Below are the recollections of Emma Belle (Hudnall) Robinson. They have been transcribed by Harold Hudnall from a copy of the original given to me by my Father, Ulmont E. Robinson. Some portions were missing or illegible but not enough to affect Her story.

Nov. 1954

This is the generations of {part of sentence missing}

1. Joseph Hudnall(1)
2. Thomas Hudnall(1)
3. Mary (Hudnall) Bolin(1)
4. Thomas Bolin
5. Mounterville Bolin
6. Verna Bolin - married Elmer Haning
7. Roy and Herald Haning
8. Their Children. 8 generations from Jos. 1st

(1) All three graves in the Kaider Woods, now Mary Hines property in Athens County.

Joseph Hudnall died in 1835 (year my father was born) at the age of 95.

Thomas Hudnall died in 1853, age 93. The day of his burial a neighbor stuck a Sycamore riding whip in the grave of Joseph Hudnall, Sr. The whip took root and is now a large tree, all the marker the grave has. No record of his military life can be found. We feel he must have been a "minute man", as we have the war record of Thomas, his son, and grave is marked with a government marker, easy to be found. Both father and son was with General Washington at Yorktown where Cornwallace surrendered to Washington, thus helping win the Revolutionary War. Also, both men suffered at Valley Forge that cold winter of .......with Washington's other men. Many froze to death.

Mary Hudnall married Samuel Bolin. Their oldest child, Janetta, was born in VA. Also their marriage took place in VA. At that time, rich landowners and slave owners let white tenants help farm the lands, living in cabins no better than the colored slaves lived in. Besides they had to pay a percent of their crop. If they did not pay, they were put in prison. (There is a hand me down narrative.) Mary was in her garden one day when the landlord came to collect. As she had no money, he threatened her by telling her both she and her husband would be put in prison. She resented this threat so much that in her anger, she struck him a blow with her garden hoe, felling him to the ground. Supposed she had killed the man, she and her husband Sam, hastily gathered a few clothes together, tied in bags, and with their baby girl Janetta, (as I knew her in later years, Aunt Net Hamilton) started for the wilderness as Ohio was then called by Emigrants. After many privations, they crossed the Ohio River into Ohio where they reared a large family and where they died, on a part of the Hudnall land granted to the Hudnalls after the war. {sentence missing}

Mary Jeffers ______, the Herold mom's _______ and the land once owned by Matt Brooks, heirs now own it. I don't know who. Thomas Hudnall gave Mary, his daughter, the portion of land that Thomas Bolin later owned where his family was born and raised.

It so happened Mary did not kill the man and he never tried to trace them. The before mentioned Samuel Bolin was also a soldier in the War of 1812 and has a marker in the old Bolin graveyard where the Hudnall ancestors are buried. William Bolin, also a son of Sam and Mary, was the last Bolin to be buried in the old family burial ground. He died more than seventy years ago. I was at the funeral, held in the shade of the many trees. A very small child at the time yet I very well remember just how the people looked. Men with beards, women in sunbonnets, children barefooted.

Joseph Hudnall, Sr. was the first grave in the burial plot. He lived in a tiny cabin by his self, a few feet from the larger cabin his son, Tommy, lived in. Slept in his cabin. Ate his meals in his son's house. A short time before his death he cut a sharp stick and went outside and picked out the spot for his grave. Stuck the stick in the ground and soon, they found him dead in his bed.

The old Virginia law was, that the first son inherited the property. The Hudnalls were in the beginning rich in land and slaves, but the Ohio Hudnalls and Bolins was not the lucky first sons. Yet many of the descendants of these worthy hard working pioneers have prospered in many ways. Men of all walks, ranks and professions and their descendants are many like the sands of the seas, whose children can well rise up and call them blessed.

If we, today, could only have the faith of our pioneers who made a country of wealth out of the "wilderness" as it was a vast forest of trees in the early migration of our ancestors. We would have a better religion than some of today have. They helped fight the early wars of freedom, so helping our country become great. They were a God fearing people. "God rest their souls"' we can well say.

A picture taken by lawyer, Wm. Peters of Athens, of the Bolin and Hudnall graveyards with myself standing by my ancestor Thomas Hudnall's grave is now on file in the Ohio University at Athens. Also my youngest son by my father's grave, Joseph Hudnall, will be preserved for {part of sentence missing} mistake.

I am now visiting Verna and her family. I am the youngest in years of the forementioned Rev. soldier's, as Thomas Hudnall would be my great grandfather. And I'm 78 years of age, having a wonderful time. This beautiful Indian summer weather, Nov. 8th 1954. I love to collect old history and pass it on. When I think of more, will continue with it. Will rest for a while.

Emma (Hudnall) Robinson.

Nov. 10, 1954

I will try to write a story as I heard it. I was visiting with Sarah (Reeves) Bolin and she remembered her father telling her when she was a child of his mother and he having a bad scare from a panther when he was a little boy. Late in the evening, he and his mother was carrying "sugar water" from a large sugar camp, yet close to their house when they heard the scream of a panther. The mother was much frightened, pushed her little son in front of her and whispered to him to keep very quiet. And they safely entered their little house and escaped the panther as he was very close in pursuit.

This little boy later became the father of Sarah. His name was Richard, the son of Richard and Elizabeth Reeves. Richard II was probably five years of age. Date of his birth was 1803 and Sarah was his youngest daughter, mother of Verna. Also, Uncle Dickey, as we always called him was fond of bees. His hobby was hunting wild bees and hiving them for the supply of honey they furnished his large family. He would hastily leave any task unfinished to "course a bee". And would think nothing of traveling many miles to find his cherished bee tree. All wild life at that time was free for the taking. And any time we ate at Uncle Dickie's we had honey on the table, a feast to most of us. He loved bees until his death in 1885. After his death his bees all died.

Another story is concerning the house that Guy Bolin now lives in. A grandson of Richard II and great grandson of Richard 1st. This house was erected out of large hewed logs and was built by Richard 1st. Had a large living room and a large bedroom down stairs and one large room upstairs. Built before the time of sawmills. Called the flooring {part of sentence missing} in. of wide sawed boards. Was built on the old Reeves farm near the Meigs line. Later the Bolins bought a part of the old farm. Also bought the old house. Moved it probably a quarter of a mile on a hill and today is owned by Guy. And has been made into a beautiful country house. The writer of this sketch has played many an hour in the old house as it was called 70 years ago. It was then owned by Lorenzo Dow Reeves, who passed away in 1897, who was a brother of Richard II.

The first Reeve's we have any record of migrating to Ohio was Richard 1st and his brother, William 1st. William had a son, John, and a daughter, Hope. Several others who located later in the western states. The son, John, was the father of Johilee Reeves, who married Emma Logan. Also, Persena, who married Ben Bailey and Susan who married Al Stoots. My Mother, Lucy Hudnall, was a daughter of Hope. Therefore, I am a great granddaughter of William 1st. Verna, no doubt has the dates in her history. She is a descendant of one brother. I am of the other. Seems we can't trace as many of William's descendants as so many left no issue.

Winnie Reeves Bush, a daughter of Joehile, a granddaughter of of John, a great granddaughter of William 1st is living in Columbus. She married Charles Bush. They have no children.

The William Reeves house, also of hewed logs, used to be where the small frame house now stands, built by Deb Reeves. The Reuben Reeves house is still standing just below the small Deb house. It also was built more than a century ago. Also of large hewed logs, now weatherboarded, a modern house.

Written by Emma (Hudnall) Robinson (1877-1956)

Last updated: 12 June, 1999

Comments to webmaster