The Dudding Dining Room Table
Photo of the Dudding Dining Room Table
The Dudding Dining Room Table in our rented home in Wicomico Church, VA -- waiting to move into our new home now under construction on the banks of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay -- 15 April 2008.
A close-up view of one leg of the Dudding Dining Room Table.
View of the underside of the table. The chalk mark was applied by my grandmother, Annie Lee Dudding Richardson, to help her remember which table leaf went where. The plastic wrapped around the center beam contains steel feet that came off the bottom of the legs -- we wrapped them like this so we would not lose them.
History of the Dudding Dining Room Table
The following history of the “Dudding dining room table” was related by Annie Lee Richardson Schlatter (b. 1924, d. 2007) to her son, Joseph A. Schlatter, Jr., and her daughter-in-law, Rose G. Schlatter, at her home in Knoxville, TN, on 26 February 2007.
Annie Lee Richardson Schlatter is the daughter of Annie Lee Dudding Richardson and Clarence James Richardson, Sr. Annie Lee Dudding Richardson is the daughter of Nina Anna Statia White Dudding (AKA: “Nanny,” “Miss Dollie,” “Dollie”) and Maurice (AKA: Morris) Dudding.
Maurice Dudding is the son of James J. Dudding and his first wife, Margery McCallister.
James J. Dudding: born 3 (or 13) Dec 1846, Winfield, Putnam County, WV; died 19 Feb 1913, East Feliciana Parish, LA.
Margery McCallister: b. 1846, Hurricane, Putnam County, WV; died: unknown.
James J. Dudding and Margery McCallister were married 1866 in Cabell County, WV. They had two children, Cora Dudding, born 6 Aug 1866, and Maurice Dudding, born 6 Mar 1869 in Putnam County, WV.
After the death of his first wife (Margery McCallister, d. unknown), James J. Dudding married Maggie Virginia Spotts, born 11 Nov 1849, in Louisiana, died 15 Nov 1922, in East Feliciana Parish, LA.
James J. Dudding and Maggie Virginia Spotts had seven children. The first child was born in 1871 in WV; the second child was born in 1873 in Louisiana.
Thus, James J. Dudding, Maggie Virginia Spotts Dudding, and three children moved from WV to Louisiana between 1871 and 1873.
Maurice Dudding (born 6 March 1869) married Nina Anna Statia White (born 16 Nov 1872; AKA: Nanny). According to stories told by Nanny, the Dudding family left Putnam County, WV, by “flatboat” on the Ohio River. They traveled down the Ohio River, to the Mississippi River, landing at Saint Francisville, LA, then traveled by oxcart to East Feliciana Parish, LA, where they settled near the current town of Norwood.
| Provenance of the Dudding Dining Room Table | |
| Date | Event |
| Unknown | James J. Dudding acquires the table. He lived in Putnam County, WV. |
| 1871 - 1873 | The table came with James J. Dudding and Maggie Virginia Spotts Dudding on their flatboat-oxcart journey from West Virginia to Louisiana, which occurred between 1871 and 1873. We have no information as to when the Duddings acquired the table. |
| 1913-1922 | Maurice Dudding and Nina Anna Statia White Dudding inherited the table after the deaths of James J. Dudding (d. 1913) and Maggie Virginia Spotts Dudding (d. 1922). |
| 1929 | When Maurice Dudding died in 1929, Nanny moved in with her daughter, Annie Lee Dudding and her husband, Clarence James Richardson. She brought the Dudding family dining room table with her and the table was used by the Richardson family until 1982. |
| 1982 | Clarence Richardson died in 1972; in 1981-1982, Annie Lee Dudding Richardson suffered several strokes and moved into a nursing home in Cleveland, MS. Her daughter, Annie Lee Richardson Schlatter moved the table to her home in Knoxville, TN, when the Richardson property was distributed among family members in 1982. |
| 2007 | When Annie Lee Richardson Schlatter died 18 March 2007 the table went to her oldest son, Joseph A. Schlatter, Jr. and his wife Rose Golden Schlatter. |