Lookup: Hodgins Kindred

Question

Does anyone have access to the book: Hodgins ... Kindred Forever by Lester Hodgins? James Robert Hodgins is the sort of figure that "family tradition" always wants to claim as an ancestor, and I'm dubious about the claims that my ancestor Thomas Hodgins-76 (c. 1830-1902) was his son. JRH is said to have had only 4 sons John, James, Willliam N, and Adam - none of them a Thomas.

The 1851 Census of Biddulph Ontario Canada [https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1061/images/e095-e002353868?pId=759292] shows a Thomas of the right age living with a James and Mary household, but there were a zillion James and Thomas Hodgins in Biddulph at that time, and no way to identify the relationship.

Hoping that Lester might have mentioned him.

Comments

There is a helpful index to the book here:  https://studylib.net/doc/7569971/hkfblh-index

But my Thomas doesn't show up.

Answer 1

I have a copy of the book. Chapter 16 pg 47...

" In the year 1813 Colonel James married Mary Napier Hodgins, daughter of John and Jane (Napier) Hodgins of Ballymackey, Ireland. Mary was four years younger than her husband. They raised eight children: John J.P., Jane, Mary Ann, Adam, Elizabeth, James, William Napier and Thomas"

Pg 50: " Thomas was the youngest son of Colonel James and Mary. He was known as Big Tom. He never married. He was born October 18 1831 and died 1892. He is buried in St James Cemetery, Clandeboye, beside his brother Adam"

Hope this helps.

Ken

Comments

It does help considerably! Many thanks! I knew of Big Tom and that he wasn't "my" Thomas - who married, had many children and died in 1902.

Now how Lester managed to reconcile this statement with his claim that Big Jim had only 4 sons is a mystery.  I shall revise my Research Note Accordingly.

Do you think it's possible that Lester may have my Thomas in there somewhere? He married Ellen Shouldice in 1855 and died in Stratford in 1902. There was another Thomas Hodgins in Stratford at about this time, but he died in 1912 and is buried in the Avondale cemetery with my Thomas's bio.  (ETA: FAG has now fixed this.)

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My late father had meticulously entered all of the entries in Lester's book into Family Tree Maker, which I have inherited. I found your Thomas and Ellen in the file with the following note. 

"This couple and their descendants are recorded from the notes of Lester Hodgins (1984) who intended to write an update to his earlier family history "Hodgins  ... Kindred Forever" (1977).

Tom Hodgins of Egmondville was born in the early 1830s. some notes state that "He was known as Long-Tom  Hodgins and had a brother who drove stage-coach." This Tom Hodgins may have been known as "Long-Tom" but he was definitely not the Long-Tom Hodgins of Concession two in Biddulph who had a brother who drove stage coach from London to Lucan." Long-Tom Hodgins of chapter 33 (HKF) married Mary de Coursey and they had three duaghters. Long-Tom Hodgins of biddulph died at the age of twenty-nine years and was buried at Point Edwards, Ontario.

In the mid-1850s, Tom Hodgins of Egmondville married Ellen Shouldice and the couple took a farm at 

Egmondville near Seaforth in tuckersmith township Huron County. Their children went to the Egmondville school, and Tom and Ellen were buried in the churchyard at Egmondville."

Unfortunately I don't know the source of this note. My file reflects their 7 children.

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That is absolutely what I have of him, which mostly comes from census reports. I am currently looking for their burials in Egmondville. I think their oldest daughter Susan and youngest,Lilly/Jean Ellen, would be buried there, too.  There were obituaries that say the bodies were being taken from Stratford to Egmondville, but I can't locate the graves.

And of course, nothing of his origin or parentage, I assume.

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Oh, and if you have records on the children, is there anything on oldest son Thomas, b. 1862?  He seems to have disappeared in the 1880s. I have the sense that about that time father Thomas lost his farm, which led to their removal to Stratford.

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I don't have any additional notes for Thomas (oldest son).

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Your notes have been quite useful, thanks for all the help.

Answer 2

book appears to be at Google Books and searchable 

https://books.google.ca/books/about/Hodgins_Kindred_Forever.html?id=ZOFUAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y

Comments

Alas, only snippets. I did notice in one snippet the line I had previously seen about the 4 sons. I've managed to exclude various other Thomases.

From 1861 my Thomas is well-documented, but his birth and parentage are blanks, other than being born in Ireland abt 1830 +/- 2 years. This would make him a good prospect as a son of James Robert, except for the 4 sons line.

Answer 3

There is a copy at the large Toronto library at Yonge and Bloor. if not for covid, I could go over and scan the pages for you.

Comments

Kind of you to consider it. But I can, if it comes to that, go to the Newberry in Chicago, which has it.

Answer 4

You can locate it in the Worldcat.com  to see if you can go to the library where it is located or loan program, and it is available on limited access digitally at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89063107999

Answer 5

If anyone needs it, here is a link to a scanned version of Hodgins Kindred Forever by Lester Hodgins. Found it the other day. Organized by page order.

https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~aek740/genealogy/hkf/hkf-01/HodginsKindredForever.htm