page_title: David Hudson (pioneer)
section_title: Hudson Township
hierarchical_section_title: David Hudson (pioneer) / Establishment of Hudson / Hudson Township
context_page_description: David Hudson was an American businessman noted for founding Hudson Township, the present-day Hudson, Ohio. Hudson was born in Branford, Connecticut and lived there until the age four when his family moved to Goshen, Connecticut. He lived in Goshen for many years, owning a farm, marrying Anna Norton in 1783 and raising the oldest seven of their nine children there. In 1789, Hudson joined a group to purchase a parcel of land in the Connecticut Western Reserve. The following year, he left Goshen to survey the parcel and settle it as Hudson Township. Hudson traveled through the state of New York, west along Lake Erie and south along the Cuyahoga River to reach his land.
  At the settlement, Hudson and his men built a home and the township's population increased steadily over the next few decades. Hudson's wife and children eventually moved to the township, where they had two more children. Hudson cited religion as a major influence on his life. He died on March 17, 1836 at age 75.
context_section_description: After establishing the center point of their parcel, Hudson and his partners built a trail from that point to their boat on the Cuyahoga. It took more than a week for the group to build the trail and carry their goods from the boat. They then built a small shelter, and began to establish the township.
  The group experienced hardship over the next few months, including wet weather and a shortage of food. Hudson traveled back up the Cuyahoga to Cleaveland in an attempt to buy food. "The weather was exceeding wet and very cold, and I experienced the most uncomfortable night I ever felt", he wrote in his journal.
  When Hudson returned to Cleaveland, he found few settlers and no food to spare. He continued east on Lake Erie to the mouth of Cattaraugus Creek, a stream in Western New York. There, Hudson obtained food and brought it back to the settlement.
  By autumn, its population had grown to thirteen; the group built a 16-by-18-foot (4.9 m × 5.5 m) log house and planted a small turnip garden and a 9-acre (3.6 ha) wheat field. By this time most of the plot had been surveyed, and surveying was completed on October 11.
  The following day Hudson, his son Ira and two other men returned to Goshen, Connecticut, to sell land on the Western Reserve. Hudson's boat was leaky and the trip was difficult due to cold, inclement weather, but in Goshen he found his family in good health. Hudson sold land on his settlement to twenty-eight people, offering 40 acres (16 ha) to the first purchaser (Miss Ruth Gaylord, who gave the land to her niece).
  On January 1, 1800 Hudson and his family left Goshen for the township, their new permanent residence. The family stopped in Bloomfield, New York, where they met with the rest of the settlers. Hudson purchased livestock and a year's worth of supplies for $2,000, giving the livestock to four men to drive overland to the settlement. On April 30, the remaining settlers embarked on eight boats, arriving on May 20. On October 28, Anna Hudson gave birth to Anne Maria, the first person born in the settlement.
  By the end of the year, Hudson's colony was the first established settlement in present-day Summit County. A few more settlers arrived in 1801, and in 1802 the settlement became officially known as Hudson Township.
caption: Location of Hudson Township in northeastern Ohio
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