Pg 790
Joseph J. Hudson, the well-known and popular hotel man of Benton, Ill., was born in Franklin County, February 9, 1835, the son of Thomas H. and Mahala (Manion) Hudson, natives of Kentucky. Our subject's father died when Joseph was five years old, and he was reared to manhood on a farm, having to do for himself early in life. He followed farming in Eastern Township until 1877, when he came to Benton the following year and built the Hudson Hotel, which he has since conducted successfully. The hotel is a substantial two-story frame building of twenty-eight rooms, furnished in the best style throughout, and the most popular place for the best traveling patronage there is in Benton. He also owns and conducts a first-class restaurant there. January 20, 1867, he married Sarah A. Cunningham of this county. In August, 1862, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Tenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, serving as private one year. He is a Democrat, and never has aspired to office. He is a Master Mason, and recognized as one of Benton's reliable citizens.