Charles Condon (8 Apr 1866-2 Oct 1949) — m. Grace Edith Roeder on 26 Jun 1895; m. Catherine Lucinda Umphrey on 3 Jul 1900
Horatio was born in Levant, Penobscot County, Maine, which is inland northwest of Bangor. He was the son of Maine natives Ebenezer Hodsdon, Sr. and Ruth Goodwin Blake. His family settled in Castine, a port on Penobscot Bay. His mother being the daughter of a ship captain and shipwright, seafaring was in the family’s blood.
Hannah was a daughter of sailor and Irish immigrant Daniel Sullivan and Sarah Murch of Castine, and was the younger sister of Mary Ann Sullivan, Horatio’s second wife. In 1859, she married Samuel M. Johnson (~1831-186x), son of Samuel and Martha Johnson of Newburyport, Massachusetts; they lived in Machias Port, Washington County, Maine and later in Newburyport. There’s no indication they had children, although in the 1860 census they had Hannah’s 9-year-old presumed nephew Frank Condon living with them.
Like his grandfather, Horatio became a mariner and sea captain. On 21 Sep 1845, he married Sarah W. Wardwell (4 Nov 1817-30 Jul 1854), daughter of Robert and Sylvia Wardwell. The Wardwells trace back to a man hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Samuel Wardwell, but he wasn’t a Hinkley ancestor as far as I know. Their children:
Minetta A. “Nettie” (8 Nov 1850-24 Jan 1880) — m. Frederick Augustus Jones in Nov 1870
Frederick A. (12 Dec 1852-19xx) — m. Emma Lydia Davis on 18 May 1875
The 1850 census in Castine showed Horatio (33) and wife Sarah (32), plus Sarah’s younger sister Augusta Wardwell (24). This would have been shortly before the first child, Minetta, was born. Their next-door neighbors were Horatio’s younger brother Ebenezer Hodsdon, Jr. (29) and his wife, Sarah Wardwell’s cousin Jane Wardwell (26), plus two children. This family moved to Minnesota a few years later. Their pioneer tale is recounted in the book The Restless Ones, written by their grand-daughter Beatrice Morosco and published in 1963.
Sarah died in 1854, and is buried in the Jeremiah Wardwell Cemetery, West Penobscot, Hancock County. (Jeremiah was her grandfather.) This cemetery is near the end of Wardwell Point Road, in a stretch of woods running down to Northern Bay. The town of Penobscot proper is on the opposite side of the bay. The cemetery is downhill through the woods between the last two houses on the right at the road’s end. Note that findagrave.com has duplicated this cemetery: as of 2019, it exists online as both the Wardwell Cemetery and the Jeremiah Wardwell Cemetery.
On 10 Feb 1855, Horatio married Mary Ann Sullivan Condon (25 Aug 1827-1863), a widow from Brooksville whose husband, Captain John Condon, had died in 1853 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Mary Ann, daughter of one sailor and widow of another, already had four children by her first husband: Eleanor Amanda “Ellen” (~1844-1863), Charles H. (~1845-1863), John (15 Aug 1850-????), and Frank (~1851-????). Horatio and Mary Ann went on to have three more children:
Jennie L. (1 Sep 1855-9 Jul 1900) — m. Roland H. Hooper in 187x
Maria Johnson (11 Dec 1858-7 Nov 1922) — m. Arthur L. Mitchell on 12 Dec 1882
Horatio Edwin, Jr. (~1861-????)
The 1860 census listed Horatio (42, mariner) and Mary A. (34), with his children Minetta A. (9) and Frederic A. (7) Hodsdon; her children Ellen A. (16), Charles H. (15), and John (10) Condon; and their children Jane L. (4) and Maria J. (1) Hodsdon. Mary Ann’s son Frank, as noted above, was living with his aunt Hannah in Machias Port. Jane is the child who was listed born as Abby Jane in 1855, and who later went by Jennie. Also present were Mary Ann’s older brother Daniel Sullivan, Jr. (37, blacksmith), and George Gray (23, mariner). Daniel died later that same year, so maybe he was sick. That would explain living with his sister. The presence of Mr. Gray was because Horatio had begun running a lodging house for mariners called the Castine House, a historic 1840 dwelling previously known as the John H. Jarvis House. It’s still there as of 2016, which is what makes it historic. Horatio was also the booking agent and sailing master for the packet boat Spy, sailing between Castine and Belfast, Maine.
1863 was a grim year for the family: Ellen and Charles Condon both died, as did their mother Mary Ann. I don’t know the dates or causes of death.
Horatio, widowed for a second time, filed for intent to marry Mary Ann’s widowed younger sister Hannah Sullivan Johnson on 1 Mar 1865. They married on 12 Apr 1865 in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where Hannah had been living. Horatio and Hannah had one child, Charles, who was born in 1866 and named for his late cousin Charles Condon.
Hannah died in 1869, cause undetermined. On 20 Feb 1870, Horatio married a fourth time, to Abbie M. Foster Hannel/Hanvel (2 Apr 1837-1 Mar 1874) from Ellsworth. The wedding was reported in the 24 Feb 1870 edition of the Bangor Daily Whig and Courier.
The 1870 census showed Horatio (53) and Abbie M. (32) with all six of Horatio’s children: Minetta H. (20), Frederick H. (17), Jennie (15), Maria (12), Horatio E. (9), and Charles (4). His stepson John Condon (20, mariner), apparently the sole survivor of the Condon family, was living there. So were 11 other people with varied names, a mix of employees and guests at the lodging house.
History of Castine, Penobscot, and Brooksville, Maine by George Augustus Wheeler (1837-1923), published in 1875, named Horatio as the proprietor of the Castine House and agent for the packet boat Spy. However, the book’s information was already out of date: Horatio sold the Castine House about 1872 and moved outside town. Abbie died in 1874, and Horatio in 1875. They’re buried in Castine Cemetery, the same place as Mary Ann and Hannah. Mary Ann’s children Eleanor Amanda “Ellen” Condon and Charles H. Condon are buried there as well. Abbie’s gravestone gives 1847 as her year of birth, but 1850 and 1870 census evidence shows otherwise.
Horatio and two of his daughters appear as characters in The Luck of the Juliet: A Tragedy of the Sea, a short story by Louise Wheeler Bartlett in a book called The Trail of the Maine Pioneer published in 1916 by the Maine Federation of Women’s Clubs. The story is based on the 30 Sep 1867 wreck of the schooner Juliet M. Tilden in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. I don’t know how accurate Mrs. Bartlett’s portrayal of the Hodsdons was, but she was the daughter of the George A. Wheeler mentioned above, and her father was a longtime resident of Castine who undoubtedly knew the family.
Minetta, Horatio’s eldest child, was reportedly engaged to Edward Wentworth “Ned” Brown, a young sailor who was one of 19 men killed in the 30 Sep 1867 wreck of the fishing schooner Juliet M. Tilden. She married Frederick Augustus Jones (9 Dec 1846-22 Mar 1900) in Nov 1870. He was a book-keeper for a lobster processing plant (J. Winslow Jones, Ltd.), and had been staying at the hotel in Castine during lobster season to do the books. They settled in Portland. Their children:
Eva J. (Aug 1871-1940) — m. William Isaiah Hacker on 4 May 1900
Howard Lemuel (7 Sep 1874-5 Jan 1956) — m. Jennette G. Wish on 9 Oct 1900
Arthur Hacker (1876-1969) — m. Elmira Starr Nelson on 17 Jun 1902
Minetta died in 1880, and is buried in Friends Cemetery, Portland. The 1880 census showed the family living in Deering, Cumberland County, near Portland. Maria Hodsdon was living there as well to help with the children. She left after she got married in 1882. Frederick married Ellen Crawford (1851-1934) of Brunswick. The 1900 census showed Minetta’s children, shortly after their father’s death, living with their stepmother in Portland.
All three of Minetta’s children married and settled in Portland, although son Arthur later moved to California. Eva moved back in with her stepmother after her husband died in 1920. In 1936, an Arthur H. Jones of the right age was a passenger on the ship Lurline sailing from Los Angeles to Honolulu, which I wouldn’t mention except that Kathleen Hinkley, his distant relative by marriage, took the same passage on the same ship a couple of years later. Minor coincidence, maybe. Arthur lived in Pacific Palisades, California, at 742 Via de la Paz. In 1965, a few years before his death, he corresponded with his cousin Alice M. Hodsdon Hinkley, Kathleen’s sister-in-law, about their shared ancestry.
Frederick, Horatio’s second child, married the under-age Lydia Emma Davis (~1860-?24 Jan 1937?) in Castine in 1875. Hard to say whom her parents were, as there were several Emma Davises and Lydia Davises of the right approximate age. And then they disappeared from the record for 35 years. Maybe they were hiding from Emma’s father.
The 1910 census found them in Portland, although it rendered their names as Frederick A. and Lydia E. Hodgdon; Frederick was listed as a mariner and waterman. This census said they had no children, living or dead. The 1920 census showed them still in South Portland with Raymond T. (8) and Bertha M. (6) Hodsdon, who were listed as their children. I guess they were adopted? The 1930 census showed Emma, widowed, living with a nephew named Ackley Norton in Bangor. An Emma Hodgdon (sic), age estimated at 75, died on 24 Jan 1937 and is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery, Bangor.
A Raymond Hodsdon of the right age showed up in 1930 and 1940 in Penobscot County, but by 1940 he was an inmate of the Bangor State Mental Hospital, where he reportedly died of tuberculosis in 1947.
Jennie married Roland H. Hooper (1849-1901) and moved to Massachusetts in the early 1870s. Their children:
Arthur Webb (1874-15 Jan 1935) — m. Alberta Gatley
Grace E. (1876-1933) — m. Charles O. Pitchard
Clarence L. (1876-1895)
J. Raymond (1884-1885)
The 1880 census showed them with children Arthur (6) and Gracie (4) in Newburyport, Essex County, Massachusetts. It didn’t list Clarence, which is odd. He was... Grace’s twin? There’s no evidence for him except for the inscription on his parents’s tombstone. Jennie died in Portland, Maine in 1900, and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Portland with her husband, who died the following year. Their tombstone lists all four children, plus Alberta and Charles.
Maria moved to Deering, Maine in 1880 after her half-sister Minetta’s death to help take care of Minetta’s children. She married Arthur L. Mitchell (1859-1917) in 1882 in Deering. They had one child:
Ira Leroy (25 Mar 1889-1946) — m. Carrie May Howard on 28 Sep 1910
Maria died in 1922 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Portland with Arthur.
Horatio, Jr. left no record after 1870. According to his nephew Arthur H. Jones, he went out west and was never heard from again.
Charles has his own entry in the family tree.
https://www.geni.com/people/Susan-Hodsdon/6000000028278064619 -- Sarah Wardwell Hodsdon, with image
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=SHOW&db=derwood&recno=83118 -- Hodsdons of Hancock Co.
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/boards/surnames.hodgdon/92.2.1.1.1/mb.ashx -- A couple of messages about descendants of Horatio “Hodgdon”
http://www.penobscot-maine.com/early.html -- Diary entry by Hosea Wardwell mentioning Horatio’s ship Spy
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4SX-GJQ -- Horatio’s 1817 birth
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4FL-X92 -- 1845 wedding
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6JP-T3D -- 1850 census
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6J1-3HS -- 1850 census, Abbie Foster
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F446-2QC -- 1850 birth of John Condon
https://www.geni.com/people/Horatio-Hodsdon/6000000028277709809 -- photo of Horatio
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F44F-D91 -- Frederick’s 1852 birth
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/52589596/sarah-hodsdon -- Sarah Wardwell’s grave
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4F7-ZJ5 -- 1855 wedding
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F44X-R5B -- Jennie/Abby’s 1855 birth
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQ4B-NVN -- 1855 Massachusetts census, prob. Hannah’s future husband Samuel Johnson
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F44X-5VR -- Maria’s 1858 birth
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N4ZL-RCW -- 1859 wedding of Hannah to Samuel Johnson
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDHK-2Q7 -- 1860 census, misread as “Hogsden”
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDHV-JW7 -- 1860 census, Hannah with first husband
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDC7-8MB -- 1860 census, Abbie Foster (page 27), listed as “table girl” in Bangor
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93854057/mary-ann-hodsdon -- Mary Ann’s grave
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4F7-ZJ5 -- 1865 intent to marry for Horatio and Hannah; see page 121
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N4SG-H4R -- 1865 wedding
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F44F-X52 -- Charles’s 1866 birth
http://www.kellscraft.com/MainePioneer/MainePioneerCh04.html -- Story of the 1867 shipwreck; picture of Minetta
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93854128/hannah-hodsdon -- 1869 grave of Hannah
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4F7-ZNG -- 1870 wedding of Horatio, misdated 1871
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6DJ-6SK -- 1870 census
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4F7-ZJ5 -- 1870 wedding of Minetta; see page 131
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2HKG-KV5 -- 1874 birth of Minetta’s son Howard
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/101003303/abbie-m-foster -- 1874 grave of Abbie Foster
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4NW-72D -- 1875 wedding of Frederick Hodsdon
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKM1-SZ27 -- Horatio’s burial, 1875
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93853856/horatio-edwin-hodsdon -- Horatio’s grave
http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofcastine00whee/historyofcastine00whee_djvu.txt -- 1876 book; mentions Horatio as tavern-keeper, Ebenezer’s involvement in legal action
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4D9-HLS -- 1880 death of Minetta
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/185501388/minnetta-a-jones -- 1880 grave of Minetta
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MH6X-B1M -- 1880 census, Jennie
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF3J-54J -- 1880 census, Minetta’s children, and Maria as “Mary Hardin”
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2HV2-N5D -- 1882 wedding of Maria Hodsdon
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHP2-46Y -- 1884 wedding of John Condon, Jr.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHGX-WD6 -- 1884 death of a child of John Condon
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KMMC-QPX -- 1889 birth of Maria’s son Ira
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMLF-6W2 -- 1900 census, Jennie
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMLF-3TX -- 1900 census, Maria
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMLF-SRM -- 1900 census, Minetta’s children
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F48C-P9N -- Jennie’s death, 1900
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/95796685/jennie-l-hooper -- Jennie’s grave
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4DP-CSF -- 1900 wedding of Minetta’s daughter Eva as “Jones Jones”
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZQK-ZKR -- 1900 wedding of Minetta’s son Howard
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZQK-QQY -- 1902 wedding of Minetta’s son Arthur
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MR3S-M5M -- 1910 census, Maria
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MR39-74H -- 1910 census, Frederick
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MR3S-HW6 -- 1910 census, Minetta’s daughter Eva
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MR39-LW5 -- 1910 census, Minetta’s son Howard
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MR3S-WJR -- 1910 census, Minetta’s son Arthur
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q24N-V5Y7 -- 1910 wedding of Maria’s son Ira
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:S1BD-C5D -- Family tree for Minetta Hodsdon
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2HM-5WL8 -- WWI draft registration for Minetta’s son Howard
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MFZZ-MFB -- 1920 census, Frederick Hodsdon
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MFZX-SQF -- 1920 census, Minetta’s daughter Eva
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MFZD-LFZ -- 1920 census, Minetta’s son Howard
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MFZ6-5DK -- 1920 census, Minetta’s son Arthur
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q24N-V8RL -- 1922 death of Maria Hodsdon Mitchell
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/95762152/maria-johnson-mitchell -- 1922 grave of Maria
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XM85-QMP -- 1930 census, Minetta’s daughter Eva
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XM85-QMB -- 1930 census, Minetta’s son Howard
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XM8P-Y3R -- 1930 census, Minetta’s son Arthur
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XMDQ-8GT -- 1930 census, prob. Frederick’s widow
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XMD4-TF1 -- 1930 census, prob. Frederick’s ?adopted? son Raymond
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV9Z-LK7H -- 1936, Arthur (I think) sails to Honolulu
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/119565741/emma-hodgdon -- 1937 grave of prob. Frederick’s widow Emma
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KMMC-QPX -- 1940 census, Minetta’s daughter Eva
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KMMC-QP8 -- 1940 census, Minetta’s son Howard
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KMMH-1HY -- 1940 census, Minetta’s son Arthur
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KMML-N47 -- 1940 census, prob. Frederick’s ?adopted? son Raymond
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/178045812 -- 1940 grave of Minetta’s daughter Eva
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/118568164 -- 1956 grave of Minetta’s son Howard
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/185501316 -- 1969 grave of Minetta’s son Arthur