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| Susanna and Henry's tombstone in the St. Peter and St. Paul's parish churchyard, Stokesley, Yorkshire |
The inscription says:
In memory of Susanna the wife of Andrew Hudson who departed this life the 5th of March 1812 age 79 years. Also Henry Hudson late of Stockton many years a resident at Little Busby in Yorkshire departed this life February 15 1838 age 72 years. He was a kind husband and an [illegible] father.
From Henry's 1835 will we know that his siblings were William (deceased), John, James and Susanna. Henry's will left his estate in trust to provide income for his wife Ann and daughter Ann. After his daughter's death the estate was to be distributed to his grandchildren. If his daughter died childless, the estate was to be distributed to the surviving heirs of his brothers and sisters.
At some point in the 1900's John Hudson (1865 - 1950) wrote this about the Hudson family history in England. His story about a Linthorpe farm, Ann Hudson, and the inheritances received by Henry's heirs are what link our ancestor William to his brother Henry:
The first news of the family, dated from April 1773. The family were installed at a farm situated in Linthorpe in Cleveland in the borough of Middlesboro in the North (Riding) of the county of York. The names of the father and mother are unknown, but the children were named Henry, John and James, also a daughter named Susana.
Henry remained with the farm, married and had a daughter Ann. He died in 1838 leaving all to Ann in trust, according to the document I enclose. Later the farm was expropriated to build a work-house and cemetery for Middlesboro, but on account of the will, Ann could only dispose of the interests of the money (during her lifetime) which was deposited in Chancery. Ann had been married twice, but had had no children, so in 1885 she told her lawyers to make a search for the relatives, as the estate was now worth over £40.000.
Ann was then about 65. From the search it resulted that William was born on the 17th of April 1773, and had gone to Liverpool, married on the 16th of May 1803 to Mary Brush. He had 3 Children, namely John (my grandfather) Born 3rd October 1806, Henry and Mary.
John married Sarah Thompson and the eldest child was my father Peter, who married Martha Appleton. Their son John married Annie Lloyd, from which their family Florence, Ellen, Peter, Alfred & Leslie....
Henry's only child was born in 1819 in Little Busby, Yorkshire. Ann died without children on February 8 1896 in Bournemouth, Hampshire. At that time she was married to Joseph Outhred (1829 - 1925). Previously she had been married to Henry Walker (1808-1862).
In 1864 Ann Walker sold some of the land that had been placed in trust by Henry to the rapidly growing city of Middlesbrough to be developed as Albert Park.
In the late 1860's Ann Outhred and her second husband, Joseph Claxton Outhred, sold additional acres to Middlesbrough to be used as a new cemetery, reportedly in response to a cholera epidemic that required the city to develop a new burying ground.
In 1875, due to Middlesbrough's continued rapid growth, it was determined that a new workhouse was needed to house the poor. The newly formed Middlesbrough Poor Union proposed to purchase 15 acres of land from Ann and Joseph Outhred for that purpose.
In October 1875, descendants of Henry's siblings (Susan Clark, Henry's niece, was the lead plaintiff) sued Joseph Outhred, his wife Ann Hudson Outhred and other named Hudson defendants in UK Chancery Court, alleging that Joseph, Ann and the others had violated the terms of Henry's will by taking not just the income from his estate to which Ann was entitled but also some principal, and by selling land from the Linthorpe Farm to the city of Middlesboro, York for less than fair market value. They also sued the trustees of the newly formed Middlesbrough Poor Union, alleging that the proposed purchase price for the land where the new workhouse would be built was too low. By this time it was clear that the plaintiffs would inherit the estate when Ann died, as she was 56 years old and had no children.
The lawsuit says that Henry's brother William, deceased, had one son who had emigrated to America. Our William did have one son (John) who moved to Ireland for several years, but as far as we know none who moved to America. The Outhred's responded that they simply didn't know.
The lawsuit also describes the various Hudson defendants and plaintiffs in 1875. We don't understand why there are Hudson defendants in addition to Ann. We used that, along with birth, death and baptism information found primarily at the North Yorkshire Records Archive (especially parish records for Patrick Brompton, York) to create an ancestry family tree for Henry, his parents, siblings and their descendants.
Henry's father Andrew was buried at the parish church in Patrick Brompton, York, and all of his children, including William, were baptized there. The parish records say they all lived in Newton-le-Willows, a tiny village about 1/2 mile from Patrick Brompton. The cemetery contains numerous Hudson gravestones up to the present time, and we believe that Newton-le-Willows is the ancestral home of our Hudson ancestors. A matching yDNA test with one of our Hudson men could prove the connection.
1. The 1875 pleading and answers from January 1876 are on file in the British National Archives at Kew, reference C16/999/C295 and C290. The short names of the cases are "Clark v Outhred" and "Clark v Trustees of the Middlesbrough Poor Union". Any judicial decrees or orders would be in the J15 files at the National Archives at Kew, which are not yet online as of September 2016. We searched the indexes through 1879 but didn't find anything more regarding the suit. Possibly it was dropped after the Outhred's answered in 1876, or possibly something more happened after 1879. John Hudson wrote that Ann's search for the beneficiaries of the trust began in 1885, which may have been in reaction to a subsequent court order. When we next return to Kew we should continue looking through the J15 indexes from 1880 - 1885.
In August 2017 we received a copy of an 1897 document titled "In the Matter of Henry Hudson" from a distant in-law in England, which by naming Henry's nephew John Hudson by his brother William, and by naming John's children, proves the connections and descent of our Hudson's from Andrew Hudson of Newton-Le-Willows:
[Cover Envelope]
In the Matter of Henry Hudson
Report of the Proceedings of August 7, 1897
[illegible] Anderson
[Page 1]
In the High Court of Justice
Chancery Division
In the matter of the Estate of Henry Hudson decd.
This Case came before the Courts on the 7th. August when the persons entitled were finally ascertained.
The Estate with the accumulated Interest will produce clear, nearly £48,000. This will be divisible into twelve primary shares as representing the Nephews and Nieces of the Testator’s Brothers and Sister; each of which twelve shares will of course be sub-divided again according to their respective families.
In the case of Henry Hudson, the Son of the Testator’s brother William Hudson, who married ...rch [Thurch?] Lawton, the £4000 is divisible among the following persons:-
- Mary, now living
- Henry, the oldest Son and Heir at Law of Enoch Thomas Lawton
- The Heir at Law of Thomas Hudson, who is the said Henry Hudson
- The Heir at Law of Emma Hudson, who was declared to have died in 1877 or 20 years after her Father.
- John Hudson and
- Ann Chilton.
It will be noted that William & John who died when Infants do not take a share because they did not survive their Parent. By the terms of the Will the share of the Parent went amongst the issue that were left: that is to say Henry Hudson who married Thurcy Lawton, at the time of his death in 1857 left Mary Hudson, Enoch Lawton Hudson, Thomas Hudson, Emma Hudson, John Hudson, and Ann Chilton & they take this share.
Now the next point is, it will occur of course that the share of Emma & the share of Thomas should go amongst the other equally. This is not so, because it is real property which goes to their Heir at Law, and not to their next of kin. The Heir at Law would be Enoch Lawton Hudson the eldest brother & his only Son takes their share.
[Page 2]
As to the Family of John Hudson who married Sarah Thompson. Now John died on the 22nd August 1879 and his share therefore is divisible only between the Children that were living on the 22nd August 1879 namely:-
(1) Jane Rowlands
(2) Sarah Kermode
(3) William Hudson
(4) Emily ….shall [Marshall?]
(5) Mary Gibbons
(6) John Hudson
(7) Thomas Hudson who died in 1889. Thomas Hudson’s eldest Son John Henry Hudson takes his share.
Now it will be seen at once that Peter does not take a share. He does not take this share because he died some seven years before his Father.
The whole Case was as clear as it could possibly be. The actual payment of the money over I do not think can be done before the end of the year as there are now all the accounts now to get out to regulate the proportions.
Dated this 9th day of August.
[Illegibly Signed]
Note: John's son Peter was lost at sea in February 1872.
Our thanks to Sue Dawson, whose family preserved this document when they cleaned house following the death of Miriam Ann Nixon. Miriam was Alfred Hudson's (son of Peter Hudson) second wife.
