Our Hodgson Relatives

If you are reading this, you are a Hodgson, or married to one! That's right, you are a descendent of Thomas Hodgson, who was born in 1790, in England, and died there without making the trip to America. But his wife made the trip. And so did his ten children! Maria Stead Hodgson was counted in the Headingley census of 1941, but in the Edwards County, Illinois census in 1850. Headingley is a neighborhood of Leeds. Several of her children, including daughter Alice, were also counted in the 1850 Edwards County census. No not "Aunt Alice" that us baby boomers remember. "Aunt Alice" was Aunt Wilma's and Uncle Don's aunt who came along a few generations later. Alice Hodgson was born in 1816 to Thomas and Maria Hodgson in Manningham, in Yorkshire. Many of her brothers and sisters were born in Manningham, while the younger kids in the family were born in Burley Mills, a neighborhood of Leeds. Alice was already married before they came to America. There is a cite showing they sailed on June 20, 1842 and appear on the Globe passenger list. Alice Hodgson married Joseph Shaw before she sailed to America. They had seven children, including a daughter named Grace, the oldest of the bunch. Grace was born in 1837, so she was about five when they sailed to America. Grace Shaw married into the Dixon family after she grew up in Edwards County, marrying Joseph Dixon in 1858. Joseph was born also in England and came with his father John and his mother to what is now known as Dixon Precinct in Edwards County, outside of Albion. Joseph and Grace (Shaw) Dixon had five children of their own in Dixon Precinct. The oldest was a girl named Alice... still not our "Aunt Alice". Then a girl Ada. Then another girl Sarah. And then a boy, Joseph F. Dixon, who was the father of my grandfather George Dixon. (Then another boy, Charles, the uncle who let my grandfather and grandmother stay with them when they were first married!) Here's the link to the whole Hodgson family tree. I haven't found a way to copy this PDF document, which is available on the web. Just Google Hodgson Clan if the link doesn't work. I don't know who prepared this very detailed history of the Hodgson family, but sure appreciate their work. I'll eventually reach out through Edwards County relatives to see if I can track it down. Note: I definitely will have to track down a Hodgson family representative. After cross-checking what we already know about the children of Grace and Joseph Dixon (Sr), the Hodgson chart leaves out a few kids. You can check elsewhere in the blog... remember that the blog is searchable by using the search box in the upper left hand corner of the green title page... and find the obituaries for Charles Dixon and a brother not mentioned in this account... Alfred Dixon.