HUDSON, JOHN
, was born Dec. 25, 1799, on Roanoke river, Virginia. He was taken by his parents to Wilson county, and from there to Rutherford county, Tenn. Nancy Pitts was born April 4, 1805, in Wayne county, N. C. Her father died there, and her mother, with seven children, moved to Rutherford county, Tenn., in the fall of 1815. John Hudson and Nancy Pitts were married in that county, near the junction of east and west Stone's river, Sept. 30, 1824, had two children there, and moved to Sangamon county, Ill., arriving in the fall of 1829, about two miles east of Loami, where five children were born. Of their children--LOUISA F., born July 20, 1825, in Tennessee, married in Sangamon county to William Herrold, had one child, SARAH J., who married August 2, 1870, to Benjamin Card, a native of England. They have one child, WILLIAM H., and live in St. Louis, Mo. Mr. Herrold died, and she married Homer E. Starks. She died, leaving four children. NANCY A. lives with her aunt Edwards. LOUISA M. lives with her grandmother Hudson. JULIA A. and ELLEN T. live with their father, who is married, and resides in Kansas. He served in an Illinois regiment, and was with Sherman in his "march to the sea."
ROBERT W., born April 4, 1828, in Tennessee, died in Sangamon county, July 6, 1849.
CAROLINE, born Feb. 13, 1830, in Sangamon county, married David Edwards. They have three children. NANCY E. married John W. Smith; have three children, MARK C., NELLIE C. and KATIE A., and live in Curran township. VAN GOLTRA and JANE M. M. reside with their parents in Chatham township.
AMERICA A., born Feb. 15, 1832, married Henry R. Burton, and had nine children. MARY F. married William Bell, and died, leaving two children. H. R. Burton enlisted in Dec., 1863, for three years, in Co. H, 10th Ill. Cav., served to the end of the rebellion, and was honorably discharged. He died March 28, 1872, in Brown county. His widow married John Bell, and lives in Chatham.
JOHN H., born Jan. 7, 1836, in Sangamon county, married March 4, 1855, to Elizabeth McLaughlm. She died Jan. 10, 1856, and he was married April 12, 1868, to Charlotte E. Smith, in Milford, Wis. She was born in Fulton county, N. Y., Oct. 26, 1842. They live in Talkington township, eight miles west of Auburn--1873.
WILLIAM V., born April 8, 1838, in Sangamon county, and lives with his brother, John H.
BLANEY L., born Oct. 11, 1841, died Oct. 6, 1864.
John Hudson died Oct. 24, 1844, in Sangamon county, and his widow lives with her sons, John H. and William V.
Benjamin Hudson, the father of John Hudson, with his wife, two sons, William and Richard, and his daughter, Susan, came to Sangamon county in 1827. In the fall of 1839 they all moved to Washington county, Iowa.
Mrs. Nancy Pitts, the mother of Mrs. Nancy Hudson and Blaney Pitts, the youngest brother of Mrs. H., came with herself and husband to Sangamon county, and both went to St. Clair county, where the mother died. Blancy Pitts has been twice married, and lives in Marion county.
Mrs. Hudson vividly remembers the privations she endured on coming to the country. The first year they all shook with ague. The next year the "deep snow" came. Their cabin was built with the door outside. One morning they got up and could not open it; the snow was drifted higher that the door. By loud calls they attracted the attention of her father-in-law, who came and shoveled the snow away, and relieved them from their imprisonment. They were for a long time without tea, coffee or sugar, and had to substitute hominy for bread. She thought that if she could only get out of Illinois she would never want anything more, but would be happy the remainder of her mortal life. Four years later herself and husband visited Tennessee. The hills seemed higher--she thought the stone on the land had increased ten fold, and the soil was a deeper red than ever before. Her chief desire was to return to Illinois, and she has always been satisfied since that time.
Mrs. Hudson, describing a visit to St. Clair county to see her mother, says they traveled in a one-horse carriage over country where it yielded at least forty bushels of green flies to the acre. It was all they could do to save the life of their horse by wrapping it up with bed clothing. After that they laid up in daylight and traveled at night.