Reverend Willoughby Hudgins was born March 8, 1799, in Orange County, N.C. He remained in North Carolina until 1852 when he moved to Walton County, Georgia, where he died September 18, 1862.
Although he received little formal education in early life, he was able to become an ordained Baptist minister in 1824. Hudgins has been described as a "great preacher in his day" and one of the "ablest preachers among them." Hudgins married Sarah (Sally) Guess in June 1824. Throughout his time as a minister, Hudgins traveled North Carolina and later Georgia establishing churches, several of which grew to be of notable size.
The majority of this collection consists of photocopies of various documents from Hudgins' time as a Baptist minister. There is a biography card including brief information about Hudgins along with copies of his correspondence, and a N.C. pension card. In these, he writes to his family including his wife and cousins. Some include: Hudgins to his sister, Nancy Hudgins, Prattsburg, N.C., May 7, 1851 and Hudgins to his cousin William, August 5, 1861 on patriotic paper.
Baptist history marterials such as the minutes of the Appalachee Baptist Association's meeting in September 1862, "Tribute of Respect," detailing Hudgins' life, characteristics, and influence on the Baptist community, and various excerpts from the Tar River Associational history which reference Rev. Hudgins in a short biography section.
There is a newspaper clipping written for The Biblical Recorder, a publication of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina that includes a brief reference to Hudgins in regards to his connections to James Southerland.
Willoughby Hudgins Papers (MS441), Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.
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