An Ohio Adventure: October 8, 2013
While in the area for a local class reunion, I had arranged to meet with the Hudnall family farm owner, and local cemetery expert, Terry Gilkey. Three months of contacting Alexander Township trustees had resulted in personal phone calls from a Trustee who so kindly called and referred me to Terry...in my search to find Thomas Hudnall's gravestone. My cousin, Toni Bruce, finally added the missing pieces by telling me her memories of our visit to the farm during the 1970s..."strip mines and a brooklet." Terry then spent huge amounts of time traipsing the deeply-vined southeastern Ohio "hollers."
Jim H. Smith, Terry, and I arrived at the farm in early afternoon today and the owner was waiting. Then we heard Terry's truck coming up the road. It was so good to meet the man who, while working for the city of Athens, spent weekends and late afternoons talking with local people (with centuries of roots embedded in that area of the world), taking groups of school children to local cemeteries and acquainting them with stories of their history. We started off, up the hill to revisit Joseph Hudnall's (my 3rd gr. gr.) grave. It was intact; but Terry and friends had cleared some of the brambles etc. in the area, and we discovered the gravestone of Alvira Hudnall, Joseph's daughter and wife of Lindley ("Truly") Brooks. BTW, I found a note in my genealogy folder that Joseph was best friends with Col. Emerson Brooks. Could that have been Truly's dad?
The next step was to tramp the strip mining area, up and down the hollers, to see Thomas Hudnall's (VA Mil, Rev War) tombstone again. We all were lost several times, but it was energizing being in the eastern woodlands with a leaf-covered floor, seeing a huge lake developed after intense strip mining. Finally...feeling that I could no longer keep up the climbing and sliding down steep, leaf-covered hills, I was coaxed to climb down a steep coal-stripped grade to a small, isolated valley in which the grave and evidence of several others were bathed in late-afternoon filtered sunshine. I cannot tell you how I felt. There was this small gravestone sitting alone, surrounded by straplings and large trees, seemingly untouched by humans since I had last visited. I have heard from several other Hudalls that they could not find the grave and felt that it had been moved. Indeed, it remains on the farm next to that that the Hudnalls owned for over 100 years, we judged perhaps 600 yards away from the current Hudnall farm. As we took pictures, we discovered pieces of other gravestones amongst the leaves. We could only imagine how many graves had originally there. (We had a copy of the names of those buried on the Hudnall farm...the one with Joseph's gravestone...cataloged by W. E. Peters, during the 1930s) .
A conversation with the the owner of the land next to the Hudnall farm, upon which Thomas's grave stands, told us that he had discovered the gravestone when taking a walk. He had seen something red among the trees. As he approached the area, he realized that he was seeing American flags placed in the ground beside the Revolutionary War grave of my 4th gr. grandfather. I was told that the American Legion puts them by the graves, but I am not sure, since there were none when I visited this October. He noted that there seemed to be evidence of other stones and perhaps a cabin. We surmised that this was the first Hudnall cabin, built in the 1820s (picture in first slide show); and since most cabins back then were built close to streams, it seemed to fit our scant information about that time. Once again, there is no positive proof unless we can research early Athens County records that might reveal the actual location and existence. I simply have a picture of a small cabin supposedly on the farm, but not the one in the later 1892 picture. The mystery continues... Pictures following...
While in the area for a local class reunion, I had arranged to meet with the Hudnall family farm owner, and local cemetery expert, Terry Gilkey. Three months of contacting Alexander Township trustees had resulted in personal phone calls from a Trustee who so kindly called and referred me to Terry...in my search to find Thomas Hudnall's gravestone. My cousin, Toni Bruce, finally added the missing pieces by telling me her memories of our visit to the farm during the 1970s..."strip mines and a brooklet." Terry then spent huge amounts of time traipsing the deeply-vined southeastern Ohio "hollers."
Jim H. Smith, Terry, and I arrived at the farm in early afternoon today and the owner was waiting. Then we heard Terry's truck coming up the road. It was so good to meet the man who, while working for the city of Athens, spent weekends and late afternoons talking with local people (with centuries of roots embedded in that area of the world), taking groups of school children to local cemeteries and acquainting them with stories of their history. We started off, up the hill to revisit Joseph Hudnall's (my 3rd gr. gr.) grave. It was intact; but Terry and friends had cleared some of the brambles etc. in the area, and we discovered the gravestone of Alvira Hudnall, Joseph's daughter and wife of Lindley ("Truly") Brooks. BTW, I found a note in my genealogy folder that Joseph was best friends with Col. Emerson Brooks. Could that have been Truly's dad?
The next step was to tramp the strip mining area, up and down the hollers, to see Thomas Hudnall's (VA Mil, Rev War) tombstone again. We all were lost several times, but it was energizing being in the eastern woodlands with a leaf-covered floor, seeing a huge lake developed after intense strip mining. Finally...feeling that I could no longer keep up the climbing and sliding down steep, leaf-covered hills, I was coaxed to climb down a steep coal-stripped grade to a small, isolated valley in which the grave and evidence of several others were bathed in late-afternoon filtered sunshine. I cannot tell you how I felt. There was this small gravestone sitting alone, surrounded by straplings and large trees, seemingly untouched by humans since I had last visited. I have heard from several other Hudalls that they could not find the grave and felt that it had been moved. Indeed, it remains on the farm next to that that the Hudnalls owned for over 100 years, we judged perhaps 600 yards away from the current Hudnall farm. As we took pictures, we discovered pieces of other gravestones amongst the leaves. We could only imagine how many graves had originally there. (We had a copy of the names of those buried on the Hudnall farm...the one with Joseph's gravestone...cataloged by W. E. Peters, during the 1930s) .
A conversation with the the owner of the land next to the Hudnall farm, upon which Thomas's grave stands, told us that he had discovered the gravestone when taking a walk. He had seen something red among the trees. As he approached the area, he realized that he was seeing American flags placed in the ground beside the Revolutionary War grave of my 4th gr. grandfather. I was told that the American Legion puts them by the graves, but I am not sure, since there were none when I visited this October. He noted that there seemed to be evidence of other stones and perhaps a cabin. We surmised that this was the first Hudnall cabin, built in the 1820s (picture in first slide show); and since most cabins back then were built close to streams, it seemed to fit our scant information about that time. Once again, there is no positive proof unless we can research early Athens County records that might reveal the actual location and existence. I simply have a picture of a small cabin supposedly on the farm, but not the one in the later 1892 picture. The mystery continues... Pictures following...