52 Ancestors # 23: John Hudson, Revolutionary Soldier

     John Hudson was born about 1713 in Massachusetts. According to Charles Hudson, his descendant, he is presumed to be the son of Nathaniel Hudson and Rebecca Rugg.  this is because he arrived in Marlborough, Massachusetts with Seth and Nathaniel Hudson who are known to be sons of Nathaniel and Rebecca. Charles Hudson makes this speculation in his History of the Town of Lexington, published 1868.  As far as I know this has been accepted by everyone researching this family yet no actual evidence has ever been found. I think this is the weak link in the Hudson line but I have not been able to find better evidence so far.  I did find a John Hudson born to a Moses Hudson about the same time. John had a son named Moses, this name is not found in any other Hudson family that I've seen.  But I haven't fully investigated this. I just want to mention it here.

     John settled in Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts. In 1739 he married Elizabeth McAllister of Northboro, Mass. They had eleven children: Elijah, Elizabeth, Elisha, Miriam, Moses, Aaron, Hannah, Ebenezer, John, and Stephen.  All seven of their sons fought in the Revolutionary War on the American side, two of them, Ebenezer and Charles, dying during it.

     Charles Hudson in the book mentioned above says this," There is one peculiarity in the whole family.  They seem to have a taste for a military life. Few families of the same number have furnished as many soldiers for the old French and Indian Wars, and the Revolutionary War, as the Hudsons..." John and his sons Elijah and Elisha fought in the French and Indian Wars between 1755 and 1760.  John served under Captain Samuel Howe in the expedition to Crown Point in 1755 and was one of the "alarm men" in Col. Abraham Williams' company in March 1757.

     In the Revolutionary War John enlisted on May 29, 1775 and was in service for 2 months and 8 days.  He later also is noted on muster sheets on 1 Aug 1775 and 7 Oct 1775. He was in Capt, Samuel Wood's Company in Col. Jonathan Ward's regiment. At this time he was 62 years old! In 1790 he received a Bounty Land Warrant as a Corporal for his service.  This was good for 100 acres "in the West", usually New York or Ohio. This land was set aside by individual states for their veterans. I have a copy of this land warrant that I got from the National Archives in about 1979. There is very little data on it, though as the files were burned in the War of 1812. His sons Elisha and Aaron both ended up in Western New York State so one of them may've used it.

     Elizabeth died on 16 May 1786 and John remarried Bethia Wood on 28 Mar 1787. He and Bethia moved to Berlin, Worcester, Mass. shortly before 1790. In the first u.S. Census of 1790 he is listed as the head of a household consisting of "1 free white male and 1 free white female" in Berlin. John Hudson died at Berlin on 6 Aug 1799, aged 83 years. Bethia survived him by quite a few years.  She died in East Bridgewater, Mass., on 23 Feb 1825m aged 78 of a "great cold" and was buried in the Hudson tomb off Plymouth St.

     I am writing this on the Fourth of July 2014 in honor of an ancestor who fought for his country at the age of 62 and sent seven sons into battle as well! He enlisted in May 1775 which was only a month after Concord and Lexington.