Contents

Sometime 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 in Lutterworth in the county of Leicester where John Hudson's father, Benjamin, was born. As the sixth son in the family and facing an uncertain future during an economic downturn, Benjamin 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 was 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 presented 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 instruction.

Benjamin married Rebecca Edwards, born November 22, 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 manufacturer in the city. By 1837 Benjamin and Rebecca were the parents of eight sons and three daughters, William being the first child and John the second in what was even then a comfortably large household.

The family Bible records that John Hudson was born February 20, 1826. By 1839 he was a student in a private school at Choriton Hall, Hume, a private home of rather large dimensions which was converted into a school sometime in the early nineteenth century. It was located about a mile from Manchester on Rutland Street, Choriton-on-Medlock.

Although John was only twelve years of age when he matriculated at the private academy, letters to his father reveal a writing skill and a keen sense of observation even at this time. As his American letters and journal show, he had been trained to write copperplate, or copy-book script, a nickname applied to English round hand characterized by precision but a rather showy and splendiferous "command of hand." In his youthful correspondence, he implores his father to allow him to continue his dancing and drilling classes, and one wonders if his later participation as a private in the Colony Guard gold-seeking expedition in America might not have brought back memories of his school-day drills. He assures his father that "dancing is good for strength" just in case the elder Hudson might be concerned with the effeminacy of the exercise. Young John also shows his early interest in art by writing that he had attended a Mr. Smith's lectures and exhibits of models and paintings. He ends this note with the necessary comment, "1 paid for them myself."

In a longer letter he describes a visit to the zoological gardens which again shows a native curiosity and a way with words. He watched "three such pretty little monkeys not more than 3 inches high and they chattered and grinned if we came near them." In the bird house he "saw a great many Parrots who had the most beautiful plumage and one of them sung and whistled so well that I thought it was some person outside." The very existence of these letters in the family records indicates a conviction on the part of someone that John Hudson had unusual powers of perception and written expression.

With a solid English education behind him, John at age twenty-two could perceive no future in the family printing and stationery business which tradition decreed would go as an inheritance to the oldest son, his brother William. He was, therefore, delighted when his mother's brother William Edwards offered to finance a journey to New York City where John would take over his uncle's import agency and sell the Edwards line of merchandise in the United States. Edwards's business was advertised in the Directory of Birmingham as being a "pocket book lock manufacturer" and in the Birmingham History and Directory as a "cabinet brass founder and locksmith." Nephew John was expected to conduct the sales and administer the trade for his uncle's products in the New York City area.

Leaving Liverpool in August 1849 aboard the ship Cambridge, the young man was soon engaged in writing the first of his twelve letters of life in the new world of America. While enjoying the pleasures of sightseeing and becoming acquainted with the social and religious life of New York City, he soon discovered that poor economic conditions portended only failure, and he expressed real concern over whether he could survive in the high-priced atmosphere of Gotham. The news of the discovery of gold in California, therefore, provided a possible escape from penury. When his Uncle William, also attracted by the magical allure of the golden shores of the Pacific, offered to finance his journey to the mines, John accepted eagerly. Attached to the Colony Guard Company of high-minded young gentlemen, he set out across the mountains, down the Ohio, and up the Missouri to Kansas where he and his companions prepared for the dash across the plains to the treasure awaiting them. His illness from cholera or "mountain fever" forced a disappointing stop at the Mormon City of the Saints where he decided to spend the winter before proceeding across the desert to California.

John Hudson's temporary stop at Salt Lake City lengthened into one of about sixteen months as he recovered from his illness, joined the Mormon church, and contracted to spend his first winter in the Great Basin as a teacher in the frontier settlement of Fort Utah in Utah Valley. By February of 1850, his pedagogical duties at an end, he spent two days as a volunteer militiaman in a battle with the local Ute Indians and heard the whistle of bullets in the air before leaving again for Salt Lake Valley. There he was fortunate enough to be hired by Captain Howard Stansbury who needed a draughtsman for his expedition to survey Great Salt Lake. The three-month exploration of the lake permitted the artist-writer to have full sway, and we are fortunate recipients of his sketches and journal which he kept of the expedition around the shores of this inland sea. At the end of his work with Stansbury, Hudson then hired out as a clerk to one of the local justices of the peace in Salt Lake City during the summer of 1850.

At the fall General Conference of the Mormon church, John Hudson was one of the one hundred Saints chosen to strengthen the new frontier settlement of Manti in Sanpete Valley, over a hundred miles south of Salt Lake City. Here, on December 14, he finally succumbed to an attack of pneumonia brought on by the illness that had pursued him ever since his trip across the plains.

Hudson's passing marked the end of a rather unpretentious life, but the artistic sketches and the effervescent letters and journal he left behind provide a legacy which many an individual of greater deeds would envy. As one of his descendants wrote, comparing John's letters to those from a younger brother who had emigrated to Australia, "The brother's letters are not a patch on John's." The unique combination of good humor, uncomplaining acceptance of sometimes rather harsh conditions, a modest appraisal of his own character and strengths, and above all, an artist's eye for the interesting and exceptional in the scenes and incidents he portrays, stamps Hudson's writings as a fine contribution to the heritage of western history. His pictures and sketches provide another dimension to the panorama he paints with his pen. It is now appropriate to allow John Hudson to tell his own story of his American adventure.

* * * * *

"Street in Great Salt Lake City, looking East."
		Identified by the artist as the "West Side of Stansbury Island Taken from Camping ground of 21 June/ 50."
	Unidentified sketch that may be of some Utah scene.

Part One

AN ENGLISHMAN IN NEW YORK CITY
August 1848 - February 1849

Letters
August 1848 - February 1849
_______________________________

Mr. W. Edwards
113 Suffolk Street.
Birmingham
England.

Ship Cambridge Augst 1848

Dear Uncle

I prefer addressing this letter to you, inasmuch as it is through your instrumentality, that I am in a position sufficiently novel to make the communication interesting although it will contain nothing relative to the object of the Journey.

Augst 15th This is the first day that I have thoroughly enjoyed my dinner & feel well enough for any employment requiring mental exertion & as I cannot find a pursuit more congenial than giving you some account of the mode in which we have spent the time since leaving England, I will endeavour to do so. The Ship is intended principally for conveying Emigrants & from the testimony of my fellow Voyagers is deficient in the usual accomodation extended to Cabin Passengers.1

I myself should not be inconvenienced were it not for the total want of ventilation in the ship & I feel this the more from the unpleasant situation of my berth, that being as you are aware the next room to the Stewards pantry, all the odours of which I have the full & entire benefit of; to this circumstance I may attribute the long time I have suffered from sea-sickness & I much doubt whether I shall get over the feeling of nausea all the voyage. Although there is of course much that is unpleasant yet on some accounts the Vessel is an excellent one In brisk winds she is a fast sailor & being strongly built in the event of a storm perhaps safer than many others with more pretension to Comfort. To Commence the days proceedings; at 7 a noisy bell is rung & about that time either myself or the Gentleman who shares my, state room! what a misnomer; but there is another instance of this still more flagrant, the extreme end of the vessel which we pass through to reach the Cabin, is crouded with Casks and chests & all kinds of lumber, & yet the Captain dignifies this retreat, with the name of saloon! this Gentleman who is a very extravagant young American turns out, & then we gladly breathe the fresh air on deck until 8, this being the Breakfast time; during the early part of our voyage our party was usually small, few feeling free from sickness early in the morning; when I endeavoured to breakfast in the Cabin I was generally compelled to leave the table & embrace my bosom friend the "Jordan"2 & having disgorged, in the privacy of my room fortified my inner man with salt fish, biscuit & a mug of tea which diet best suited my complaint. The sight of the breakfast even now, is an immense trial for it consists of such sweet buttery messes the characteristic of the cookery being decidely greasy, that it makes me squeamish to think about it, however the meal is soon over, the 2 Ladies retire into their cabin, & then the object is to spend the 6 hours intervening between breakfast & dinner, this will of course depends upon the weather, I have upon 2 or 3 occasions played at Shovelboard a species of bagatelle3 played upon deck with circular peices of wood & upon these occasions when free from sickness, my spirits were good & I enjoyed the sea air immensely; but through the privalence of squally wet weather, the reverse is the rule & the time drags on slowly enough; Every one at sea must be dependant upon their own resources, conversation is not often indulged in, the Passengers, although Gentlemanly men being reserved & I adopt the same line of action; we read, & I am able to vary this by painting, which I find quite practicable even when it is blowing hard; the only games played are cards & as I among other resolutions, have determined never to play, this amusement I do not participate in. At 3 o'clock the event of the day takes place, we dine the party consisting of 11 including the Captain & Surgeon. We have certain dishes for each day so that we can generally guess what will constitute the dinner. Nothing is more amusing than to notice the peculiarities of the Gentln with whom I am associated, one, sitting opposite me, made a dish of the following materials Duck, rice, potatoes, Ham, Pickle, cabbage, & then after having suffused this fascinating compound with olive oil gobbled it up with apparent relish. I myself have enjoyed nothing so much as Fruit pies, which to my regret we have but at long intervals. Little wine is drank & all are moderate the Stewards charges are high the Capt getting a profit upon all that comes from the Pantry. The dinner lasts about an hour when Weather permitting we walk on deck or read in the Cabin. At 6 o'clock tea & the last meal of the day, is ready & as I have not at this period recovered my appetite sufficiently to do justice to the meal; to stave off a longing for supper I turn in soon after 9 & then dream in the most vivid & intense way imaginable; this I imagine to be induced by the motion of the ship preventing very sound sleep. There are few incidents on board ship worthy of record but I find that, in the absence of more stirring, very unimportant events excite the most lively interest, shoals of porpoises, flocks of Mother Careys Chickens4 & a few young whales, constitute the phenomena of this voyage; My fellow passengers who are returning from an European tour are constantly uttering murmers not loud but deep against the inconveniences of the ship & the manners of the Captain, & as to the latter not without reason certainly, the inference drawn from the Bible & water Jug while in dock, has not been realized he is the most blasphemously impious man that I ever came in contact with, swearing & spitting, most incessantly. & so national that he might serve as the original of Dickens American5

Before writing some few extracts from my memorandum book I must premise that they are of rather a gloomy character, but do not on this account suppose that I regret making the voyage, not if the disagreeables were a hundred times greater but still as a faithful chronicler I endeavour to give you an unpredjudiced account of what must under any circumstances be unpleasant I am a miserable sailor & therefore feel abundantly thankful for the accomodations of first cabin; had I been forward lying 3 & 4 in a bed or rather box, not the slightest regard to personal cleanliness, compelled to cook & procure my own meals; & amid disease & wretchedness, under such circumstances I should deem a voyage across the Atlantic as about the greatest punishment that could be inflicted.

As I was not attacked by sea sickness until 2 days out I had an opportunity of admiring the receding coast; the extreme end of Anglesy is very pretty & romantic, but although 8 days in the Channel, owing to the distance the Irish coast had but the appearance of a dark cloud on the horizon. Who can describe the horrors of sea sickness, I lay in my berth totally indifferent to changing my clothes, feeling greatly debilitated from the internal commotion; Cold feet, & head ache prevented sleep; & even when the vomiting was not so violent I had no alternative but to lie either on the sofa or in my berth, mortally hungry, wishing for dinner time & calm seas, but most of all for the hour, that would emancipate us from "darkness, misery & motion" as Lamartine defines a sea voyage.6 I have little else but a record of head winds & rainy weather until Aug 27- upon that day I made the following entry in my mem. book.

My fellow Passengers knowing that I had a desire to see the wonders of the Atlantic called me out of my berth early in the morning & going on deck I saw some 8 or 12 whales, they were too small however to realize my idea of this monster of the deep. Two sharks have also been playing about the vessel & I have seen the beautiful Nautilus drifting by, resembling a pink bubble so fragile & delicate are these Portuguese Men of war, as they are termed; while writing upon animated nature I may as well mention, that the Newfoundland dog you noticed as belonging to the Captain, after having shown symptoms of ill health, bit one of the Passengers in the face, making me, I sitting by him, very nervous & soon after was heaved overboard by the Cap greatly to our secret satisfaction. Our sundays are widely different to the decorous ones on shore, no observation or circumstance indicating that it is a day of rest & devotion the only emotion this day awakened was congratulation that it was plumpudding day. You will say we fare well when I tell you that we had for dinner, Fresh salmon, Roast pork, plumpudding tarts & jelly after this was over I listened to a service conducted by a young man, a steerage passenger, whose moral & pious courage do him infinite honour; not 12 out of the 350 composing the ships company assisted or appeared interested in his effort, Yet he to the best of his ability, set the tune for a hymn, prayed & delivered a short address, in the course of which he stated that, had it not been for the sunday school, from which he derived all the knowledge he was possessed, he could not have spoken upon the topic he deemed of such importance & he urged all who were not already, upon arriving in the States to connect themselves with a similar Institution.7 An hour afterwards, we being on the banks of Newfoundland, the Captain gave orders & all were busy fishing for cod, but owing to the depth of the water, 45 fathoms, their efforts were but partially successful, one only was caught, the peice I had, cooked as a chop for tea was delicately tender & being served half an hour after he was caught, widely different from the cod I have hitherto tasted.

Aug. 31. This being the last day I suffered from sea sickness I consider it sufficiently important to make a note of it. We have abundant indication of approaching a warmer climate, the sun being now so powerful that we have an awning between the masts on deck. another feature is the increasing beauty of the sun worth enduring the annoyances of a sea voyage to become acquainted with such glorious effects; the beautiful gradation of color, the blue of the Zenith subsiding into green, golden, & then at the horizon a luminous crimson, this with the wild fantastic shapes of the clouds their ever changing forms & tints together with the golden color of the ocean, compose a scene which produce a solemnizing effect, irresistibly elevating the mind & impressing it with a sense of the beauty of Creation & the power of Omnipotence. Saturday Septr 9th. This morning at 4 o'clock a Pilot came on board when 45 miles distant from New York At 2 P.M. a steam tug was visible & soon after we were being towed to our destination & the voyage to our great joy was over, we have been 37 days making the passage, 30 days being about the average.8 Through the increasing darkness we could not see the celebrated bay of New York, The highlands of Jersey, this being the first land we saw, are pretty, & lighted up by the rays of the setting sun, bringing out the singularly white buildings, with the numerous craft formed a very picturesque scene. It was at first doubtful whether we could pass the quarantine ground, owing to the Prevalence of yellow fever, but this at length having been settled the Cabin passengers left the ship, by the steam tug & I was soon after at an Hotel. I thought it better to go to a different Hotel to that which the Gentl who accompanied me, visited as it will by leaving me indepen[den]t, perhaps save money a very important consideration in this luxurious City. I have only space left to express a hope that you & our Family are all well & that the London business is improving. I shall soon write again as I am anxious to report progress. I can say nothing in this about expense of living but am afraid that it is high, however I am determined to be economical beginning at a low round of the ladder of success. With Kind love & best wishes I remain

_______________

NOTES:

1Class distinctions aboard ship were very carefully defined, and while first-class passengers on an emigrant ship were listed by name, the low-paying fares below deck were lumped together under the term "steerage." The New York Tribune of September 11, 1848, noted the arrival of the Cambridge: "Passengers Arrived. In ship Cambridge from Liverpool—Mr. Swells of Philadelphia; Mr. Blight, of do [ditto]; Mr. W. Chancellor, do; Mr. Warton Chancellor, Mrs. W. Clark and child of Washington; Miss Minnis of New York; Mr. Forestall of New Orleans; Mr. Hudson of Birmingham, and 301 steerage."

2 A "jordan" was a pot or vessel with a large neck formerly used by physicians and alchemists, but in Britain at the time of Hudson's voyage, it was a name for the common chamber pot.

3"Bagatelle" was a game played with a cue and usually nine balls on an oblong table having cups or pockets at one end.

4"Mother Carey's Chickens" were any of numerous sea birds in the Atlantic, and specifically any of several species of small petrels, especially the stormy petrel.

5In many ways the American journey of John Hudson, until his venture across the Plains to the Great Basin, was a lesser copy of the American travels of Charles Dickens, at least in the routes taken and in some of the similar characterizations of individuals and places. Dickens was widely read in both the United States and England, and he was obviously a favorite author of Hudson who in many instances refers to Dickens's novels and to the similarities the young Englishman saw in the famous writer's descriptions of American culture or lack of it. After an almost six months' tour of the republic across the sea, from January to July of 1842, Dickens returned home to publish, in October, his two-volume American Notes which soon went through four editions in England. The book was met by angry and vituperative comments from many Americans who accused the author of "ingratitude, the grossest discourtesy, and deliberate falsehood" in his descriptions and caricatures of them. Much of Dickens's animus toward the native customs was aroused by the lack of an international copyright law which permitted American booksellers to sell his books without paying the author a farthing in royalties. There was, too, Dickens's inability to pass up an opportunity to poke a little fun at humanity in general and at his American cousins in particular. By the time of Hudson's arrival in New York City, much of the uproar had died down and at least a few Americans had come to accept that in many respects Charles Dickens had painted a true picture of some of the less gracious aspects of American life.
Captain Peabody was just the first of a number of Dickens's "originals" which Hudson was privileged to observe and describe in America (Charles Dickens, American Notes [London: Chapman and Hall, 1842]; Ralph Straus, Charles Dickens: A Biography from New Sources [New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1928], pp. 168, 171, 175, 177, 190-94).

6Alphonse Marie Louis de Prot de Lamartine (1790-1869) was a French poet who is ranked with Victor Hugo and Alfred de Musset as among the foremost French poets of the nineteenth century. He was also acclaimed for his oratory and involvement in politics as minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of 1848. He was made a member of the French Academy in 1830 and is remembered for his prose as well as his poetry (Clarence L. Barnhart, ed., The New Century Cyclopedia [New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1954], vol. 2, pp. 2364-65).

7Hudson's slight reference to the steerage passengers was perhaps typical of the "gentlemen" who were able to pay twenty to forty pounds for passage from Liverpool to America. They knew very little of life below decks where anywhere from three hundred to a thousand emigrants might be crammed into the holds; provided with very poor food and a daily ration of water with large doses of vinegar to disguise the deteriorating quality; and subject to diseases which might wipe out ten percent of the company. The conditions of the difficult journey with the cramped quarters, lack of privacy, and ever present seasickness, were well-described by the British emigration commissioners in 1847. People of all ages, "from the drivelling idiot of ninety to the babe just born," were confined to filthy beds in narrow spaces between piles of boxes, the sick intermingled with the healthy. The poor food was insufficiently cooked, the supply of water so meager that washing the floors between the berths was not permitted, and the ill seldom received any kind of medication before death and burial at sea intervened, the latter usually accomplished without the rites of the church (Basil W. Bathe, Seven Centuries of Sea Travel [New York: Tudor Publishing Company, 1973], pp. 89-91; Oscar Handlin, The Uprooted [Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973], pp. 44-50).

8Today's scholars of the subject would estimate the average length of the journey from Liverpool to New York to be about forty days which meant that Hudson's trip was rather normal in most respects (Handlin, Uprooted, p. 44; the New York Tribune, September 11, 1848, reported the docking of the Cambridge).

Copyright © Signature Books Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this text or graphics may be reproduced in any form or by any means without written permission from Signature Books Publishing, LLC.