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HUDSON, JUDGE RODNEY J. Whose portrait it affords us pleasure to present in the body of this work, was born
at St. Helena, Napa County, February 20, 1850, and is the son of David and Frances Hudson. Judge Hudson springs
from a fine family, his father being a scion of the well known and highly esteemed Catron family of Tennessee,
one of whom, for a period of thirty years, was a highly distinguished Justice of the Supreme Court of the United
States. His mother was a native of North Carolina, and is allied by blood to one of its best families. Young Hudson
grew up at his birthplace, and madethe best of the imperfect advantages for obtaining a primary education, which
the, then inefficient conditions of the schools offered. At the age of fifteen he entered an academy at Sonoma,
which was conducted under the auspices of the Presbyterians, where Latin and the higher mathematics were taken
up. At the end of the term he wrote and delivered his maiden oration, which was highly complimented by the Professors
of the Academy, and served to show clearly the bent of the boy's mind, the latent powers that lay within him awaiting
proper development. He then returned to his father's farm, but books had a much greater attraction for him than
the humdrum, prosaical avocation of tramping up and down a furrow behind a plow, and a book was generally carried
to the field, which received much more attention than the work in hand. He then spent three years in attendance
at the St. Helena public schools, which were then of high grade, and here he learned to read Latin fluently and
made considerable progress in the higher mathematics. During his attendance at this school, and while yet only
eighteen years of age, he made his debut into the political arena. In 1868, during the campaign of Seymour and
Blair on the one side and Grant and Wilson on the other, a political meeting was held in St. Helena. The late Hon..
W. W. Pendegast was the speaker of the evening, and among those present were young Hudson and his father and mother.
At the close of Mr. Pendegast's speech the audience began to call loudly for Rodney Hudson, whose abilities as
an orator were even then well known among his friends and acquaintances, and by them fully recognized. When the
calls for the young man became so persistent that it became evident that the crowd would not hear a refusal, his
father departed, either thinking that his presence would embarrass the boy, or not desiring to be present to witness
what he considered inevitable failure His mother, too, felt that a crisis in the boy's life was just at hand, and
with her womanly sensitiveness shrank instinctively from witnessing it. But the father's flight and the mother's
fears were unnecessary, for the youthful orator was equal to the occasion, and for the space of half an hour he
held the audience with his fluent and graceful oratory, and surprised even his best friends by his knowledge of
the political issues of the day. Owing to his youth, the effort was regarded with a great deal of favor by all
who heard it, and created quite a sensation, and from that time on he has always sustained a high reputation as
a public speaker. His next move was to take charge of the St. Helena public schools, having a scholarship of about
two hundred, and two assistant teachers. In 1869 he entered the University of Michigan. In a short time his health
failed, and he was forced to quit school and return to California. He then entered the law office of Thomas P.
Stoney, then County Judge of Napa County, as a student, where he remained for one year. On the occasion of the
Fourth of July celebration at St. Helena in 1872, young Hudson, then only twenty two years of age, was called upon
to deliver the oration for the occasion. An extract from the Napa Register, then edited by G. W. Henning, will
give an idea of the merits of the effort produced by Mr. Hudson on that occasion: "The oration was by Rodney
J. Hudson, whom St. Helena may be flattered to call her 'boy.' Rodney he will excuse the familiarity, looks the
orator. He has a talent which, if cultivated, will place him in the very front rank of public speakers His personelle
and the fact that he was their own, created an interest in him which was not diminished in the least by his finely
turned and patriotic periods. * * * We hope he will not go into politics. There is a crown awaiting him in his
legitimate professional career which will set more lightly and gracefully upon his head than ever politician's
will." In the fall of 1872 he entered the Law School at Lebanon, Tennessee, then presided over by the venerable
Judge Carothers. While there he delivered an oration on Washington, which was complimented very highly by the Nashville
Union, an extract from which we include in this connection: " His audience was thrilled with delight, excited
alike by the spirit and eloquence of his words. The Golden State may well be proud of her representative in the
Law School of the University." He graduated at this school and returned to California in 1873. In 1874 he
formed a law partnership with the leading practitioner in the southern part of the State. After having been there
for four or five months he was called upon to make a Fourth of July address, of which the Los Angeles Star says:
"The oration was the most superb effort of the kind ever made in Los Angeles. It was beautiful in all its
points, and may be considered an oratorical gem of the first water. We have heard the oration spoken of everywhere
as excellent, but not more so than its delivery, which was very fine." In 1875 he was nominated and elected
by the Democratic party to the position of District Attorney of Los Angeles County. His first case was for murder,
and the man was defended by Col. J. G. Howard, confessedly the ablest criminal lawyer in Southern California. The
accused was convicted, and when the District Judge came down from the bench he said: " Mr. Hudson, you have
conducted this case as well as any lawyer." He retained the office for two years, when, on account of failing
health, he came to Lake County and opened a law office. Here he began at once to build up and maintain a good practice,
rarely losing a case before a jury. Mr. Hudson sprang boldly and nobly into the great fight made for the new Constitution,
urging its adoption by the people with the greatest vigor and eloquence. He took the field and made several brilliant
and telling speeches, and was called the captain of the new Constitution forces in Lake County. In 1878 he was
put in nomination for the position of Superior Judge of Lake County. It was a matter of serious doubt with his
best friends whether or not he could win in the contest, his youth and limited acquaintance militating much against
his chances of success. As for himself, he saw that only energy_ and determination could make success possible,
and he made a thorough and personal canvass of the county, and then just upon the eve of the election addressed
the people of the county in almost every voting precinct, which was evidently the great element of his success,
as he was able to bring out the merits of his own case with a master hand. He was elected by a large plurality,
showing that good work had been accomplished. Once elected, the problem of convincing the people of his judicial
fairness and integrity confronted him. Upon taking the bench he announced to the bar that he would endeavor to
be impartial and upright, and that he knew that he would be independent, as he did not owe his election to any
corporation or powerful influence, but to the people. That he has kept his promise is attested by all the bar of
Lake County. He has the reputation of observing a uniform courtesy to the bar while presiding, of being positive
in his rulings, and swift to retreat when shown to be in error. Of Judge Hudson the Bulletin of Lake County says:
His rulings exhibit fine legal acumen, and he is one of the best judges inCalifornia, and after a while Lake County
will be proud to help place him in Congress, where his singular abilities as an orator may have a fitting field
in which to display their powers." Rodney J. Hudson is the youngest, but, one, of the Superior Judges in this
State; and who can read this sketch and see how he has climbed up the ladder, round by round, until he reached
that high position when only twenty nine years of age, without feeling proud of our grand American principles of
liberty which give to worth, merit, and real labor, their just meed of reward. He was united in marriage in April,
1881, to Miss Panthea Boggs, daughter of A. G. Boggs, of Napa City.
From:
History of Napa and Lake Counties, California
Slocum, Bowen & Co., Publishers
San Francisco, California 1881
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