John Hatheway Hudson, who was well known in Greene county, was born October 14, 1815, at Menham, Morris county, New Jersey. His father, Abraham Hudson, was a carpenter by trade and on the 23d of January, 1812, was married to Hannah Hatheway. The family of John H. Hudson have records of their ancestry back to the seventeenth century, when a family of brothers came to America from England. One settled in Southport, Long Island, where he followed the occupation of farming, and there his son, Samuel Hudson, the ancestor of John H. Hudson was born, although other generations of the family intervened.

John H. Hudson received but a limited education, attending only the home schools, for it was necessary that he begin work when quite young, he assisting his father at the carpenter's trade. On his last visit to the east in 1890 he made it a point to see some of the buildings in New York city, which he had helped to erect during the years between 1835 and 1840. It was in 1840 that he went to Michigan, settling in Milford, Oakland county, and in 1856 he became a resident of Carrollton, Greene county, Illinois, where he resided for about four years. He then went to Kane, where he conducted the old Union House, one of the early landmarks of that part of the state, being an old hostelry which stood on the stage road between Alton and Jacksonville. In 1870 he removed to Alton, where he resided up to the time of his death, although he spent considerable time in Greene county and in Kane at the home of his daughter Mrs. Joseph Dressel.

In early life he served as orderly sergeant in the state militia and while living in Kane he filled the positions of postmaster and justice of the peace. In his younger days his political support was given to the Whig party and upon its dissolution he joined the ranks of the Republican party, which he continued to support until a few years prior to his death, when he became a pronounced Prohibitionist. In early life he was a Methodist, but later joined the Unitarian church, with which he was connected at the time of his demise.

In 1835 Mr. Hudson was married to Miss Phoebe Wade L'Hommedieu, in Newark, New Jersey. Their children were: Freddie L., who died in early manhood; Marcus E., who died in infancy; and Emeline T., the wife of Ulrich Everhardt. After losing his first wife Mr. Hudson was married to Mary C. Hodge, at Milford, on the 12th of October, 1843, and the children of this union are: Minerva H., the wife of Joseph Dressel; Adelaide H., the wife of Nathaniel O'Haver; Sara E.; and Arabella C., the wife of William Cartwright.

Transcribed by: Carole Ann Heller