Marcus Princeton Carter

I first made mention of Marcus P Carter in my post "The Letters of Henry H. Melton".  Marcus Carter and Henry Melton were apparently friends. Henry had made it a point to write to Marcus when he was away at war and  also to have Marcus watch after his family when he was away. Henry did not make it back home.  Marcus would purchase the land that Henry lived on from the executor of his estate, Parham Kirk. They were obviously already neighbors, according to the letters. The questions arise of how Marcus P. Carter was related to the other Carters in the area, if at all. His daughter Sarah, would grow up to marry John A. Russell, son of James Roberson Melton and Temperance Russell, all who resided in the small town of Albemarle, North Carolina during its early years. Still out there is the determination of how James R Melton ties in to the other Meltons, he definately is related, due to close dealings with them, but just exactly how? And also to the origins of Tempie Russell, and how both James and Tempie were closely associated with the founding family of Albemarle, the Hearnes. 

The Letters of Henry H. Melton

In census records, Marcus and his young family first shows up in Montgomery County, living near several Tolbert families. A Whitson Tolbert is next door. 

Marcus Carter
Age:	26
Birth Year:	abt 1824
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1850:	Montgomery, North Carolina
Gender:	Male
Family Number:	798
Household Members:	Name Age Marcus Carter 26 Nancy Carter 28 Francis C Carter 9 Kinchen Carter 4 Sarah A E Carter 2

His oldest three children have been born, his wife is two years older than he. Francis Caroline, at age 9, declares her parents 17 and 19 at her birth. Marcus's profession is simply given as "Laborer". Perhaps he worked for the Tolberts.

In the 1860 census, Marcus and his family were enumerated 3 times. In each one, they had different neighbors. Many families were left out, The Carters were well accounted for. 

Name:	Marcus P Carter
Age in 1860:	40
Birth Year:	abt 1820
Home in 1860:	Stanly, North Carolina
Gender:	Male
Post Office:	Albemarle
Value of real estate:	View Image
Household Members:	Name Age Marcus P Carter 40 Mancy Carter 45 Frances Carter 18 Kinchen Carter 14 Sarah Carter 12 Lundey C Carter 10 Lucy J Carter 8

This 1860 version has  Lucy as the youngest child.  This one was taken on August 1, 1860, by J. McCorkle, and lists him in the area of the Albemarle Post Office with several Millers as neighbors. His occupation is 'Farmer'. 

Name:	Marcus Carter
Age in 1860:	39
Birth Year:	abt 1821
Home in 1860:	Stanly, North Carolina
Gender:	Male
Post Office:	Albemarle
Value of real estate:	View Image
Household Members:	Name Age Marcus Carter 39 Nancy Carter 37 Fanny Carter 16 Lunda Carter 14 Kinchen Carter 12 Lucy Carter 10 Julia Carter 8 John Carter 5

On this one, two children younger than Lucy, a Julia and a John is listed. Lunda's shown as older than Kinchen. This version gives Marcus's age as 39 and Nancy's as 37, and his profession as a shinglemaker. The Post Office was still Albemarle, and the census taker was the same, except this one was a bit earlier, on June 30th. Perhaps Mr. McCorkle did not realized he had already enumerated this family. Sarah has been left out. His neighbors were all Thompsons, Ben, John, William and George. Which makes sense, as the location of the Thompson cemetery is not far from that of the Carter Cemetery. 

Name:	Marcas Carter
Age in 1860:	36
Birth Year:	abt 1824
Home in 1860:	Stanly, North Carolina
Gender:	Male
Post Office:	Albemarle
Value of real estate:	View Image
Household Members:	Name Age Marcas Carter 36 Nancy Carter 35 Frances Carter 18 Kenchie Carter 13 Sarah Carter 9 Lundy Carter 7 Caroline Carter 5

In this last one, at an even earlier date, June 22, Marcus is younger still, as is his wife. Frances is Frances again, instead of Fanny, but Kinchen has become "Kenchie", which may have been his nickname. Sarah and Lundy are there, in the correct order, but there is no 8 year old Julia or 5 year old John. Instead, there is a 5 year old Caroline. Same Mr. McCorkle doing the counting and the post office is in Albemarle. 

His neighbors in the last one are given as J.M McLester, Parham Smith, J M Bivens, Guilford Harris, and Clementine Melton, with her younger sons Atlas and Preston. Her husband, Joseph Melton and older son Green J. Melton are missing from this census. I've wondered where they were and what they were doing.

Name:	Marcus Carter
Age in 1870:	50
Birth Year:	abt 1820
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1870:	Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Male
Post Office:	Albemarle
Value of real estate:	View Image
Household Members:	Name Age Marcus Carter 50 Nancy Carter 40 Lucy Carter 16

By 1870, Fanny and Sarah are married, leaving only Lucy at home. The other children have died. Marcus and family are still in the area of the Albemarle Post Office. Their neighbors being Frank Melton, with wife Martha and daughter Fannie, Martha Melton, widow of his friend Henry H Melton, several Forrests and the Green Ross family and David Rummage family. Marcus is just a family. 

The last census Marcus Princeton Carter will appear in is the 1880. He is by then an old man, Lucy is still at home and he and Nancy have gotten custody of the living children of daughter Fannie, James Thomas Shepherd and his sister Lundy Cornelia Shepherd. 

Land records show that his lands were split in 6 shares. I know that John Russel and wife Sarah Carter Russel were one share and daughter Lucy. J. Carter Kearns recieved another share, while Tom and Nealie Shepherd, children of Fannie were two other shares. 

Site of Marcus P Carter's Property and Grave

Marcus Carter and members of his family are buried near the area called "Green Top" in Stanly County, east of Albemarle, not far from the Swift Island bridge across the Yadkin-Pee Dee River. There are 6 marked graves and 4 not legible. Perhaps the 4 are the mysterious children, "Julia, Caroline and John" and one other who did not make a census. The markers read:

Nancy Ann Carter wife of Marcus Carter age 96

Marcus P Carter born Nov 4, 1820 and died Nov 15th 1880 age 60 Y 11 D

William W Shepherd born Sept. 18, 1873 Age 2 M 17 D

Francis C. Shepherd was born Dec. 20 1842 and died Sept 23, 1873 Age 30Y 1m 3D

Kinchin Carter  Born May the 22, 1845 and died July 13, 1865 Age 20 Y 1 M 21D

Lundy C Carter Born Dec 16 the 1850 and died July 24, 1865 Age 14 Y 9 M 8 D

The proximity of the dates of the death of Kinchin and Lundy lead me to believe they may have died from a contagious disease. 

Kinchin Carter was 20 years old at his death. He was the right age to have been drafted into the Civil War, however, there are no records that he enlisted or was conscripted. I looked into records concerning health, mental status or dependency in Stanly County and found nothing that would give a reason that he was not a soldier.  That does not mean he did or did not have a mental or physical handicap that may have precluded him from serving. Finding tales of men literally forced and blackmailed into joining the army, it is hard to see how he just missed it, was overlooked, or just chose not to serve. 

The toddler, William W Shepherd was no doubt the son of Fannie Carter and husband William Edmond Deberry Shepherd. His father was named William Wilson Shepherd, and likely, the baby William's name was William Wilson also. 

The following is the family tree downward of Marcus Princeton Carter and his wife, Nancy Ann Marks Carter. Unknown is his family tree from himself upward. Was he a member of the Carter family that here existed, a descendant of the esteemed Revolutionary War soldier, Samuel Carter? Or did he migrate from somewhere else? Perhaps someone will find the name of Marcus in a record that gives a hint toward this information. 

He named his only son Kinchen. There was an old citizen in the county called Kinchen Pennington. A Carter daughter married Nelson Pennington, a son of Kinchen. Could there have been an overlooked daughter of Kinchen Pennington who married a Carter, perhaps even a first wife of a well-recorded Carter?

Marcus Princeton Carter b 7 Nov 1820 in North Carolina d 15 Nov 1880 near Albemarle, Stanly County, NC. 

Wife, Nancy Ann Marks, born about 1817 to 1822. Died in Stanly County.

I. Francis C. (Fannie) Carter, born 20 Nov 1843 married on 24 Dec 1868 in Richmond County to Willima Edmund (or Edwin) Deberry Shepherd (sometimes seen as Sheppard), son of William Wilson and Emeline Shepherd. 

Name:	Edwin Shepherd
Birth Date:
Birthplace:
Age:
Spouse's Name:	Fannie Carter
Spouse's Birth Date:
Spouse's Birthplace:
Spouse's Age:
Event Date:	24 Dec 1868
Event Place:	Richmond, North Carolina

She was the mother of 3 children: James Thomas (Tom) Shepherd, Lundy Cornelia "Nealie" Shepherd Mauldin Dawkins, and William W (probably Wilson) Shepherd. 

Fannie Carter Mother Nort Fannie Carter Mother North Carolina, Deaths, 1931-1994 spouse: Edwin Shephard child: Nealie Dawkins h Carolina, Deaths, 1931-1994

spouse: William Edmund Shepherd child: James Thomas Shepherd other: Lucy Rosa Morton

II. Kinchen Carter, born 22 May 1845, died 13 July 1865

III Sarah A. E. (Sallie) Carter born 18 April 1848 died 9 May 1917. 

     Married 1 Nov 1874 to John A. Russell, son of James R. Melton and Tempie Russell

IV Lucy J Carter, born 7 May 1854  died 23 Feb 1918

Lucy J. Carter North Carolina, Marriages, 1759-1979

birth: 1853 marriage: 1 November 1883 Albemarle, Albermarle Township, Stanly, North Carolina

father: Marcus Carter mother: Nancy Carter spouse: William Kearns other: Hubbard Kearns, Nancy Kearns

Other possible children: Laura (1852), John (1855) and Carolina (1855). These may have died as small children and could account for the unmarked, unreadable stones in the family cemetery.

So where did Marcus P Carter live before his appearance in the 1850 census? Were he and Nancy married in Montgomery County? Who were Nancy Ann Marks Carters parents? Why was this family not polled for the war effort? What saved Kinchen, at least from going? Was there a epidemic about in 1865 that took the lives of both Lundy and Kinchen that summer?

These are questions there may never be an answer to, now that Tom Shepherd and his sister Nealie, both who lived with their grandparents for awhile, have passed.

The Irrepressible Nealie Shepherd

Today I am putting the cart before the horse, so to speak, while waiting on records, which can take more than a little time. The subject of this post was so interesting, however, and led me to such a surprising twist in the family tree, I had to feature her.

At the risk of throwing out another old, worn-out aphorism, they say that actions speak louder than words. In such, the actions and traces of Lundy Cornelia Shepherd Mauldin Dawkins have left an intriguing trace into her personality.

Lundy Cornelia Shepherd (often seen misspelled as 'Shepard') was born about 1872, and probably on June 27th, as her death certificate attests to, as far as the month and the day. She was the daughter of William Edmund Deberry Shepherd and Frances C. "Fanny" Carter, and was born and died in Richmond County, North Carolina. She is buried in the Dawkins Cemetery in Rockingham, Richmond County, North Carolina.

I first came across L C Shepherd as a little girl in the 1880 census, living with her grandparents, Marcus Princeton and Nancy Marks Carter. Nancy was a sister to my third great-grandmother as well as their daughter Sarah, an aunt to Nealie, marrying into the Melton family of my constant research.

ame:	L. C. Shepard
Age:	8
Birth Year:	abt 1872
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1880:	Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Relation to Head of House:	Granddaughter
Marital Status:	Single
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Neighbors:	View others on page
Occupation:	At Home
Cannot read/write: Blind: Deaf and dumb: Otherwise disabled: Idiotic or insane:	View Image
Household Members:	Name Age M. P. Carter 59 Nancy Carter 63 Lucy J. Carter 24 J. T. Shepard 10 L. C. Shepard 8

Her brother, James Thomas Shepherd, was easy to be found and easy to trace, as to who they were. Only 3 of Marcus Carter's daughters lived to adulthood and his daughter Fanny, mother of these two children, died young. There was even an article in the Stanly News and Press about Tom Shepherd and his place out in the trace of the Uwharries on the Stanly side of the river. He is who named his grandfather as Marcus Princeton Carter and told of how, after being born in Richmond County, he was sent as a small child to Stanly County, to live with his grandparents in the shadow of Naked Mountain, what is now called Morrow Mountain, near the State Park. 

Mary Cassett's 'The Young Bride'

Tom Shepherd, as he became to be known, also told of how, after his grandparents died, he as a young boy fell into a hardscrabble existence of having to stay where he could and barter work from local farmers and businessmen. It must have been more difficult still for his younger sister. 

At first, she was just named as an 8 year old "granddaughter" in the 1880 census with the initial "L. C.". I wanted to know, 'did she live', to make it to adulthood, to make another census. To make more than a ripple in the waves of the world, and she did. 

The next sign of Nealie is in the Stanly County, North Carolina

marriage records. On November 20, 1887,  Lundy C 

Shepard, age given as 18, daughter of Edward and 

Fannie Shepard, both deceased is married to Joseph I Maulden, aged 40

son of Arch and Mary Maulden, father deceased and mother living, 

by W. B. Almond, no title given.  

If her age on the 1880 census was correct, Nealie would have been only 15 years old on her wedding day, not 18. She may have given her age as 18 to appear older. From the latter details of Nealie's life, I would not have put it past her.  From the difference in the age of the bride and groom, it would appear to have been a marriage of necessity, or survival, on the part of young Nealie, and just a pleasant opportunity for her middle-aged groom. 

Joseph I Mauldin (the correct spelling) was born about 1850 in Stanly County to Archibald C and Mary Smith Mauldin. He first shows up as an infant in the 1850 census. He never marries until he married Nealie. 

Nealie's only child, son Patterson, is born June 10, 1891. 

My dear cousin in a dozen distant ways, Ervin Mauldin, wrote a book, Ye Mauldins, published in 1993. In it he mentions this family in this way:

" Joseph I Mauldin b 1850 d. before 1900 Richmond Co. NC

  m. (middle of the road) Nov. 19, 1882 Lundy C. Shepard [dau. of: Edward Shepard & Fannie Carter]

This family moved from Stanly Co. - Lundy Cornelia Mauldin states they were living in Richmond Co. when her grandfather, Marcus Carter's will was probated in Stanly Co. 1895. 

  (9) Patterson Mauldin b 1890."

The next time I've found Nealie in documents was in this deed, from Lunda C Mauldin to W. W. Kearns, W. W. Kearns being her uncle by marriage, husband of Lucy J Carter Kearns. 

This Indenture made this 26th day of August, 1895 between Lunda C. Mauldin of the County of Richmond and W. W. Kearns of the County of Stanly.......the sum of ten dollars in hand paid to the said Lunda C. Mauldin by the said W. W. Kearns....all her undivided interest in ....it being one sixth part of the lands belonging to the heirs of Marcus Carter, deceased.....J. M. Parker's corner.....W. M. Forrest line....Gorden line....containing 75 acres more or less. 

The deed is then witnessed and certified by two Justices of the Peace and finally registered in 1898 by the Register of Deeds, W. T. Huckabee. 

After selling her share of her grandfather's land for a song to her uncle, Nealie shows up next in the 1900 census with her young son Patterson:

ame:	Nealie Maulden [Neal Maulden]
Age:	25
Birth Date:	Jun 1874
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1900:	Rockingham, Richmond, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Relation to Head of House:	Head
Marital status:	Widowed
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother: number of living children:	1
Mother: How many children:	1
Occupation:	View on Image
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age Nealie Maulden 25 Patterson Maulden 11

They are living in the town of Rockingham , District 89, Nealie is listed as the mother of one child with one living. Her birth month and year is given as June 1874 and that of her son as June 1888. This would place her as only 14 at his birth. As she exaggerated her age in 1887 (or 1882, depending on which source used), in order to marry, as a young widow, she has decreased her age. Possibly on the lookout for a husband. 

They are renters, of a house, and both can read and write. 

Name:	Jonelia Mouldine [Jonelia Mauldin]  [Conelia Mauldin]
Age in 1910:	40 [30]
Birth Year:	abt 1870 [abt 1880]
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1910:	Rockingham, Richmond, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Relation to Head of House:	Housekeeper
Marital status:	Widowed
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age Lewis Dawkins 54 Jonelia Mouldine 40 [30]  Patterson Mouldine 20

By 1910, Cornelia (managled by the transcriber, but Cornelia on the actual document) has found herself a job as a housekeeper with a farmer named Lewis Dawkins. Her age is given as 30, marked out and corrected as 40. Her son Patterson is listed as a Farm Laborer on a General Farm and Lewis is listed as owning his own farm, a 54 year old single man. Under a column next to marital status, where Cornelia is given as a widow, it asks number of years of previous marriage, and Nealie answered 26 years. 

And then we encounter a locked door. There is no trace of Nealie Mauldin in the 1920 census, no death certificate, tombstone or other sign of existence or nonexistence. The same went for her son Patterson. And at that I gave up, but just for a little while. Nealie and Patterson were both young enough to have lived for awhile longer. Certainly both did not die before 1920. Patterson was the right generation to have qualified as a soldier in the Great War. Did he serve and perhaps die for his country? No record. 

Patterson was the kind of name to have perhaps been a middle name, with something more common and less identifiable as a first name. Perhaps John or James or William. .....nothing. 

But as a river, when it finds a blockage in it's path, must find its way around it, something told me the story of Nealie Shepherd Mauldin did not end here. Where did she go. 

So then, I began to look into the man she worked for in the last census of 1910. Nealie was a survivor. She did what was necessary to survive after the death of her parents and grandparents by marrying an older man as a very young girl. She found a job to support her child. What then would Nealie do next. 

So, I looked for Lewis Dawkins in Richmond County, and I found him. 

Lewis Thomas Dawkins was born May 17, 1848. He was the son of an Eli Dawkins and Mary Polly Terry. He was a farmer who had spent his entire life in Richmond County. And on January 20, 1913, 64 year old Lewis married the now middle-aged widow, Nealie Shepherd Mauldin. The document is recorded in Rockingham, Richmond County. 

They show up together in the 1920 census. 

Name:	Nealie Dawkins
Age:	48
Birth Year:	abt 1872
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1920:	Rockingham, Richmond, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Relation to Head of House:	Wife
Marital status:	Married
Spouse's Name:	Lewis Dawkins
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age Lewis Dawkins 77 Nealie Dawkins 48

But what of her son Patterson? There is no Patterson Mauldin to be found in the census. But by an odd coincidence, there is a young family with 3 children, living right next door to Lewis and Nealie, headed by a young man named Patterson. But he's not a Mauldin. 

Name:	Patterson Hudson
Age:	31
Birth Year:	abt 1889
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1920:	Rockingham, Richmond, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Male
Relation to Head of House:	Head
Marital status:	Married
Spouse's Name:	Luella Hudson
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age Patterson Hudson 31 Luella Hudson 33 Lewis Hudson 5 Allen Hudson 3 [3 3/12]  John C Hudson 0 [4/12]

Lewis Dawkins lived long enough to obtain a death certificate. He died on April 24, 1927 of Paralysis from a stroke. His age was given as 79 and he was buried in Dawkins Cemetery in Richmond County. But what of Nealie? Did she make it to the 1930 census? 

She certainly did. 

Name:	Nealnie Dawkins
Gender:	Female
Birth Year:	abt 1872
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Race:	White
Home in 1930:	Rockingham, Richmond, North Carolina
Map of Home:	View Map
Marital status:	Widowed
Relation to Head of House:	Mother
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Occupation: Education: Military Service: Rent/home value: Age at first marriage: Parents' birthplace:	View Image
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age Patterson Hudson 41 Ellen Hudson 33 Lewis Hudson 15 Allen Hudson 13 John Hudson 10 Mary Hudson 8 Guss Hudson 4 [4 4/12]  Nealnie Dawkins 58

58 year old Nealie Dawkins is living with the family of 41 year old Patterson Hudson, a Junk Dealer,  who was her next door neighbor in 1920. And she was listed as his mother. But how could that be? Was her son not named Patterson Mauldin?

And then a revelation occured. 

Patterson was indeed a middle name. His first name was Marion, and sometime between 1910 and 1920, Marion Patterson had changed his name and reclaimed his birthright, by assuming the surname of his real, biological father. 

Patterson also did register for the draft. 

His World War I draft card gives his name Patterson Hudson and his date of birth as June 10, 1891. 

He is a natural born citizen, born in Stanly County, North Carolina. He gives Lewis Dawkins as the person who will always know how to get in touch with him. He has a wife and 2 children under the age of twelve. He is tall and of a medium build with gray eyes and brown hair. 

Less than a year after his mother's marriage in 1913, on December 13, 1913, Patterson himself, at age 22, took a child bride by marrying 16 year old Lou Ellen or Luella Harrington. 

The couple ended up having 6 children:

Lewis Thomas Hudson was born Dec 26, 1914, the day after Christmas. He married Evie Smith and had 3 children of his own and passed away in Rockingham on Dec. 7, 1950.

Allen Patterson Hudson was born September 12, 1916 and passed away on Feb. 12, 2004.

Third son John Calvin Hudson was born July 13, 1919.He died June 15, 1996 at the US Consulate in Frankfurt, Germany. 

Twins Marion Morrison Hudson and only daughter Mary Cornelia Hudson, were born February 1, 1922.

Son Marion, named for his biological grandfather, did not make it to his first birthday. He died at age 11 months on January 9, 1923, of Bronchial Pneumonia.

Last child, William Augustus "Gus" Hudson, was born October 3, 1925 and died June 24, 1970 in Elizabeth City, Pasquotank County, North Carolina. He named his oldest son Marcus William, perhaps for Marcus P Carter. 

So...that looks pretty cut and dried, except for the name change...but - what was the big surprise?

There were two when it came to Patterson. First the father. Second the Marriage License.

Patterson's death certificate made my jaw drop. Literally. 

Name:	Marion Patterson Hudson
Gender:	Male
Race:	White
Age:	77
Birth Date:	10 Jun 1888
Birth Place:	North Carolina, United States
Death Date:	28 Mar 1966
Death Location:	Rockingham, Richmond
Spouse's Name:	Lou Ellen Hudson
Father's Name:	Marion Hudson
Mother's Name:	Cornelia Sheppard
Residence:	Rockingham, Richmond, North Carolina

He began life as a Mauldin, and as an adult changed his surname to Hudson. He gave his father as Marion Hudson. Could it be the same one? Indeed it was. 

Naming his infant son the same name of his biological grandfather cemented it. 

Name:	Marrion Marrison Hudson
Gender:	Male
Race:	White
Age:	0
Birth Date:	Feb 1922
Birth Place:	North Carolina, United States
Death Date:	9 Jan 1923
Death Location:	Rockingham, Richmond
Father's Name:	Patterson Hudson
Mother's Name:	Lowella Harrington

Marion Patterson (Mauldin) Hudson was the son of Marion Morrison Hudson, the brother of my Second Great-Grandmother, Caroline Hudson, of whom I wrote about in my post "Sunday Black Sheep: The Abashing Story of Marion Hudson and his Aunt Polly".

http://www.jobschildren.com/2013/04/sunday-black-sheep-abashing-story-of.html

Marion and his three sisters were Civil War orphans. Their mother had died while they were children, and their father lost his life during the coarse of the war. Marion would marry at age 19 to Mary Margaret Rummage, daughter of  Thomas Alexander and Nancy Ross Rummage on December 15, 1874.

They would have 3 children before Marion would father a son, James Franklin Hudson, by his father's much younger half-sister, Mary "Polly" Hudson. William Joshua Hudson, known for his longevity, proclivity, and progeny, was the grandfather of Marion Hudson through his son Burrell, and father of Mary Polly Hudson through his second wife, Amy Kendall. 

Marion and his wife Mary Margaret apparently remained together, having 4 more children after the birth of James Franklin Hudson. Now I discover that he had also a son by Lundy Cornelia Shepherd Mauldin, born before the birth of his last son with Mary Margaret, Alfred Douglas Hudson. 

While I have not determined YET, where Lundy's first husband, Joseph I Mauldin is buried or when, I can not tell if she was a young widow when her only son was born in 1891, or whether she was still married to the decades older Joseph. However, I do know that Marion was still married to his wife Mary Margaret. 

What was the draw to this obvious lady's man, Uncle Marion? Did he have that fatal 'bad boy swag' that some poor, unfortunate women are drawn to? Did he have an irresistible charm? That, I don't know, but this is the second proven time he sway from the bonds of matrimony. Did his wife know? Or was she one of the long-suffering wives of her generation who had no way to make it in this world without his support. The economy of the era was not kind to women. 

Nealie learned to make her way. 

Then there was the marriage certificate. 

Nealie had married her second and last husband, Lewis Dawkins on January 20, 1913. Soon afterwards, on December 3, 1913, her son Patterson would marry Flossie Richardson, daughter of Frank and Lou Richardson. Then, not long after that, on January 30, 1914, Patterson would marry Louella Harrington, daughter of  Tom and Minnie Harrington. In this record, "Shepherd" is also notated as part of his surname, as if acknowledging the confusing status of his parentage. So what happened to Flossie Richardson? Did she die? Did they get a quickie divorce? That I will address in my post "What Happened to Flossie Jane?"

Name:	Patterson Hudson (Shepherd)
Birth Date:	1891
Birthplace:
Age:	23
Spouse's Name:	Louella Harrington
Spouse's Birth Date:	1895
Spouse's Birthplace:
Spouse's Age:	19
Event Date:	30 Jan 1914
Event Place:	Rockingham, Richmond, North Carolina
Father's Name:	Marion Hudson
Mother's Name:	Nealie Dawkins
Spouse's Father's Name:	Tom Harrington
Spouse's Mother's Name:	Minnie Harrington

While the facts and records can only show that Nealie was a survivor, the base of her personality came out in land records. Perhaps after realizing the fact that the $10 she received from her share of the land of her grandfather's estate was no where near the value she should have recieved, she never let that lesson go. 

I will address that in my next post "This Land is My Land". 

The rolling hills of old Stanly County held many stories. Many folks traipsed up and down that old river. Lundy Cornelia "Nealie" Shepherd Mauldin Dawkins was just one of them.