life as it was lived when he was a small boy. In one part he
described the winter of 1858: "there came a snow three feet deep and
sleet on top so a man and dog could walk on top of the snow."
The Federals came and captured my father (Samuel Moore
Hufstedler, Sr.) and gave him his choice to take the Oath of
Allegiance or go with them as a prisoner of war. He took the oath and
it meant death if he was ever caught in arms against the North again.
They wrote down his name, weight, height, color of his eyes and hair.
Then in about a year a man by the name of John Mitchell made up a
Rifle Company of Rebels and he had to join it or they would have
conscripted him. So there he was. They took him about 50 miles from
home and then he left them and came home and hid out for the rest of
the war. We carried him his grub about a mile. I didn't think he did
anything wrong.
The war had not been on long till our salt played out. Then
everybody dug up the dirt from their smokehouses where the meat had
dripped and put the dirt in a hopper like an ash hopper, poured water
on it and boiled down the dirty water to make salt. When that played
out six or eight of us went to Cape Girardeau, Missouri for salt and
got only one bushel to the family. On the way back at the St. Francis
River robbers took everything we had but our salt. We had a lot of
coffee, dry goods, domestic, shoes, hats and calico, for that was what
they wore in those days.
We was water bound at St. Francis (Arkansas) for about three
days. We took logs and hauled them to the river and nailed them
together to make a raft. We took our ox lines and made a rope to pull
the raft back and forth. Then took our wagons over, unyoked the oxen,
took our yokes over on the raft. We swam seven yoke of oxen and some
of the boys crossed over to yoke the steers as rthey came out of the
water. There was a big snow on the ground and it was the coldest
weather I ever saw. Our bed would freeze to the ground. I was about
16 years old.
(A Host of Huffstutlers and Huffstetlers, Huffstickler, Huffstedleers
by Faryl I. Fleming.)
David and Delphia moved from Arkansas to Texas probably along with the
other members of his family who moved there in the 1890s. They had 8
children, some of whom died in Texas. They were probably all born in
Randolph Co, AR. Delpha Cezar PYLAND and David Oliver HUFSTEDLER had the following children:
+90 i.
Martha Catherine HUFSTEDLER.
91 ii.
George HUFSTEDLER was born about 1878 in Randolph Co, AR. Died young.
92 iii.
Susan Tennessee HUFSTEDLER was born on 16 Oct 1879 in Randolph Co, AR.
She died on 18 Apr 1899.
93 iv.
Thomas Charley HUFSTEDLER was born on 29 Mar 1881 in Randolph Co, AR.
He died on 17 Nov 1906.
+94 v.
Della Myrtle HUFSTEDLER.
95 vi.
Samuel C HUFSTEDLER was born on 28 Jan 1884 in Randolph Co, AR. He died
on 9 Jun 1906.
+96 vii.
Myrt Albert HUFSTEDLER.
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