User:Rdrhude

The RHUDEs (spelled ROOD, RUDD, RUDE, RHUDE) have been in Indiana for nearly 200 years. I'm a descendant of JOHN RUDE who with his wife MARTHA CRAIG moved from Pennsylvania through Ohio to Indiana in the early 1800s. Their children--ISRAEL, BARZILLA, HANNAH, DELINDA and JOHN--were born in Pennsylvania but most of the family, minus John Sr., were established in Scott or Washington Counties, Indiana, by the late 1820s. John Sr. was one of the earliest Rudes in the territory. Unfortunately, he died or was killed before or soon after his arrival in Indiana.

Since my college years in the late 1950s I've been on the prowl tracking down my ancestors. I've traced over a dozen lines back to the pre-Revolutionary War period. Fortunately, my early start enabled me to acquire much information from family members who were familiar with some of the family history. While I can't prove all the stories handed down, there is pretty good evidence that I have Indian blood in my DNA, that the founding father of the Rood/Rude clan in America committed incest with his daughter and was hanged, that the youngest U.S. Supreme Court Justice in our country's history was a cousin, and another was a pirate. Most of my ancestors were hard working farmers; others were ministers, merchants, cobblers, educators, and carpenters. Several served in the Revolutionary War, some in the War of 1812, and even more in the War Between the States.

It's been a lot of fun and, though frustrating at times, I've enjoyed this hobby immensely.