IRA J. HUDSON. Give to a man the instincts and ability of a merchant by birth
and he will sooner or later identify himself with that particular line of
business, regardless of what his early training with reference to other pursuits
may be. Many a man has made his mark in the field of merchandising, lacking the
very desirable advantages of education and training. How much greater, then, is
a man's chance for ultimate success in business when he is fortified with a
liberal general education in addition to that great fundamental necessity,
natural ability. The career of Ira J. Hudson particularly emphasizes this truth,
as a glance at his record will amply confirm.
Ira J. Hudson was born in Clinton, Kentucky, July 19, 1877, being the son of
Henry J. Hudson, now a merchant in Mounds, Illinois, but born in Hickman county,
Kentucky, near Clinton, in 1853. He was the son of another Henry Hudson, who
became a resident of the Corncracker state in about 1835, coming there from
Virginia and acquiring a tract of farm land near Clinton, for which he paid the
nominal figure of two dollars and a half per acre. Henry Hudson, the Kentucky
pioneer, had no brothers, but he had three sisters: they were Mrs. Morris Brown,
of Hannibal, Missouri; Mrs. Sichling, the wife of Dr. Sichling, of Ullin,
Illinois; and Mrs. Maryon Woodard of Clinton, Kentucky. He was the husband of
Amanda Spicer, who bore him six children, as follows: Mary J., who married J.
Vaughan and spent her life near Clinton, Kentucky; Sarah E., who became the wife
of H. H. Harmon, and also passed her life near Clinton; Mrs. T. F. Gwyn, of
South Columbus, Kentucky; Henry J., of Mounds, Illinois; and Martha Ellen, the
wife of J. V. Brady, of Chaffee, Missouri. The remainder of his life was passed
in Hickman county, Kentucky, and there he died in 1900, having reached a
venerable age.
The early life of Henry J. Hudson was spent as a farmer in his native county.
The usual common school advantages of a youth of that period were his, and on
reaching years of manhood he married Miss Annette Lentz, a daughter of Paul
Lentz, of German birth, and a settler of Hickman county from North Carolina.
When Henry J. Hudson came to Illinois in 1881 he continued his life as a farmer
until the birth and early development of the railroad activities at Mounds,
Illinois, when he went to that city and engaged in business in a mercantile way,
conducting a grocery business of a particularly thriving nature for years under
the firm name of H. J. Hudson and Son. In 1909 he was succeeded in that business
by his son, and he subsequently opened a small confectionery establishment on
the same street, where he is still conducting a lively and lucrative business.
Henry J. Hudson is a Republican in his political convictions, and he comes from
a family with pronounced Southern sympathies, which statement is considerably
emphasized by the fact that two of his brothers-in-law served in the Confederate
army. The issue of his marriage with Annette Lentz, previously mentioned, are
Ira J., of Mounds, Illinois; Henry, cashier of the Cotton Belt freight office
at. Cairo, Illinois; Omer, in the service of the Illinois Central at Mounds;
Bertie, married to Van Pope, but now deceased; Otis, a doctor who took his
medical degree some years ago and practiced for a time in the Southern Illinois
Penitentiary at Chester, but is now located at Mounds; and Paul and Ray, both in
the employ of the Illinois Central at Mounds.
Ira J. Hudson as a boy and youth was a regular attendant at the common schools
in Ullin, Illinois. At the age of sixteen he was graduated from the Friendship
School in Pulaski county, Illinois, and later spent two years at the Southern
Illinois Normal at Carbondale. Following that he read law for a year in the law
department of McKendree College at Lebanon, Illinois. He then engaged as a
teacher, and he served in that capacity for several years in the counties of
Pulaski, Jackson and Alexander, in all of which places he held an admirable
record for careful and efficient service. His last work as a teacher was
performed in the year 1900, .when he became associated with his father in the
mercantile business. In 1905 he took service with the Illinois Central and
became night foreman at Mounds. a responsible position which he held for several
years, severing his connection with that company in 1909, at which time he took
over the business then being conducted under the name of H. J. Hudson and Son,
and he has conducted that business successfully since that time, always
improving, expanding, and in every way reaching out after trade, and generally
demonstrating his inherent ability and capacity for successful merchandising.
Mr. Hudson politically is a Republican, and has been more or less active in the
affairs of his party for a number of years. He is now serving his fourth term as
city clerk of Mounds, thereby showing himself to be sufficiently public spirited
to encumber himself with the cares of office in addition to the manifold
responsibilities of everyday life. He is identified with a number of fraternal
societies, in all of which he is prominent and active, among them being the
order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a past master in
Masonry and has served as deputy grand master. In his church relations he is of
the Methodist Episcopal faith.
On June 13, 1901, Mr. Hudson was united in marriage with Miss Retta Gher, a
daughter of Dr. Gher, of Makanda, and they are the parents of one child, Ira J.,
Jr.
Extracted from A History of Southern Illinois, 1912, Volume 2, page 719-721
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