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Two
Places at the Same Time?
The largest family
tree at SHARE (a printout of it presently requires 275 A4-size
pages at font 10) contains about 1600 names and 640 marriages! To date
fifty contacts trace their roots back to George Hodgson b.6 Jan 1701
at Chester County PA USA., this family tree's earliest-known forefather.
There are no predecessors
prior to this George, yet people keep turning up who believe otherwise!
This all seems to have originated in the late Clay Hodgin's book Early
History of the Quaker Hodgson-Hodson-Hodgin Family, published 1988.
On page 31 Hodgin wrote, "George, eldest son of Robert II and Sarah,
was born in 1701 and was left no inheritance. Family tradition asserts
this was because he and wife Mary Thatcher, also a Quaker, eloped without
Chester Meeting approval or the approval of their parents." On page
33, he wrote that "George had been disinherited by his father."
Noted Quaker author/writer
Gwen Boyer Bjorkman takes exception to this father-son relationship.
In a letter to SHARE in 1998, she wrote, "I am a descendant of
George Hodgson and have tried to prove his parents. All I can prove
is who his parents are not. I am so sorry that so many people have been
led astray by bad research." The following is a capsule review in a
nutshell of her findings. Both Robert Hodgson and his wife Sarah left
wills in Cecil Co MA USA (Bjorkman has copies). There is no George Hodgson
listed as a son of Robert and Sarah in these wills. One cannot declare
that George was disowned and then use that statement as proof that he
was not named in their wills!
Bjorkman goes further.
She points out that Robert HODGSON, son of Robert HODGSON, is said to
be living in Kent upon Delaware in 1744. His will, made 11 Jan 1765,
names the following heirs: sons Robert, William, David, and daus Mary
CATLIN, Margaret PRICHARD. Exec'rs are brother-in-law Andrew CALDWELL
and son Robert HODGSON. Wits. are Preston BERRY, Jane CALDWELL, Ann
REYNOLDS, David CALDWELL. Prob. 12 Aug 1767. Arch. vol. A24, pp.129-131.
Reg. of Wills, Liber L, folios 33-34.
Robert HODGSON's
son Joseph HODGSON wrote a will in 1759 naming his uncle Andrew CALDWELL
and his brother Robert HODGSON Jr. as Trustees. Robert and Train HODGSON
were witnesses to a will in 1733. Therefore Robert was married to Train
when he sold [1744] that piece of land in Cecil County that
he inherited from his father. The son William HODGSON left a will in
1770 naming his daus Esther and Train and his brother David as Exor.
(Calendar of Kent County, Delaware Probate Records 1680-1800, Dover
DE Archives Commission, 1944, p.229.)
Note! This cannot
be the Robert HODGIN who m. Theodate in 1740 west of the Susquehanna
River in what became York Co PA. He or his wife were witnesses to Quaker
marriages there in 1740, 1748, 1749, 1756. You just cannot be in two
places at the same time. It also looks like the Robert of the 1765 Kent
Co DE will is the eldest son of Robert and Sarah of Cecil Co. The 1765
will cannot be Robert and Theodate who are in NC in 1760 and they leave
for SC in 1771.
Robert HODGSON
d.1733, wife Sarah née BORDEN d.1748. Their son Robert HODGSON
b.c1698, d.1767 Kent DE, m.Train CALDWELL. Their son Robert HODGSON
is mentioned in his brother's will in 1759 and in his father's will
in 1765. None of these are Robert HODGIN who m.Theodate SEALS in 1740
in York Co PA.
Conclusion: There
is absolutely no evidence that George Hodgson, b.1701 at Chester Co
PA, is the son of or was disowned by Robert. Therefore George's parentage
remains unknown.
Footnote: Hank
Hodgin, one of our family tree donors for the above family tree, wrote
to SHARE, saying, "I ran across a reference on the Internet that
said George Hodgson (b.1701 PA USA) was the son of John Hodgson, the
son of Robert and Sarah Hodgson, the son of Robert Hodgson. From the
records that I have, and from information that Gwen Bjorkman sent me,
John, the son of Robert, was about 10 or 12 years of age when George
was born--not a very good candidate as a father. The Robert-George connection
can be laid to rest.
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