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| 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.
| 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.
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| 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 |
| 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?
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
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 |
| 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.
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.
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.
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
