Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 1:20 pm Post subject: Hodge
I thought I'd add my primary line of Hodge.. as I'm a little surprised it isn't here already.
I have a LOT of info on this line, the basic structure coming from legwork done by Bernulf Llewellyn Hodge in the 1930s.
The earliest directly traceable ancestor is William Hodge, born c1580 and his wife, Dorothy who had 4 sons and 2 daughters. William, Dorothy and 2 of the sons died within weeks of each other in 1639, leaving just Thomas, Hugh and their married daughters behind (this was the only family of Hodges in North Meols at the time). All Hodges Southport Hodges are descended from William and Dorothy through their son, Thomas (Hugh had no family).
My line carries on through Thomas to William (1640-1671), Thomas (1668-1721), William (1698-1756), Henry (christened William, 1720-1797), John (1762-1794), Thomas (1794-1870), Edward (1836-1896), John (b1876), Edward (1909-1977), John Brian (1937), Fiona (1968).
The family group of these that I have most information on (except my own) is that of John (1762-1794) and his son, Thomas (1794-1870) and his family.
John had a little land and supplimented his income by fishing. On 19th December 1794, he went out fishing and was drowned. His body was recovered 4 months later and he was buried 15th April 1795.
At the time of the tragedy, my GGG grandfather, Thomas, was just a couple of months old, being baptised 2nd September 1794.
The family fell on hard times, with the mother, Mary (née Wright) being widowed with 4 children aged 11, 9, 4 and 2 months. Her elder son, John (1790) went to sea in the Napleoonic Wars, it's unclear whether this was out of choice, or if he were pressganged, but I suspect the latter given the fact that his family would've been hugely dependant on him to support them. When he reached working age, Thomas went to work on his uncle William Hodges' farm at what is now the junction of Alma Rd and Liverpool Rd in Birkdale (the farm buildings still exist as Birkdale Mews). On tithe maps Thomas' name is marked in brackets after Williams on all the fields... only the farm buildings and garden remained under William's name alone.
While still just a boy, Thomas would travel to the market in Liverpool to sell the farm produce and on one such occasion, he was pressganged into the navy. He spent a night in custody before escaping and returning to Birkdale.
There is a report of the pressgang in Liverpool taking various ordinary men off the street, which was technically illegal (only sailors were really supposed to be targeted), the illegally pressed men were subsequently released and I wonder if Tom was actually one of these men.
Tom's uncle William was the same man who leased a fishing stall in Birkdale and, after losing his sons at sea shortly after leasing the fishing stall, had his daughters added to it instead.
In 1814, Tom married Ellen Marshall, and planted an Elm tree on the Birkdale farm to mark the occasion. A cutting from this tree was later taken by EA Hodge, Tom's grandson, and planted on his land at Birkdale Priory.
Tom Hodge was known locally as "Gred Tom" because of his imressive stature (not sure what happened to those genes, but none came our way!)
All of Tom & Ellen's children were born on the Birkdale farm. The eldest ones were baptised at St Cuthbert's, with the family using Christ Church, Lord St after its completion in 1821 (their son, John Hodge, was the first child to be baptised at Christ Church)
When uncle William died in 1836, it seems Tom was either unable to pay for the lease on the valuable land at Birkdale, or was no entitled to take it over, because in the same year, he and the family moved to virgin land on Heathy Lane on the Moss. This farm remained in the family until 1929, when Tom's great grandson left.
Tom and Ellen's youngest children were Edward and Henry, twins. Edward is my own GG grandfather, Henry went on to become a successful businessman and mayor of Southport in 1893 (briefly, as he died 3 weeks into office).
Another of Tom & Ellen's children, William, had a number of children, including EA Hodge (Edward Albert) who was the sole Birkdale politician to support the merging of Southport and Birkdale. EA Hodge was a builder, and spent some time contributing to the construction of Chicago. He also went on a long clipper voyage (the sort of thing he was prone to do when he wanted a break from the stresses of work) and befriended the ship's mate, stepping up to help when the ship's carpenter fell ill. This mate was Joseph Conrad.
EA Hodge had shares in what became the Classic Cinema, which itself stood on the land of Henry Hodge's former home (I suspect Henry/ his family had a hand in the redevelopment of that land and the shares were sold to friends and family). The street behind is called Hodge St after Henry, because of his ownership of the site.
Once EA had amassed his small fortune, he bought the priory on Weld Rd (we have photos of him in the grounds). This had been the convent before the Victorian one was built further up Weld Rd (and now relocated to the modern convent across the road). EA used some of the land on the Priory to build 3 or 4 large houses in the 1800's, which he sold. The houses and the priory itself still stand in their own cul-de-sac, Priory Grove.
Many of EA Hodge's nieces and nephews were born/moved to Canada and America, and I have copies of letters sent from these people when EA shared an inheritance amongst them during the depression.
Aside from photos of EA Hodge, we have a number of photos of Henry and his children, and one of EA Hodge's mother, Elizabeth Wright, who died in 1864... but the best photo of all is that of Tom and Ellen, taken 1869 at the latest (the year of Ellen's death). Tom and Ellen were buried at Scarisbrick parish church.
Thanks for the feedback. I know I ramble... so I may as well ramble for a purpose and give others some info on the background.
I have most North Meols names in my line, and have attached most Hodges who remained local to Southport in my tree... so anyone with a link to Hodges can probably find the connection back to William and Dorothy through this research.
I've established the link to Charles and Henry Hodge, who died in the Eliza Fernley Lifeboat disaster.. tbey are distant cousins.
I also have a bit of interesting info on William's family of the early-mid 1600's. William had a smallholding on Rowe Lane, he was fined for none attandance at church at easter in the 1630's... and shortly after the mass deaths in the family Hugh was up in court for fighting with Thomas Rimmer, Coneyman (Thomas Rimmer was also struck by a local woman in the same period, so perhaps Hugh was goaded by this troublemaker!!).
According to Peter Aughton's book, North Meols & Southport, the Hodges are one of just 3 families who have survived in North Meols since the 1300's (William Hoggeson paid his poll tax in 1381). Sadly, I can't bridge the gap between 1381 and 1580, by which time William Hoggeson had just that one surviving descendant.
I have William and Dorothy/Doritie as my 11th great grandparents, at least at the minute anyway.
It looks like I'm descended from two of the sons of their son Thomas (circa 1620), William and Roger, both on my mother's line.
Thomas (bap. 6th Dec 1668) is my 8th great grandfather, and then one of my lines goes through his daughter Dorrathy (bap. 20th Sept 1702).
This makes William (1698-1756) my 7th great granduncle at the minute, and currently I have him marrying Ellisabeth Rymer 6th Nov 1722, and later Jennet Boond (my 7th great grandaunt in her own right) 19th Feb 1751.
I don't have William married in 1720, so I hadn't thought of attaching "William s. of Willi: Hodges 27 Nov 1720" to him. I don't seem to have him that William (or Henry) on my tree at all at the minute, and as he is a relative of sorts it would be nice to get this line sewn up properly.
I'll have to look over your post again in the morning, it's getting a bit late to start on something new tonight. Time for bed.
William Hodges 1698-1756 had 3 children with first wife (unknown), Elizabeth in 1718, William (known as Henry) in 1720 and John in 1722. Their mother probably died in childbirth with John in 1722, as William then married Elizabeth Rymer later the same year, with whom he had a further 10 children. Remarriage was often quicker when there was one or more very young children requiring care.
In 1718, there is evidence of only one William Hodges in North Meols at a likely age to be fathering children.
The memorial board in St Cuthbert's, Churchtown lists the primary line of heirs from Tudor William to William c1850... on this, William (Henry) is listed as heir of William, heir of Thomas, heir of William, heir of Thomas, heir of Roger, heir of William.
This board was completed after the events, as Thomas' birth is misisng, as it is from the baptismal records... and techincally, Roger never did inherit, as he was buried 2 months before his father.
So the board says that William's eldest son was Roger, who's estate went to brother, Thomas. His primary heir was his eldest son William, who passed the estate to Thomas. His heir was William, who also had eldest son, William (Henry). Then there's a gap... where someone has lost track of the inheritance, but I think I can explain it. William (Henry) had 3 sons: William 1749, Peter 1752 and John (my ancestor) 1762. The eldest, William, inherited (he's the uncle Gred Tom worked for, and it explains how William could afford prime farm land and a fishing stall). However, all 3 of William's sons were drowned while out fishing, which left him no male heirs and the estate passed to his brother, Peter/his heirs (I don't know if Peter died before William in 1837... not 1836 as I said earlier). Peter's eldest son was Henry, who had no sons, so I think Henry's brother, Peter, inherited who passed his estate to Thomas (listed on the board). Thomas drowned without issue, and I don't know of any Hodge nephews, so I wouldn't like to commit myself at the moment about William, the last listed on the board.
Bernulf Llewellyn Hodge (Henry Hodge's grandson) researched it extensively from the original documents in the 1930's, and I spent some time checking it and thinking I'd found errors in the line, only to finally realise he'd been right all along!
At least I'm now as confident as one can be that the line's accurate.
Sorry.. I lie... William's unknown wife can't have been mother of John... as he was borbaptised 6th Jan 1722, which was 2 months AFTER William's marriage to Elizabeth Rymer... (new year was still happening in March until 1752, so the marriage was before the batism).
So William had a son and a daughter with unknown wife, and then 11 with Elizabeth Rymer. My ancestor William (Henry) was the only son from this first marriage.
Can anyone shed any light on what might've killed 4 members of the one family in spring 1639 when no other family seemed to be falling victim to any sinister disease (not even Rimmers, who are always a good name to turn to for establishing local trends).
If smallpox, cholera etc were running through the area, others would be dropping off like flies as well.... so unless William poisened the family with a bad chicken or something... I can't think why they all decided to depart at the same time!
I would guess something like smallpox etc. Have you found their burials? I wonder if there was a local outbreak of something nasty if it would be mentioned in the parish register? You never know. Sometimes the person filling in the details added all kinds of goodies to help us along
_________________ Mad on Genealogy or just plain mad? :)
I have the one-name extracts for Hodge, Howard, Rimmer, Johnson, Jackson & Marshall and only the Hodge one seems to have this cluster of deaths. In fact, there are only 2 Rimmer deaths that year! As my first thought was to check Rimmers for any pattern, there being so many of them!
There are no details of cause of death for these Hodges... though not surprising given the fact that it was 1639.
One of these days I'll get to Lancs record office and see if I can find anything in the manorial records... but Preston's not the most convenient place for me to get to (or into) as I don't know it very well (I use Liverpool record office a bit, but the powers that be didn't see fit to send North Meols records there!!).
So what could wipe out half the Hodges in 2 months and leave the rest of the community intact???
If these people were over the age of, say, 8 then they could have all died in fishing incidents? Looking back through the burials I have there were many disasters on this coast and if they were old enough to row then they may have all gone off together - it's just a thought and might explain why only that family were affected :?:
_________________ I may be a shrimp but I'm BIG on family history
the problem is, they weren't buried together.... though of course this doesn't rule out drowning, as bodies sometiems took a while to turn up (such as GGGG grandfather, John, who was washed up 3 months later).
However, Dorothy also died in the same period, and I wouldn't expect a woman of about 60 to be out fishing (especially when there were 6 men in the family).
The full details of the dead family are:
14th Jan 1639; Roger, son of William
19th Feb 1639; Doritie, wife of William
27th Feb 1639; William, son of William
8th March 1639; William
Roger was 35, William jr 23 and William and Dorothy about 60 or so.
Though the church board implies Roger was the eldest son, I can't be 100% sure of this (the board is clearly based on church records).
The baptisms of the family listed in the records were:
Roger 24th Feb 1604
Hugh 18th Feb 1612
William 3rd March 1616
Elizabeth 6th Sept 1620
Elline 24th Aug 1625
We know that there was also the son, Thomas, the only one to have children carrying the Hodges name. In 1664 (hearth tax returns), he and Hugh were still alive. Hugh in Churchtown, Thomas in Rowe. This suggests that Thomas was the eldest surviving son, as William and Dorothy's property had been in Rowe Lane... so Thomas clearly inherited the land and Hugh established his home in nearby churchtown.
As there are significant gaps between the children, especially between Roger & Hugh, I believe Thomas was either 2nd after Roger, or was born before 1604, as the records weren't very well kept until 1604 (william and Dorothy's marriage isn't listed either... so there may well have been a birth of Thomas shortly afterwards and both not recorded). Looking at Rimmer records, baptisms are only occasional between 1595 and 1604, with the exception of 1601, which was well documented.
4-5 years between the others are large gaps as well.... perhaps this indicates stillbirths or pregancies not going full term.
Before his untimely death, Roger fathered an illegitimate child, Ellin in 1633, but I assume she didn't carry his surname.
Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 1:30 pm Post subject: More on Gred Tom
I wads researching Gred Tom & Ellen a little more last night, trying to establish any links with their marriage witnesses etc. I had always taken Bernulf's research as read that Tom, Ellen & family moved to Heathy Lane, Halsall in the late 1830's after uncle William's death (and assumed that Tom didn't inherit the farm/couldn't afford the lease).
Their marriage witnesses were John Andow and Peter Rimmer, so concentrating on the one with the less common name, I found a John Aindow marrying Isabella Jackson in 1810. Though John seems to have died before 1841, there was Isabella Aindow and family (including children named John & Isabella) in North End, Birkdale. This property was next door to Tom & Ellen Hodge, who were 2 properties from Birkdale Mill. This establishes that Tom & Ellen were still on the Alma Rd/Liverpool Rd farm in 1841.
In 1851 they had moved to Heathy Lane on the Moss, so it seems that Tom DID take over William's farm, and probably left because of Blundell's plans to redevelop the land for Birkdale Park... perhaps offered Tom a good deal on the new farm to encourage him to move before his lease was up.
I have found that a lease for 3 lives was drawn up for William Hodges of Birkdale in 1807 and is held in Liverpool Record Office. I think Tom's uncle was the only William Hodges with land in Birkdale at that time, and this should refer to the farm, not the fishing stall (which had been drawn up only 8 years previously). I'm hoping that this lease will have Tom's name on it, possibly redrawn to include him after he came to work for William (who had no sons after the drownings in 1799). Tom was 13 in 1807, so it would probably coincide with the time he became a fully fledged worker on the farm.
I have also found out more on the Transportation of one of Ellen Marshall's grandparents, but I'll post that in the appropriate thread.
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