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 Josiah Dawson Hudgins
N 29° 23.934 W 096° 04.624
14R E 783657 N 3255735
Marker in Hungerford, TX, in a small city park area at the intersection of US 59 Business and State Highway 60.
Waymark Code: WMY2TY
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 04/09/2018
Views: 6
There are actually 5 markers in this city park. This one is on a post. The other 4 markers are mounted on the 4 sides of the large granite block.
Marker Number: 15281
Marker Text:
Josiah Dawson JD Hudgins, born in 1852, was one of four sons of Joel and Rachel Northington McKenzie Hudgins to survive to adulthood. Hudgins ancestors had to come from Wales to Virginia in 1742; his father, Joel (d. 1873), came to this area of Texas in 1839 and served as Wharton County Commissioner. In 1850, Joel and Rachel purchased a tract of land from her father, Andrew Northington, an early area settler. There they built the Hudginsville school to educate their sons and other area children.
In 1877, J.D. married Mollie Juline McKinney. In the early 1880s, He opened a general Mercantile store and saloon in Quinan. The New York, Texas and Mexican railroad came through the area in 1882, missing Quinan buy a half mile, so the community moved to be nearer the depot at the new town of Hungerford. J.D. and his brothers formed the J.D. Hudgins & Bros. partnership, buying land and cattle, as well as a cotton gin and gristmill. J.D. was a charter member of both the Wharton Masonic Lodge and the Methodist church. J.D. and Mollie built a large family home in Hungerford in 1918 to be nearer his business.
In 1906, J.D. bought several Brahman cattle, imported into Texas from India because of the breed’s tolerance for conditions of the Texas gulf coast. J.D. and his son, Walter, worked to develop what came to be called the American Brahman breed. They were also early leaders in the American Brahman Breeders Association and helped in Wharton County’s efforts to control cattle tick fever during the early 20th century. After J.D.’s death in 1928, Walter continued his father’s efforts to develop one of the largest registered American gray Brahman herds in the world. J.D. Hudgins Inc. perpetuates their legacy. (2004)
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