Judah Paddock

Profile portrait of Catherine II by Fedor Rokotov, 1763, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Judah, the son of Stephen Paddock, was a sea captain and had many seafaring adventures. A sword given to him by the Empress Catherine of Russia as a tribute for his rescue of a Russian man-of-war ship, was once displayed in the Hudson Masonic Lodge, and later given to General William J. Worth when he visited Hudson. On another trip Judah was shipwrecked, captured, sold into slavery and ransomed.

He was not only an adventurer but a key leader in the development of Hudson. Judah had a lucrative business sailing to the West Indies, Russia, and Liverpool and established a general freighting business between Hudson and New York City. It began with sailing cargo ships and transformed into the New York and Hudson Steamboat Company.

He was a director of the Hudson Aqueduct Company, on the building committee of the Almshouse and Insane Asylum erected at 4th and State Streets and on the committee to create a canal through Middle Ground Flats to expedite the Hudson Athens Ferry service.