Oral History

Conversations with Mildred Rudd Ragsdale about Rudd family
(C. Avis Catalog entry #196)

Her father (James Calvin Rudd) born Madisonville, Tn about 1850.  Capt. Joe Rudd was in Civil War and was the older brother of J. C. Rudd.  Capt. Rudd came home through Union lines to visit on a white horse.
    
During the Civil War,  the family moved to Dalton, Ga because Tennessee was a divided state.  Grandfather Rudd got involved with soldiers during the move and was imprisoned by the Union with a ball and chain.  His mind began to go as a result.  Mildred assumes that he died in Dalton, Ga.  Then his wife R. C. (Maples) Rudd went to Texas (Pittsburg).  A daughter Alice went to Atlanta, married Hightower.
    
J. C. Rudd came to Tennessee (Nashville?), married and had 2 children.  They lived with her mother.  He tried to get family moved out, but his wife would not go, so he left.  J.C. Rudd divorced his wife.  The two children stayed with their mother and J. C. came to Texas.  
    
The older child was Sister Maud and the younger was Brother Lowry.
    
Home situation was not good, so Brother Lowry ran away and went to Texas anyway when he was 12 or 14.  J. C. and Maggie  Rudd tried to get him to go to school in Temple, but he ran away from them.  He fought in the Spanish-American War and got a bullet in right forearm.  He would fiddle with the bullet, as it was not taken out.  He fought with Canadians in WW I and got shell shocked and/or gassed.  Brother Lowry never married.
    
Sister Maud had one daughter named Ruth Ellen aged between Mildred and Hilda Rudd.  Ruth married Murdock from Ohio.  Sister Maud (or Ruth ??) wound up in California.Sister Maud got separated from husband Mark Stokes and came to Temple with daughter Rose Ellen for a year.
    
J. C. Rudd married for second time in Lampassus.  Wife and child died in childbirth in Lampassus.
    
J. C. Rudd and Maggie Mooring married in San Antonio.  In Temple, he had the Harvey House Hotel concession food rights and the opera house.
    
J. C. Rudd died of pneumonia after being sick about 10 days.  Mildred thinks he was riding back home on a horse and fell off.  When he got home, he was panting and seemed to have gotten a heavy cold.  He died in the middle of the night.
    
About 1915 or so, Mildred saw the Aurora Borealis from Temple.  The children were awakened in the night and bundled up and taken outside to see it.  J. C. and Maggie both knew a lot
about the stars.  
    
The story of the plums and Squire Harris' bull was told by J. C. Rudd, and was about he and his father.  He also had a story about him coming home after dark by the frog pond, etc.  He would entertain the neighborhood kids with his stories.
    
She said that she and sister Madge had no middle names.  Sister Fay had middle name Mooring and brother Charles had middle name Maples.

Mildred Rudd Ragsdale :  born 1-28-1905 in Temple, Tx.  She and sisters went to College of Industrial Arts in Denton, TX (later Texas State College for Women).  Married Dr. Luney Varnon Ragsdale in New York City, 11-30-1935.    Dr. Ragsdale died 11-6-1968, buried in Bessemer, Ala.    

Children:  
James Stirling Ragsdale,
John Milton Ragsdale,
Margaret Mooring Ragsdale.

Address:  
35 Courtney St.
Fall River, Mass  02720
    
also:   
James Stirling Ragsdale
12 Noteworthy Dr.
Danbury, Conn  06810

Conversations with Fay Rudd Chiles about Rudd Family
(C. Avis Catalog entry #22) 

Joseph R. Rudd spent time in a Union prison camp and died there.  He was taken to Dalton, Ga. to be buried.  James Calvin Rudd was a teenager and thus the family was worried about his military status.  He had to be sneaked through the Yankee lines with the help of a female Yankee sympathizer.  

J. C. Rudd knew when meteor showers were coming and would take the family outside and arrange the blankets, etc.  She remembers Halley's Comet. 

Fay's parents, James Rudd and Maggie Mooring planned to marry, but her father did not approve, so they ran off to San Antonio and had her cousin, Rev. Walter Richardson, marry them on 2/19/1892.  After their first child was born, things were mostly OK.

The story of the plums and Squire Harris' bull was told by J. C. Rudd and was about he and his father.  He also had a story about him coming home after dark by the frog pond, etc.  He would entertain the neighborhood kids with his stories.

Fay thinks that J. C. Rudd died of pneumonia after being sick a few days.  Thinks he was staking a cow in a vacant lot, had some kind of trouble with the job.  When he got home, he couldn't catch his breath.  The doctor was called but couldn't do much.  Might have been a heart attack.

Fay's sister Hilda Rudd married Thomas Jefferson McElhenney.

Their son Thomas Rudd McElhenney married Ada Oakley.

Their daughter Hilda married Llewellyn Griffith.

T. R and Ada had children:  Thomas, Amy, Sidney, John

Hilda and Llewellyn had children:  Ann, Llewellyn Brooks, Hilda

Conversations with Fay Rudd Chiles about the Hodge Family

(C. Avis Catalog entry #55)

Cousin Walter Richardson (Granny's cousin) was dean of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in San Antonio for 40 years. He is buried under the floor at the altar. The church is across the plaza from the St. Anthony Hotel.

He was a grandchild of Alexander Hodge and had a brother named Alfred (attorney).

The Institute of Texas Cultures has information on the Hodge's and him.

Death of Gladys Roberson Avis by Charles Avis
(C. Avis Catalog entry #222)

Gladys Avis died 11-25-1989 in Summer Meadows Nursing Home in Longview, Tx.  She had declined rapidly in the previous few days.

Death of Jennie Roberson by Charles Avis
(C. Avis Catalog entry #103)

Jennie Roberson, 'Auntie', died 9/2/82 in Austin, Texas.  She was convalesing after her second broken hip.  She died in the nursing home she had been living in since July '82.

Charles Avis 9/3/82

Conversations with Gladys Roberson Avis
(C. Avis Catalog Entry # 324)

Sharp Roberson, her grandfather, traded in slaves, mules and horses in Tennessee before coming to Texas.  He had asthma.  Probably buried in Young County, Texas.

Martin Bowers Roberson, her father, moved to Young County, Texas as a young man and became a cowhand on the Chisholm trail for several different ranches.  He was working in Clay County when he met Nora Herring (she was living with the Foster family).  He went to Archer County and became the foreman on L. F. Wilson's ranch between Holiday and Archer City.  Clyde, Harry, Jenny and Gladys had already been born.  Zola was born in Archer County.  The family moved to Wichita Falls where the kids went to school.  Later, they moved to Amarillo where the boys finished school.  They stayed there one year while a home was built in Farwell, Texas.  Martin and Mr. Wilson became partners in two ranches on the Texas-New Mexico border (Texico) and near Ft. Sumner.  Later sold ranches and moved back to Wichita Falls.  Clyde and Harry were married at the time, so Harry stayed behind.  The ranches were adjoining the XIT ranch.  Mart Roberson traded in cattle until he suddenly died of diabetes.  Mart Roberson and wife Nora Herring Roberson are buried in Riverside Cemetery, Wichita Falls, Texas.

Gladys met Jake Avis in grammar school in Wichita Falls before she moved away.  

Gladys's brother Richard lived in Oklahoma.  

Other places the family had lived are:  Davidson Ranch at Jolly, Texas; Charlie, Texas; Holiday, Texas; Wilson Ranch, Archer County, Texas; in Wichita Falls on Wichita River, on Burnet St., on 5 acres on Cheshire St., on Indiana Ave., and 1911 9th St.; Amarillo, Texas.

Mart Roberson's ranch was near Wichita Falls, Texas in the Iowa Park area.  His cowboys called him "Uncle Mart".

Gladys took a bus from Austin to Wichita Falls when her father, Mart Roberson, was taken to the hospital.  She arrived at the family home while everyone was at the hospital.  He died the next day.

Conversations with Jennie Roberson
(C. Avis Catalog Entry #322)


Jennie Roberson was at Mart Roberson's hospital bedside when he turned to her and said that he just couldn't fight anymore.  He died shortly thereafter.

Harold Martin Roberson's grave was moved from a cornfield at Texico to the Clovis, New Mexico cemetery (baby section).

Three orphan boys reared by the oldest, Blunt.  Blunt (Could it have been Blount, a familiar name in that part of the country), Sharp, Bill - Scotch and English (Could these have been nicknames.)  They were contractors and builders of mills using water power - before steam.

Sharp Roberson (our grandfather) was a man of means when came to Texas but failed to make enough money or raise enough crops to care for his family and negroes before the negroes were freed.

He married Rebecca Kennedy in Murray County, Tennessee about 1845 or 1846. Moved to Young County, Texas in 1857 at Eliasville near Olney or Graham.

The Kennedy's were of Irish descent. Great Grandfather Kennedy was reared in America. Rebecca Kennedy's mother was from a family named Young.

Sharp Roberson & Rebecca Kennedy children:

 Blunt Roberson - Oklahoma 
 Martin Bowers Roberson 1859 - 1934 
 Dick Roberson - Oklahoma 
 two daughters - one lived in Poteau, Okla - married name unknown

Uncle Billy Kennedy used to visit us from Graham I believe - a very pleasant person. A son of his - Willie Kennedy - was associated with a bank in Olney or Graham all his years in business. I do not know if he is living (but probably some of his children are there. 
  
 

Information from Ruby Avis Dunkelberg
(C. Avis Catalog entry #88)

The Bush family went from Parkersburg, VA to Jefferson, Texas by boat, then by ox-drawn wagon to Howe.  Didn't know where they were going.

Isaac Bush dealt in slaves until after the war then left.  They took boat on the Ohio, Mississippi and Red Rivers.

Conversations with Alva Willingham "Jake" Avis
(C. Avis Catalog entry #349)

Frank M. Avis had son Lawrence C. Avis and daughter Zella Avis Williams (of Lampassus, Texas).  A son of Lawrence had to do with the Avis Rent-a-car business. [wrong -ca]

Jake let his insurance lapse at the end of 1924.  In January of 1925, he caught pneumonia and was unconscious ("didn't know nothin' ") for 32 days.  At one point, it was thought he wouldn't live through the night.

Jake owned "The Gift Shoppe" which was in the Kemp Hotel.  It went under in 1928 or 1929 due to the play out of oil in Wichita Falls.

Jake's father, James David Avis loaned Ed Howard some of the money needed to start the Wichita Daily Times.  He obtained and passed on to his heirs, shares in the newspaper.

Jake was one of the first carriers for the Wichita Daily Times when it became a daily paper.  He guided a horse (named Wheeler) with his knees as he threw the papers.

The James brothers were expected to come through Wichita Falls but noone saw them.  Evidence of cooking and horses was found in the  Knot Barn owned by Jake's grandmother Mrs. Mahalia Catherine (Webb) Avis White.  Neighborhood horses had been stolen and worn out horses left behind.  This was while the Avis family lived in a newer house (not near the barn).

Jake's grandmother Mrs. Mahala Catherine (Webb) Avis White died without a will in 1925.  She died saying "one more step, Lord, and I'll be there .. one more step, Lord ... one more step -."

C. C. White worked in David Avis' (Jake's grandfather) general store in Montague.  When Avis died, he married the widow Avis and moved to Wichita Falls, Tx.

Jake's grandmother Mrs. Mahalia Catherine (Webb) Avis White owned 3/4 of a block in Wichita Falls, Tx.  A bungalow was built on the corner of 9th and Burnet (original residence?).  It was later moved a few feet up Burnet in order to build a two story house on the corner.  Meyer's the bouth the lot after her son J. D. Avis died and moved the bungalow to build another two story house.

Original two story house built at 9th and Burnet (A).  This house given away when new house built at 9th and Bluff (B) for the family.  Later, house was moved from 9th and Burnet to (C) when new house built at 9th and Bluff.


  Bluff                      ||
=============================||  C
       B ||                  ||
         || 9th
         ||
 Burnet  ||
===========     Knot
       A ||     Barn
         ||
         ||
         ||


Brother Frank Piner Avis had daughter Camille Avis McCullough.
Brother James David Avis, Jr. had two sons:  Piner D. and J. D. III  and two daughters:  Helen Neely and Martha Jane
Sister Katerine Louise Avis Weeks had a daughter Katherine Avis Weeks Bridewell.
Sister Lillian Grace Avis Baum had no children.
Jake himself had one son (Jake Avis).
Brother Charles Robert Avis never married.
Sister Ozella Gretchen Avis McCuthchen had a son C. W. and a daughter Jeanne.
Sister Ruby Cornelia Avis Dunkelberg had a son Ralph, Jr.

Parent's nickname for Frank was "P.G.", for James was "Dave", for Katherine was "Bug", for Lillian was "Squirrel", for Alva was "Jake", for Charles was "Rabbit", for Ozella was "Jack" and for Ruby was "Pete".

Frank married Lena Metlock, 
James married Alide Neely, 
Katherine married W. F. Weeks, 
Lillian married Harry Baum, 
Jake himself married Gladys Broyles Roberson in Wichita Falls, Tx on 6-21-1921, 
Ozella married Wm. U. McCutchen and 
Ruby married Ralph C. Dunkelberg.

"I find no record of Isaac Bush (my mother's father) other than he lived in Parkersburg, West Virginia - lost everything during Civil War - then migrated to Texas - date not known."