- WILLIAM HENRY HUDSON. An old and honored resident of Albany
township, Green county,
- is William Henry HUDSON, who was born in Ohio, in the city
of Chillicothe, June 17, 1833; although for forty-nine years
he has been engaged in active life, he bears his sixty-seven
years with ease.
- Gabriel HUDSON, the paternal grandfather of our subject,
was a fine specimen of the Virginia
- gentleman, and was prominent in political life in his State
for many years. His father had willed him his slaves, but Gabriel,
opposed to slavery, gave them their freedom, and left home on
account of this action. He had been a brave soldier during the
war of 1812. The maternal grandfather, Jared BOBO, was a native
farmer of Maryland, held many public positions, and died in advanced
age, having been the father of five children. James and Mary
(BOBO) HUDSON, parents of our subject, were natives of Virginia.
They had a family of eight children: William H., our subject;
George W., of Minonk, Ill.; and Jared, of San Antonio, Texas;
the others being deceased. James HUDSON was a farmer, and in
1844 moved from Ohio to Illinois, located in Lacon, bought a
farm there and remained upon it until 1849, when he sold out
and came to Green county, Wis. Here he purchased 120 acres in
Decatur township, and there he lived until 1864, when he sold
and moved into the village of Brodhead, where he died in 1866,
aged sixty-nine years. His wife survived him twenty years, being
eighty-six years old. Both parents were good and pious people,
devoted members of the Baptist Church, he having held many township
offices during earlier life.
- William Henry HUDSON was eleven years old when his parents
removed to Illinois, and was
- sixteen when he came with them to Green county. Reared a
farmer boy, he grew up thoroughly acquainted with all the details
of agricultural life, attended the district schools, and by the
time he had reached man's estate, was willing and prepared to
encounter life for himself. His home instruction had been such
as to teach him valuable lessons of thrift and economy, hence
he did not work long by the month before he was ready to rent
land, which he did for several seasons The first 160 acres which
he bought in Grant county was held and improved for several years,
when he sold this in order later to buy a more valuable tract,
in the meantime renting land again for a short time. Buying a
farm of 200 acres in Albany, he had no trouble in renting it
out, nor in finally selling it. In 1870 he purchased another
160-acre farm in Albany, also rented that for a time, and later
advantageously sold it.
- Mr. HUDSON was married Nov. 15, 1858, to Miss Helen P. HILL,
a daughter of Asahel and
- Julia Ann (SHULTZ) HILL, and one daughter, Ada E., has resulted
from this union. She is now the wife of I. A. HESS, of Winona,
Minn. The parents of Mrs. HUDSON were natives of New York, she
being the only daughter. The mother died on Feb. 12, 1881, the
father on Oct. 4, 1900, both of them having been consistent members
of the M. E. Church. They were pioneers in Green county, in 1849,
and bought the farm where, for the past forty-two years, Mr.
and Mrs. HUDSON have resided. The grandfather of Mrs. HUDSON
settled in to drive to Chicago, with an ox-team, in order to
go to mill, a very important and necessary function in those
days. He was ninety-one years old when he died, being an example
of the sturdy stock of which pioneers were made.
- For a short time our subject was in the mercantile business,
in Albany, later spent three years in the
- drug business, and fourteen years in the stock business,
in buying grain, and in general trading. During his residence
in the township, Mr. HUDSON has served as township trustee several
terms and has been also on the board of supervisors. His idea
of the best form of government is for a system of law whereby
the weak can be protected against the strong. Among the best
known and most respected people of Albany township, where their
parents left honored names, they will represent the kind of citizen
upon which the bulwarks of society in Green county rests.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; pp. 338-339.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
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