My Genealogy Hound

JAMES MUDD, one of the self-made, enterprising agriculturists of township 46, range 25, is one of the large land-owners of Johnson County, and was born in Yorkshire, England, September 22, 1834. His parents were Robert and Alice (Jackson) Mudd, also natives of that shire, where the former was a lead-smelter, following that business nearly all his life.

The maternal grandparents were also born in England and died in Yorkshire. The paternal grandparents, Alexander and Isabelle Mudd, were farmers in Yorkshire, and there lived and died. They became the parents of ten children, all of whom departed this life in that country.

Robert and Alice Mudd also reared a family of ten children, of whom Elizabeth died in England; Alexander came to America, but after one year returned to his native land and there died; James was the third-born; William, who came to the United States soon after our subject, was first engaged in silver mining in Nevada, and afterward embarked in farming in California until his decease; Isabelle died in England; Robert is now living in Yorkshire; George, who came to this country with his brother William, is now farming in California; John is in England; and Stephen and Thomas are deceased.

The original of this sketch lived at home until fourteen years of age, but, the family being large, he was then compelled to look out for himself. He engaged in lead mining and lived in his native shire until setting sail for America. This change in his life occurred in 1859, when he embarked alone on the ship “Emerald Isle,” and was on the water about five weeks. On being landed in New York, he went direct to Ontario, Canada, and for about four or five years farmed on rented land near Kingston. He then crossed the line into the United States and engaged in work in the copper mines of Lake Superior, being thus employed when the Civil War closed, at which time he left for Tennessee.

Mr. Mudd has been twice married. His first union occurred in England, when he married Anna Snowden, also a native of Yorkshire. She accompanied her husband on the journey to America and removed with him to this county, dying at Knobnoster, December 20, 1877. Of the ten children born to their union five are now living. George married Annie Limeback and at present makes his home in Lexington, Lafayette County, engaged in mining; Judith married Robert Landingham, and makes her home on a farm near Warrensburg; James chose for his wife Dora Martin, and they make their home on the estate of our subject; Hannah married John Landingham, and they are also farmers of this locality; and William is unmarried and lives at home, aiding in the work of carrying on the farm. Of the five deceased, three died unnamed; Robert passed away at the age of two years, and Alexander when seven years of age.

Mr. Mudd left Lake Superior in 1865, and, going to Tennessee, engaged to work in the Acme Mines, which were fifty miles from Chattanooga. He was there less than a year, and upon deciding to turn his attention to farming came to this county, in the spring of 1866, and invested his capital in eighty acres of land two miles from Knobnoster. He made his home there about thirteen years and then came to his present location. His place here includes three hundred and twenty acres of some of the finest land in Johnson County.

September 22, 1890, our subject married Sarah Frances Drinkwater, a native of Indiana, having been born in Shelbyville. They have an adopted daughter named Gracie Bradley, a niece of our subject’s, whom they have taken as their own. Mrs. Mudd is a very estimable and intelligent lady and a worthy member of the Baptist Church.

For many years Mr. Mudd was a Democrat, but he is now a Third Party man. He has made his own way in life since fourteen years of age, and is therefore self-made in both an educational and financial way. A practical farmer and an honest, upright citizen, he has always tried to do his duty as a friend and neighbor, and in this respect has been successful, as is shown by the esteem in which he is held by the community.