NO MATTER HOW YOU SPELL HUDSON, THEY'RE ALL HERE

The Hudsons, Hutsuns, Hudtsons, Huetsons, Hutsons, Hutsuns, Hudstons and Huettsons are in Cape Girardeau for the National History Hudson (or Hutson, if you prefer) Family Association Conference.

"We have a great turnout," Lucy Hudson of Slidell, La., said Friday.

She should know: She has attended many Hudson gatherings and has served as treasurer of membership for almost 15 years.

"We've held this meeting throughout the country," said Hudson. "Last year it was in California, two years ago it was in St. Louis, and it could be in Georgia next year."

The attendance here is about normal, she said.

"We usually have about 50 to 60 people at the meetings, and we're at 60 here," she said Friday as people were still arriving.

"They're here from the West (Reno, Nev.), South (Louisiana and Alabama), East (Richmond, Va.) and North (Minnesota)," Hudson said of the three-day event that started Thursday at the Holiday Inn.

The main purpose of the Hudson Family Association is to gather and disseminate data regarding people named Hudson or one of the many variations.

"There are a lot of ways to spell the name," said Hudson.

The association puts out a genealogical publication called the "Bulletin, Hudsoniana," which includes Hudson happenings.

The group visited the grave of Gen. Nathaniel Watkins, son of Elizabeth Hudson and a half-brother of Henry Clay, during the first night here.

Tom Lett's ties with the Hudson name dates to 1761 and an Elizabeth Hudson. Lett, of Cape Girardeau, helped arrange this year's conference. Two years ago Lett attended a Hudson Family Association reunion and suggested Cape Girardeau as the 2000 host city.

Hudson demonstrated to the group how to use shaving cream to determine names on old and worn tombstones.

"You spray the shaving cream on the tombstone," she said. "Using a squeegee, you spread the cream, and it settles into the lettering, making it easier to read."

Dr. Frank Nickell, professor of history at Southeast Missouri State University, was guest speaker Friday. He discussed "Southeast Missouri: The Region and its People." The group spent Friday afternoon in front of computers in a research session.

The conference continues today with business meetings, election of officers and evening banquet featuring as speaker Margaret Cline Harmon, writer, photographer and genealogist, and president of Scott County Genealogical and Historical Society.

The late Malcolm H. Hudson founded the Hudson Family Association in 1973. Today the association has more than 350 members and more than 139,000 different names in the genealogy database program.