HUDSON.
One of the earliest patentees of land in the wilds of Albemarle
was Charles Hudson, of Hanover. His first entry was
made in 1730 on the Hardware, below Carter's Bridge. It
was for two thousand acres, and within the next three
years he obtained grants for sixteen hundred more in the
same locality. It embraced Mount Air, which was one of
the seats of the Hudson family for more than a hundred years.
The stream entering the south side of the Hardware below
Mount Air, was formerly known as Hudson's Creek. Charles
Hudson also took out a patent in 1735 for two thousand acres
on Ivy Creek, southwest of Ivy Depot, which he sold two
years later to the elder Michael Woods. It is almost certain
he never lived in Albemarle himself. He died in 1748, and
the executor of his estate was his son-in-law, John Wingfield.
His wife was probably a Royall, and his children were William,
John, Christopher, Mary, the wife of John Wingfield,
Elizabeth, the wife of Nicholas Johnson, Rebecca, the wife
of Robert Wathen, Sarah, the wife of Richard Holland, and
Ann, the wife of Joseph Lewis. In 1762 Mary Wingfield,
still living in Hanover, conveyed to her son Charles part of
five hundred acres in Albemarle given her by her father, and
named Prospect, where Charles was living at the time. This
Charles was the forefather of most of the Wingfields, who
have since resided in the county.
John Hudson had his residence on the lower Hardware.
He died in 1768. He and his wife Ann had four children,
Charles, John, Christopher, and Mary, the wife of a Gaines,
Charles married Jane, daughter of Colonel Charles Lewis Jr.,
of Buck Island. Their daughter, Martha Eppes, was the
wife of Tucker Moore Woodson, who about 1804 removed to
Kentucky. Charles Hudson seems not to have been prosperous
in his affairs. In 1807 he exchanged with Samuel
Dyer the place on Hardware where he lived, for a tract of land
in Barren County, Kentucky, to which he probably removed.
John, whose residence was on the Hardware, died in 1801.
His children were John, who died in 1827, Charles, who died
in 1837, and whose daughter Isaetta became the wife of Isaac
R. Barksdale, Elizabeth, the wife of Charles A. Scott,
Rebecca, the wife of William Henderson, Sarah, Mary, the
wife of a Cobbs, and Ann Barber, the wife of John Henderson.
Christopher, the son of the first Charles, displayed more of
the ability and thrift of his father than any other of his descendants.
At the time of his death, which took place in 1825,
he was the possessor of more than five thousand acres of
land. He was appointed a magistrate in 1800, but four
years after resigned. His home was at Mount Air. He
married Sarah, daughter of David Anderson, and his children
were Elizabeth, the wife of George Gilmer, and Ann,
the wife of William Tompkins. His grandson, Thomas W.
Gilmer, had charge of the administration of his large estate.
