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Continued: In the 1900 Federal Census taken in Talladega, Jefferson County, AR on2 June, a black male, * Willie Hudson, born August 1898, age one year,was listed as a boarder in the home of Anderson Godfrey, Head and wifePolly M. Godfrey. A Velaney Hudson, black female, born June 1878, age22, married and the mother of four children (two living), was alsolisted as a boarder along with daughter Charity Hudson, born Aug 1896,age three. Willie and Charity were both born in Arkansas and theirparents were born in Louisiana. Talladega is very near Pine Bluff,AR. I strongly believe this Willie Hudson may be our father.Researchers indicate that a child recalls the month of their birth butnot always the year. Daddy, having to work for his living at an earlyage, could have increased his age to get employment. *(Note Willie'sage below at 16 Feb 1918 entry).
In the 1910 Federal Census taken in Greenville, Washington County, MS,Beat 3 on 7 May, Willie Hudson was enumerated with Cuba Bagsby as his16 year old adopted son, a Mulatto. Willie listed his place of birth(POB) as Mississippi and his parent's POB's as the United States. Hewas employed as a laborer at the box factory where Cuba Bagsby workedas a supervisor. Willie indicated that he was literate but had notattended school since 1 Sep 1909. Cuba indicated his POB as AR, age51; wife Lizzie, POB LA, age 40, her parent's POB's as VA;step-daughter Lubertha Pitts, age 18, POB MS; her father's POB MS,mother's POB LA; sons Elsie 9 and Charlie 7, POB's TN, parent's POB'sAR. The family lived at 462 Harvey Street. This was the secondmarriage for both Cuba and Lizzie Pitts Bagsby. The Bagsby's werefamily #543 in the census. Photos of this residence are in the FamilyBook.
Willie Miller Hudson and Velva Mae Morton were married by W.T. Turner,Deputy County Clerk in Blytheville, Mississippi Co., AR.
On 5 Jun 1917, Willie registered for the military draft for World WarI. Willie and Velva were living in Chickasawba Township, Precinct 2,Blytheville, AR at the time. Willie listed his occupation as a commonlaborer at the Chicago Mill and Lumber Company. He stated that he wasmarried and was a "natural borned citizen of African descent". He wasdescribed on his enlistment card as tall, of slender build, gray eyes,black hair and not missing any limbs or disabled.
On 14 Aug 1917, Willie Miller "Houston", S/N 1613, was examined anddeclared fit for military duty by J.F. Sanders, MD, Blytheville, AR.Weight: 130-3/4; height: 69"; vision right and left eyes: 20/20;teeth: missing lower right #6; flat feet: 1 degree; chest34-35-1/2".
At the time of his induction into the US Army, Willie was classifiedas a private with no prior military service. He was inducted atOsceola, AR and was not qualified under marksmanship or horsemanship.He was assigned to the First Army, Company "C", 508th EngineeringBattalion on 2 Jan 1918.
Willie sailed from the U.S. on 24 Jan 1918, arriving in Brest, Franceon 5 Feb 1918. He recalled driving a motorcycle in France as amessenger during World War I.
US Army Field Hospital, Co. #12, 1st Divn, AEF, 8 Mar 1918. MedicalRecord. Register #668, 16 Feb 1918. Willie M. Hudson, Pvt., Company"C", 508 Engrs, * age 21, service years, 4/12, was admitted forMumps, left side. Willie was hospitalized from 13 Feb through 7 Mar1918. He returned to duty 8 Mar 1918.
Willie's battles, engagements, skirmishes, and expeditions while inFrance included : Toul Sector 15, (Toul Meurthe-et-Moselle) 11 Nov1918; Seishesprey Defensive 20-21 Apr 1918 (near the German border);Xivroy Defensive (Gargan near Paris) 17 Jun 1918; St. MihielOffensive, 1st Army Troops 12-15 Sep 1918. Willie sailed fromBordeaux, France on 24 May 1919 and arrived in Newport News, VA on 6Jun 1919.
Willie was honorably discharged at Camp Pike, AR on 18 Jun 1919.Willie also completed basic training here and a photo of Camp Pike isin the Family Book. Willie's physical condition upon his release fromthe US Army was declared as good and he received separation and travelpay to Blytheville, AR in the amount of $119.75. Rayburn Engles,Major US Infantry, signed the discharge.
Frencella recalled attending great-grandmother Sarah Barnet Manley'sfuneral with Velva Mae, possibly in Grand Chain, Pulaski Co., IL.,where Sarah was buried in Mar 1927. When Frencella and Velva returnedto Blytheville, Willie had purchased a new 1927 Model-T Ford whichcost $750.00 for the family and a new Singer sewing machine for Velva. Frencella believes that Willie received a military benefit paymentfrom the Army to do this. She did not remember how they traveled toSarah's funeral but did not believe her funeral was held inCarbondale, IL where Sarah had lived. Sarah is buried in Rhinnie HillCemetery in Grand Chain, IL and does not have a headstone. We wereunable to locate her grave.
Frencella recalled that while the Hudson's were in Blytheville, AR,they lived in a one story house in the Red Quarters which was asection for black residents (photo in book). When the lumber industrybegan to phase out, the family moved to Appalachicola, FL prior to Oct1928, when Mable was born. The family also lived in Tilton, FL andlived with a Mrs. Bolden, whose home Mable was born in, according toMable. The family moved back to Blytheville, AR in 1929 as there wasno work in FL. The depression was in progress. Frencella rememberedthat the family had a water pump, a garden, and a smoke house inBlytheville.
On 31 Jan 1931, Willie applied for a disability allowance adjustmentrelated to military service health issues which included kidneytroubles, rheumatism in the right knee, stomach trouble, hemorrhoids,and high blood pressure. Willie and Velva were living at RFD 3, Box170, Blytheville, AR and Willie indicated that he earned insufficientincome to pay income taxes.
Sometime in 1932 after this disability application, the Hudson's movedto Bragg City, Pemiscott Co., MO. Frencella recalled her dismay atleaving Blytheville at the age of 12 because Blytheville was a cityplace and Bragg City was a country place far away from schools andsocial activities.
Fred's fourth quarter (March-June) report card for 1932 indicated itto be the only school quarter in which he attended second grade inBragg City. Fred had previously lived with Uncle Theodore in Toledo,OH and attended first grade there, possibly through the spring of1932 in an integrated school system. Frencella still does notunderstand why Fred was sent away to Toledo to attend school.
Frencella remembers that Willie cleared two-twenty acre sections ofland on his farm in Bragg City, Pemiscot County, MO., and believesthat he owned the land. Mable believes that daddy owned 20 acres andrented 20 acres. On 1 Nov 1933, Willie Hudson and wife, Velva MayHudson, acquired a warranty deed through General American LifeInsurance Company, St. Louis, MO for the purchase of 20 acres of landin Pemiscot County, MO. They paid $150.02 down towards the totalcost of the land, which was $1,500.00. The legal description of theland was the North Half of the Southwest Quarter of the NorthwestQuarter of Section Six, Township Nineteen North, Range Eleven East.General American Life retained 1/16th interest in all gas, oil orminerals on, in or under said land. Daddy raised cotton and othercrops on the farm and butchered and smoked his own meat. Willie alsohad a truck which he used to take the children in the area to school.
Frencella recalled that in 1934, Willie received another militarybenefit payment from the Army and purchased another new car. He alsopurchased a milk cow, an ice box for Velva and at sometime earlier, agas driven Maytag washing machine. There was no electricity on thefarm; the family used coal oil lamps. Frencella said people used tocome and watch mama operate the washing machine in the yard. Mamabrought this washing machine, the brown wooden ice box, and her woodcook stove to St. Louis when the family moved.
On 3 Feb 1938, Willie Miller Hudson, age 42 years, and a resident ofBragg City, Pemiscott Co., MO. applied to the US Treasury Dept. for aSocial Security Account Number. Willie listed himself as unemployedat the time of his application. ** He listed his father as Jack MillerHudson, his mother as Jeanette Beatrice Williams, and his place ofbirth as Newport, AR. He was assigned Social Security Number489-14-8124. (**See 3 Feb 1945 below).
Fred talks about the value of daddy's cotton crop in one of his WW IIletters on 14 September 1943. Velva Mae always had fowl and a garden. Upon moving to St. Louis in January 1944, Frencella believed the farmbelonged to daddy and that he'd received about $1,000.00 for it. Thordand Susie Lee Morton also had farm land and lived in Bragg City fromaround 1931 until they re-settled in Cairo, IL, date unknown.
When the Hudson's settled in St. Louis, they purchased a six roomhouse on Whitney which Willie set about fixing up whenever there was aspare moment. They bought the house through L.K. Wood Realty and paid $1,800.00 for it. The monthly payments were $25.00 . The house andbasement were so full of litter and debris that daddy paid theneighbors (the Massey's) to help him clean it out before mama and wechildren came to St. Louis in Feb 1944. According to Fred's lettersto mama, the previous owner had sold the house to daddy but wasrefusing to vacate it.
The house had one or two electric bulbs on the first floor, no runningwater or restrooms, an outside toilet, and a cistern and a water pumpin the yard. The front and back porches were deteriorating. Themiddle room on the second floor was like an unfinished attic and therewas no electricity on the second floor.
Willie enclosed the walls with wallboard, installed water, a bathroomand electricity and replaced both porches and the fence. Eventually,the coal stove used for heat was replaced with an oil stove and lateran oil furnace. I recall when it would rain, sooty water would rundown the chimney and damage the wall paper from the coal dust. Thecistern water was used for laundry. Water would be hauled up andbrought to a boil in mama's large black cast iron pot in the backyard. We would pump water out of the other well for drinking, bathing(done in a wash pan or a galvanized tub), and cooking. Eventually,the cistern was closed in by daddy and the water pump and well closed. At that time, leaves and trash were burned in a container in the yardand clothes were washed every Monday and hung out on the clothes line. Mama starched everything, including pillow cases and aprons and usedbluing to "whiten" her laundry. Tuesday was ironing day. We usedflat irons heated on the wood stove for a while. (Eloise has this castiron pot along with Susie Lee's iron bean pot).
Frencella recalled the hot and cold incidents with the window in theSouth bedroom that mama and daddy shared upstairs. They could neveragree on the temperature or whether the window should be open orclosed so daddy nailed the window shut to settle the dispute.
Mama also kept a garden, a rooster and a few chickens. She grewpeanuts, cabbage, okra, tomatoes, greens, string beans, and otheritems and would can vegetables from her garden and any fruit theneighbors would give her. I can recall mama wringing the chicken'snecks and chopping off their heads with a hatchet. She would put thechicken under a tub until it died and then dip them in boiling waterin the back yard to make feather plucking easier. Sometimes thechickens would have "eggs in progress" which was interesting to us.The feathers were dried and used in pillows and feather mattresses. Ican also remember mama using chicken feet to make soup. We didn'twaste anything!
We had flower beds but we also swept the front and side yards cleanpretty often. Grass was sort of like weeds to mama and daddy(Frencella recalls doing this in Blytheville and Bragg City also). Iremember daddy getting a hand push lawn mower to mow the yard. Daddyseemed to have a vengeance for me and mama's flower beds and wouldeither dig them up or mow them down at the drop of a hat.
Mama believed in keeping the Sabbath Holy and did most of her Sundaycooking on Saturday. After church, she would just warm food forserving. We did not dare use a pair of scissors or sew on Sunday.Sunday dinner always included home made rolls and gravy oversomething. Daddy loved salty foods and insisted that mama neverseasoned her cooking right. This was an on-going dispute betweenthem. Daddy would not eat store bought bread or vegetables or fruitseither.
Daddy did not have a car for quite a while after the family moved toSt. Louis. He did not bring his truck from Bragg City to St. Louis.We used public transportation, including streetcars and buses for manyyears. Many items like appliances, cars and houses were not availableto the public because of the war efforts of the early 1940's.
I can recall using the brown ice box for a few years before mama gotan electric refrigerator. The ice man would deliver 25 or 50 poundblocks of ice to use in the ice box and in later years, mama wouldpatronize a vegetable truck that came through our neighborhood weekly. I still have the book that came with mama's first electricWestinghouse refrigerator where daddy wrote inside the back cover thatthe refrigerator was delivered and installed on 11 May 1949 at 5:30PM, which must have been a Wednesday because Opal and I had to defrostand clean that refrigerator every Wednesday thereafter until we lefthome!
While daddy worked as a Pullman Porter in 1944-45, he would writeabout the trains transporting soldiers across the country but couldnot identify where he was while doing this. Often his mail wascensored prior to being mailed home.
Information was acquired from the Railroad Retirement Board, Chicago,Cook Co., IL on 22 Jul 1998 regarding Willie's employment with thePullman Company. On Willie's application for employment to change fromthe position of Pullman Porter to a position in the Pullman shop dated3 Feb 1945, ** he identified his father as Jack Miller Hudson and hismother as Velva Mae Moton, deceased. Frank Wesley Morton wasinstrumental in helping Willie acquire employment with the PullmanCompany by encouraging him and providing personal character referenceson daddy's application.
Willie Miller Hudson transferred from the position of Pullman Porterto an electrical worker in the Pullman Company Roundhouse on BircherBlvd. in Feb 1945. During the first 11 months of his employment,daddy's gross earnings were $2,680.99, starting pay $ .72 per hour. He was supporting a wife, himself and five children. We lived at 6512Whitney in Wellston at the time. Mable was attending Vashon HighSchool and working for Frencella; the three younger children, Robert,Opal, and Virgil, were attending St. Clement's Catholic School in the3700 block of Finney Ave. along with Eloise, almost six years of age,and in first grade.
Newspaper Article about Willie M. Hudson: St. Louis Post-Dispatch."Our Own Oddities", 7 Jan 1951. "Sherwin Schilling, 711 Eastgate, aHudson salesman driving a Hudson, collided with a Hudson driven by aMr. Hudson". University City, MO.
Some years, business for the Pullman Company was slow and there werelayoffs. Nineteen-fifty was one of those years. Willie worked ninemonths and earned $2, 582.37. In 1958, he worked four months earning $1,385.65. Nineteen-fifty-nine was an eleven month workyear and Willie earned $4,176.14. In 1962, the year he was diagnosedwith lung cancer, Daddy worked five months and earned $2,339.46. Hedied 15 Sep 1962 without retiring.
Willie Miller Hudson died at 1:30 PM (1:20 PM) at Jewish Hospital onSouth Kingshighway from carcinoma of lung with metastases. He wasattended by Dr. Norman M. Orgel who died on 5 Apr 1990. Charles J.Gates Funeral Home, 4107 Finney Ave. conducted Willie's funeralservices which cost $1,126.70.
Funeral Program, Willie Miller Hudson. Scripture was read by FatherNicholson, All Saint's Episcopal Church; a solo was sung by Mrs. MaryDuchess (Dutcher) Jones and also Mrs. Lorrell Lewis; Mr. Herman Masseyrecited the 23rd Psalm; Mr. Charles Johnson, Church Clerk, read theobituary; Rev. Victor H. Wells gave the Eulogy.
Personal Notice: Delta Democrat Times, 2 Jun 1985: "Individuals inthe Greenville area who may have knowledge of the following people,their relatives, descendants, ancestors: Willie Miller, Jeanette orGenevieve, Jack Hudson (Hutson), Cuba, Lizzie, Elsie, Charlie Bagsby,Loubertha Pitts Williams, Eddie Williams. Contact Eloise Hunt, 516County Hills Dr., Rock Hill, MO., 63119, 314-962-3968. Period:1895-1915".
Notice: Newport (AR) Daily Independent, 24 May 1985. Individuals inthe Newport area with knowledge of relatives, descendants or ancestorsof Willie Miller, Jeanette/Genevieve or Jack Hudson (Hutson) pleasecontact Eloise Hunt, 516 County Hills Dr., Rock Hill, MO., 63119,314-962-3968. Period: 1890-1916.
There were no positive responses to either newspaper inquiry.
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