John Elbridge Hudson (August 3, 1839 – October 1, 1900) was a
U.S. lawyer, telephone businessman, and president of
AT&T from 1889 to 1900.
Early life
Hudson was born in
Lynn, Massachusetts to John Hudson and Elizabeth C. (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Hilliard) Hudson.
He made
Bachelor of Arts at
Harvard College in 1862 as
valedictorian. He made
Bachelor of Laws in 1865 and was admitted to the bar the following year.
Career
After admission to the bar, Hudson joined the
Boston law firm Chandler, Shattuck & Thayer, where he became partner in 1870.
In 1878, the firm dissolved, and he became counsel for the American Bell Telephone Company in 1880, later known as
AT&T. He became solicitor, vice president on November 29, 1886, and president on April 1, 1889.
Hudson was involved with numerous organizations and learned societies throughout his life, including the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the corporation of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the
British Association for the Advancement of Science
The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chie ...
, the
New England Historic Genealogical Society (where he became vice-president), the
Colonial Society of Massachusetts,
the Bostonian Society
The Bostonian Society was a non-profit organization that was founded in 1881 for the purpose of preventing the Old State House (built in 1713) from being "moved brick by brick" , the
Lynn Historical Society, the
American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the
Boston Bar Association
The Boston Bar Association (BBA) is a volunteer non-governmental organization in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. With headquarters located at 16 Beacon Street in the historic Chester Harding House, across from the Massachusetts State House ...
, the
Virginia Historical Society, and he was elected a member of the
American Antiquarian Society in April 1894.
American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
/ref>
Personal life
Hudson married Eunice Healey, daughter of Wells and Elizabeth (née Pickering) Healey, from Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, on August 23, 1871.
Hudson died on October 1, 1900 in Beverly, Massachusetts
Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, and a suburb of Boston. The population was 42,670 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. A resort, residential, and manufacturing community on the Massachusetts North Shore, Beverly incl ...
.
Further reading
* ''Memoir of John Elbridge Hudson'' by Francis Blake (1900)
References
External links
Biography
The Saugus Iron Works at Lynn, Mass. : addresses at the presentation to the city of Lynn of the first casting made in America (1892)
by Hudson and C.G.H. Woodbury (at the Internet Archive)
1839 births
1900 deaths
Harvard College alumni
People from Lynn, Massachusetts
Members of the American Antiquarian Society
19th-century American businesspeople
{{1830s-US-business-bio-stub