Baptist when Hudson was nine. Six years later, his father became a Quaker. The elder Hudson's frequent changes of religion made his son a skeptic; Hudson claimed disgust with the "failings and immoralities" of "many professing Christians." Later, however, he cited the French Revolution as his religious "awakening". Hudson was repelled by the uprising's violence and disregard for life; in 1798 he proclaimed himself a "political Christian", and later a "speculative Christian". From then on, Hudson felt it his duty to lead a religious life. He was quiet about his beliefs, however: "My pride would not permit me to unburthen my soul to any living person. I hated company". In his writings, Hudson cited the principles of "morality, religion, law observance and education" which may have influenced his later actions, including the settlement of land in the west. Establishment of Hudson Travel In 1795, the Connecticut Land Company bought land in Northeast Ohio, then known as the Connecticut Western Reserve. The parcel was divided into 129 townships, each measuring . Hudson bought a plot of land in the Reserve (township 4, range 10) in 1798 in partnership with a group including Birdsey and Nathaniel Norton, who provided three-fourths of the money for the purchase. Of the group, only Hudson left for the land with a small group of settlers (including his son Ira and employees Jesse Linsley and William McKinley), on April 22, 1799. The group reached Albany, New York, two days later, where Joseph Darrow was hired. Hudson also bought $46.50 worth of goods in Albany and nearby Schenectady. A few members of the group, including Ira Hudson, left to drive cattle to the settlement. The others then traveled across New York along the Mohawk River valley, passing through Fort Schuyler in Utica (where Jonah Meechum was hired on April 29). The group then arrived at Onondaga (near present-day Syracuse) on May 2, where Richard Blin was hired. They reached East Bloomfield, where Birdsey Norton lived, on May 5. The party replenished its supplies and Hudson met with Benjamin Tappan, who was on his way to a settlement near Hudson's. They agreed to travel together by boat, while another small group herded livestock overland, to their respective settlements. On May 16, 1799, the group, consisting of Hudson, Darrow, Blin, McKinley and Tappan, traveled north to Lake Ontario. Departing in several boats from Oswego, they traveled west towards Lake Erie.