Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 08/03/05
SUMMARY
The Columbus and Delia Hudson Farm, constructed circa 1921, is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion A, with local significance, for its association with agricultural history in Mt. Judea, Newton County. It is also being nominated under Criterion C as a good example of an early 20th century farm. The main house has been sheathed in aluminum siding, circa 1990, which precludes it from listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
ELABORATION
Established on December 14, 1842, Newton County was the 47th county created in Arkansas, and was carved from a portion of neighboring Carroll County in the northwest corner of the state. Black, red and white oak forests cover the mountainsides, as do sweet and black gum. Named for Thomas Willoughby Newton, who was the United States Marshal for Arkansas at the time, land in the county was settled by pioneers as early as 1825, though the area had been occupied by Native Americans for hundreds of years prior to that date. Jasper, the county seat, was established by 1840, and became the county seat in 1843. The first county seat was located on Shop Creek, near Parthenon in the central part of the county, in the home of John Bellah. By 1856, there were ten post offices in the county, with Mt. Judea, being the last of the ten to be established. The first white settlers in what is now known as Mt. Judea were Ephraim Greenhaw and John Nichols. Greenhaw and Nichols named the newly settled town after the biblical Mt. Judea.
The Hudson Farm is named after Columbus Benton Hudson, Sr. Known as “Lum” around Newton County, Hudson was born in Parthenon, Arkansas, in western Newton County, on March 12, 1878. His parents were Allen and Mary Jane (Casey) Hudson. In 1896, at the age of 18, Lum married Ader Johnson. This marriage, however, ended in divorce. Lum then married Delia Molly Holman of Lamar, Johnson County, Arkansas, and the couple settled along the Big Creek Valley near Mt. Judea. Lum and Delia Hudson moved to the current farm around January 1919. According to their late daughter, Joyce, they initially lived in an old shack (cabin) that stood on the place. Sometime around 1921, the house was constructed and the shack was torn down.
The Hudsons had six children. The second child, Ova, died at the age of two years old. The surviving children are as follows: Zeola Hudson (February 11, 1916-November 26, 2003); Fines L. Hudson (December 7, 1919- February 14, 1988); Joyce (Hudson) Koenig (November 29, 1921-July 25, 2003); Ruby Lee (Hudson) McCutcheon (January 10, 1927- ); Columbus Benton (C. B.) Hudson, Jr., (January 10, 1927- ).
Although he worked in various capacities throughout his life, Lum was primarily a farmer and a timber laborer, owning and operating his own sawmill, which was located on the 300-acre property. He served one term as the Newton County Judge from 1939-1940. Though Lum’s term as county judge was short, his one term was a historic one for Newton County, as he oversaw the construction of the present day Newton County Courthouse.
Adath (Greenhaw) Hudson recalls that Lum was one of the only people around who had a truck during the 1930s. She said that he was a kind man who never refused to help anyone. Many times he would transport people across Big Creek (which had to be forded if one was to go to Harrison for supplies) in one of his log trucks if the creek was too high for walking or riding a horse across. She also recalls that he would drive down to Mt. Judea ( ½ mile from his home) and pick up many people to take to singing conventions and revivals around the county. Adath recollects:
“We would get all fixed up and Lum would pick us all up down at Judy. We would all pile on the back of his log truck and ride to Deer or Jasper or wherever the singing convention was. By the time we got there, our hair was blown all over the place and we were covered in dust. We just sat on the back of that ole truck and let our legs dangle over the side all the way up the mountain.”
Hudson’s family is well-known in the county today and played a significant role in the development of Newton County. Lum’s grandfather, Samuel “Sammy” Hudson, was one of the first white settlers in Newton County. Sammy moved to the county from Tennessee in 1832, and settled at the mouth of Shop Creek where it pours into the Little Buffalo River at Parthenon, in western Newton County. In fact, the Little Buffalo River, which flows through Jasper on its way to the Buffalo River, used to be called the Hudson Fork of the Buffalo River after Samuel Hudson. Sammy served in the Arkansas state legislature as the Representative from Newton County, in the 1850s. He also later served in the Confederate legislature during the Civil War, representing Newton County.
Lum Hudson purchased his 300 acre farm from James Town Greenhaw on December 31, 1918, for the hefty price of $1500 ($5/acre). The Hudsons grew corn, wheat, cotton, and apples, and raised cattle on the 300 acre farm. Hay was also harvested on the farm and stored in the loft of the barn to be fed to the cattle during the winter. Lum had many hired laborers working for him during the harvest season and according to his daughter Joyce, for a time he provided on-site housing (a shack) for the laborers. The shack has since been destroyed and there is no sign of it today.
The farm was homesteaded by Francis M. “F. M.” Greenhaw on May 4, 1885, who then sold the land to James Town Greenhaw on January 26, 1893. James Town Greenhaw in turn sold the farm to Hudson on December 31, 1918. Lum lived on this farm for the rest of his life with the exception of the short time (six months) he spent in California as he looked for work during the Great Depression. To date, the farm has been in the Hudson family for 87 years. The land, including the home and farm, were owned by Delia after Lum’s death. When Delia died in 1974, everything was divided up between the five children. Fines Hudson, the oldest son, settled with each of the children and on July 31, 1984, he became the sole owner of the farm and house.
Columbus “Lum” Hudson passed away on May 4, 1957, as the result of a heart attack. After her husband’s death, Delia continued to live in the home with their daughter, Zeola, who never married. In the late 1960s, the Hudsons’ daughter, Joyce, moved back to Mt. Judea from Kansas City, Missouri, after her husband, Eugene Koenig, had passed away. Joyce moved in with Zeola and Delia. During this time, the farm was operated by Fines and C.B. Hudson.
Adath Hudson described Delia as a jolly, kind and easy-going lady. She enjoyed quilting and canning. Mrs. Hudson suffered a stroke in her later years and passed away March 31, 1974. She is buried beside her husband in the Mt. Judea Cemetery.
After the death of Delia, the house was occupied by sisters Joyce and Zeola. As the sole owner of the farm, Fines gave his sisters, Joyce and Zeola, a lifetime lease on the house. That lease expired in 2003 as both Joyce and Zeola passed away in that year. The home is now vacant and owned by Adath Hudson, the surviving widow of Fines, and is operated and cared for by Richard Hudson, Fines’ oldest son, and his wife, Anita. Richard and Anita lived on the farm from 1978 until 1985, when they moved to another location slightly west of the farm. The farm is now exclusively used for raising beef cattle and harvesting hay and timber.
The Columbus and Delia Hudson farm is a vivid reminder of our past. It is a wonderful representation of a Depression-era farm. Although it is hard to imagine that the rocky soil would produce crops such as corn and cotton, the Hudsons and many other families in remote Newton County relied heavily upon these crops for their survival during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The home, barn and old farm machinery sit quietly in the shadow of the mountains and remind us of an earlier time when people lived modest lives and worked with their hands, and of a vanishing past which shaped the personality and character of the rural and remote Ozark Mountain region of Newton County, Arkansas.
SIGNIFICANCE
Constructed circa 1921, the Columbus and Delia Hudson Farm is comprised of a total of six contributing buildings and structures, and two non-contributing buildings. Located on Arkansas highway 123 approximately ½-mile north of Mt. Judea, Newton County, and set against the scenic backdrop of the Ozark Mountains, the farm is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion A, with local significance, for its association with agricultural history in Mt. Judea, Newton County. It is also being nominated under Criterion C as a good example of an early 20th century farm. The main house has been sheathed in aluminum siding, circa 1990, which precludes it from listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The home and farm buildings sit upon roughly seven acres at the center of a 300 acre farm that was owned and operated by Columbus “Lum” Hudson, and his wife, Delia. The home and barn were constructed in the early-1920s shortly after the Hudsons purchased the land. The chicken house was built in the late-1920s or early-1930s. There is also an old outhouse which sits behind the chicken house. Though not used as the primary residence by the current owners, who are descendants of Columbus and Delia Hudson, the farm outbuildings are used as equipment, feed and hay storage, and the house is used as a vacation home.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abstract of Deeds.Personal property of Richard Hudson.2004
Cothren, Zac.“Newton Sutterfield Farmstead” National Register of Historic Places nomination.17 February 2003.
Lackey, Walter.The History of Newton County.1949
Personal Interviews
Hudson, Adath.2004
Hudson, Columbus Benton.2004
Letters and Other Correspondence
Bolin, Herb.1993-1999
Koenig, Joyce Hudson.1992-2003
Hudson, Zeola.1992-2003
Internet sites