ROYAL DUDLEY AND MATILDA SANDERS FAMILY
Royal Dudley was born April 7, 1853, in Greensboro, Hale county, Alabama. He was one of four children of a freed Mulatto farmer, the other children name were Sidney, Jimmy and Sarah. Sidney, married Charlotte Morton, April 21, 1873, in Greensboro, Alabama. Sarah married Gilbert Parker, Feb 7, 1880, in Greensboro, Alabama. Jimmy died at a early age.
Royal and Matilda were married on Dec 26, 1878, Greensboro, Alabama. They had sixteen children, 14 of whom were named. Due to Royal being a Mulatto (part African and part Indian), their children were a mixture of very-dark and very-light skin. The following are the names of Royal and Matilda children
Louise Dec 1877
Mary Jan 1880
Susie Dec 1882
James Nov 1884
Annie Jan 1886
George Feb 1890
Royal Jr. Jan 1891
David B. Jan 1893
Sally Nov 1895
Willie Dec 1898
Pearlie Dec 1898
Tommie Feb 1900
Phoebie Jan 1902
Matilda Jan 1902
Royal was a sharp businessman who could read and write. Most Southerners, both Black and White, were not literate during that period so Royal was able to supplement his farming income by providing translation service to Blacks and Whites in and around Hale County.
Being part-Indian, Roy was an accomplished horsemen, he taught his twin daughters, Tilda and Phoebie to ride their favorite horse, Daisy. Roy wore his hair in a long ponytail and traveled around town in his latter days in a horse drawn buggy. Deacon Roy was one of the original deacons of Mars Hill Baptist Church (now called Marshill Baptist) in Greensboro. He is still remembered by older residents in Greensboro for leading church hymnals and teaching Sunday School class. The Church still exist at Lock 5 rd, Greensboro, Alabama, 36744, phone (334) 624-4710
Roy’s wife, Matilda, was the oldest of three children of Allen Parker and Mary Shackerford. Matilda’s parents were born in North Carolina in 1809 and 1815, respectively. Matilda, herself, was born in 1861, Greensboro, Alabama. extraordinarily, Allen and Mary Parker owned real and personal property in Hale County as early as 1870. This is just five years after slavery was officially abolished in the south. Mary Sanders died at 115 years old.
As a young mother, Matilda ensured that each of her children were taught to read and write. Matilda was a very, dark complicated woman, half of her children took after her in their appearance, the other half took after her husband. He was a very tall, light complicated man with long hair in his earlier years and had light colored eyes. As Royal reached his older years, he cut his hair short in the style similar to the crew cut of today.
As mentioned earlier, Royal and Matilida had sixteen children, including two sets of twins, Willie/Pearlie and Phoebie/Matilda. Matilda died when her youngest set of twins were born in 1902. After Matilda death, Royal met and married Fannye Parker. Roy and Fannye continued with the education of all their children, all could read and write.
Susie married Cannon, Sally married Gaines, Phoebie married Cabbil and Matilda (Tilda) married Day, all were married in Greensboro, Hale county, Alabama.
The importance of education were stressed by Royal Dudley. This is evidenced by the fact that two of his sons became ministers. David Benjamin was the first child to attend and graduate from a university, he attended Simmonds University of Louisville, Kentucky, prior to making his home in Indianapolis, Indiana where he became the minister of Galilee Baptist Church in 1929, the church is located at 2624 East 25th Street, Indianapolis, In, 46218, phone number (317) 925-8339, current pastor is Rev. Fitzhugh Lyons. and George Dudley became a lay minister of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Muscody Village, Alabama.
This page was last updated: September 25, 1999
