VIRGINIA "MAY" BAGBY 6, (GEORGE FRANKLIN [REV] 5, JOHN CHRISTOPHER 4, RICHARD 3, JOHN 2, JAMES 1) was born November 26, 1867 in Flemingburg, Kentucky and died August 17, 1937 in Richmond, Virginia. She married AUGUSTUS BARTOW [REV] RUDD, the son of ALFRED RUDD and INDIANA CAUTHORNE on June 11, 1889 in Frankfort, Kentucky. He was born February 24, 1861 in Chesterfield County, Virginia and died April 3, 1944 in Chesterfield County, Virginia.

 

 

May Bagby, as she was known, granddaughter of John Christopher Bagby of Bunker Hill with her husband Rev. Augustus Bartow Rudd, D.D. Rev. A.B. Rudd, D.D. was a Baptist Missionary to Mexico and Puerto Rico during the same time Rev. William Buck Bagby, D.D. was a Missionary to Brazil. Both men followed the other's ministry with great concern. May Bagby [Rudd] and Rev. A.B. Rudd, D.D. are both buried at Skinquarter Baptist Church Cemetery in Mosely, Virginia.

Notes for VIRGINIA "MAY" BAGBY:

From Richmond Newspaper Obituary:

MRS. RUDD DIES; WAS MISSIONARY IN MEXICO - Mrs. May Bagby Rudd, wife of the Rev. A.B. Rudd, died yesterday at her home on Avondale Avenue, where she had been confined with illness for several weeks. Mrs. Rudd for many years served as a foreign missionary for the Baptist Church. She was the daughter of the late Rev. George Franklin Bagby and Mrs. Mary Tom Courtney Bagby of King and Queen County. She was a graduate of Hollins College. In 1889, she became the wife of the Rev. Mr. Rudd. After their marriage in Frankfort, KY., the couple went to Mexico where they represented the Southern Baptist Convention in missionary endeavor. Later, the Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Rudd went to Puerto Rico where they resided for about 15 years. Mrs. Rudd came to Richmond in 1914 when her husband became the pastor of Barton Heights Baptist Church. In 1917, they moved to Mexico when the Rev. Mr. Rudd was appointed superintendent of the Baptist missions in Mexico for the Northern board. Since returning to Richmond, she has resided on Avondale Avenue. She had been active in the Ginter Park Baptist Church and as a member in the Woodward Central W.C.T.U. Surviving beside her husband, are five children, Mrs. V.C. Bixby, Mrs. H.T. Harris, of New York, Miss Margaret Rudd, A.B. Rudd, of Bucharest, Romania, R. Hugh Rudd, of this city; four brothers, the Rev. Mr. Harry A. Bagby of Pendleton, S.C., Dr. George F. Bagby, Leslie H. Bagby and the Rev. Mr. A. Paul Bagby; and six grandchildren. Funeral services will be held at 2:30 o'clock tomorrow afternoon at Ginter Park Baptist Church, after which the cortege will proceed to the Skinquarter Baptist Church where burial will be in the family plot. Pallbearers will be Overton S. Woodward. W.L. Robinson, Courtney Bagby, J. Arthur Bass, Wister Goode, and Dr. Garnett Ryland. Honorary pallbearers will include Dr. W.F. Boatwright, Dr. W.A. Harris, Dr. B.B. Bagby, and the following deacons of the Ginter Park Baptist Church: C.S. Fensom, N.A. Bousman, J.B. Bowers, Sr., Basil R. Chapman, Frank D. Childry, W.D. Duke, W.L. Elkins, H.A. Frostick, E.D. Gunter, W.V. Moseley, William T. Rady, Ernest W. Farley, Sr., and George H. Whitfield.

Research submitted by: George Oliver Rudd.

 

Where 'Tom' came from: In the book I have "A Practical Mystic-A.B. Rudd" on page 17 it states 'Virginia May Bagby, born November 26,1868, in Flemingsburg, Kentucky, was the daughter of George Franklin Bagby and Mary Tom Courtney, both from King and Queen County, Virginia. Her grandfather, John Bagby's home in King and Queen, named Bunker Hill was a prosperous, self-contained little community of its own. Educated for the ministry, George Franklin was a Chaplain in the War Between the States throughout the duration. Even as Bartow's father had left a young wife with little children for that war, so George Franklin left Mary Tom in King and Queen where he intended to settle".

Research submitted by Helen Rudd:

 

 

Notes for AUGUSTUS BARTOW [REV] RUDD:

Rev. Augustus Bartow Rudd, D.D.

Born February 24, 1861, Died April 3, 1944

Son of: Alfred Augustus Rudd & Indiana Elizabeth Cauthron

From "Sketch Book On Woman's Missionary Union in Skinquarter Baptist Church", page 4

"I [Augustus Bartow Rudd] was born in Chesterfield County, Virginia, on the 24th of February, 1861, and was the second child of a family of seven - three girls and four boys. My father, Alfred Augustus Rudd, is an industrious mechanic and farmer, with a plain English education. My mother, Indiana Elizabeth Cauthorne, enjoyed better educational advantages than my father. My home - "Lone Oak" - is in a thoroughly Baptist Community, and only a short distance from the church - Skinquarter - of which my parents are members."

Augustus graduated from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1888. Back in Richmond, VA, he met May Bagby, while making plans to leave the States to become a missionary in Mexico. May Bagby and Dr. Rudd were married on June 11, 1889, in Frankfort, Kentucky, and left for Mexico the next month. They traveled first to Parras, Coahuila. After four and a half years, they were transferred, and for five years successfully directed the Madero Institute, a school for girls. Besides other missionary activities, Mrs. Rudd taught music in the Institute.

In August, 1898, the couple returned to the States, and in the next year, having been appointed by the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York, they began their Missionary work in Puerto Rico, which continued until 1914, when they returned to the States again, where Dr. Rudd served as the pastor of the Barton Heights Baptist Church, in Richmond, Virginia.

In 1917, the revolution in Mexico had subsided sufficiently to make it safe for missionaries to return to that country. The Rudd's were among the first to return to the land of their first love. In Saltilla, Mexico, they were called to help in the founding of the Mexican Baptist Theological Seminary. From 1920 until 1926, Dr. Rudd was the superintendent of the work of the Northern Baptist Convention in the Republic, with headquarters in Mexico City.

 

By: Lawson Genevieve Rudd

From Richmond Newspaper Obituary

April 3rd, 1944

Dr. A.B. Rudd Succumbs in Hospital — The Rev. A.B. Rudd, D.D., 83, retired University of Richmond professor and a former missionary and pastor of Barton Heights Baptist Church, died Monday in a local hospital. Dr. Rudd worked 25 years in Mexico and 15 in Puerto Rico as a missionary. At intervals in missionary work he held several Virginia pastorates. The last one, from 1914 to 1917, was at Barton Heights Baptist Church here. When he retired from missionary work in 1926, he became professor of Bible at the university. He retired from that position in 1933. Dr. Rudd was born in Chesterfield County.

He attended Richmond College and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. His wife, Mrs. May Bagby Rudd, died in 1937. Surviving him are two sons, A.B. Rudd, Jr., and R. Hugh Rudd, of Richmond; three daughters, Mrs. May R. Harris and Miss Margaret Rudd, of Richmond, and Mrs. V.C. Bixby, superintendent of the Baptist Missionary Hospital at Managua, Nicaragua; and a brother, Dr. Wortley F. Rudd, dean of the school of pharmacy of the Medical College of Virginia.

Research submitted by: George Oliver Rudd

 

More About AUGUSTUS BARTOW [REV] RUDD:
Degree: 1888, Doctor of Divinity: from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky.
Individual Note: Among churches he pastored in the States were Skinquarter Baptist Church, Moseley, Virginia. (place of burial).
Note 1: In addition to being a Minister of the Gospel, he was a retired University of Richmond professor.

Children of VIRGINIA BAGBY and AUGUSTUS RUDD are:

1. LIZZIE "COURTNEY" RUDD, b. April 8, 1890, Parras, Mexico; d. After 1949, Moseley, Virginia.
2. HARRIS MANLEY RUDD, b. March 28, 1892, Parras, Mexico; d. August 24, 1893, Zacatecas, Mexico.
3. RACHEL CAUTHORN RUDD, b. March 27, 1895, Mexico; d. September 30, 1899.
4. ROBERT HUGH RUDD, b. September 13, 1897, Saltillo, Mexico; d. June 28, 1949, Suffern, Rockland County, New York.
5. AUGUSTUS BARTOW RUDD, JR., b. August 16, 1900, Ponce, Puerto Rico; d. February 8, 1963, Summit, New Jersey.
6. MAY GENEVIEVE "MAJOR V" RUDD, b. October 9, 1902, Ponce, Puerto Rico; d. April 1, 1995, Wilmington, North Carolina.
7. MARGARET THOMAS "TOM" RUDD, b. December 15, 1907, Ponce, Puerto Rico; d. October 22, 1999, Goodwin House, Alexandria, Virginia. Notes for MARGARET THOMAS "TOM" RUDD: Burial: Skinquarter Baptist Church Cemetery, Moseley, Virginia.

 

The following poem was found among research papers of Pleasant H. "Plez" Bagby, presented to Sherri Schäefer Bagby by William "Hugh" Bagby. Pleasant H. Bagby, a grandson of Dr. Alfred Paul Bagby, D.D., a son of John Christopher Bagby, a.k.a. John Bagby of Bunker Hill. It was written by Margaret Thomas "Tom" Rudd for her first cousin, William Fleet Bagby. Margaret and William were both grandchildren of John Christopher Bagby, a.k.a. John Bagby of Bunker Hill. The poem was written for William's 90th birthday. He was born about 1860, so it would have been about 1950 when this poem was composed.

THE SAGE OF KING AND QUEEN

To: Mr. William F. Bagby on his ninetieth birthday
By: Miss Margaret T. Rudd, of Richmond

I've travelled far around the world
and many sages seen.
I've ridden trains and airplanes
and once a submarine,
But back home in the U.S.A.,
in Dixieland, I mean,
A man as wise as foreign guys,
Resides in King and Queen.

I've trod the sands of other lands,
I've tasted dishes rare,
Bright birds and trees in tropic breeze,
Caressed, so soft and fair.
And now at home, no more to roam,
Is the fairest sight I've seen,
The robin sweet, the good hog meat,
And the Sage of King and Queen.

For year on year he's lived right here.
His progeny are many.
Both far and wide, with manly pride,
He rated them good as any.
With strength of arm he once could charm,
The ladies of the county.
Now, strength in sons and daughter's sons,
He shares in Christian bounty.

This sage is tall and slightly bald,
His eye is penetrating,
His spirit kind and sharp of mind,
His wit most scintillating.
His ways are just, in God his trust,
He loves his fields of green.
For honest work he ne'er did shirk,
This Sage of King and Queen.

So now a toast to our gracious host,
From all his folks and friends.
To work and play, the living way,
He's traced to noble ends.
To jobs well done from rising sun,
'Til twilight cast it's shadow
And spread it's glow on the one we know,
As the Sage of King and Queen.

 

Miss Rudd, retired UR professor, dies
Thursday, October 28, 1999
BY JENIFER V. BUCKMAN
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

When Margaret Thomas Rudd retired from the University of Richmond's Westhampton College in 1963, a newspaper article declared "Margaret Rudd lets no grass grow under her feet." The author, poet, intrepid traveler and former chairman of modern languages at Westhampton College, died Friday at Goodwin House in Alexandria. She was 91. A memorial service will be held Thursday at 1 p.m. at Goodwin House. A private burial will take place at Skinquarter Baptist Church.

The youngest of five children born to Baptist missionaries, she spent the first 12 years of her life in Puerto Rico and Mexico. She earned a degree from Westhampton College in 1929 and taught language at Stuart Hall in Staunton for three years. In 1937, she earned a master's degree from Columbia University. She also studied at the University of Mexico and The Sorbonne in Paris.

She taught Spanish and French at the former Blackstone College and was a dean of women there. She also taught at Stephen's College in Columbia, Mo., before joining the faculty at the University of Richmond in 1942. At Westhampton College, she helped found the language laboratory by placing her personal record player in a small basement room.

For eight years, Miss Rudd served as chairman of the modern languages department. She took a two-year leave of absence from 1946 to 1948 to accept an appointment from the State Department as a teacher in the Cultural Institute in Concepcion, Chile. She took a sabbatical to study in Spain in 1959 and that year she published "The Lone Heretic," a biography of the Spanish writer and thinker, Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo.

In 1976, she was awarded the Distinguished Alumna Award from the University of Richmond. The honor summed up her accomplishments. "To transmit human values of the Hispanic culture in which you were born motivates your every role; scholar, teacher, biographer, poet."

In retirement, she published a book of poetry "Arrow Through Time" and wrote a biography of her father, missionary and former UR professor Augustus Bartow Rudd. The work, "A Practical Mystic: A.B. Rudd," was published in 1987.

Miss Rudd was active in the development of Virginia Educational Television Inc. and was a member of The National Association of American Pen Women and the Virginia Writers Club. She was a former regional vice president of the Virginia Poetry Society.

Survivors include two nieces, Elizabeth Ross of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Joyce Carlson of Vero Beach, Florida.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Office of Development, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia 23173, for the establishment of a fund in memory of the Rudd family.

Research submitted by: George Oliver Rudd.

 

 

 

 

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