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Introduction ometime in the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries, when surnames were adopted, the Anglo Saxon word "hud," meaning mill, was taken by the son of a miller. The Hudsons were mill owners and bakers at Lutterworth in the county of Leicester where John Hud- son's father Benjamin was born. As the sixth son in the family and facing an uncertain future during an economic downturn, Ben- jamin left his home in 1810 for Coventry in the neighboring county of Warwick. Here he became an apprentice in the trades of printer, bookseller, bookbinder, and stationer. The family must have had some wealth for Benjamin's father was able to pay ninety pounds and nineteen shillings for' his son's training. One of the Hudsons achieved the distinction of becoming a baronet, Sir Charles Grave Hudson, whose manor house, Wanlip Hall, about four miles north of Leicester, received some recognition in 1802 for its outstanding architecture. After seven years of preparation and some time spent as a journeyman, Benjamin established himself in Birmingham as a printer and bookseller. He soon w `as engaged in the publishing business and became the proprietor of one of the first newspapers in that city. Obviously a man of dignity and good reputation in his community, Benjamin's portrait reveals a well-dressed and distinguished-looking gentleman. He became an elder in the Carr's Lane Non Conformist Church of Christ of Birmingham as did his eldest son William, who left the family a Bible which was pre- sented to him on May 24,1850, by "the young men who compose his class in Carr's Lane Sabbath School." Benjamin Hudson was very devout and concerned that the many children who soon flooded his household received proper moral and ethical instruc- tion. Benjamin married Rebecca Edwards, born November Z&1800, whose family also belonged to the Church of Christ of Carr's Lane in Birmingham. Rebecca was the third child of five, and her oldest brother, William, became a prominent businessman and manu- facturer in the city. By 1837 Benjamin and Rebecca were the |
