Genealogical Sleuthing pt. 1

Howdy! One of my hobbies is purchasing old photos at antique stores in order to research the subject(s) of those photos to reunite them with one of their descendants. I love doing this because 1) it brings to life the once-living person collecting dust at antique stores and immortalizing them online via Ancestry, Findagrave, etc. 2) You learn so much about a person who you've never met 3) people are always appreciative of someone coming out of nowhere with a picture of their ancestor, and the folks on Ancestry are especially thankful.

I thought if anyone would appreciate this kind of stuff, it would be you guys, so I'd like to introduce y'all to one of my recently finished projects: Veda H. T.

It didn’t take very long for me to find one of Veda’s relatives because I had the names of her brothers. As you know, if you have the names of siblings, especially of brothers, you’ve pretty much got your research in the bag, at least most of the time. What made this even easier was that this name isn't very common. All I really had to do was find census records or other documentation listing ‘Veda’ with either “Hudson” or “Thompson” -- or both-- because I wasn’t sure which would be her maiden name.

Pretty quickly, I found that Veda was born in Dallas, Texas August 2nd, 1897 to Robert and Mary Hudson. Darn, was really hoping for more of a challenge.

Anyway, it’s time to learn more about Veda besides what we can find in public records-- my favorite part. I like to start with family history.

Veda was married once, to Vaughan J. Thompson (1902-1966). Together they had one son, now deceased. In an article I found online, written by said son- Vaughan was on the West Virginia in Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.

Spouse

For a little background information on the West Virginia, according to wv.org:

"The West Virginia was hit by seven 18-inch aircraft torpedoes and two bombs, which were actually 15-inch armor-piercing shells fitted with fins. The ship began to list dangerously, but Lieutenant Claude V. Ricketts began counterflooding, and his prompt action prevented the West Virginia from capsizing. A short time later the great battleship sank, settling to the bottom on an even keel. The ship's crew valiantly fought fires while the wounded were evacuated. After more than an hour, however, the ship was abandoned. Volunteers returned and continued to fight the blazing flames raging aboard the ship. The garbage lighter YG-17 gallantly pulled alongside despite the danger posed by exploding ammunition."

Now the article written by Veda's son:

"My father. Vaughan (Sr.) was on the West Virginia in Pearl Harbor on that fateful day December 7, 1941. He was forced to swim across the burning channel to escape. He breathed in those hot gases and eventually succumbed to emphysema in 1966. Because of his injuries, the Navy relocated him to recruiting in New Orleans until the end of the war in 1945. At the end of the war the Navy gave him a medical retirement and increased his rank to LT., JG. We then moved to the Los Angeles area where he became a refrigeration engineer. Later. when he was unable to that type of work, he went to work for the State of California Department of Employment."=

The last 2 years of his life he was in a lot of pain and had a lot of trouble breathing because of the emphysema. He died in San Bernardino, California in 1966 after spending a lot of time in military hospitals."

Father

Veda’s father was Robert Monroe Hudson of El Monte. Here are a few excerpts, written in a Valley-Wide newspaper that I found on his Findagrave:

"Mr. Hudson, born on the Hudson plantation on the Coldwater river in Mississppi, had vivid memories of his experiences during the Civil War, and later riding with the Army of Reconstruction. He later attended Tennessee State College and served a brief term at teaching school before joining the wagon trains pushing into the raw, unsettled new state of Texas. He established his first home in the newly-found town of Abilene, married the sister of the town's newspaper publisher and launched a fifty-year career as a newspaper man.

Mr. Hudson founded three Texas newspapers, was the editor of several others, and assisted his brother-in-law, the late Charles Gilbert, in the founding of the Dallas Times- Herald."

Robert was the founder of the “Irving Index” -- the FIRST newspaper of Irving, Texas. The workshop for this paper was operated in the building behind his house, pretty darn convenient. According to Irving Daily News (1975): he handed out copies of the newspaper on the first day Irving became a town (1903). From the same publication, it's stated that he started yet another paper in New Mexico, the Farewell News, with his wife acting as the 'women’s news and society writer.' A few years later, Veda was working hands-on with her father on the Pueblo Chieftan, in Colorado.

Contacting the descendant

Here is an email I sent to E. J. (a relative)-

Hello, __________!

I've attached a picture of the front and back of the photo of Veda. Let me know if you or any of her other relatives would like to have the original.

If you do send a copy of it to anyone else, I would be so so grateful to hear about their response!

Hope you have a swell Sunday.

Here is her response-

Dear __________,

Thank you so much for the digital copy of the early picture of Veda, my great aunt. Veda only had one son, V., who Is deceased and never married or had survivors. So I don’t know if any relative who would be interested in having the original photograph, or even the digital copy. I seem to be the only grandchild who is interested in our family tree.

Thank you so much for reaching out to me. I’m sure you must have connected many people with missing pieces of their pasts and that would be very rewarding.

I’m puzzled at how the picture ended up in an antique store in Texas. That would probably mean it was abandoned 100 years ago when she did live in Texas. Or perhaps, another relative had it for many of those years. My father never liked Veda. He thought she had an unhealthy relationship with her son. We only heard him mention them occasionally and we never saw them when growing up. They lived in California and we didn’t travel that far away (from Texas) when I was a child. So their history is somewhat unknown to me.

Thank you again for sending those pictures. I will attach them to my tree.

E. J.

...wait… what?

Moving on...

There are endless things to be learned about Veda's life, but there are descendants needing photos of their ancestors too. I will be keeping Veda's tree in my Ancestry account, maybe I'll revisit her one day.

On to the next.

Edit: Forgot to include a link to her photo because I'm a silly: https://imgur.com/a/uC8NuWF

Edit: Updated her findagrave with photo and reached out to add obit.