James Dudley (Dud) Hunter and Arzella Henry Hunter Lumbee American Indians

Born: 1826, White City TN
Died: 1849

James Dudley Hunter (known as Dudley or "Dud") was born in 1826 in White City, TN. He died around 1849 at age 23 of a gunshot wound. James married Arzella ("Zilla") Henry on 1/18/1845, in White City Tennessee. Arzella was the daughter of John Henry and Susanna Day. Note that Arzella married 2 other guys after James D died. That is why eventually she became known as "Granny Jackson".

Zilla, as she was also known, smoked a corn cob pipe and was reputedly a great herbal doctor.

I have a letter in Jane Waller's records from someone (Jane?) who visited with Mary Alma Hunter Wallace, the daughter of Will Hunter, descdendant of Dudley Hunter. The notes say "During the Civil War, Dudley's farm was about cleaned out by troops in search of feed and he had his favorite horse hidden, but somehow the word got around that the troops had left town and he rode in to see if he could find something about his property, and was shot in the back while riding around the courthouse."

The three children of James D and Arzella were:
William Washington Hunter who married Margaret Oxendine
Mary Ann Hunter who married "Guv" Hamilton (named after the governor)
John Dudley Hunter - Our Line who married Elizabeth Oxendine

There's also talk of a fourth child and that all were "left in TN with the Hunter Father".

Interview with Ora Bell on July 18, 1963 -
Granny Jackson (Zilla Henry Hunter Jackson was called Granny Jackson although she was Ora Belle's great grandmother) was short, heavy set and a good woman. She lived with Dud mostly in the West. She died at Mary [Ann Hunter] Hamilton's home and is buried at Black Hill's Cemetery, near Corsicana in Navarro Co, TX.

Letter from Mabel Meyer to Jane Waller on Feb 13 1965 -
My great-grandmother was Zilla Jackson. My mother died when I was 9 years old and Grandma H [Mary Ann Hunter] reared me. Grandma Jackson [Zilla] lived with us. I shall never forget her and her cob pipe. Cannot tell you how many times she married. Do not remember Grandma saying anything about it. I do not remember how old she was when she died but she fell and broke a hip and lay an invalid for six months. Grandma H lived to be 96 (born in 1848).
Mabel is the granddaughter of Mary Ann Hunter

Letter from WT Smith DDS, Ora's older brother on 4/16/57 -
"I also remember great grandmother [Zilla] Jackson. She was mother of Dud Hunter, our step grandfather. Know nothing of our grandfather Hunter. Old Granny Jackson was a cutter. She was some Pioneer and she showed it. Would fight the Devil. She would make all of them hop. When she said Frog all of them jumped. She would lug all of them in the shade. ... We always called Dud Hunter our step grandfather. We called him Uncle Dud. Why I have no idea. We all liked him too"

NOTE: The reason that John Dudley ("Dud") Hunter was called "step" was because he married Elizabeth Oxendine when her daughter Nancy Jane Hunter was already 9 years old. Although we believe Dud was actually the father of Nancy Jane, as far as actual marriage went, he was only Nancy Jane's stepfather. That would make him Ora Belle and WT's step-grandfather.

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