DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of the story on the official Texas Historical Commission marker — and this one, friend, is worth slowing down for. Now picture this: a man born in Cambridge, England, on April 24, 1849, to Philip S. and Ellen Robertson Hudson. Young Herbert James Hudson grows up with a classical education — Latin, Greek, the kind of schooling that sounds like it belongs in a leather-bound novel.
He does his customary tour of the continent, the way proper English young men did back then, and you might think — well, this fellow's path is pretty well set, isn't it? You would be wrong. In 1870, Herbert James Hudson crossed the Atlantic and came to the United States.
He tried his hand at sheep farming out in Nebraska — which, if you have ever stood in a Nebraska winter, tells you something about the man's stubbornness — and then he drifted to Philadelphia. Eventually he landed in Lynchburg, Virginia, and that is where the real story begins. Because in Lynchburg, he met a young woman named Cora Field, born in 1858, daughter of a Methodist minister and veteran by the name of Staunton Field.
And whatever H.J. Hudson had been looking for across two continents and half of North America, apparently he found it. Now here is where it gets good.
In 1877, Cora and her widowed mother picked up and moved — not to Philadelphia, not to Virginia, not to anywhere H.J. Hudson happened to already be — but to a small Texas town called Lorena. And Herbert James Hudson, classically educated Englishman, former Nebraska sheep farmer, followed them.
All the way to Lorena, Texas. On May 20, 1880, they married. The very next year, 1881, H.J. and Cora purchased four city lots and started building their home.
They moved into the single-walled two-story section on the south side first — living in it while the rest took shape — and in 1882, Hudson employed a German carpenter to build the main house. When it was finished, it had gingerbread trim on the exterior, cypress siding, original 1880s doors, and Sargent and Company locks still on the west porch. And inside, in the hall by the parlor, the walls and wainscoting were covered in original leather trim.
Not wallpaper. Leather. That is a man who knew what he wanted and knew how to keep it.
H.J. Hudson did not stop at building a beautiful home. He worked in the mercantile business, opened the private Bank of Lorena in 1894 and served as its president, then opened the Lorena State Bank in 1909.
He was a founding member of the Masonic lodge in Lorena and helped build the Lorena United Methodist Church — the same faith that had produced the minister's daughter he'd followed across the South. Herbert James Hudson lived until 1935, eighty-six years of life stretching from Cambridge, England, to the heart of McLennan County, Texas. And Cora — Cora Field Hudson — she lived until 1951, ninety-three years on this earth, forty-some of them in the house they built together.
That home stayed in the Hudson family for more than eighty years. It was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 2017. A man chases a woman to Lorena, Texas, builds her a house with leather walls and cypress siding, and the thing outlasts almost everyone who ever doubted it was a good idea.
That, right there, is a Texas story — even if it started in England.
What the marker says
Herbert James Hudson (1849-1935), son of Philip S. and Ellen (Robertson) Hudson, was born in Cambridge, England, on April 24, 1849. After receiving a classical education in Latin and Greek at a British boarding school, and a customary tour of the continent, Hudson immigrated to the United States in 1870. He briefly lived as a sheep farmer in Nebraska before moving to Philadelphia. While living in Lynchburg, Virginia, Hudson met his future wife, Cora field (1858-1951), daughter of Methodist minister and veteran Staunton Field. When Cora and her widowed mother moved to Lorena in 1877, H.J. Hudson followed. They married on May 20, 1880. In 1881, H.J. and Cora purchased four city lots and began to construct their home. They lived in the single-walled two-story section on the south side of the house, which was constructed first and to which the main house was joined. In 1882, Hudson employed a German carpenter to build the main house. Exterior features include gingerbread trim, cypress siding, and 1880s doors and Sargent & Co. Locks on the west porch. One of the outstanding features of the home is the original leather wall and wainscot trim covering in the hall by the parlor. H.J. Hudson worked in the mercantile business as well as opening and serving as president of the private bank of Lorena (1894) and Lorena State Bank (1909). He was also a founding member of the masonic lodge in Lorena and assisted in building the Lorena United Methodist Church. The home remained in the Hudson family for more than 80 years. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 2017