Surname Saturday - Hodson

Hodson

Nicholas Hodson AKA Hodsdon first appears in the records of Hingham, Massachusetts when he was granted a house lot in 1636.   About 1639 he married Esther Wines, who was a cousin of a Charlestown, Massachusetts resident with the fantastic Puritan name of “Faintnot Wines” (don’t you love it!).    Faintnot Wines left legacies to Esther’s five living children in his will in 1664.  Esther is possibly a daughter of Thomas Wincoll and Ann Fleming?

About 1650 Nicholas Hodson and other families left Hingham for Cambridge Hill, which is now the city of Newton, Massachusetts.  By 1656 he was living in Kittery, Maine.    The first record where he appeared in Maine was in 1655 when he was absent from a meeting.  In 1659 he and several others were ordered to Boston for entertaining Quakers.  It is interesting that my other ancestors Anthony Emery and Richard Nason were also among those ordered to Boston .

There is a deed for his homestead, which was passed on to his son Benoni, and then to grandson Timothy, dated 17 May 1828 which notes “Reserving and excepting from this conveyance one eighth of an acre on the homestead first above mentioned, which has been heretofore used as a place of burial by our ancestors.”  This may be where Nicholas Hodson and his wife Elizabeth are buried. There was a man named Nicholas Hodson killed by Indians in 1704, but I don’t know if he is the same man, or a relative.

The Hodson Genealogy:

Generation 1:  Nicholas Hodson, born in England, died in Wells, Maine; married first about 1639 to Esther Wines,  who died on 29 November 1647 in Hingham, Massachusetts; married second to Elizabeth Wincoll, daughter of John Wincoll and Elizabeth Unknown, also widow of John Needham.   Six children by first wife, and six more by second wife.

1.  Esther Hodson, born 20 September 1640 (see below)

2. Mehitable Hodson, born November 1641, married Peter Welcome

3. Jeremiah Hodson, born 6 September 1643, married Anne Thwaits

4. Israel Hodson, born before 19 July 1646; married Ann Thompson

5. Elizabeth Hodson, born before 19 July 1646, probably died young

6.  Benoni Hodson, born before 29 November 1647; married Abigail Curtis

7.  Sarah Hodson, married John Morrell

8. Timothy Hodson, married Hannah Unknown, who married second Joseph Smith

9. John Hodson, married Rebecca Unknown

10. Joseph Hodson, married Tabitha Raynes

11. Lucy Hodson, married George Vickers

12. Hannah Hodson, married Nicholas Smith

Generation 2:  Esther Hodson, born 20 September 1640 in Hingham, Massachusetts, died 11 March 1723 in Kittery, Maine; married on 25 December 1663 in Dover, New Hampshire to Edward Weymouth.  Six children.

Generation 3. Mehitable Weymouth m. William Stacy

Generation 4. Mary Stacy m. John Thompson

Generation 5. Mary Thompson m. Richard Nason

Generation 6. Mercy Nason m. William Wilkinson

Generation 7. Aaron Wilkinson m. Mercy F. Wilson

Generation 9. Robert Wilson Wilkinson m. Phebe Cross Munroe

Generation 10. Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill     

Generation 11. Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

It is difficult to follow the Hodson descendants, since the name changed spelling so many times.  The most usual spellings are HODSON, HODSDON, HODSDEN, HOGDSON,  or even HODGDON  but other variations can be found in the Maine and New Hampshire vital records and probate.   Town histories have been very helpful in helping me trace this line, such as Old Eliot by Willis, page 146 – 147, and Old Kittery and Her Families by Everett Stackpole, page 123 and also pages 529-530 (available to read online at Google Books).

There is a book from 1904 named Genealogy of the Descendants of Nicholas Hodsdon-Hodgdon of Hingham, Mass and Kittery, Maine 1635 – 1904 by Andrew Jackson Hodgdon, available to read online at www.archive.org  (Library of Congress) and at www.openlibrary.org

There is a short sketch of Nicholas Hodson in the book A Tenth Generation Yankee from Maine by Nettie Gove Nicholson.   There is also a sketch in The Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England by Savage, Volume II, page 440.   See also The Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, by Davis, Libbey and Noyes, on page 343.

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo