24. John Holly HUDSON was born on 14 Oct 1844 in Elba,
Alabama. He died on 3 May 1934 in Wheatherford, Texas. (28)
He was buried in Zion Hill Cemetery, Weathford, Texas. (29)
John Holly Hudson was known to his family and friends as "Holly". Most people
didn't even know that John was part of his name.
Family lore has it that Holly's father was a sailor and that he bought some land near
Selma, Alabama, sight unseen. He must not have liked the land or the area because he left
his family and went west. It was reported once that he had been seen in Jefferson, Texas.
This very well could be true because at that time the river in Jefferson was a major route
and a lot of water craft came to Jefferson. Maybe the call of the sea was to much for
Holly's father to resist.
Holly joined the Confederate Army when he was only sixteen.
Holly's first wife, Matilda Pridgen, died one month after their first son, William Allen,
was born.
When Will was two years old Holly packed up his family and moved to Texas. The story as
told by his grandson, Truitt Hudson, is that Holly rode the train to Ft. Worth. When he
arrived he hired a man with a wagon to take him as far as possible with the money he had.
The man took him to the town of Paridise, Wise County, and dropped him and his family off.
The last ten years of Holly's life he lived with his son Clint and his family in Zion
Hill, Parker County. While living in Zion Hill Holly applied for a pension for being in
the Confederacy.
Another grandson, Roy Hudson, said that Holly was a share cropper all his life and that he
still is. The reason he says this is that Holly liked a certain grave site at the Zion
Hill Cemetery and the man that owned it gave it to Holly. It is under a large oak tree
over looking the land that his son Clint farmed. It sounds like Holly is resting in the
spot he liked most.
25. Matilda PRIDGEN(30)
was born on 26 Sep 1846. She died on 26 Nov 1868 in Alabama. Children were:
i. Emiline HUDSON was
born in 1842 in Alabama.
12 ii. William Allen HUDSON.
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