William C. Hudson

HUDSON, JOY, MARINER

Posted By: Connie Swearingen- Volunteer (email)
Date: 12/2/2015 at 23:09:45

Northwestern Iowa
Its History and Traditions
1804 – 1926

To William C. Hudson there attaches a three-fold distinction. He is one of the first white children born in what is now Sioux City; he is the oldest livestock commission merchant in this city, having started with the establishment of the stockyards here over forty years ago; and he is the oldest hog salesman, both in point of age and years of service. It is also worthy of note that through all these years of active identification with the livestock business here he has at all times command the absolute confidence of all who have had dealings with him, for he has conducted his affairs according to the highest standard of business ethics.

William C. Hudson was born in Sioux City, October 2, 1859, a son of Nathaniel C. and Helen R. (Joy) Hudson, both natives of Athens, Vermont. The mother was a sister of William L. Joy, who later became the law partner of Nathaniel C. Hudson, under the firm name of Hudson & Joy. N.C. Hudson lost his father when he was but small child and, the step-father not being acceptable to him, he ran away from home at the age of fourteen years. He worked in New York City for a number of years, during which time he practiced rigid economy, so that he was eventually able to take a course in law and also to bring his brothers to New York City and get them started in life. He studied in a law school in Poughkeepsie, New York, was admitted to the bar and in 1856, with William L. Joy, who later became his brother-in-law, and with his brother, Jerome Hudson, who later became a scout in General Sully’s army, he came to Sioux City. Here Nathaniel Hudson and William L. Joy formed a law partnership, their office being in a log cabin at Fourth and Douglas Streets. In 1858 Mr. Hudson returned to Vermont to marry his old schoolmate sweetheart, whom he brought to the frontier home. The mother became one of the incorporators of the Baptist church here, in whose welfare she was deeply interested. In 1866 Mr. Hudson, on account of the ill health of his wife, moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he engaged in the tobacco manufacturing business. Later he formed the St. Louis Beef Canning Company, (now the Swift Packing Company), conducting the business until 1885, when he sold his St. Louis interests and moved to southern California, where he lived retired until his death, about 1910. His widow survived him about three years, losing her life in an automobile accident. Mr. Hudson became an important factor in the commercial and industrial affairs of St. Louis and was active and influential in civic affairs. He served several years as city collector and represented that district in the Missouri State senate.

William C. Hudson entered school at the early age of four years, attending three years in the Sioux City public schools and then entering the St. Louis schools, where he was graduated from the high schools in 1876. He completed his education training in Washington University and then went to work in the plant of the St. Louis Beef Canning Company. In 1880 he went to Leadville, Colorado, during the height of the gold excitement, and spent two years there and in the Gunnison Country. He next went to Paris, Tennessee, where he remained until the fall of 1885, when he returned to Sioux City and became identified with the livestock industry in association with A.S. Garrettson, who owned a large ranch in Woodbury County. Mr. Hudson grazed cattle on the ranch in summer and fed them during the winter but the venture proved unprofitable and in 1887, when the Sioux City stockyards were founded, he came into the city and engaged in the livestock commission business. Thus his subsequent career and the history of the organization livestock business in this city are practically coincident. During these years there have been several changes in the style of his farm, but about 1915 the present firm, the Hudson-Gibbs Commission Company, succeeded the Hudson Commission Company. Mr. Hudson is president of the company and is hog salesman for the firm, having served in that capacity for the past thirty-seven years.

On May 6, 1885, Mr. Hudson was united in marriage to Miss Lena Mariner, of Oleatha, Kansas, and to them have been born two children, namely: Leonard C., who is a cattle dealer in Sioux City; and Mary Frances, who is the wife of Rex Large, a nationally-known journalist, for some years on the editorial staff of the New York Times and now in charge of the Des Moines Register and Tribune. Mr. Hudson is a member of Landmark Lodge, No. 103, A.F. and A.M.; Sioux City Consistory, No. 5 A.A.S.R., Abu-Bekr Temple, A.A.O.N.M.S., and of Sioux City Lodge, No. 112, B.P.O.E., to which order he has belonged for thirty-seven years. He is a member of the Sioux City Country Club, a charter member of the Sioux City Boat Club and a member of the Boys of Sixty-eight. He has always been actively interest in the prosperity of the Sioux City Live Stock Exchange, of which he served fourteen years as president, vice-president and member of the board of directors. For a number of years in the early life of the organization, he was treasurer of the National Live Stock Association. Mrs. Hudson, her children and her grandchildren are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church and she has long been active in church, club and social work. Even tempered, patient, scrupulously honest in all relations of life, hospitable and charitable, Mr. Hudson has a host of warm and loyal friends throughout this community and no citizen of Sioux City is held in higher esteem than he.