David Hudson (New York politician)

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

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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

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  1. ^ Moyer, Paul B. (2015). The Public Universal Friend: Jemima Wilkinson and Religious Enthusiasm in Revolutionary America. Cornell University Press. pp. 202–203. ISBN 978-0-8014-5413-4.
  2. ^ Wisbey, Herbert A. Jr. (2009) [1964]. Pioneer Prophetess: Jemima Wilkinson, the Publick Universal Friend. Cornell University Press. pp. 150, 182. ISBN 978-0-8014-7551-1.
  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."