In last week's column I began telling of the wonderful information given to me by Brother Bill Schibler concerning Rev. Herman Wilhelm Estrem and his ministry at St. Olaf Rock Church near  Cranfills Gap in the early 1900's.  This week I would like to continue some of the story. Last week told of Rev. Estrem's first Rattlesnake Hunt, which gained him such a rapid acceptance by the congregation. That hunt brought an invitation from their nearest
neighbor, A. H. Danby Olson, to go to his son Herbert Olson's, near his home some parties had seen several rattlesnakes sunning themselves outside a large den.

The Reverend states " before we left home that day, Danby Olson phoned his son that we were coming. As we drove past the home of T. T. Tergerson, his strapping big son, Red, was pretending to be chopping wood close to the road. After a "Howdy, Red asked, "You all going snake hunting this evening?  Guess Dad and I might be coming along presently" By the way, afternoon was evening and after dark was night here."  By the time they had eaten and picked up Herbert and started for the mountain nearby, Red and his Dad were there, each with a shotgun. Before they had arrived at the foot of the mountain where the den was, at least twenty men had joined them, some walking, some driving, many of the riding.

Apparently it had not been warm enough that day to entice the rattlesnakes out upon the ledge, so they formed a long line of armed men and marched around the mountain knoll. No game was seen, but the Reverend was regaled with a story of a hidden treasure somewhere in that neighborhood, buried long years ago by three hard-pressed Mexicans.

Disappointed in the snake and other hunt, the men, especially the younger ones, were determined to show the new parson some excitement of some kind.  They were all expert riders, but Axel Grimland was conceded tops among them.  Everybody chipped thirty cents each into a purse for him if he could ride Herbert Olson's outlaw mule. So far no one had stayed on him.

On the way back to the Olson home, a couple of the boys put on an extemporaneous riding entertainment just for the fun of it. Tilden Hastings rode a beautiful horse that day. It was trained to buck on signals from the rider. Conrad Knudson mounted backward and bareback behind Tilden. "Those boys did not bother to put a foot into a stirrup to mount. They simply laid one hand lightly on the pommel, and presto, they were in the saddle",
states the Parson.

He goes on the say that "Tilden put his horse through all the bucking tricks he knew, and Conrad, who could not see the signals, stuck to that back no matter how unexpected the buckings. Whenever he landed on that rump, he glued himself fast, always with a smile on his face. It was a pretty piece of horsemanship."  More of this wonderful look back at Reverend Estrem's recollections of his years here in the county will follow in upcoming columns.

Just a quick mention that last weekend I stopped by a get together in Clifton of the Grimland descendants. Wanda Mobley, who had sent a query into our first column regarding her Grimland family, invited me and I had a great time meeting the family members. It seems, if I remember correctly that of the six branches of the family, there were people present representing five.  I know they all had a wonderful time visiting and getting to know family that some had never met before. There was a fascinating collection of history and old photos that had been collected by the various members of the family.
 

George Hudson and his wife had two children, Walter Hudson and Maud Hudson Phillips. George died during a wagon accident. He had taken a bale of cotton to the gin at Eulogy late one evening. By the time he got the cotton ginned and started home, it was dark. As he was going through a wooded pasture, the team of mules pulled out of the road. One front wheel of the wagon ran over a stump causing George to fall out. The wagon ran over him, and he was killed.

Jim Hudson and his wife had three children, Bell, Comn, and Kay. After the death of George Hudson, his daughter, Maud lived with her uncle, Jim Hudson.  Andrew Hudson and his wife, Mollie, had three children, Tom, B., and Sally.  They moved to Cleburne after a few years passed.

Rube Hudson and his wife also had three children. They were named Helen, Rena, and Frank. Helen married Lawson Sanderson. They reared seven children.  During the period of time after the birth of the youngest child, the weather was cold and snow was on the ground. Helen took pneumonia and died. The snow was still on the ground when she was laid to rest in the Brazos Point Cemetery. Rena married Ed Moore. They had one child, Beatrice "Bea". Rena died while the child was still young. Ed continued to live here for some time. He had a grocery store and did well in business. In later years, he moved to Eulogy and continued to run his store there. Rube Hudson's only son, Frank, died while still in his teens.

Rube Hudson and his wife moved to Oklahoma. His life also ended in an accident. He was riding his horse across the Red River Bridge when he fell off the bridge into the river. No one knows exactly how he fell off the bridge, but he was found dead in the river still holding the horse bridle in his hand.

Wash Hudson married Alice Francis Day, a daughter of Joseph Day, who was considered a wealthy man. He owned many acres of land in this area. Wash and Alice had three boys, Jessie, Elmer, and Rube. They also had three girls, Ethel, Earl, and Dora. All of the children married and continued to live and rear their families in the community they loved.

Wash's wife, Alice, died while she was still a young woman. She was born August 10, 1855 and died February 10, 1896. Wash later married Fannie Wilson Mears. They had one girl, Ruth "Sis" Hudson. She married Joe B. Walker.

Wash and Fannie Hudson bought 108 acres of land in Brazos Point area for $1,050 on February 23, 1891 from R H Parnin. As Wash and Fannie Hudson grew older, everyone called them "Uncle Wash and Aunt Fannie." They also had another farm just across the road from the farm on which they lived. The other farm was a good farm and had a good house on it. Wash's son, Jessie and wife Bertha lived there.

Aunt Fannie was known far and wide as a great help to any family who had sick folds. She would go and help for several days at a time. She was a mid-wife and helped to deliver most of the babies that were born in this community and in surrounding communities. Back in those days, it was unheard of to go to a hospital. She must have been good at her job because her patients always did really well. She got plenty of experience, and no doubt
she was as good as any doctor. She did this work until old age came, the she had to be taken care of.

Uncle Wash and Aunt Fannie lived on their farm until their deaths. Uncle Wash was born in 1851 and died in 1938. Aunt Fannie was born in 1856 and died in 1951.  After Wash Hudson's death, his son, Jessie A Hudson bought the 108 acre farm from their heirs. In 1951, he sold the 108 acre farm to his son, Jessie L and his wife, Rosa for $2,500.
Glen Glenn
gglenn@itexas.net

I will continue to encourage everyone to take time to record your family history and stories. Don't let those wonderful stories slip away, be sure to talk to your older relatives and record their memories. Also, send in your stories and queries, there are a lot of families and areas of our county that haven't been touched upon yet in this column, I would really love to have those included.

If you are researching your Bosque County families online be sure to visit Bosque Co. TXGenWeb site at  http://www.txgenweb5.org/txbosque/  you'll find a wonderful collection of information provided by other researchers. This column will also be available weekly at this site.

If you would like to submit a story or query about your Bosque County family to this column please mail them to: LaDawn Garland c/o The Bosque County News, P.O. Box 343, Meridian, TX 76665, fax to (254) 435-6335 or email me at
garland@htcomp.net.