FROM THE HISTORY OF GRAYSON COUNTY, TEXAS, by the Grayson County Frontier Village Inc., 1979 from an oral account by Emma Lou Stephenson Voelke

George's first wife died leaving him with six children. His second wife was Mrs. Mary Luticia McMann who was also a widow, just having lost her husband and son.

Their family consisted of nine daughters and nine sons. The Hudspeth family first moved to Greenville, Texas, where they lived for three years before settling in Collinsville, Grayson County, Texas, in 1862 on a farm southeast of the present site of Collinsville. At that time, there was plenty of free grass and water, and Mr. Hudspeth was a stockman with some cattle, horses and sheep. George later purchased the Jones family property. In order to give employment to his sons, he operated the town's first dry goods and grocery store (general store) as a sideline, going to Jefferson for supplies, according to his daughter, Nancy Hudspeth Ragsdale Sanders.

George built a wooden house a few hundred yards east of the store. He hauled lumber from Jefferson sawmills. It was rough lumber, dressed by planes and saws, and was hauled in covered wagons as everything was transported in those days. It was difficult to keep the dry goods from being soiled, Mrs. Sanders relates. "One time, they bought so much Morenta plaid for the store that it was too hard to sell, but having a large family to dress, we finally used it all ourselves in time. People lived well in those days. There were plenty of wild turkeys in the cross timber, and deer were plentiful. We had four dogs and on one special occasion that I (Mrs. Sanders) recall, one of the dogs, Tinker, was killed on a deer hunt. Mr. Ragsdale shot a big buck, and a stray bullet hit Tinker, the dog that belonged to me.

People also had plenty of fat cattle and ran killing clubs. They took their turns in killing and dividing. And of course, fruit was plentiful, but people started orchards and planted gardens as soon as they could prepare the ground."

George was also one of the first members of the Church of Christ and was known to many folks as a "walking New Testament" because he could quote scripture so well.

FROM THE COLLINSVILLE TIMES- GOVERNOR W.H. MURRAY EDITION by Ruth Brown Henry, 1966.

Additional sources for compilation of this genealogy are: Cemetery records of the Collinsville, Hudspeth-Ragsdale and Ethel cemeteries located in Grayson County, Texas. These cemetery records were compiled by Ruth Brown Henry. Also the probate of estate of A.C. (Drew) Hudspeth who was confined to the Terrell State Hospital in Terrell, Kaufman County, Texas. The estate was probated in 1949.

Also is said to have given the land and a major portion of the money to build the 1st Church of Christ in Collinsville.

There are conflicting birthdates - oral history states she was born November 18, 1858. Prior to her marriage to George, she was married a first time and had lost her son and husband (circumstances were not stated).