WILLIAM EARL HUDSON

 The following bio was taken from page 249 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

 Transcribed by Shirley Koym

 Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Cemeteries of Texas

 Earl and I are Rusk County born residents.  We have lived here all of our lives, except when Earl was away in the Army during World War II.  His time overseas was spent in Italy, North Africa, and the Pacific.

 I was born in the Crims Chapel Community in 1922 to Walter N. Irwin and Mattie Bell Walton Irwin.  My mother was the daughter of Hezekiah Walton and Martha Lynn Thompson Walton.  She was born in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, but came to Texas when she was five years old.  After her mother passed away, she went to live with her Aunt and Uncle Billy Thompson and their sons, Alvin and Benn, in the Jacobs Community.  She lived there until she met Walter Irwin at a revival in the Providence Baptist Church in Crims Chapel.  He was directing the singing for the revival that August, and she knew at once this was the man with whom she would spend the rest of her life.  They were married in November 1912.

 Walter Irwin, my father, was born here in Rusk County, to Joseph Anderson Irwin and Martha Louisiana Honeycutt.  He was one of five boys in this family.  His brothers were:  Bazel, Andrew, Earnest, and Otho Irwin.  This family loved to sing, and my father, Walter, and two of his brothers, Andrew and Otho, taught singing schools in the East Texas area.  Joseph’s father was John Irwin, and his mother was a Killingsworth.  Martha Louisiana’s father was George Newton Honeycutt, and her mother was America Crim.  All of these families have deep roots in Henderson, Rusk County, and in East Texas.

 There are eight children in my family, four boys and four girls.  My sisters are Lavelle Scarborough, Marie Ashby, and Geneva Willard.  My brothers are Forrest H., Wilton R., Edelle N., and G. Wayland Irwin.  All live in Henderson except Edelle, who lives in Kilgore.

 Earl was born here in Rusk County just west of the city of Henderson, near the new high school building.  We live on part of the Hudson home place.  He was born in 1922 to Dorinda Elizabeth Lobb Hudson and William Eugene Hudson.  Earl’s mother came from Kentucky and was the daughter of William Thomas Lobb and Mary Francis Jones Lobb, and the granddaughter of Alex and Elizabeth Jones and Thomas and Dorinda Lobb.  Earl’s father was the son of James Allen Hudson and Mary Elizabeth Farley Hudson, and grandson of James Allen Hudson and Jim and Mary Farley.  This family came from Georgia. 

There were eight children in Earl’s family.  He had three sisters:  Mary A., Martha E., and Anna Lee.  There were four brothers:  Teddy (who died a few weeks after birth); R. Herman; Charles E.; and Franklin D.  All of these live in the state of Texas. 

Earl and I married in Tyler, Texas, on April 6, 1946, at the home of Reverend and Mrs. John W. Reynolds, a long-time pastor at Crims Chapel.  My sister, Geneva, and her husband-to-be, Billy Willard, were our attendants.  We have two daughters, Juanita Joy, now married to Barry Dean Brunk, Sr., and has two sons, Barry Dean, Jr., and Robert Christopher (Bobby).  They live in Ennis, Texas at this time.  Our other daughter, Alice Lorraine, is married to Edward Schmidt III, and they have one son, Edward IV, and they live in Henderson at this time. 

I have been a housewife most of my married life, and Earl worked for twenty years for Texas Eastman in Longview, but now owns and operates the Electric Motor Shop and Exchange here in Henderson.  We still live on part of the Hudson family home place on the west side of Henderson.  We plan to spend the remainder of our lives here in Henderson because there is no place like Rusk County in East Texas. 

Submitted by Ruby Lois Hudson