HUDSON, William F., St. Mary then Iberia Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller
Source: Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical, Biographical
Section




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WILLIAM F. HUDSON, JEANNERETTE.--The subject of this sketch is a native
of Louisiana, born in St. Mary parish, 1825.  He is the son of Turner
and Isabella (Kemper) Hudson, natives of Virginia and Louisiana
respectively.

William F. Hudson is the oldest of a family of four children.  His
father died when he was five years of age and he was reared by his
uncle, Benjamin Hudson, by whom he was educated.  He first attended
private school at Franklin, Louisiana, and afterward went to the college
at Opelousas, where he remained for two years.  At the age of eighteen
he accepted a position as clerk in a commission house in New Orleans,
where he remained until 1846, when he enlisted in the United States
service. and engaged in the Mexican War.  February, 1848, he married
Miss Elodie, daughter of Theodore Fay, a native of France, and Heloise
(Segur) Fay, a native of Louisiana.  To this union were born two
children,  Arthur T., who died at the age of five years, and  Heloise,
wife of A. L. Monnot, a prominent sugar planter and refiner of
Jeannerette, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work.  In 1850 Mr.
Hudson erected a large store building in Franklin, Louisiana.  He
purchased a stock of goods and was engaged in merchandise in that place
until 1854, when he removed to Jeannerrette and opened the first store
of any importance in this now thriving town.  In his business at this
place he was very successful, and at the beginning of the war had
accumulated considerable property, nearly all of which was swept away by
the war.  In 1861 Mr. Hudson enlisted in the Third Louisiana Cavalry and
served until the close of the war.  Returning to Jeannerette in 1865, he
turned over his business to his son-in law, A. L. Monnot, under whose
supervision it has prospered.  Before the war Mr. Hudson was a Whig, and
for a number of years post-master at Jeannerette under the Whig
administration.  Since the dissolution of that party he has been a
Democrat, and was appointed by President Cleveland's administration
storekeeper at United States Mint, New Orleans, which he held for three
years.  Mr. Hudson has always taken great interest in all local affairs,
and especially in the growth of Jeannerette.  He has been instrumental
in bringing about many of the improvements of the place, and to him, to
a great extent, is due the honor of making the town what it is.  Indeed,
so generally is this recognized that he has been termed "The Father of
Jeannerette."  In 1870 he started the first sugar house, which led to
the present large establishment back of Jeannerette.  Mr. Hudson now
leads a quiet life, refusing to be the recipient of any political
honors, which have been often tendered him.

Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical, Biographical Section,
pp. 114-115.  Edited by William Henry Perrin.  Published in 1891, by The
Gulf Publishing Company.