David Hudson (New York politician) explained

David Hudson (August 23, 1782 Dutchess County, New York - January 12, 1860 Geneva, Ontario County, New York) was an American lawyer, writer and politician from New York.

Life

He was the son of Asa Hudson (b. 1749) and Mary (Scott) Hudson (1752–1825). On January 16, 1816, he married Hester (Hetty) Schuyler Dey (1792–1863).

In 1821, he published a History of Jemima Wilkinson (on-line version), a biography of the Public Universal Friend, described by historians as "hostile and inaccurate", and accused of having been written to influence a then-ongoing court case over land owned by the Society of Universal Friends.[1] [2] [3]

He was a Whig member from Ontario County of the New York State Assembly in 1838. In 1840, he was elected a canal commissioner, and remained in office until 1842.

He, his wife, and three of their children who died in infancy were buried at Pulteney Street Cemetery in Geneva, NY.

Sources

  1. Book: Moyer, Paul B.. The Public Universal Friend: Jemima Wilkinson and Religious Enthusiasm in Revolutionary America. Cornell University Press. 2015. 978-0-8014-5413-4. 202–203 . registration.
  2. Book: Wisbey, Herbert A. Jr.. 1964. Pioneer Prophetess: Jemima Wilkinson, the Publick Universal Friend. Cornell University Press. 2009. 978-0-8014-7551-1 . 150, 182.
  3. Edward T. James, Janet Wilson James, Paul S. Boyer, Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary (1971): "David Hudson's Hist. of Jemima Wilkinson (Geneva, N.Y., 1821) was inspired by malice and self-interest and is inaccurate as to fact."