Sure, Ed, that's a good idea. Here ya go, the first page of the first section, with Page 2 so you actually get an idea of my dad's narrative, too. The footnote numbers are in parentheses, as the I din't want to do the html.:-)

PLEASE keep in mind, that this is a ROUGH draft, with various notes to myself included in the footnotes. My sources will all be listed at the back, NOT in the footnotes as I have them now.

As it stands, here, I've left in the page breaks and so far, all of the footnotes fit on these two pages on an 8 X 11 page, which I know will change upon publication.

Having hit a block, at the moment, I am arranging photos and documents for insertion throughout the book.

I've made my dad's text blue, as I don't know the html for indented paragraphs.:-)THANKS, ya'll!

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THE HUDSONS & CRAWFORDS         Page 1

    Ever since I can remember, my grandfather, Frank Hudson, has been a very large presence in my life, despite the fact that he died one year before I was born. I always knew him as he came alive through my dad's stories of growing up with this larger than life character of the old ranching West.

    Frank Hudson was born in the middle of winter, in a log cabin on the Hammerich Ranch on Four Mile Creek, southeast of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. He grew to be a big man, well over six feet, with broad shoulders and back. Dimensions well-suited for the ranch work he was born to and the jobs he held later in life. His parents, Lorenzo Dowd(1) and Mary Beulah Forsythe Hudson were on their way across the Continental Divide(2) from Leadville to New Castle(3) to homestead on Garfield Creek, when he made his appearance on a bright, sunny December morning in 1885. Mary's father, Abraham Forsythe had staked his claim, earlier, then sent word to them to "come on over."
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1) L.D. was known simply as Dowd, all of his life. It is pronounced Dode.

2) Dad is fairly certain they would have followed Tennessee Pass, from Leadville as far as Gypsum, where they would have then taken Cottonwood Pass on to Glenwood Springs. Glenwood Canyon had not yet been opened for travel. From there, after Frank's birth, they went over Three Mile Mountain and on down Garfield Creek, where they homesteaded.

3) The town of New Castle was first called Chapman and Grand Butte. Located on the Colorado River, it took the name from the noted English coal-mining community of Newcastle after coal was discovered in the area. The town's first Post Office operated under the name Chapman from 1884 to 1888 when it was changed to New Castle.

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Page 2

    That Frank came from such stock as legends are told of makes it no surprise that his own have grown over time. My dad, Gardner Lorenzo, remembers his Grandfather L.D. Hudson, Frank's dad:        

As far as I know, the Hudson side of the house
originated on the East coast, Virginia, I believe. And
then, migrated to Lake Huron during the War of 1812(1)
They were shipbuilders and there was a fleet to be built
there to fight the British, which never materialized in that
particular area; but anyhow, I guess the fleet was built and
they settled there, ran sawmills and were builders from
then on.
My grandfather, Lorenzo Dowd Hudson, ran
away from home at the age of eleven(2), so that history
is more or less sketchy, although I do know he had one
grandmother that was a Mohawk; and any family that's
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1)Recent research shows they actually went to New York, before Michigan and, at a later date. In L.D.'s published obituary, it states, having been born on 1854 in Lawrence County, NY, "he moved from New York to Michigan overland at the age of 3 years." It may be that relatives went out for the War of 1812 and invited the others to join them later. (WAITING FOR 1812 SERVICE RECORDS as his obit said they both came from stock who had fought in the 1812 war.)

2) In the same obituary for L.D. Hudson, it says, "He lived in Southern Michigan on his father's farm until he was 13 years old, when he heard the call of the great West and went to Kansas and Indian Territory," which would have been in 1867.

In a biography of L.D. Hudson in Progressive Men of Western Colorado , published by A. W. Bowen & Co., in 1905, it says that he lived in Texas in his childhood, with an older brother. The older brother sent him on his way home to Michigan at the age of fourteen, when he instead stopped off in Indian Territory where he stayed for eight years. (1812 service records ordered 7/02 for Dowd's grandfathers, maternal and paternal.)

© 2002 K. LaFrance All rights reserved