(For a larger version of either image, right-click it and select "Open image in new tab.") These images are from the census taken March 1875 in Fredonia, Wilson County, Kansas. Notice anything funny? T. J. Hudson and his two living children are shown in the census twice, once with a woman named Mary, once with a woman named E.R. (Emma).
(T.J.'s brother (half-brother?) Isaac is shown on page 2 of the same census. He's a 28-year old banker living alone.)
The handwriting of the census-taker is the same. I guess he didn't notice there were two attorneys-at-law named T.J. Hudson, with same named children. (He seems to show older son Merlin consistently as "Murley" or "Marley." The toddler Lois -- my ancestress -- is shown first as "Loe," then as "Louis." In the records, there are differing numbers for T.J.'s dollar value and age. (Records show 33 and 34; according to most records he'd then have been 35 ½.) The similarities of children's names and ages, etc. are far too strong for these to be two different families.
The bio below shows him born in 1844, 5 years younger than his presumed age. Why did he try to pretend to be younger? Could it relate to Civil War service?
The big mystery is the difference between the second members of these "two" families. "E. R." is obviously T.J.'s second wife, Emma Rosella neé Campbell; but who is "Mary Hudson"? T.J.'s first wife was Mattie and, we're told in Rosenberg's genealogy, deceased by this time. Anyway, 26-year old Mary isn't realistically old enough to be Murley's mother. According to the 1850 Boone County census, T.J. had one half-sister(?), Nancy, who would have been 31 or 32 at this time.
Does the fact that Mary's surname Hudson is spelled out rather than shown with ditto marks mean she was T.J.'s cousin, not wife? There was an Ahijah Hudson (b. ca 1820 Kentucky, m. Candees Emmert) in Boone County with a daughter Mary of the right age. I've suspected Ahijah was related to Andrew Hudson; he had sons named Andrew and Thomas Jefferson. But that Mary is shown marrying John M. Welles, 20 Feb 1868.
One thing we can be pretty sure of: Emma was the mother of Stella (T.J.'s first daughter), so probably mother of 2nd daughter Lois as well. The reason to think Emma is Stella's mother is that Emma had a sister named Stella.
Most of the discussion of the founding of Fredonia, Kansas. 
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Photographs of the 1870 Kansas legislators are available
from this
website.
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My "mysterious" ancestor is my great great grandfather, Thomas J. Hudson. He's my most "important" 2-g grandparent -- he was a U.S. Congressman -- yet also the only 2-g grandparent whose parents' names I don't know.
One mystery is the age and birth states that TJH tells the census. For a while he's two or three years younger and born in Illinois! He has trouble deciding what his parents' birth states are. Note: In the Kansas State censuses (1875, 1885, 1915) two states are asked: Birth State; and State From Which one came to Kansas.
Most mysterious of all, perhaps is that TJH and his two then-living children clearly appear in the 1875 Kansas census TWICE. At the residence with Mary he gives California as his From State!
Thomas' children:
T. J. Hudson in Censuses
| Year | Place | Name | Age | States | Other | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1840 | Cannot find him. Not yet born? | ||||||
| 1850 | Boone, IN | Jefferson Hudson | 11 | IN (NC KY) | Shown with Andrew, Rachel, two children (Jefferson's half-siblings?), Rachel's niece Lurana, and Lurana's husband or fiance. | ||
| 1860 | Nodaway, MO | Thomas Hudson | 21 | IN | Alone; Occupation: "Com" School Teacher | ||
| 1860 | Boone, IN | Andrew Hutson | 62 | NC | Shown with Rachel 51, Nancy 16, Isaac 15, William Moffett 18 | ||
| 1865 | Topeka, KS | Emma R. Campbell | 13 | PA (PA NY) | Living with parents, siblings and others | ||
| 1870 | Cannot find T.J. Hudson. At this time he was State Legislator in Topeka | ||||||
| 1870 | Topeka, KS | Emma P. Campbell | 18 | PA (PA NY) | Living with parents, several others incl. William Nichols (wealthy dry good clerk, poss. Emma's cousin) | ||
| 1870 | Boone, IN | Andrew Hutson | 71 | NC | Shown with Rachel 61, Isaac 24 (farm laborer) | ||
| 1875 | Fredonia, KS (HV 74) | T. J. Hudson | 33 | IN IN | Atty at law; Living with E.R. (age 23), Murley (age 11), Loe (age 1) | ||
| 1875 | Fredonia, KS (HV 116) | T. J. Hudson | 34 | IN CA | Atty at law; Living with Mary Hudson (age 26?), Murley (age 11), Louis (age 2) | ||
| 1875 | Fredonia, KS (HV 17) | Isaac Hudson | 28 | IN IN | Living alone; banker | ||
| 1880 | Fredonia, KS | Thomas J. Hudson | 39 | IN KY - | Lawyer, living with Emma R., Merlin, Emma's 4 living children, Emma's mother. | ||
| 1880 | Fredonia, KS | Isaac Hudson | 35 | IN KY KY | cashier of bank, living with Louisa 27 (wife) KS OH MO;
Andrew 81 (father) KY - -; Amelia Bancroft 55 (m-in-law) MO NC? VA; Richard M. Case 20 (boarder); Nevado(?) Holmberg 15 (servant) KS Sweden VA | ||
| 1885 | Fredonia, KS | T. J. Hudson | 43 | IN IN | Living with E.R., 4 children. | ||
| 1885 | Fredonia, KS | Castilla Hayes | 22 | KS KS | Teacher | ||
| 1885 | Fredonia, KS | C.S. Reid | 23 | KY KY | Lawyer; He and Hayes are near, possibly with, Hudson | ||
| 1885 | Fredonia, KS | Merlin Hudson | 20 | MO IN IN | No occupation shown; Apparently near but not with father. | ||
| 1890 | (census records destroyed) | ||||||
| 1900 | Fredonia, KS | T. J. Hudson | 57 (born Oct. 1842) | IL KY KY | Shown with Emma R., 5 children (all Emma's living children except Lois. Andrew's occupation is "Tjp" Writer. | ||
| 1910 | Fredonia, KS | Thomas J. Hudson | 70 | IN NC KY | living with Emma R., 2 children (Elizabeth Music Teacher, Marjorie) | ||
| 1915 | Fredonia, KS | T. J. Hudson | 75 | IN IN | living with Emma R., 3 children (Elizabeth, Marjorie, Thos Jr.), Thos Jr.'s wife and son | ||
| 1920 | Fredonia, KS | Thomas J. Hudson | 81 | IL KY NC | Living with Emma R., Elizabeth, Marjorie, T.J. Jr., T.J. Jr.s wife and son | ||
Wilson County Bank [or Wilson County Savings Association] ... Its directors in 1871 [included] T. J. Hudson. The first three named being, respectively, president, cashier and secretary. In 1874, ... Isaac Hudson [became] cashier, positions they retain at the present time.
