A Tale of the Sudderth's
by
Mrs. Tommye L. Corder of Winnsboro, Texas
Edited in 1983 by Timothy J. Sudderth

The Sudderth Family ancestors came from Scotland to Albermarie County Virginia (ca 1740). William Suddarth (born 1715) and his brother James Suddarth (1720 to 1800) were of Scotch Irish descent having been born of a Scottish mother and an Irish father.

James Suddarth married Patience Lyon Turner and they settled in Albemarle County, Virginia and had three childrren; James, Jr. and William and Agnes.
It was said that Patience was of nobile birth but because of her love for a commoner (Lyon) her family disapproved.  She married John Lyon and they departed for America.  John Lyon did not survive the voyage but she continued on to American where she met and married James Suddarth.  

William (1745) was the father of Abraham (1767 to 1853) who married Martha Sumpter, the niece of Senator Thomas Sumpter.  Abraham and Martha moved from Virginia to Burke County North Carolina near Lenore, now Caldwell county.  Abraham changed the spelling of Suddarth back to the original Sudderth.

One of Abraham's sons, William (1787 to 1881) married Elizabeth Tucker and moved to Gwinett County, Georgia, one mile from Buford.  They had eleven children.  The seventh child was Abraham (1824 to 1908). The remainder of this narrative will follow this Abraham and his descendants.

Abraham Sudderth, his wife Temperance and four children, Sarah (1846), Clarissa (1848), David Gilbert (1850) and William M (1852), left their Georgia home with an oxcart and a single wagon , drawn by a mule, to join a caravan headed for the Lone Star State.  There were several related families of Harris who were pioneer settlers in Wood County.  Three of the Harris boys were brothers of Temperance Sudderth.  The journey to Texas took 65 days and was made by way of Memphis.  Cholera invaded the band of immigrants while traversing the Mississippi swamps and took the life of Abraham's wife, Temperance.  She was buried in an unknown cemetery near where she died.

Upon arrival in Texas, Abraham settled near Quitman, Wood County, Texas and married Nancy Brown.  They had three children; Charlotte Jane (1855), John Henry (1857) and Joseph Tucker (1860).  Abraham farmed in Wood County until January 1871 when he moved his family to Fannin County and located two miles West of where Bailey, Texas is now located. He paid $7.50 an acre for his land which was wild as nature and, there he made his final home.  He was a man of small means, but he expanded his estates by means of raising stock and growing grain.  His farms and pastures grazed almost every kind of domestic animal.  His idea of economy was to buy nothing that could be home grown.

During the Cival War, Abraham enlisted for service as a Confederate soldier and spent a year guarding Federal prisoners of war at Tyler, Texas.  He subsequently served in the field in the Trans-Mississippi Department in Col. Cooper's Regiment under the command of General Stamwaity.

In politics, Abraham was a Democrat and in religious belief he was a strong Missionary Baptist.  He helped build the Sharon Baptist Church in his community on the highway between Quitman and Winnsboro.  He was a faithful member and served his church as Deacon for many years.  Church records in surrounding communities show that Abraham was active in founding them as well.

Abraham Sudderth Grew up during an age which was not noted for its liberality in regard to the education of the country youth and he entered upon his career as a farmer with only the ordinary essentials of an education.  He was a plain, sturdy man of the old school and held fast to the old manners and customs in the face of the ideas of a progressive and ever-changing age.  He had sought his home in Texas and acquired title to an estate of 1500 acres before he laid aside active affairs.  He gave aid to no enterprises not under his own control.  Abraham Sudderth died in February 1907.