52 Ancestors Year 2 #15: Benjamin Lester Hudson and a Favorite Photograph

     Benjamin Lester Hudson was my 2nd Great Grandfather, born 13 Apr 1828 in Huntingdon, Quebec, Canada and baptized in Iberville, Quebec.  His parents were Robert Brick Hudson and Anna Mariah Delamater. Benjamin was the name of Robert's older brother who died as a soldier in the Revolutionary War and of Robert's mother's Grandfather, Benjamin Gott. Lester was his maternal grandmother's maiden name.  Benjamin was the eighth child and sixth son of Robert and Anna Mariah. By 1851 the family had moved to Bristol, Ottawa County, Quebec, Canada.  This town is right on the Ottawa River and Robert was involved in moving lumber down the river to sell in Ottawa and Hull.

     On 5 Nov 1854, at the age of 26, Benjamin married Mary Yuiel who was born in Scotland and came to Bristol with her family.  He is listed as a farmer in the 1861 Census of Bristol. In 1865 his mother died.  This was a turning point for the family as in 1866 he and is family, his father, his sister, Elizabeth and her family and another three brothers moved back to the U.S., primarily to Saginaw, Michigan.  At the time of the move, Benjamin had five sons and one daughter. Another son, Archibald, was born in Saginaw in 1878 and a daughter, Mary Jane, in 1870.  On Dec 28, 1874, Mary died at age 35 in "Confinement", or in childbirth.  This left Ben with 8 children under the age of 19, the youngest not quite 4. Right after this in March 1875, George Edward, his oldest child, died. One can imagine how distraught he must have been.  To cope with this he sent several of his children to live elsewhere.  In the 1880 Census of Saginaw you find his three oldest sons, Alfred, Robert and Benjamin, are living as raftsmen in a logging camp, his youngest son and daughter are living with his sister, Elizabeth and her family. I haven't found Benjamin Lester in the 1880 Census.

     We find him in 1900 living with his second wife, Elizabeth, and their son, Bartlet.  In 1910 he is widowed, living with his son, Robert.  On 15 Mar 1917, Benjamin died as a result of "shock following accident".  According to his obituary he fell down a flight of stairs and broke his collar bone. The obituary calls him a "farmer and lumber jobber".

     In about 2009, I had just picked back up the family genealogy from where I'd left it when my children were born in the early 80's. I started to work on Ancestry and when I searched Benjamin Lester Hudson I found a picture of him with four generations: his son, Robert Brick, grandson, Edward Wesley, and great grandson, Edwin Hudson.  Edwin was born in 1909 so the photo is approximately 1910. On the back of the photo is written this data and the fact that Benjamin Lester is the son of Robert Brick Hudson, brother of "Grandfather Charles Hudson". I sent a message to the person who had put the photo on Ancestry. This was written by Samuel Lorenzo Hudson, grandson of Charles and therefore a cousin of Benjamin Lester Hudson.  The woman who posted the photo and her mother decided to send me the photo as I was a direct descendant of Benjamin. I was so blown out! I later found out that Samuel Lorenzo Hudson was a well known Genealogist in his time. It is fascinating to me to see how the family members kept track of each other over the years. The back of the photo also gave me fascinating data about Benjamin's father, Robert Brick Hudson

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