So, I guess I never finished this story. Just gave a time line. Whoops. My bad. So i can't really say we left off with....because this didn't really leave off with anything.
To get a time line...go back to Dudgeon's Swamp: A little fact and maybe a little fiction. This is the best time line I could find.
And, then there is a weird family Tree Going on too....which goes a little something like this.
Charles and Alice fall in love. Get Married. BLAH BLAH. Then they popped out some kids.
Lee, Wilmer, Herman, Lola, Meda and Baby Z. Baby Z dies in infancy and there is no known name other than "baby z".
Meda goes onto have 2 different babies of her own, before her marriage to Romie "Doc" Hodell. Although, different sources say different things. Some say 1 was before and 1 was during. (Insert shoulder shrug here). Now, before ya say okkkayy. She had some premarital shenanigans..let me get to it. These babies were fathered by 2 of her brothers. Yepp. Her brother Lee and her brother Herman both gave her babies. YEPP. That happened. And that really isn't the worst part. These babies get taken to the barn that is on the property and get bludgeoned to death. And, again there is mixed sources that say Meda herself did it out of pure shame. While others say her brothers did it.
This family has already been kind of dysfunctional. The mom Alice runs everything. Whatever she said went. So, when she wanted to leave Indiana for "new and better" they did it. They first moved to Holton, MI and started a small farm. Then the Dudgeon's traded their farm in Holton for the Swamp property in White Cloud Michigan. They used this property to raise breeder livestock. They referred to this land as "The Ranch."
The neighbors of the ranch HATED the Dudgeon's. They found them to hard to deal with. Plus there was a ton of jealousy. This family had a lot of property and had a lot of money where their neighbors did not have this. Most of them struggled. And, the Dudgeon's were not trying to help out in any way. Plus, the Dudgeons were the first to own an electric truck. This was huge in 1905. They were hot shit. (not really)
While they were building their ranch, they lived in a shack a few miles away from their swamp. They were building a farm house. A two story house, with a large porch. It would have 4 bedrooms. It would be spacious. It would also never be finished. They moved in before doors or windows were ever installed. They never fenced in the full 1200 acre property.
Charles Dudgeon decided to mortgage out part of his property for cash money. This would appease his daughter Lola, and her husband Frank Priest. They would mortgage this property and live close to dear old dad. Well, without telling Daddy Dearest Frank and Lola sold the land to Jake Terwillegar. Who was "stealing" logs off of The Ranch. The Dudgeon's didn't like this and beat him down. The boys served 90 days for this beat down..
After Charle's death Alice kept up the beef. She also broke Terwillegar's ribs over an altercation about the land. She also had some problems with the schoolteacher that lived a crossed the road. This got her in front of a judge and fined heavily. She was kind of an evil bad bitch.
I also cannot find how Charles died. It is really focused on David and Romie Hodell's death. They were murdered.
WELLLLLL...
I am going to leave this for right now....I will do the next on Mead/Meady Dudgeon-Hodell. And the rest of the story...
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