The End of Another Hampton: The Remarkable Hampton Rhodes West

Today, I begin with the end, the obituary of Hampton Rhodes West. He was not a descendant of Job Davis, nor even one of my own ancestors, but the ancestor of my youngest child. As she is soon to present me with my third grandchild, I endeavored to dig deeper into her family tree, down her father's lines, and not far then did I discover an incredible character named Hampton Rhodes West.


The following is his obituary and it is one of the most detailed and endearing memorials I have ever read, especially when taking into account that it was written in the year 1864. Although that year was one of the deadliest of the Civil War era, it was not due to that horrible event that Hampton R. West ended his days. Instead he was beleaguered with the dread plaque of that century, Typhoid Pneumonia, also seen as Typhoid Fever or just Typhus.

Hampton Rhodes West was a businessman, a politician, and a devout Christian. He is one of those ancestors whose greatness rises off the pages of time and endures. I will spend more posts on this interesting and intriguing man, but in brief summary, here is his place in our family tree.

Up my daughters line, to her father and then to his father and to his grandfather, Arthur Lee Hudson, Sr, who was born in Stanly County in 1899 and passed away in 1968.

His parents were;

Henry Marhall Hudson  1872 -1931 who married Sarah Jane "Sallie" West Hudson 1877-1941.

From here we pick up the maternal "West" line. Sallie was the daughter of:

Charles W. West 1848-1898 and Geroldine Eugenia Lowder West 1858 - 1930.

Charles W. West was one of the 3 children of  Hampton Rhodes West to survive childhood.  He was obviously named for his grandfather, the father of Hampton Rhodes West, Charles W. West the first, who was born about 1760 in Virginia and to migrated to Anson County to with his own father, John, the first postmaster of Anson County. The postal service runs deep in this family line as Hampton Rhodes West was the postmaster of  "Alpine" in Stanly County and both Arthur Lee Hudson's also worked for the post office at some point.





Hampton R. West was born on Christmas Day, 1811 and died on April 3, 1864. He was the son of Charles W. West and Sarah Dunn West and married Elizabeth A. Meachum on May 2, 1842. The article mentions 6 children, 3 that died young, but the names of only 5 are known.

-1848 - 1898 Charles W. West. Married Geraldine Eugenia Lowder
-1852 - bef 1900 Martha Ella West. Married Lemuel Pines Crump
-1954 - 1922 Dr. Rufus B West. Migrated west and ended up in Fort Worth, Texas. Married Newtie Elizabeth Boden, from Canada.
-1857 - died as child - Lena West
1860 -1860 Samuel J West.

Fayetteville Semi-Weekly Observer

25 Apr 1864, Mon • Page 3