The Eastern Shore of Delaware - 1656

Extracts from Hudson Family History, unpub. mms., by Virginius Singleton Hudson

Based upon research by Virginius Singleton Hudson, with additonal information and emendations by J. German. VSH quotes are reproduced in plain type, additions and corrections by JG are presented in italics.

For more information on the Hudsons of Delaware you can Email Jerry German at jgerman@erols.com

THE HUDSON FAMILY

The name was racially Norman in origin and came to England with William the Conqueror. It had various forms and spellings such as Oddason, Hoddenson. It has always been a tradition in the family that Henry Hudson III, son of Henry Hudson the explorer emigrated to Delaware in 1656. It is from this beginning that we trace back.

The first authentic genealogy is found in the Church of the Grey Friar in London. Here is the tomb of Rudolph Hudson "citizen and alderman of London" who died June 27, 1530. He had eight sons and three daughters -- Thomas, John, Edward, Henry and Christopher are the only ones identifiable. Thomas, a captain in the Russian Fur Co. died in 1564 and John died without issue.

Henry, the son of Rudolph, was also an alderman of London and a director of the Russian Fur Co. Later he became associated with the Dutch East India Company. He died December 22, 1555 and is buried at St. Dunstans in the East. He had estates in Lincolnshire and Sussex. His wife's name was Barbara. They had a family of 11 children of which Abigail, Thomas, John and Henry are identifiable.

This Henry, (whom I identify as Henry II for ease of following the genealogy) is identified as Henry Hudson the Explorer. His exploits and life are a matter of historical record. He ws a friend of Captain John Smith and discoverer of the Hudson and Delaware Rivers. He commanded Martin Frobisher's ship the Hopewell (Frobisher along with Sir Francis Drake played an important part in defeating the Spanish Armada). He was also associated with the Dutch East India Company. From the records of this Company we know he was married and had issue.

According to Vincent's History of Delaware, Henry Hudson, son of the Explorer, was captain of the Mercurios which brought settlers to Delaware in 1656 and settled there himself.

The "Dictionary of American Biography, V. IX, includes at p. 338 a good brief history of Henry Hudson. The following is a repeat of the first paragraph of that entry.

HUDSON, HENRY (d. after June 23, 1611)

was an English navigator. His name was Henry or Harry, never Hendrick. His Dutch contemporaries wrote it Herry, which is as the Dutch would pronounce Harry. He married a certain Katherine who died in 1624. They had three sons: Oliver, who married and had a daughter Alice (baptized Sept. 18, 1608); John, who accompanied his father in voyages and perished with him, and Richard (died 1648), who became the chief representative of the English East India Company in the Bay of Bengal, leaving several children, some of whom emigrated to America (Powys, post, p. 187). One biographer, (Read) has sought to connect him with a certain Henry Hudson or Herdson, founder of the English Muscovy Company, an alderman of London, and with Thomas Hudson, captain in the service of and later a governor of the same company, but the theory is untenable. (see appendix).

From this point until 1775 there is a gap in the family history. Clement Wilson Hudson (my uncle) said that the family records were burned during the War of 1815 (1812) by the British at Lewes, Delaware because the town refused to provide provisions.

Clement and my father identified as their great grandfather a John Hudson who was born in 1775 and who died in 1810 and their grandfather as Dr. Benjamin Hudson of Bridgeville, Delaware. The Delaware Archives, History of Delaware, lists a Clement Hudson as a mill owner in the vicinity - in the Cedar Creek Hundred of Sussex County, Del. in 1829. This could be a brother of Dr. Benjamin H.

In Revolutionary Patriots of Delaware 1775-1783, Henry C. Peden, Jr. notes that William Hudson died testate in Sussex Co in 1791. His will lists his wife, Mary, and sons John, Benjamin and Joseph, daughters Edith Veach, Mary Clifton, Nancy Clifton, and Sally Pointer [Ref J - 227]. There is good reason to speculate that Dr. Benjamin was the brother, rather than the son of John Hudson, and they were both the sons of William, above. Three William Hudson records exist from the Rev war, cited by Peden: William Hudson, Ensign, Captain Richard Balinores Co, 1778, Captain in 1779. [Ref B 766 and B 965], William Hudson who served as private in Capt William McKenna’s Co in the Southern Army and was at Yorktown in 1781; and William Hudson who was reimbursed for services to the Delaware Militia. One can guess that the marriage of his son Benjamin (Dr. Benjamin) to Revolutionary War Captain and War of 1812 Colonel John Wilson would argue that the Captain William Hudson is the most likely candidate.

Benjamin married Margaret Wilson on June 11, 1816 and had the following issue:

William E. 3/9/1817 to 3/24/1817

Anne E. 7/18/1818 to Not known

Mary 11/10/1820 Not known

John 10/9/1822 to 11/19/1822

Benjamin 2/21/1824 to 6/14/1850

Clement I (Clement Wilson Hudson I) 2/5/1828 to 3/11/1887

Clement Wilson Hudson I

was my grandfather. He moved to Tappahonock, Virginia in 1867. He went to California by way of the Panama Canal and liver there for 10 years -- making out well enough to return east, buy on his ship and run the blockade for the South against the North in the War between the States. He first married in 1852 and had the following issue:

Mary Ann (wife, not child)

William

Lara (Sallie)

Frank

Margaret

Mary

In the 1850 Census of Sussex Co., Delaware, Clement W. Hudson is not listed, supporting the California history (except for the Panama Canal reference, as it was not opened until 1914). His older brother, Benjamin is listed at p.237, giving his age as 26, with his wife Susannah, aged 25 and a daughter Mary A. (This daughter's name could explain the confusion about Clement I's wife listed by VSH as a child). Benjamin gives his occupation as Carpenter. Clement Wilson I appears in the 1860 Census of Delaware, Sussex County - Reel 99, p. 811, with his wife Mary Ann Cannon, age 26 and children:

Bennie age 8 b.1852

Wm. age 6 b.1854

Sallie age 4 b.1856

Francis age 5/12 b.1860.

Clement gives his occupation as Sailor, with property worth $100. The Seaford area of Sussex Co. is on the headwaters of the Nanticoke River, which flows to the Chesapeake passing Vienna, Md., and finally entering Tangier Sound. His blockade running would probably have involved sailing down the Nanticoke, staying behind the islands in Tangier Sound and making the short run across the Bay fron Tangier Island to the Rappannock River.

While in Delaware he lived at Seaford. Benjamin and William sailed with him. It was at Leidstown, Va. where he met and married for the second time to my grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Spilman. Their first home was on his vessel, the Florence. In 1876 he moved to Gloucester County where he bought Camden.

Camden is still in the family and is situated on the north side of the county near the Piankatank River. Originally the land consisted of 574 acres. It is a 2 1/2 story structure of 11 rooms and a detailed brick kitchen. The structure itself was built before 1700 and when I was there in 1954 it was in excellent condition.

Clement Wilson I and his first family are listed in the 1870 census of Virginia, in Essex County (S. side of Rappahannock) Reel 1644, Series 593 p.114, living at Miller's Tavern. Here he lists his occupation as Country Storekeeper. With him and his wife Mary Ann are:

Benjamin W. (Bennie in 1860) age 17

Sarah H. (Sallie in 1860) age 13

Franklin (Francis in 1860) age 11

Margaret (not born in 1860) age 9

missing is William, who would have been 15.

NOTE: JG 1995 -- The book "Marriages of Gloucester County, Virginia, Book 1: 1853 -1895", by Frances Heywood, records the marriages of the two daughters of Clement Wilson Hudson's first marriage -- and also notes that his wife was Mary Ann Cannon of Sussex Co. Del.

From page 165 of "Marriages" :

"Beverly Roane, ae 25y, farmer, s/o Henry & Virginia Anderson Roane; Sarah Bell Hudson, ae 21y, of Sussex Co DELAWARE, d/o C. W. & Mary A. Cannon Hudson; Dec 22 1878 by Rev. Geo. E. Booker.

From page 195 of "Marriages":

Richard H. Roane, ae 29y, farm, of King and Queen Co VA, s/o Jas. & Valinda Clayton Roane; Margaret Hudson, ae 19y, of Seaford DELAWARE, lived Gloucester, d/o C. W. & Mary Kennon [Cannon] Hudson; Jan 4 1882 by Rev. H. C. Cheatham.

Mary Elizabeth Spilman, Clement Wilson I's second wife, is listed, living with her Grandfather and family in Westmoreland County Va. (N. side of Rappahannock R.) in both 1850 and 60 Censuses. She was born in 1842 and would have married Clement after June/July of 1870, when the Census showed his first wife still alive, and after the birth of Clement Wilson II, whom VSH gives as their first child. However, VSH also gives Clement Wilson II's birth date as 7/13/1870. This suggests that Clement II's birth might actually have been in 1871 or, alternatively, that he might have been the last child of the first marriage, perhaps with Mary Ann dying in childbirth. The name of his next child, though, Mary Elizabeth, would seem to prove her to be the daughter of Clement I's second wife, Mary Elizabeth Spilman. (see below).

Out of this second marriage there was the following issue

Clement Wilson Hudson 7/13/1870 to 4/26/1938

Mary Elizabeth 8/27/1872 to 6/9/1935

John Spilman (my father) 11/25/1874 to 1/6/1940

Anne 10/28/1876 to 1918

Carrol Harvey 10/27/1878 to 1947

Clement Wilson Hudson (II) became a well known Baptist minister, a theologian and scholar. He preached in Garret County, Maryland, North Carolina and in King and Queen County, Virginia.

My father, John Spilman Hudson, left Camden around 1900 and came to Baltimore but before doing so he married Mabel Alice Waddell of Ware Neck in Gloucester County, Virginia. The issue of this marriage was:

William Cecil Spilman Hudson 1/4/1902 to 9/6/55

Virginius Singleton Hudson 2/17/1909 to 7/7/67

Marcus Gilderoy Hudson 11/11/1919 to 4/12/1987

There were other children but they died in their infancy. Both my mother and father are buried at Singleton's Chapel at Ware Neck, Virginia. (As are, now, VSH and Mildred Virginia Hunt).

Other Records of the Hudson Family

During the French and Indian War there was a John Hudson from Kent County, Delaware who commanded a sailing vessel. In the Delaware Archives Mil. Vol 1, included in the Delaware French and Indial War Rolls, 1754-63, is John Hudson, (shallopman) Capt. John Caton's Company.

The following Hudson's served in the military service prior to 1800

:

John Hudson, missing at the battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777 enlisted at Ambry, November 22, 1776.

Richard Hudson, age 20, enlisted October (August) 10, 1779. The Del. Archives Mil. Vol. 1 show he was present on the rolls 12/79, 4/80, and deserted 9/80. He is on the muster roll of "the late Delaware Regt" now 1st Co., 2nd Bn., Col. Otho Williams' Regt., Southern Army of the U.S.....listed as deserted 2 Sept. 1780 in North Carolina. This would have made him missing at or after the Battle of Camden, SC, August 16, 1780.

George Hudson, Delaware Regiment 1782

Henry Hudson, shown on the Roll of David Hall's Regt., in David Hall's Company of the Del. Regt. no date.

The following names are taken from the muster rolls of Delaware troops for the War of 1812:

Henry Hudson Corporal enlisted May 31, 1813

Burton Private

Samuel

Benton Private 8th Co. 7th Regt.

William " 1st Co. "

Benjamin

Elijah

Joseph

Joshua

Deputy

James

Purnell 3rd Co.

William 1st Co.

Affon 5th Co.

Michael

Ephraim

Makime

Laquish

There was a William Hudson who was a tanner in Bridgeville in 1812. Charles Hudson is on an assessment list in 1785.