Library acquires portrait of town founder David Hudson’s granddaughter

 A portrait of Lucy Susannah Baldwin (1843‐1860), the fourth daughter of Anner Hudson Baldwin and Harvey Baldwin, and granddaughter of town founder David Hudson, is now on permanent display in the Eldredge Room on the second floor of the Hudson Library & Historical Society. The exhibit also features some of Lucy’s possessions including school papers and a report card, a sewing box with accessories, and examples of her drawings and sewing. Although Lucy only lived 17 years, these collected possessions provide insight into the cultural, educational and daily life of a young female growing up in a burgeoning town in the Western Reserve. The 1851 portrait of Lucy at age 8 was painted by artist J.O. Osbourne, a portrait and landscape painter active in Ohio in the mid‐nineteenth century.  

Elizabeth Hyde Siman, the great, great, great, great grandchild of David Hudson, generously donated the portrait and Lucy’s artifacts to the Hudson Library earlier this year. Thanks to donations from Siman and other members of the Hudson family throughout the years, the Hudson Library owns a large collection of manuscripts, photographs and artifacts documenting the history of the Hudson family. ∞