In fall 1856, John and Dudley moved to Round Rock, Texas, where they founded a farm.
[2] During the American Civil War, John enlisted in the Confederate States Army, while Dudley got a contract to transport and sell cattle to the Trans-Mississippi Department,[3] also serving as a conscription officer for Williamson County.
[2] After the war, John moved cotton to South Texas to remake money the family lost during the war, while Dudley drove cattle to the High Plains region, being the first to drove cattle from Texas to Wyoming.
[4] During the January 1886 blizzard, John hired J. Frank Norfleet to do his cattle droving,[5] and also sold the ~130,000 acres of land he owned with Dudley[6] to Isaac L. Ellwood, who developed the land into Spade Ranch.
In 1900, Dudley was elected judge of Sherman County, beating William B.