Born 1838 in Greenville County, the son of Matthew Tyler Hudson and Ann Flemming Collins Hudson. His father's home was at the location now known as Chestnut Oaks on Pelham Road.

Hudson was trained as a surveyor but to whom he was apprenticed is unknown. In addition to conducting the township survey and producing the county's first township map, Hudson eventually managed the execution of many legal transactions as a "Conveyancer" and Magistrate of Butler Townhship. He built a home on Rocky Creek about 2 miles west of Batesville and in addition to his vocational duties managed the family mill located further west on Rocky Creek near his birthplace on Pelham Road.

Private Hudson mustered into the Confederate Army on April 15, 1861 in Columbia, S.C., as a member of Company F of Hampton's Legion. Known as the Davis Guards, Company F formed under the command of Dr. William Lawrence Manning Austin of Gilder Plantation in Greenville County. Just a few months earlier, Hudson's sister, Martha, had married Dr. Austin's son, William H. Austin.
After seeing action at Manassas and Seven Pines he was seriously wounded at Second Manassas, receiving a shot in the hip which kept him out of active duty for the remainder of the war. He tried to secure a position in Richmond as clerk in one of the many departments of the Confederate government, but in 1864 he was ultimately placed as an agent to O.F. Simpson, the post quartermaster at Pendleton, S.C..

On April 4, 1868, less than a year prior to conducting the county survey, Hudson was elected president of the Batesville Democratic Club. The object of the club, like many in the county, was "to advocate Democratic principles and defeat the unconstitutional Reconstruction Acts of Congress." The constitution of this club further stated "We pledge ourselves to vote against the ratification of the Constitution, lately framed at Charleston..."

Hudson lived on Washington St. and in 1876 opened a hardware and general store on Main St.