Contents

Collection Overview

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Search Terms

Hudson Family Papers, 1825-1865

Finding Aid

© 2006

Biographical Note

Erasmus Darwin Hudson, Sr. was born December 15,1806 in Torringford (now part of Torrington), Connecticut, to Daniel and Rhoda Fowler Hudson. He studied medicine with Dr. Remus M. Fowler in New Marlboro, Massachusetts, and continued his studies at Berkshire Medical College (Pittsfield, Massachusetts), a branch of Williams College, where he received his M.D. in 1827. That same year Hudson married Martha Turner, daughter of Deacon Isaac and Martha Humphrey Turner of Marlboro, MA. They had two sons, Erasmus Darwin , Jr. (1843-87) and Daniel Wyatt.

He had a private medical practice in Bloomfield, CT in 1828 to 1833 and worked as a physician and surgeon at the Connecticut State Emigrant Hospital. During that time, he became involved in temperance advocacy, philanthropic work and the Connecticut Anti-Slavery Society, later as the Society's lecturing agent (1838-39) and as the National Anti-Slavery Society's general agent (1839-50). . In 1850 Hudson became a general and orthopedic surgeon in Springfield, Massachusetts, then in New York City through 1880.

During the Civil War Hudson served on the Commission from the Surgeon General of the United States Army for the treatment of wounded soldiers in need of amputation and resection at a number of military hospitals. During this time he invented an orthopedic apparatus for which he received awards. Erasmus Darwin Hudson died of pneumonia on December 31, 1880 in Riverside, Greenwich, Connecticut.

[source: Inventory to Hudson Family Papers, compiled by Laurie B. Gaus, UMASS-Amherst Archives and Manuscripts October 1983]

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Hudson Family Papers relate primarily to physician, abolitionist, and social reformer Erasmus Darwin Hudson, Sr. His correspondence (1825-65) to and from family and friends includes commentary on anti-slavery and Civil War era events and personalities. Notable correspondents or individuals mentioned include abolitionist and women's rights advocate Abigail Kelley Foster, social reformers Parker Pillsbury and Wendell Phillips, and clergyman Theodore Parker. Other items of interest are E.D. Hudson Sr.'s address "Intemperance" (1828), a manuscript and typescript of his journal, "Anti-Slavery Campaign" (1842-43), and E.D. Hudson, Jr's 1864 address, "Conquest Through Self Conquest."

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Search Terms

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SERIES I. CORRESPONDENCE

SERIES II. WRITINGS