Alameda County
Biographies
HENRY MULFORD HUDSON
HENRY MULFORD HUDSON. Although a resident of San
Francisco, Henry Mulford Hudson’s best interests lie in Alameda county, where
he is engaged as superintendent of the extensive ranch of his uncle, Thomas W.
Mulford, a pioneer settler of 1849. He was born in San Francisco, Cal., October
10, 1868, a son of Henry Dayton Hudson, who was also a pioneer of the state.
The elder man was born in Sag Harbor, N. Y., May 21, 1832, a son of
Phineas, who was born in the same state August 20, 1803. Phineas Hudson being a
ship builder and shipwright by trade, his son was reared to the same
occupation. In 1849, in company with his two sons, George Brown and Henry
Dayton, he came to California via the Horn, in the old whaling vessel,
Daniel Webster, and after landing in San Francisco engaged for a
livelihood in discharging ships in the harbor. For a very short time he tried a
miner’s life, but returning to San Francisco engaged in ship repairing, being
largely employed by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. Later he entered into
partnership with D. C. M. Goodsell, the firm subsequently being
known as Hudson & Goodsell. Mr. Hudson died in San Francisco September
11, 1872. Henry Dayton Hudson engaged upon his arrival in California as a ship
caulker, a branch of his father’s business, and was at one time president of
the Ship Caulkers’ Association of San Francisco. Afterward, for eighteen years,
he served as sexton of the First Congregational Church of that city. He now
resides in the Crocker Old People’s Home. His wife, formerly Mary Clarissa
Mulford, was born in Patchogue, Long Island, New York state, December 1, 1831,
and died June 13, 1901.
The only child of his parents, Henry Mulford Hudson was
reared in the city of his nativity, where he received a thorough education.
After completing the course of the grammar schools, he attended the high school
for two years, then entered a commercial institution and completed a business
course, graduating from the first named in 1883, and the last in 1886, in the
month of June of each year. His first employment was in the capacity of
bookkeeper for W. J. Houston & Co., at No. 16 Front street, San
Francisco, where he remained eighteen months. On leaving this position he
engaged as traveling salesman for the Lamson Consolidated Store Service
Company, of Boston and San Francisco, continuing with them for six years. For a
short time thereafter he was located on a farm in Sunol, Alameda county, when,
in 1896, he came to the ranch of his uncle, Thomas W. Mulford, and the
following year was made superintendent of the three hundred and twenty acres,
which is devoted to general farming.
In his fraternal relations Mr. Hudson belongs to El
Dorado Parlor No. 52, N. S. G. W., of San Francisco, and in
his political convictions adheres to the principles advocated in the platform
of the Republican party.
Mrs. Hudson is a native of New York City.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard 22 September 2015.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages
777-778. The Chapman Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Marie
Hassard.
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