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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Jefferson County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Hon. James A. Hudson is one of the substantial men of this State, and one of the old settlers and prominent citizens of Jefferson County. He is a native of Georgia, having been born in January, 1817, in Petersburg, and is one of three sons who blessed the union of Charles and Lucy (McGehee) Hudson, natives of Virginia. Charles Hudson, a merchant, died in Alabama when our subject was an infant; his wife subsequently returned to her father’s home, and there James grew to manhood. In 1830, the mother with her three boys, James, Lawrence and Marion (now deceased), settled near Memphis, and fourteen years later moved to Jefferson County, Ark., where she died in 1872, at the age of seventy-seven. Marion died in this county in 1862, and Lawrence in Tennessee about 1839. James A. Hudson, after arriving in Arkansas, made the first entry of land recorded in this part of the county, and commenced opening up a farm. In 1848 or 1849 he settled on the place which he now occupies, where he has 600 acres under cultivation, owning upward of 8,000 acres in Jefferson, Grant, Lincoln and Cleveland Counties. In 1850 he put up a gin, and in 1883 built a new gin, saw and grist mill. He has been one of the most successful men of this community. He has also been engaged in general merchandising, and in 1874 took $25,000 worth of shares in what is now the Merchant & Planters’ Bank at Pine Bluff, but which at that time was conducted under the firm name of Smart, Hudson & Co. In 1887 he sold his interest in that concern, but has since taken other interests to the amount of $5,000. Sometime before the war Mr. Hudson was commissioned postmaster of Locust Cottage, which office he has since held, with the exception of a short term. In 1860 he was elected to the legislature, and re-elected in 1878, having no opposition and receiving every vote that was polled in the county, excepting twenty nine. In 1840, while in Tennessee, Mr. Hudson married Nancy Gillespie, who died in 1867. To them were born ten children: Lucy J. Hunter (died in 1888), James M. (of Pine Bluff), Mary E. Smart (of Pine Bluff), Mattie V. Crawford (of the same place), Marion A., John A., Mrs. Isabella Hogg, and Walter C. (deceased). Walter was a graduate from a well-known educational institution of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and died soon after returning home. Mr. Hudson’s second marriage was to Mrs. Mary R. Ingraham, widow of Benjamin F. Ingraham. They have one son, Freddie M., attending school at Lexington, Va., whose object in life is to become a lawyer. Mrs. Hudson is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, as is also her husband. He also belongs to the A. F. & A. M., and is a conservative Democrat. Mr. Hudson is a self-made man, and active in the interest of schools, having been school director for years. His entire career reflects credit upon himself, for in every position in life his actions have been above reproach.

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This family biography is one of 136 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Jefferson County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Jefferson County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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