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At nearly the exact spot where the Duddings built their cabin more than 160 years ago, a new multi- million dollar inter-state highway bridge will span the river. The north approach to the bridge will be built on the narrow tract of land that is still known as “Dudding ln”. We would like to be the first to endorse a movement to name this new span “Dudding Bridge” in honor of Nitro’s first settler.
In 1807 William Dudding the younger brother of John married Nancy, a daughter of George Blake. They settled below Winfield and part of their lands is referred to as “Dudding Woods”, or “Oak Forest”.
John Dudding the common ancestor of most of the Kanawha County Duddings became an extensive land owner before his death in 1842. According to the Kanawha County land books, he owned as much as 600 acres at one time.
In his will, recorded September 9, 1842, he stated that his wife Rebecca should receive one third of his estate and that the remainder should be divided between his three sons, Joseph, William and Anderson; and his four daughters, Elizabeth McCown, Polly Harris, Sarah Dudding and Nancy Johnson.
John and Rebecca’s first son was Joseph, he was born in 1801, he was a blacksmith and he married Catherine Thomas. They had seven children, namely: John T. born 1834; Margaret born 1835; Ann born 1837; Aletha born 1839; Seay born 1841; Mary born 1844; Nancy born 1848. Of these seven children, we only have the record of John T. Dudding who married Martha (Kelly) Melton. He owned a 560 acre farm on Rocky Fork and he was justice-of-the-peace for 12 years and president of the Board of Education for 3 years. He had 10 children whose names were: Josephine born 1862; James W. born 1863; Emmeline born 1865; Benjamin H. born 1867; Joseph T. W. born 1869; Mary born 1871; Sidney F. born 1873; Francis D. born 1875; Sarah E. born 1878; and Mattie B. born 1880.
John and Rebecca’s second son was William. This William has often been confused with John’s younger brother William who settled near Winfield. This was probably due to the fact that they both married women by the name of Nancy. William the uncle married Nancy Blake and William the nephew married Nancy Persinger.
William was born in 1802 and when he married Nancy Persinger in 1821 his father deeded him 100 acres of land which included what we know as the Old Golf Course at the end of 21st street. Here he built a house which was used in later years as the club house for the golf course. William died in 1860 and Nancy died in 1869 and they both were buried in the cemetery on Blake’s Creek Road. They had seven children who were: Sampson born 1822, married Lizzie Ann Goff; Catherine born 1825, married N. B. Lilly; Leander born 1827, married Perlina Thacker; Alonzo born 1846, also married Perlina Thacker after Leander died in 1873; Benjamin born 1834, married Martha Thacker; and Joseph born 1830 who never married.
We mentioned Joseph last because soon after we started this research on the Dudding family we discovered that “Little Uncle Joe” was one of the most colorful and best loved characters who ever lived in this area. As you can see by his picture, posed in front of a park bench, Uncle Joe, nearly 4 ft. tall, could have passed for any one of Snow White’s seven dwarfs. Needless to say, he was a favorite with children and grown-ups alike.
He never stayed at home much as he was continually visiting at the farms of his many friends and relatives. Uncle Joe would make his rounds showing up periodically at the various farms of his relatives and neighbors. He would spend his time doing various odd jobs and playing with the kids, always leaving before he wore out his welcome. It is said that one of his favorite tricks was to fold his hands behind his back and bend over and drink out of the creek without bending his knees.
Joe Dudding also had a more serious side. In the late 1800’s when building perpetual motion machines was sweeping the country, he amazed everyone by building the longest running contraption in the county. Although his hearing was seriously impaired, he could play several different musical instruments.
When Little Joe’s father, William Dudding, died in 1860, he fell heir to a strip of land that ran from the hill to the river between what is now 14th and 18th street in Nitro. He lived to be 74 years old, dying in 1904, his grave is also in the Blake’s Creek Cemetery.
Sampson and Lizzie (Goff) Dudding had the following children: Mary S.; William W.; James B.; Alvin N.; Harvey N.; Alonzo O.; Betty E.; John C.; and Alamanda. Of these children, James B. was the father of three daughters: Bertha who married Jess Melton; Clara who married Lawrence Bailey; and Della who married Bill Wilkinson.
Alonzo O. another son of Sampson had a daughter, Annie born about 1899, who married Frank Bennett, and also two sons, Ernest S. and Carl Ottis who lives in California. Still another son of Sampson was John Calvin who married Lucinda Burford and they had Earl Sampson who married Pearl Copen; Sara Osa married Lee Mays; Lola G. married Albert Moore; Loy A. married Rosie Legg; Burton A. married Blanch Brown.
William and Nancy Persinger Dudding’s second son Leander married Perlina Thacker and their children were: George F. who married Lenora Marianna and are the parents of Ivan Dudding a Kanawha Valley Bank official. Henry O. Married Blanch Mason; Robert L. who married Minnie Plunkett and became the parents of Alma Dudding who has been an outstanding teacher in the Nitro Schools for more than thirty years; Alwilda who married George Carte and became the parents of Carl and Denver Carte. Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of William and Nancy, married A. N. Burdette who operates the Saint Albans Ice Co.
These are just a few of the hundreds of Duddings we have located on our Dudding genealogy chart. For instance we know that Byron T. Dudding, a retired United Fuel Gas Co. official is a direct descendant of William and Nancy (Blake) Dudding who settled near Winfield. We have located another Dudding in Hollywood where he has played an extra on the TV series “Wagon Train”, and another who is a student at Harvard College.
If any member of the Dudding Clan would be interested in becoming the family historian, we will be only too happy to turn all of our Dudding records over to them. This is providing they are willing to handle any further inquires on the subject that might come our way.
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