from “Family History of the Joseph Taylor, Jr. and Sarah Best Family”
by Shari H. Franke
Sarah Best Taylor, the eighth child of Joseph Taylor, Jr. and Sarah Best, was born 5 January 1800 at Edgecombe County, North Carolina. Sarah was also better known as “Sally” Taylor, and was named for her mother. She grew up on the Taylor Plantation, and was only about eight years old when she and her family left Edgecombe County, North Carolina for Warren County, Kentucky. The trip must have been difficult for such a young girl.
As Sarah grew up on the Taylor property near Richardsville, Warren, Kentucky, their family had some neighbors, James Hudnall, Jr. and his wife, Rhodah Chastain and family. The Hudnalls came to Warren County about 1814. They had many of the same ideals as the Taylors. In fact, James started the Green River Union Church at his home in about 1816. Later on a little church was constructed. Members of the Taylor family attended there. James and Rhodah had a handsome son named Rene Chastain Hudnall who Sarah grew to love. on 7 June 1821, Sarah Best Taylor and Rene Chastain Hudnall were married at Warren County, Kentucky. William Hudnall (Rene’s brother) was Bondsman.
As the years went by, Sarah became the mother of 12 children. She and Rene must have shared a wonderful life together. Imagine how busy they were, raising 12 active children. What a great shock it must have been for Rene and the children when their dear sweet wife and mother, Sarah Best Taylor Hudnall, passed away 16 January 1838, only 37 years old. She was buried at the Hudnall Cemetery, Warren, Kentucky. Her youngest children were cared for by some of her brothers and sisters.
Rene Chastain Hudnall was born in 1799 at Buckingham County, Virginia. He was the son of James Hudnall, Jr. and Rhodah Chastain. James Hudnall, Jr. was born 14 June 1771 in Buckingham County, Virginia, and died 12 April 1851. James married Rhoda Chastain about 1796. Rhodah Chastain was born 2 January 1775, also in Buckingham County, Virginia, and died 1 April 1846. She was the daughter of the Rev. Rene Chastain and his wife, Martha Isham, and a direct descendant of Pierre Chastain, the French Hug’uenot Emigrant. James Hudnall and Rhodah came to Warren County about 1814 as a result of a land grant for 100 acres on Swan Creek, and they were some of the earliest settlers of the Richardsville area. The Green River Union Church was organized in their home. They were buried in the Hudnall Cemetery on the farm where they lived. Rene came to Warren County as a small boy, and worked on the farm with his father until he married. Rene Chastain Hudnall and Sarah Best Taylor’s children were: James E., Nancy, Elizabeth, Joseph A., Irven, William C., Mary Jane, Sarah Frances, Isham C., Polly Ann, John W. and Sidnia Ann.
After the death of his dear wife Sarah Best Taylor, Rene Chastain Hudnall must have been very lonely and overwhelmed with the job of raising such a big family alone. He married (2) 3 March 1842, Leah Carroll.
Leah Carrol was born in 1811, of Virginia, according to the 1850 Census of Warren County, Kentucky. She probably helped raise some of Rene Chastain’s children by Sarah Best Taylor. She had four children of her own by Rene Chastain Hudnall: Catherine, Louisa Ellen, Virginia T. and James Brown. Leah died in 1869.
