Lorenda Judd: A Life Remembered Through Her Children

 The Legacy of Lorenda Ursula Taylor Judd

In this third and final chapter of the life of Lorenda Ursula Taylor Judd, I had hoped to focus on the stories of her daughters—her legacy carried forward through the women of the family. Unfortunately, those stories are largely absent from the historical record.

What little we know comes through scattered references. I discovered more written about Frank, her youngest child, and even a brief postscript about one of her daughters only through a passing mention in the obituary of Lorenda’s husband.

History often remembers the men who held public office, built businesses, or shaped communities in visible ways. Yet behind those stories were the women who kept the home, raised the children, and created the stability that allowed those men the freedom to leave their mark. Too often, their names remain while their stories fade.

From earlier records we know that Lorenda gave birth to seven children, five of whom reached adulthood. These included Julia Squires, who died in Pueblo, Colorado; Almina Reader, who died in Nevada County, California, in 1889; Hattie Webb of Texarkana, Texas; and Lucina Weir, who married Jerome Weir—an early pioneer and prominent “upbuilder” of Colorado Springs—and who is buried in California. And finally, her son Frank.

Frank’s biography, published in the History of Kern County, offers one of the few glimpses into the family’s story. After Lorenda’s death, Frank moved to Texas with his father. Cyrus Truman Judd became editor and publisher of the Fort Worth Tribune, and Frank followed him into the newspaper trade, learning the craft of printing. Later, after the retirement of an uncle, Frank purchased farm property where he raised alfalfa.

Although very little of Lorenda’s own story survives, we can be certain that as their mother she shaped the lives of her children. The paths they took and the communities they helped build stand as the quiet legacy of a woman whose life is now remembered only by a weathered stone in Evergreen’s Pioneer Section.