John Hudson House (1791)

The house at 26 Main Street in Old Mystic, Stonington was built c. 1791 by John Hudson, a tanner, on land he had acquired from Eleazer Williams in 1786. This transaction also included the gristmill across the street, at the head of the Mystic River. After his death in 1808, his son Phineas Hudson, continued the tanning business and inherited the house and mill, excepting the dower rights (1/3 of the house) of John’s widow, Mary. Two years before his death in 1811, Phineas (possibly ailing or under financial strain) sold the mill to his daughter Mary‘s father-in-law, Simon Avery. Mary bought the works back twenty-one years later. Mary married two Avery brothers. According to The Groton Avery Clan (1912), by Elroy McKendree Avery and Catharine Hitchcock Tilden Avery,

[Robert Nieles Avery] was b. Sept. 1, 1785, at Groton; m. June 19, 1806, at Groton, Mary (Polly) Hudson, dau. of Phineas and Margaret Hudson. She was b. Sept. 2, 1787, at Groton. He was a sea captain, and later a farmer. He was killed by the caving in of a sand bank, June 10, 1814. His widow m. 2d, Joseph Swan Avery, a brother of her husband. She d. Feb. 8, 1855, at Mystic.

[Joseph Swan Avery] was b. Oct., 1787, at Groton; m. Mrs. Mary (Hudson) Avery, dau. of Phineas and Margaret Hudson, and widow of his brother, Robert Niles Avery. She was b. Sept. 2, 1787, at Groton. He was a successful merchant and ship owner. She d. Feb. 8, 1855; he d. Nov. 10, 1865, both at Groton.

In 1816, Phineas’ heirs sold the house (except for Mary’s dower rights) to Jasper Latham, who added a shoe shop to the property. The house (now with the shop) was sold again in 1829.