I’m not sure who originally shared this photograph on Ancestry but I would like to thank them, because it is supposedly a picture of John Hoodless, purportedly known by the nickname “Squire”.
Born in August 1786 in Sebergham, Cumberland, he is the sixth child of William Hoodless and Isabella Atkinson of the fascinating Parkhead/Caldbeck branch. He was a younger brother of William Hoodless surveyor to the Curwens of Workington. John married Sarah Clarkson in 1809 and they had eight children before she died in 1832. I have found no documentation for their marriage or Sarah’s death/burial and am relying on the private research of several genealogists on Wikitree who make these statements.
The England Census of 1841 is the first opportunity I have to place him and his eight children. John and one of his daughters, Margaret, are working at the Free School of Queen Elizabeth, a long established grammar school in the village of Middleton, just outside Manchester, Lancashire. The master of the school is Joseph Clarkson who, along with his wife Elizabeth, board 18 pupils and employ 5 servants. Joseph is the youngest brother of the late Sarah and John’s brother-in-law. He attended Trinity College, Cambridge from the age of 18 and has clearly established himself as an academic. We do not know, of course, if John Hoodless and Margaret had sought out Joseph’s help because they were in difficulty or if it had just been a natural offer of assistance or available work. The other seven Hoodless siblings are scattered around Cumberland at this point. Eldest Jane married Thomas Scott in 1837 and is living at Caldbeck, Cumberland.
It is from here that John has been prompted to strike out to seek his fortune elsewhere and to join the great migration to Canada. John sailed from Liverpool on the clipper ship Taralinta and arrived at Ellis Island, New York on 21st July 1843. The passenger manifest states he was a farmer and he was heading for Canada. He brought along with him two of his sons, John aged 20 and Robert 15.
New York, U.S. Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists
The East Zorra Agricultural Society conducted the Agricultural Census of the Township of East Zorra for the Year 1861. In it John Hoodless is recorded as the owner of Concession 10, Lot 20.
With that information I can place a John Hoodless on the Oxford County Map of 1857. His farm was near what is now the town of Hickson, about 15km north of Woodstock, ON and about 90km west of Hamilton, ON. It is still a working farm today. There is a question mark about whether this is John senior or his son John’s land.
Sutherland’s Gazette of 1867 claimed that East Zorra has 884 acres cultivating wheat, barley, rye peas, oats, buckwheat and corn, potatoes, turnips, mangel wurzel, carrots, beans and flax. Other produce noted – wool, maple sugar, cider, butter and cheese.
Ultimately all but one of John’s children followed the family out to Canada. The oldest daughter Jane remained in Cumberland, England, while the rest of the siblings founded the Canadian Hoodless line. John Hoodless never remarried and died at the ripe old age of 84 on 25th December 1870 He is buried at Trinity Church, Highway 59, East Zorra, Oxford, Ontario. He was succeeded by 26 grandchildren, all but 5 of them Canadian.
