Hudson House Lives Again

From the Progress of Nov. 13, 1996. By Dortha Schaefer, Feature Writer.

GLOWING with candles and real wood fires in the fireplace, lighted with Christmas decorations, and smelling of the good things of the Christmas season, the 1832 Hudson House welcomed hundreds of visitors on a recent weekend.

Located near the Auglaize River between Charloe and Melrose, the brick building lives again in response to many hours of work and loving care given to it by those who owned the 164-year-old home. Tim and Georgia Kohart opened the home to friends and strangers alike. It was made even more delightful by the music of a group of dulcimer players from Defiance.

The essence of those bygone days was most apparent in the walls, windows, cupboards, and general atmosphere of the home. Isaac Carey, the builder along with John Hudson, were among the very first settlers in Paulding County. A brick mason by trade, Isaac was known to walk to Toledo and Fort Wayne for work. According to The Hudson Family History, he built the old stone jail in Fort Wayne.

The house was made from bricks made at the north edge of the property and with lumber from trees in the area. In 1976 when the country was celebrating its Bicentennial, the Hudson House came in for its share of attention. It is believed to be the oldest residence in the county. The Curtis Trading Post of Antwerp was built in 1825 and takes credit for being the oldest standing building. It is now being used as a residence.

Georgia Kohart, who has spent many hours and used much TLC on the house, says, “I wanted to share the house — I wanted it to live again.” Tim Kohart, whose ancestors built the Hudson House and lived there for many generations, likes to recall those days.

Isaac Carey was a son-in-law to Shadrach Hudson, Paulding County’s first white settler. A brick mason by trade, Isaac built the house for his brother-in-law, John Hudson. Carey sold the home to Hudson when he left for Arizona, where his wife and children perished. John’s wife was Shadrach’s daughter. After the Careys lived there for a time, John Ayers and family dwelled in the sturdily-built home. Clark Meade and his family, relatives of the former owners, were the next ones to inhabit the house.

“Clark Meade had a daughter, Eva Hutchinson, who was the next owner. She was my great aunt,” remembered Tim. “When she was gone, the house became the property of my mother, Gladys Kohart, as well as other nieces and nephews.”

There has been some settling of the house; doors don’t fit as well as they might, but this can happen with any house. Inside, walls were plastered right onto the bricks of the outside. Four fireplaces give their warmth and cheery glow to four of the rooms, one being in a huge upstairs bedroom.

Asked if there have been rumors of ghostly goings-on in the house, Tim replied, “I have never heard of any such things although Georgia says sometimes she gets a strange feeling, the hairs on her neck may raise. An aunt who often stays here alone has never complained of unnatural things happening.”

Tim knows of no upsetting events happening in this house. Legend has it that two babies were born to residents and died. Each is buried in the back yard, but it appears they rest in peace.

Pictures throughout the home are of the many relatives who have dwelt there since the house was first built in 1832. It is history that the men who built the first house also built two others that are no longer standing.

One story has to do with Johnny Appleseed, the well-known pioneer character of this area. “According to the history,” says Tim, “the famous fellow in the late 1830s stopped here overnight. He didn’t want to sleep inside the house saying ‘there are too many children in here.’”

“He ate with the family and stayed long enough to plant an apple orchard to the north of the house, one that lasted many years. David Carey, his host, made a pair of shoes for him. He was grateful for the shoes, but said he would give them to some needy person!”

“The earthquake which occurred sometime between 1840 and 1850, not too long after the house was built, did some damage. After that to make it solid again, the owner installed what they called building washers, large black stars on the outside, which held together through the house by heavy steel cables.”

It is very possible the Hudson House is even more beautiful today after its inside facelift than it was in its earlier days, all due to the efforts of the Koharts and Tim’s sister, Linda, and husband, Gary Hodges. The Hodges’ daughter, Julie, married Cletus Janik this past summer in a ceremony made even more meaningful as it was held in the ancestral home, the Hudson House.