Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Hudson's in Texas

Yesterday I visited with three of my cousins and met two I had not ever known. We visited in the cemetery discussed family relationships. It was wonderful. Now I have new people to talk with about genealogy. 

My father's name was Lenox Hudson. He told me his father Wiley had come to Texas from Tennessee when he was a boy. Wiley Hudson was born in 1863. The family probably left to come to Texas in 1869 or shortly after. They were recorded in the Lamar County Federal Census 1880. I don't know how long the trip would take in a covered wagon. Wiley was enrolled in school with Captain Rice in the Bogata area in the early 1880s. He was boarding with someone, perhaps Captain Rice. He met Lucy while he attended school. She was six years younger, and their correspondence did not begin, so far as I can tell, until about 1887 or 1888.

They married in February of 1893 and my father was born on December 9 of that year. 

Monday, April 15, 2013

Tax Day

Today is April 15! Tax Day! Now what am I going to do. This year I have had the most trouble I've had in a long time with taxes. I did not manage my year well. I paid lots of bills for other people, and now I'm paying double. 

I don't like to mess up on things like this. I do believe in citizens paying taxes to cover the cost of government, but when I see the government doing such stupid things. it makes me feel less responsible and less interested in paying the taxes.

The Sequester and lack of a federal budget for several years is not a good role model for citizens. We need to manage our funds and issues better than this. Some things are emergencies--you can't plan a toothache or a flat tire--they just happen and we take the heat. But we can plan most of our expenses and anticipate their cost and adjust our spending to the fit the need.

Kind of like New Year's Resolutions, this time of year is a chance to start over, plan better, make a budget. Maybe next year I'll do better.