NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG3031.AM: Henry James Hudson, 1822-1903
Diary (on microfilm): 1857-1858
Genoa, Nance County, Neb.: Mormon colonist
Size: 1 reel of microfilm
BACKGROUND NOTE
Henry James Hudson was born in London, England, in 1822. He became a Mormon several years before immigrating with his wife to the United States in 1851. In 1856 Hudson, together with several others delegated by the Church to establish colonies, visited Nebraska Territory. In May of the next year, he helped found a settlement of 110 Mormon families where Genoa is now located. After the colony was abandoned in 1859, Hudson moved to Columbus, Nebraska. He was a member of the Nebraska Legislature for one term 1871-1872, and held a number of public offices, among them postmaster, justice of the peace, county commissioner, and county judge.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
This collection consists of one reel of microfilm containing a diary, with entries from April 14, 1857 to June 6, 1858, and a letter from Erastus Snow to Elders Martindale and Hudson, St. Louis, April 22, 1857. The diaries contain a log of the voyage up the river from St. Louis to Genoa in 1857. Hudson included a partial list of the 200 Mormon passengers on board the boat, and tells of incidents which took place during the voyage. Entries are rather sporadic after May 28, and deal with life in camp around the area of Omaha, Florence, and Genoa. The pages are very dim, and are illegible in some places. For an edited version of this material see, “Henry Hudson and the Genoa Settlement,” ed. by Marguerette R. Burke, Nebraska History, Vol. 41, 1960.
DESCRIPTION
Reel 1
Diary, 1857-1858
Letter, Apr. 22, 1857
ADDED ENTRIES:
Diaries
Genoa (Neb.) — History
Hudson, Henry James, 1822-1903
Mormons in Nebraska
Mormons — Settlements
Encoded TMM 05-11-2010
