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.