannin. He died in Elwood, Fannin County, at 71 on June 16, 1910, and was buried at the Blue Ridge Cemetery in Collin County, Texas.

5) Polly Ann Hudson was born November 22, 1840 in Smith County, Tennessee. She died before 1850, probably before 1847, when they named another daughter virtually the same thing. 

6) Benjamin Washington Hudson was born May 20, 1842 in Tennessee. He was also a Confederate Veteran. He followed his family to Denton County, Texas and married Sarah Elizabeth Harmon there on January 9, 1876. Three sons, Evan, James and Wilson, and daughter Nancy Nevada "Nada" Hudson. Married Mary Delia Murphy Smith on February 7, 1897, 8 children.

7) Evan A. Hudson was born March 29, 1844, died before 1850.

8) Mary Anna Hudson was born February 9, 1847 in Smith County, Tennessee.  She married Rev. James Thomas "Tom"  Ross on December 28, 1865, in Lawrence County, Arkansas at age 18. Seven children were born to this marriage. She died 1911, at 64, in Yell County, Arkansas and was buried at Moore's Chapel Cemetery.

Mary Anna Hudson Ross, husband Tom Ross, youngest 2 sons, David Washington and Robert Evan Ross.

9) David Alexander Hudson was born December 22, 1848, in Smith County, Tennessee.  He married Elizabeth Case on September 29, 1867, in Lawrence County, Arkansas. He married Mary Hannah Murphy around 1870 in Sparda, Jackson County, Arkansas. Two daughters. He moved with his family to Denton County, Texas, by 1880, with his wife, daughters Mary Hannah Jr and Deza Alzira. Deza would die young. He would then move to the Chickasaw Nation in Indian Territory, Oklahoma and is found in Tishomingo, Oklahoma in 1910. He was shot at his home in Armstrong, Tishomingo County, Oklahoma on June 23, 1910, by James Starnes during a duel. His wife lived about a decade longer and died in Mounds Creek, Oklahoma in 1920, but was returned home to Burke County, NC, where she was from, for burial at St. John's Baptist Church in Connelly Springs. It is unknown where David was buried, probably in Oklahoma.

David Hudson, wife Mary and daughter, Hannah Hudson

10) Elijah Hudson was born October 11, 1849, in Smith County, Tennessee. He had accompanied his parents to Denton County, Texas by 1870, He married Sarah E. Robertson about 1872 and returned to Lawrence County, Arkansas, where he had grown up.  They had four sons together. Elijah died in late 1880, at age 31, and is buried at the Dry Creek Cemetery in Lynn, Lawrence County, Alabama. His wife, Sarah, joined him in 1911 at age 52.

11) Martha Jane Hudson was born April 2, 1852, in Lawrence County, Arkansas. She married at 14 to Moses Maynard and died in Washington County, Arkansas. No record of children.

12) John C. Hudson was born July 22, 1854, in Lawrence County, Arkansas. He was the last child born to Mary Hargett Hudson. He died as an infant.

The following children were born to Evan Hudson by his second wife, Alzira Matthews Buchanon Hudson.

13) William Evan Hudson was born January 21, 1865, in Lawrence County, Arkansas. Moved to Denton County, Texas at age 5. Married Rosa Lee Brimhaw on August 23, 1888, in Parker, Texas. 5 children; Oliver Earl, Lucinda Pearl, Lilly Alzira, William Jr. and Robert Henry Hudson. Moved to Altus, Greer County, Oklahoma by 1900. Divorced about 1906. Married Julia Foster Brown on August 8, 1916, in Bryan County, Oklahoma. Remained in Oklahoma. Died December 21, 1946, at the age of 86, in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma. Buried at Duncan Municipal Cemetery.

14) Nancy Nevada Hudson was born in September 1866 in Lawrence County, Arkansas. She died at age 15, on August 29, 1882, in Argyle, Denton County, Texas. She was buried at Graham-Argyle Cemetery with her father. Evan may have possibly died on the same day.

15) James Conrad Hudson was born on March 12, 1870, in Denton County, Texas. He was the last child of Evan Hudson. He married 1st to Adeline D. Matthews on December 31, 1889 in Cameron, Texas. No children. He married 2nd about 1899 to Artie Elizabeth Stonal, 16, in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Eight children were born to this marriage: James Conrad Jr., Frederick Vaughn, Evan Earl, Cecil Park, Babe Frances (son), Bruce Leon, Dorothy (Dolly), Clarence Everett Hudson. He was in Altus, Greer County, Oklahoma in 1900 and raised his family in various towns across Oklahoma, including Eldorado in Jackson County. He returned to Texas by age 50, settling in Valley View in Cooke County. He died on December 26, 1927, at the age of 57, in Walters, Cotton County, Oklahoma while visiting family.

 

Evan Hudson did not match his brother Joshua in longevity or prodigiousness, but he left a wide range of descendants throughout the areas of his western crawl. DNA has confirmed a relation between the descendants of Evan Hudson, Benjamin Hudson of Anson County, NC and Joshua Hudson of Stanly County, NC.