Bell 1960 & 1961

1960. Robert Hodgson & 1961. Rachel Shotton {England, …PA}


1634, Robert born in England [s/o Robert Hodgson.]
~1640, Rachel born in New England [RI], d/o 3922. Samson Shotton.
In England, Robert converted to the Quaker religion. Begun as the “Religious Society of Friends” in England by George Fox about 1648, the Quakers – the origin of the name is not certain, but it apparently was first used in derision to refer to women who trembled and quaked in religious ecstasy – believe that God can be apprehended individually, without ministers, creeds or churches. George was based out of Swarthmoor Hall in Ulverston, co. Cumbria, northern England on the west coast.
6/1657, Robert left England from London heading to New Amsterdam [New York] aboard the ship Woodhouse.
8/1/1657, Robert arrived, one of 7 men and 4 women that would plant the seeds of Quakerism in America. Robert and 2 women left the ship. The others remained aboard as they travelled on to RI and MA. Robert took off for Gravesend on Long Island, where he conducted the first Quaker meeting in the colonies, at the home of Dame Deborah Moody. Robert went on to Hempstead, where he was quickly arrested and charged with holding Quaker meetings. He was tied to the back of a cart and made to walk to New Amsterdam, where he was convicted as a heretic, fined 600 guilders, given two years at hard labor and whipped. He refused to pay the fine or work, and, through the intervention of Stuyvesant’s sister, was soon released and banished. [Peter Stuyvesant, the provincial director general was not going to tolerate a Quaker presence in his domain. To make his point, he ordered the public torturing of Robert, a 23-year-old Quaker convert who had become an influential preacher. And then he issued a harsh ordinance, punishable by fine and imprisonment, against anyone found guilty of harboring Quakers. Though the Dutch West India Company called Quakerism an “abominable religion,” it nevertheless overruled Stuyvesant in 1663 and ordered him to “allow everyone to have his own belief.” Thus did religious toleration become the law of the colony.]
Robert moved to Warwick, RI.
8/3/1665, Robert married Rachel. (S) Friend’s Record.
By 12/1667, Rachel had inherited her family lands in Portsmouth and Warwick.
4/1673, “Racholl” Hodgson and Sarah “Borden” ( 1963) signed an Epistle from the women Friends of Rhode Is. to their “Friends and Sisters” at Sandwich, Duxbury, Situate, and Boston, at each of which locations Friends may have held a yearly meeting. …
4/13/1675, Robert signed the marriage certificate when Walter Newberry of Newport married Ann Collins from London, his name second on the document after that of Wm. Coddington.
4/4/1676, Robert and 3 others put in charge of patrolling the waters to watch for attacks by native Indians. [Nearly 100 homes and barns had been destroyed by the Indians in the months before this. Quakers would not fight, but they would stand watch.]
10/12/1676, George Lawton and Robert Hodgson made inventory of the estate of John Cole at Plymouth, RI. (S) Gen. Dict. Of RI.
3/15/1678, “This Indenture made the twenty Seventh day of the month Called Aprill in the year one Thousand Six hundred Seventy Eight Witneseth that William Cadman Samuell Wilbur and Robert Hodgson, all of the Town of Portsmouth in the Colony of Road Island and Providence plantations in New England, being by publick Authority appointed and Impowered to dispose of and place out Indians as apprentices in the Said Town of Portsmouth: have by these presents put, placed, and bound a certaine Indian girl now of the age of Six years or near Soe much who is Daughter of one meecquapew an Indian woman late of pocaset as an apprentice unto William Wodell of Portsmouth aforesaid … whose name is Hannah Shall well and faithfully Serve her Said master William Wodell, his Executors, … Wm Cadman Samuell Wilbur Robert Hodgson. A True Coppie of the origionall Entered and Recorded the 15th of the 3d month 1678 mee John Anthony Town Clerke.” (S) The Early Records of the Town of Portsmouth, 1901.
6/7/1680, Robert chosen a Counstable of Portsmouth.
12/12/1684, Robert named to a committee to inspect a document affecting the towns on the island.
4/2/1685, Robert selected to the Portsmouth Town Council.
5/10/1696, Robert, “an ancient friend, and a traveler for God’s truth”, died, age 78 years.
(S) Colonial Families of Philadelphia, P1737. (S) A history of the Hodgson family by Ellis P. Hodgson presented at a centennial family reunion, held September 7, 1892. (S) A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, 1860, P440.

Family notes:
• 10/1656, Portion of exemplification of a final concord relating to property in possibly in Long Riston: “Parties: 1) Hugh Bethell junior, esquire, Robert Hodgson senior, wife Anne, Robert Hodgson junior, plaintiffs 2) Marmaduke Parkin, … Property: two messuages, four acres meadow and 18 acres pasture Consideration: £100.” [The UK National Archives have multiple reference to “Robert Hodgson” of either Lancashire, and East or West Yorkshire at this time. This is an area where George Fox would have been well known. The above mentioned Ann was a widow in 1638.]

Children of Robert and Rachel:
[Children’s births are from Friends records.]

i. Robert Hodgson ( 980), born 1665 in RI.

ii. Mary Hodgson, born 8/6/1666 in RI.
Mary married ? Cook.

iii. Alice Hodgson, born 1668 in RI.
Mary married ? Pembert.
Mary married ? Bradf.