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Thomas Jefferson Hudson
[biography 1 of 3]
Thomas J. Hudson.—Forty-six years ago, in 1866, there came
to Kansas a young Indiana school teacher, who, like the
state to which he had come, had but entered upon an
independent career and had yet to prove his merits. Kansas
in the interim has achieved a remarkable record among
states, and the young teacher, Thomas J. Hudson, has lived a
full life, a life of honor and usefulness, which in its
accomplishments has made his name stand preeminently among
his fellows as a man of superior ability and intelligence.
Born Oct. 30, 1839, in Boone county, Indiana, he was reared
and received his earlier education in his native county.
Later he was a student in the academy at Lebanon, Ind., and
also attended Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, Ind., one
year. He then taught several terms of school in Boone and
Hendricks counties, Indiana, but in 1866 the call of the
West brought him to Kansas. He taught school at Coyville,
the first common school in Wilson county, and assisted in
building the first school house there. After teaching one
year in this state he began to prepare for law, the
profession he has made his life work. After diligent reading
from books furnished by Ruggles & Plumb, of Emporia, he was
admitted to the bar, at Iola, Kan., in June, 1869, and
immediately located at Fredonia for the practice of his
profession. From that time to the present, a period of over
forty years, he has been one of Wilson county's most
prominent men of affairs. As a lawyer he soon displayed
great aptitude and ability, rose rapidly at the bar, and
early acquired a large and profitable practice, which as
years have passed has extended to adjoining states. He is
admitted to practice in the state and Federal courts and in
the United States Supreme Court, and his clientage is a
representative one. Along in the '70s Mr. Hudson was the
attorney for Fredonia in the county seat contests of that
period. An adverse decision from the supreme court of the
state lost the first election for Fredonia, but in the
meantime Mr. Hudson, with characteristic energy, set about
to secure a second election, and that time he won out in the
supreme court and Fredonia became the county seat of Wilson
county. He was then a young lawyer, and the same energy and
determination shown in that case have marked his whole
subsequent career. He is a Democrat, and early in his career
began to take an active part in political affairs. In 1869
he was elected to the state legislature, as a member of
which body he gave his vote in favor of the adoption of the
Fifteenth amendment to the constitution of the United
States, that amendment giving the right of suffrage to the
colored people. He served four terms as county attorney of
Wilson county and an equal number of terms as mayor of
Fredonia, and for several years was a member of the Fredonia
board of education, of which he served as the first
treasurer. While in that position he effected the sale of
six per cent. school bonds at par, a transaction then
unprecedented in Kansas. In 1892 he was elected to the
Fifty-third congress by a majority of 2,500 votes and was
unanimously nominated for reelection, but declined the
nomination. During 1897 and 1898 he was a member of the
board of regents of the Kansas State Agricultural College,
at Manhattan, and was its loan commissioner, in which
capacity he handled several hundred thousands of dollars
without the loss of a dollar. In 1908 he was the Democratic
candidate for Congress, but was defeated, owing to the large
Republican majority in his district. He has long been a
close student of political economy and has given deep
thought to many of the vital problems that confront our
government. For over twenty years he has contended for such
legislation, both by the National Government and the state,
as would require all banks chartered by either the National
Government or the state to guarantee their depositors, thus
effectively preventing money panics. He has always opposed
class legislation and particularly tariff laws, contending
that the general government should levy instead as much tax
as is necessary to meet its expenses. He has always fought
graft in every form and generally at his own expense. He has
long favored an amendment to the constitution, providing for
the election of federal judges and United States senators.
Fredonia is well favored in its railroad facilities, in the
securing of which no one labored more earnestly than did Mr.
Hudson. When the building of the St. Louis & San Francisco
railroad was contemplated he was one of a committee of
Fredonia citizens that went to St. Louis in an endeavor to
persuade the capitalists of that project to build their road
through Fredonia. This mission was successful, largely
through the efforts of Mr. Hudson, who was spokesman for the
committee. He helped to organize and served as the attorney
for the local company of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
railroad when that road was being built, and in a similar
capacity contributed liberally of his time and means to
secure the assistance of the New York capitalists in the
building of the Missouri-Pacific railroad through Fredonia.
He wrote and circulated the petition asking for a new court
house for Wilson county, and in the litigation which
followed this request represented the petitioners through
each court to the supreme court of the state, where he won
their cause. He was one of the organizers of the Wilson
County Bank, and in connection with Isaac Hudson, his
brother, built the opera house block, one of the handsome
and substantial structures in the business part of Fredonia.
Besides those interests he owns a fine ranch of several
hundred acres near Fredonia, where he is extensively engaged
in the breeding and raising of Short Horn cattle.
On Oct. 5, 1870, Mr. Hudson was united in marriage to Miss
Emma Campbell, of Topeka, but a native of Pennsylvania, from
which state her parents, Francis and Elizabeth (Nichols)
Campbell, removed to Kansas, in 1858. The father's people
originally came from Massachusetts. Mrs. Hudson is a
descendant on her mother's side of Peter Brown, of the
Mayflower, and of Capt. John Brown, of the Revolutionary
war, who was the grandfather of John Brown, of Osawatomie.
Mrs. Hudson was educated at Washburn College, having been
the first young woman enrolled in that institution, then
known as Lincoln College. Mr. and Mrs. Hudson have two sons
and four daughters—Lois (widow of the late Guy Allen),
Andrew, Elizabeth, Thomas J., Blanche, and Marjorie. Mr.
Hudson and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal
church at Fredonia, of which he was one of the organizers.
Fraternally he affiliates as a member of the Masonic order,
in which he has attained the Scottish Rite degrees. He is
also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of
which he was one of the organizers and charter members at
Coyville, and later at Fredonia.
Source Citation:
Boone County Biographies [database online] Boone County
INGenWeb. 2007. <http://www.rootsweb.com/~inboone>
Original data: Blackmar, Frank W., "Kansas: a cyclopedia
of state history, embracing events, institutions,
industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons,
etc., with a supplementary volume devoted to selected
personal history and reminiscence." Standard Pub. Co.
Chicago : 1912, pp 280-282.
Transcribed by: Carolyn Ward, 2003;
The
KSGenWeb Project - October 27, 2007
[biography 2 of 3]
HUDSON, THOMAS JEFFERSON, lawyer, legislator,
congressman, was born Oct. 30, 1844, in Boone county, Ind.
He received his education at the common schools and the
Wabash college. He has been three times mayor of Fredonia,
Kan.; three times district attorney; one time a member of
the Kansas state legislature; and served with distinction as
a member of the fifty-third congress. He was twice a
delegate to the democratic national convention, in 1884 and
in 1888; and once a delegate to the national populist
convention, in 1896. He is a brilliant lawyer; and has
contributed extensively to law literature and the periodical
press.
Source Citation: Boone County Biographies [database
online] Boone County INGenWeb. 2007. <http://www.rootsweb.com/~inboone>
Original data: Herringshaw, Thomas William. "Herringshaw's
Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth
Century." Chicago, IL, USA: American Publishers
Association, 1902, page 508.
Transcribed by:
T. Stover - August 20, 2007
[biography 3 of 3]
HUDSON, Thomas Jefferson, a Representative from Kansas;
born near Jamestown, Boone County, Ind., October 30, 1839;
attended a neighborhood private school, Lebanon (Ind.)
Academy, and Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Ind.; moved to
Nodaway, Mo., in 1854; moved to Coysville, Wilson County,
Kans., in 1866 and taught in the first county school;
studied law; was admitted to the bar in Iola, Kans., in June
1869; moved to Fredonia Kans., in 1869 and commenced
practice; aided in the adoption of the fifteenth amendment;
treasurer and member of the first Fredonia school board in
the early seventies; member of the State house of
representatives in 1870; mayor of Fredonia in 1871;
organized the Wilson County Bank in Fredonia in 1871; was
graduated from the law department of the University of
Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1874; prosecuting attorney for Wilson
County 1884-1886; delegate to many Democratic State
conventions; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions
in 1884, 1888, 1896; elected as a Populist to the
Fifty-third Congress (March 4, 1893-March 3, 1895); was not
a candidate for renomination in 1894; resumed the practice
of law in Fredonia; regent of the State college of
agriculture in 1897 and 1898; died in Wichita, Kans., on
January 4, 1923; interment in Fredonia Cemetery, Fredonia,
Kans.
Source Citation: Boone County
Biographies [database online] Boone County INGenWeb.
2007. <http://www.rootsweb.com/~inboone> Original data:
"Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949":
The Continental Congress September 5, 1774, to October 21,
1788 and The Congress of the United States From the First to
the Eightieth Congress March 4, 1789 to January 3, 1949,
Inclusive. United States Government Printing Office,
Washington, D.C.: 1950. Page 1343.
Transcribed by: T. Stover - August
20, 2007
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