Santa Clara County
Biographies
JOSHUA A. HUDSON
For twenty years Joshua A. Hudson has been associated with the educational development of the Santa Clara valley, and has justly won distinction among its teachers for the ability, energy and whole-souled application which he brought to his work. Coming to California in the days when educational advantages were assuming a more important position in the minds of the citizens, Mr. Hudson took up the work as a pioneer and taught in numerous schools in Santa Clara, Fresno and Sutter counties; in San Jose he taught in the school now supplanted by the Grant school when there were but two departments, and in various schools throughout the valley held the position of principal. He is widely known and thoroughly appreciated for the many qualities which have distinguished his work in the state.
On Mackinac Island, in Lake Huron, Mr. Hudson was born July 10, 1827, a son of John S. and Abigail (Smith) Hudson, the former a native of Vermont, the latter of Massachusetts. His father, being a teacher, was sent to the Island of Mackinac through the American Board of Missionaries, there remaining for ten years, when he removed with his family to Cleveland, Ohio, and there spent his last days, both himself and wife attaining a ripe old age. He was a passenger on the ill-fated steamer Walk-in-the-Water, the first high pressure steamer ever on the lakes, and which was wrecked just off the shore from Buffalo, N. Y., October 13, 1821, all on board, however, being saved through the courageous efforts of those who witnessed the accident.
The home of Joshua A. Hudson remained in the north until he was four years old, after which he spent his boyhood years in Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained until he was seven years old. He early displayed both unusual ability and ambition in his studies, and in the schools of Strongsville, Ohio, attained an education which fitted him for the work he hoped to take up. At the age of eighteen years he became a teacher in the common schools of the state, teaching during the winter and following the occupation of farming in the summer. By this method he soon acquired sufficient capital to purchase fifty acres of land, of which he retained possession until 1870, when he decided to locate in California, the following year settling in San Jose, where he erected a fine residence adjoining that which he now occupies, and which he afterward built. Following his location in the state he became identified with the educational interests of the valley, teaching in many schools and making his influence felt in the advancement and upbuilding of his line of work. Justified by his long continuance in the work and the proceeds which have marked a strong business sagacity and judgment, he is now retired from the active duties of life, and is passing the evening of his days among the pleasant surroundings of his home in this city. In the meantime he purchased a ranch of twenty acres in Santa Clara county and planted it to peaches, prunes, cherries and apricots, in which work he took much interest until disposing of it to his son.
The marriage of Mr. Hudson united him with Mary Metcalf, who was born in Exeter, Me., but was reared in Ohio, and educated in the same school that her husband attended. Of this union were born two children, of whom Myrtle married Dr. E. R. Wagner, of San Jose, and now has four children, namely: Hubert, Elizabeth D. F., Clarence and Vincent; and Allen W. Hudson, a horticulturist and manager of the East Side Dryer, married Laura Carothers and has three children, namely: Robert, Charles and Elmer. Mr. Hudson is a citizen of intelligence and public spirit, and one who has given his best efforts to advance the general welfare. He merits the esteem and confidence which is his to an unusual degree, of the large circle of friends and acquaintances which he has made during his long and honorable residence in the Santa Clara valley. November 9, 1903, Mr. and Mrs. Hudson celebrated their golden wedding, which was made the occasion of a joyful gathering of relatives and friends of this worthy pioneer couple, who have left the generation, and whose memory many will delight to honor.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 1234. The Chapman Publishing
Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2016 Joyce Rugeroni.