Thomas Benjamin Cain

Donated - unknown source
Thistewood (Now Beechwood) Cemetery
Pulaski Co., Il

Hudson-Cain Line

The 'dead end'  of the Hudson line is the family of a William Hudson who married an Emily Jane Cain in 1868 Evansville, Vanderburg, Indiana.   On the 1880 Census they are in Mound City, Pulaski, Il census and the family consists of William, Emily, Lewis Hudson, Millie Hudson and stepson, Benjamin Kane.  Working backward from that information I began to search for where this child was in 1870, the first census after the marriage.  I found who I believe to be William Hudson, his wife using the name "Emma" and a child named Lewis living in Evansville.  No "Benjamin".  Then I found two children, Benjamin and William Cain enumerated with a Thomas B. Carter and an older woman named Millie Parker.  Further backtracking found that Thomas B. Carter was the half-brother of Emily and the woman most certainly their mother who had been Millie Greer, married a Cullen W. Carter and then a Lewis Cain. Parker is thought to be a third husband.  The family is found in 1850 showing children of both Carter and Cain last names. Lewis Hudson is listed as next of kin when Thomas Benjamin Carter dies at the Veterans hospital in Leavenworth, Kansas in 1919.

Other records indicate that Benjamin Cain was Thomas Benjamin Cain and he remained in southern Illinois.  It is believed he married Rosy Anna Brown.  His grave is thought to be in the Thistlewood Cemetery (now Beechwood) in Pulaski Co., Illinois.  The graves are not listed in Find-a-Grave and other listings but the area is well known for not having complete records assessible for online research.  No record of his step-father or his mother's grave have been found either.

It is assumed that Emily was his mother but no marriage records have been located connecting her to a marriage before William Hudson.  Further, there is the fact the child has her maiden name.  What this might mean is an illegitimate birth or the child belonged to someone else.  The name may provide some clues to the father.

Emily had at least two full brothers, Henry and Alexander, who are hard to locate after the Civil War.  It is possible these might be parent of the child and with a death the child might have been taken in by family members.  That he was named after an uncle may indicate a figure who was respected by the younger brothers.

It is obvious that Emily named her Hudson children after her father Lewis and her mother Millie.  On the death certificate of Lewis Hudson he noted his mother's name as Emma Carter which might indicate a confused awareness of his mother's family tree, since he had known his uncle Thomas B. Carter and records indicate she used on one census the name "Emma."

Thomas B. Carter, to further confuse things purchased a cemetery plot in Mechanicsville, Vanderburgh Co., Ind in 1876.  He also purchased a plot in the Cairo City Cemetery in southern Ill in the  mid 1880's.  They were apparently never used  - at least no evidence has been found to date. Plots for wives? Plots for sister and her husband? Plot for his own eventual demise? Plot for his mother or a wife?

ANOTHER MYSTERY MAN

Hopefully, DNA will help clear up this family dead end.   For now, however, he is a true mystery.

Timeline of William Hudson

1827 –

Date generally associated with his birth via census records.  His children will generally answer he was born in Indiana, on the 1880 census he will say Virginia, and (if it is him on the 1870) census he says England. His daughter on one census further confuses the issues by saying he was born ‘at sea’.

1830 – unk

1840- unk

1850 – unk

• ·         Although there is an older William Hudson in Vanderburgh Co., Indiana where ‘our’ William will marry in 1868 no known connection.  William might have had a 'first' family but no clear indication other than his age at the time he marries in 1868.
• ·         In  Alexandria, Rapides, Louisiana , there is A Wm Hudson b 1827, single, carpenter, b. Va (Note later listing of work in a bed manufacturing business in Evansville).

1860-

1863 -  City Directory

• ·         The Evansville City Directory for this year lists no William Hudson.

1861-65 – Military Service in Civil War?

• ·         If he was born in Virginia, he may have served and then post war gone ‘west’ – landing in Evansville, Vanderburgh Co., Indiana – a Mississippi port city- would not have been strange.

1868 – Marriages Emily Jane Kane (believe the spelling of her name was Cain)

• ·         July he marriages this woman, daughter of Lewis Cain and Millie Greer Carson Cain Parker , in the same place at this time may also be her step-brother Thomas Benjamin Carter, and William Cain.
· City directory lists a widow, Millie Parker (believe this to be Emily’s mother).

1870- Census - Evansville, Vanderburgh, Ind.

• ·         Shows a Wm Hudson (says born England), with wife Emma, and son Lewis.  From other documents, Emily may have sometimes gone by the name “Emma” and may have sometimes used the last name Carter. (The death record for her son Lewis/Louis Hudson calls her Emma Carter).
• ·         He might have answered England to hide his southern roots, some men did this in the post civil war days.
• ·         This same census also shows in Pigeon Twp, Vanderburgh, Ind. Thomas Benjamin Carter, William Cain (Kane) and Millie Parker.  With them is a small child Benjamin Cain (Kane).  This is her step brother, her brother and her mother.  The child may be Emily’s or may be the child of a brother (one is unaccounted for and may have died in the Civil War).
· City directory for that year : City Directory (pg.159) lists one Wm Hudson, laborer at bed manuf John Tohill, Jacobsville

1880 – Census / Mound City, Pulaski Co., IL

• ·         Listed is William (b. Va), wife Emily, daughter Millie, and son Lewis.  Also, is Benjamin Kane, identified as step-son (i.e., Thomas Benjamin Cain).
• ·         The belief was Emily had married a Kane (Cain) but then once her parents were identified it was clear her mother, Millie Greer, had married 1) Cullen Carter, 2) Lewis Cain, 3) Edward Parker.  Note the naming pattern at work.  Benjamin, whose name appears to have been Thomas Benjamin Cain, may have been Emily’s illegitimate son, or what may be more likely, the son of a brother who died.  Emily may have then assumed the oversight of the child when her mother died.  Her brother Thomas Benjamin Carter buys a cemetery plot in 1876 in the ‘Mechanicsville’ Cemetery – which may refer to an area in old Evansville. No records of death or burial have been found.
• ·         Pulaski or Alexander Co., Illinois /  Family appears dispersed by 1900 so he and wife may have died between 1880 census and 1900 - when they have not been located.  His wife's brother buys a cemetery plot in Pulaski Co., but no record found of a grave with names associated with the group.  The plot numbers seem difficult to track.  Several people known to have been buried in this area (from their death certificates) do not appear in indexes or on databases such as 'Find-a-Grave.'

1890 – Unknown

1900 -  Unknown

CEMETERY MYSTERY CONT.

Certificate of payment for lots in the Cairo City Cemetery, $16.00, from T.B. Carter as payment in ful for the "east 1/2 of Lot number One in Block 17 in the West Division in the Cairo City Cemetery" as in the recorder's office of Pulaski Co., State of Illinois, 6 September 1886.  Executor of form: Wood Rittenhouse.

Mysteries:  Who was this lot for?  What names are associated with this grave?  

It is located near Villa Ridge and is known to have Millie Hudson James buried there.  Could this be her mother?  T.B. Carter would have been her brother and Millie's uncle.

CEMETERY MYSTERY

This is a receipt for a grave plot sold to Thomas Benjamin Carter, June 18, 1874  for $4.

It was "the west half of lot 7 in Block 5" of the "Mechanicsville burying ground"

It is labeled at the top as "Centre Township"

The trustee was a Wm Linxmiller.

The mystery is 1) whose grave? and 2) which Mechanicsville? (Va, Ohio, Iowa, etc.).

Thomas B. Carter was born in Indiana, his sister Emily lived in Illinois, and his mother was married three times (Cain, Carter, and Parker).  

MEETING NEW FACES

This lovely lady is Millie Hudson James.  She was the daughter of William Hudson and Emily Jane Cain (who also used the name Carter).  Millie married Eugene C. James and lived in Cairo, Alexander Co., Il until her death in the early 1940's at 1111 1/2 Washington Street.