Pvt - Co B 1st Ark Cav - CSA
Parents were Lewis Calvin and Sarah Gage Hudspeth:

John Franklin Hudspeth was born 1 June 1839 in Madison Co., AR and attended school according to 1850 census records. He married Lucille (Lucy) Jane Howard 13 August 1861, in Madison or Carroll Co., AR.

Lucy was b. 1845, Alabama, daughter of Obadiah and Margaret Griffin Howard, who were Alabama natives and moved to AR when their children were young.

John and Lucy lived in Osage Township, Carroll Co. in 1870, but before 1880 moved to Piney Township along Piney Creek. He was a farmer and according to the 1880 census. He was a sawmill operator and it appears he worked with his father, Lewis, who also owned saw and grist mills. His father died about 1882 and John's mother, Sara Gage Hudspeth, began to live with him and Lucy. John then operated his father's sawmill.

He was a Confederate soldier and collected a confederate pension beginning in 1901. He was also listed among the Confederate veterans of Carroll County according to newspaper articles in the Green Forest paper for 1910 and listed as recently passed away at the 1921 meeting. His brothers, J. Ahijah (Hije) and William Amos also served the CSA. John Franklin now has a CSA grave marker at Brushy Creek Cemetery.

Lucy Howard Hudspeth died in 1896 in Marble, Arkansas. John is listed in the June 1900 census as a widower living in Marble, AR with his mother, Sarah Gage Hudspeth age 86, his youngest daughter Mary (before her marriage to Bee Webb) and his son Cleveland. It appears that his mother died, his daughter married and his son Cleveland became a hired farm labor worker.
In 1902 John Franklin married 57 year old Margaret Perlinda Bottoms in Carroll Co., Ark. She was the widow of Thomas Bottoms, who is in the 1900 Marble, AR census, as married to Margaret Perlinda for 37 years and no children are mentioned. She did not have any children according to the 1910 census. She died April 4, 1920, and is buried next to Thomas Bottoms at Wall Cemetery near Marble, AR. Her headstone does not mention the Hudspeth name or second marriage, although she and John were married for 18 years. John survived Perlinda by 6 months.

In the June 1920 census, John is listed as living with his widowed son-in-law, Rev. Jerry Gage, in Marble, AR (married to Margrett). John died October 15, 1920, in Marble and he and Lucy are buried at Brushy Creek Cemetery. She does not have a marker. Arkansas archive search could not find a death certificate listed. In 1967 a wire enclosure surrounded the grave towards the east edge of the cemetery and the only marker was a temporary one erected during a cemetery cleanup years ago. The names are barely legible. In June 2002 no identification of the graves was possible. In 2017 a new CSA veteran headstone was placed by the Sons of the Confederacy, local chapter.

The October 29, 1920, edition of the Green Forest Tribune Newspaper contains the following card of thanks: "We wish to thank our friends and neighbors for their help and kindness during the illness, death and burial of our father and grandfather, J.F. Hudspeth. Tom Grigg and family, A.O. Hudspeth and family, J. W. Gage and family, J.D. Hudspeth and family and Mrs. G.W. Benton and family."
(submitted by Dr. Randall Hudspeth, gggrandson)