The Hodgson Clan

John Hodgson (circa 1763-1826) sailed on the Hudson's Bay Company ship Prince Rupert and arrived at Fort Albany – a remote fur-trading post – on Hudson's Bay in September 1774. He was the son of Ephraim Hodgson of London, England. Educated at the charity school of the Grey Coat Hospital in London, John entered service with the Hudson's Bay Company at the age of about 11 and he was sent to (what was then called) Rupert's Land because of his computational and surveying skills. He was deemed useful for "taking the Distance of Places and making Plans". He married a native Cree woman. They had nine children including a son James (born circa 1785). In 1800 John became the Chief Factor at Fort Albany but he was dismissed in 1810. After a difficult overland journey with inadequate food, John and his family arrived in Montreal and then purchased a farm in Onslow Township on the Ottawa River near Lac des Chats for 22,000 livres. He retired there, apparently living in some squalor. (Sources: Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Red River Ancestry, South Peace Regional Archives, with thanks to Patricia Greber.)

Edward Hodgson was born in 1766 and came to Canada and worked in various capacites as a seaman and mariner in geodetic service along the cost of Nova Scotia. He married Mary Kidder on 5th of October 1793 in St. Paul's Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was called to live on Sable Island in 1801. He retired from the life saving station on Sable Island in 1830 and moved back to Halifax, Nova Scotia. He died on 13th of February 1831 and was burried 16th Feb. 1831 in St. Paul's Cemetary, Halifax, Nova Scotia. The title he has on his headstone is "Governor of the Isle of Sable".  One of his sons was Edward Hodgson (born 5 Sept 1797) who lived in Country Harbour, Nova Scotia on what was then called Tom Ned's Hill (now called Hodgson Road). (Source: Lillian Salsman, Homeland, Genealogies, Volume II, Country Harbour, Nova Scotia 1783-1983.)

Ralph Hodgson (1754-?) was born in Denton, County Durham, England on 12 February 1754. His son John Lampton Hodgson attended a Quaker meeting in Ontario, Canada on 25 June 1800. (Source: Minutes of Adolphustown , Ontario Quaker Meetings, 25 June 1800.) Ralph, his wife Elizabeth, and their son John Lampton, all moved to New York. Ralph and Elizabeth are buried in a Shaker cemetery at Watervliet, Albany County, New York. A son of John Lampton Hodgson is John Ralph Hodgson, born Adolpustown, Canada in May 1818. (Source: Esther Mitchell esther@islandnet.com.)

Thomas Hodgson was born in Weardale, County Durham, England. On 21 April 1818 he arrived in Montreal on the ship Horsley Hill 240, which was commanded by Thomas Buck. (Documentation is lacking for this entry.)

William Hodgson (1803-?) was born in Staindrop, County Durham, England. In 1835 he arrived and settled in Ontario, Canada. (See G. Hodgson, Hodgson Saga, Martlet Books, 2008, pp. 86-88.)

Further information on the earliest Hodgsons to emigrate to Canada will be gratefully received and presented on this website.