The following is an article printed on the Banner News feature page http://www.bannernews.net/display/inn_features/features1.txt There are also old pictures of the Rudd family at http://www.bannernews.net/features/ Rudd's Crossing full of Irish heritage By TONI WALTHALL Staff Writer Though lacking in handed-down legends about leprechauns, banshees or pots o' gold, Rudd's Crossing is an area rich with some Irish heritage. Names such as Fallin, Rudd, Mooney, Moody, and even Ward and Hancock, found in the history of the area are a connection to the Emerald Isle's role in providing immigrants to Columbia County. South on U.S. 371 about three miles outside of Magnolia, travelers turn onto Arkansas 344 at the Korner Store, owned by Marshall Ray and Annette Mooney, a fairly common Irish name. Two miles of gently winding road through rolling pastureland with scattered plots of timber lead to the little intersection that remains a landmark bearing one Irish family name. A modern brick house now stands near the spot where the wood-frame store built by Pleasant Rudd first gave the unassuming spot its moniker, Rudd's Crossing. There is no evidence of the original home or out buildings that once marked the heart of the community. Named for the family that settled the land in the early 1800's, Rudd's Crossing is common ground for several families that are still bound by blood. Though members have scattered in different directions, the families who trace their lineage to that quiet country place, often married those from within the community and continued to stay in touch in spite of distance. The 1860 Columbia County Census shows a Patsy W. Rudd, 62 (widow), living in the Clay Township. It is likely she was the widow of Pleasant Rudd, a farmer, who was born in 1786 in Virginia and was the father of Augustus. Augustus also named his son Pleasant - shortened to "Plesy" in family circles - who is reported to have been the store's builder and proprietor. Descendants of Plesy say there was also a sawmill and cotton gin on the land which made him a fair amount of money for his day. He owned farmland surrounding all corners of the intersection that was eventually divided among his four children, Aubrey, Walter, Ira and Blanche (Johnson). Ollie Ray (Rudd) Mooney, is thought to be the oldest living Rudd in the area and is one of the few connections remaining to memories of the people there and the land that bears her family's name. She described her grandfather's store as a "shotgun" structure of rough hewn wood that had two windows in the front and a double door. "It was well supplied. They had bolts of material, coal oil, tools and all kinds of supplies," she said. "It had anything you could want, except they didn't keep fresh meat back then. The meat they sold was dry salt meat." Mooney remembers her father growing cotton. He took his business to Waldo where he traded in Earl's hardware store. Speaking of other families in the community, she told of her mother's shared remembrances of at least one family in the community. "I always heard mama say that Thomas (Fallin) and her would meet at the crossroad there. He lived in a big house just up the road. She thought the world of Thomas." Thomas Fallin's descendants still own and care for the land on Arkansas 344, though the old house no longer stands. Even today, residents in the community are often related and know each other on a first-name basis. Descendants of the original families can be found on the same land their forefathers settled. Ken Johnson, son of Blanche Rudd Johnson, spoke from his shop that he built a couple hundred yards from the crossing where he grew up. He remembers when he could stand on the porch of the old home place and not see a house in any direction. The road was gravel and there was little traffic to watch. Johnson recalled when the store and sawmill were closed after his grandfather's death and the rough times that followed the sad loss of the family patriarch. "After grandpa passed away, we really struggled. There were many nights I went to bed hungry," he said without even a hint of bitterness. "If my grandpa would have been alive, we wouldn't have had to go through any of it. He was considered a pretty wealthy man, but in those days, that's how it was. We had nothing... I mean nothing, but in those days people didn't help you out like they do now. It was tough for my mother. She just couldn't handle the work," he said. "I can't complain. I would love to go back a few years just to see it all that way again. I want for nothing now. I'm happy with what I have and grateful for it too." The little house that now stands on the corner near the original home place was built for Blanche by one of her sons. Johnson knows the family history well and though, like most of his relatives, he knows his ancestors migrated from Georgia, but he doesn't know specifics about where his family came from before that. "I heard my mother say many times before the family came from Ireland and settled in Georgia, but I never met any of my grandparents. They died before I was born," said Johnson. Betty (Sanders) Ziegler, of Lake Charles, La., grew up in a dog-trot house across from the Barlow Cemetery. She is Ollie Ray's first cousin and has done extensive genealogical research on the Mooney side of the family. "We know our 17th great-grandfather was an indentured Irish man in New England. His name was Cornelius Merry. There are records where he is referred to as Cornelius the Irishman," she said. "He obtained three acres of land, but was only allowed to have a say-so in the community after he fought in the Pequot War." The Pequot War of 1637 pitted New England settlers against the Pequot Indians of the Connecticut River Valley. Ziegler also found where an ancestor had an interesting entrance into the world. "The Mooneys are definitely Irish. I found where one of our ancestors on my mother's side was born at sea on their way to America from Ireland," said Ziegler. "I don't know where they embarked from or exactly where they landed, but we have documentation on the birth." Hancocks in Rudd's Crossing Community have traced their roots back to John Hancock, famed signer of the Declaration of Independence. Though the name Hancock in this case is believed to be English, there are Hancocks in Irish surname records. When visiting the community cemetery, one sees quickly the strong link that binds the families interred there. One can feel the quiet sense of unity, strength and infinite pride that binds them together. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? 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