by Floraine Horgan
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1786-1986 Since we don't yet know the date of Joseph Hoggarth's birth, I have arbitrarily chosen 1786, in order to make this a record of an even 200 years of Hoggarth births and deaths. His wife was born in 1793, so 1786 is not off by many years. Joseph Hoggarth and his wife, Agness Bailiff, came to Canada from Westmorland County in northwestern England with five of their six sons (John, Joseph, Robert, Benjamin and James), John's wife, Sarah Garnett, and John and Sarah's baby son, Richard. Two sources say they arrived in Canada in 1846; however, Richard's gravestone says he died on March 12, 1932 at the age of 83 years. He may have been older, and 1846 could be the correct date. Jack Hoggarth of Egmondville, Ont. said his grandmother (Sarah) told of washing Uncle Dick's baby clothes on the deck of the ship on the way to Canada, and a large wave washing the clothes overboard. The family first settled in Cavan Township, near Oshawa, Ontario, north of Peterborough. In March of 1851 they moved to Hibbert Township in Perth County, Ontario, and settled on Lot 23 of Concession X. Much of the information on the Hoggarths was gleaned from A Hibbert Review, a book by Isabelle Campbell, published in 1953 by the Seaforth Expositor, a newspaper published in Seaforth, Ontario. She traces the history of each lot on Concessions VIII through XIV, naming the families who lived on each lot, as well as the various occupants of homes and business places in the towns of Cromarty and Staffa. The Hoggarths probably had to clear brush and trees to build their log house, later replaced by a stone house, still standing and occupied today. The oldest son, John, lost one leg in an accident while clearing trees. Agness died a year after they arrived in Hibbert, and was the first person to be buried in the old Cromarty cemetery at Cromarty, now considered a "wet" cemetery and not used for burial. Joseph, who was a stonemason, went to Hamilton, Ontario to help build a jail and died there of cholera in about 1856. The jail he helped build was just torn down about 1975 when it was replaced with a new jail. An 1852 Hamilton city directory listed a John Hoggarth, but not Joseph. There was a notation in a bible (possibly that of Joseph Hoggarth and Grace Williams) that Joseph and Agness' son, Joseph was married to Grace Williams in September 1851 in the "old English church on James Street in Hamilton", and it's possible there may be a cemetery in the area of that church and that the first Joseph could be buried there. We drove up and down James Street but were unable to find the church. The sixth son, Thomas, who had been an attendant or orderly in an asylum in Liverpool, England, arrived in Perth County in November of 1856 with his wife, Annas Slinger, and their two oldest children. He bought Lot 20, Concession XI for $1,000, but not having enough money had to obtain a mortgage at 15% interest. In 1885 he and his family moved to Lot 19, Concession X. -5-
All the Hoggarth sons were born in Westmorland County, England. Since Agness was about 25 when John was born, and since there are gaps of three and four years between some of the other sons, it's possible there may have been other children who remained in England. Betsy Hoggarth Beaujon, a Yakima cousin, was in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England in the early 1970's and saw a truck there bearing the name "Hoggarth & Sons". Cousin Archie Hoggarth in London, Ontario, met a Carole Hogarth Jackson, who had a family tree for her branch of the Hogarth family. Her ancestors were George Hogarth (17??-18??) and Elizabeth Washington (1793-18??), who settled in Darlington Township, Ontario in 1835, not far from where Joseph and Agness settled in 1851. In Carole's family tree was a notation stating that, in an old prayer book their name was spelled with two g's. Carole's father, Victor Hogarth, lives in Exeter, Ontario, and his backyard abuts on that of Jennie Hoggarth Bray. Vern Hoggarth of Kensal, ND has met Victor and says Victor looks like our Hoggarths, but Victor insists their name has always been spelled with one g. Incidentally, six of George and Elizabeth Hogarth's seven children were born in Westmorland County, England. Some family members have wondered if there is a relationship to William Hogarth, the 18th century English painter and engraver. He had no sons and no brothers, so there could not be a direct relationship. Mary Hoggarth Breyer had a note about a book on William Hogarth, saying that his grandfather had three sons: one a farmer in England; one settled Troutbeck by Kendal (in Westmorland County); and the third was Richard, a school master and the father of William (1697-1764) and two daughters, Mary and Anne. Charles Dickens was married to a Catherine Hogarth, born in 1816, whose father was George Hogarth, a newspaper editor. Catherine had at least two sisters, one named Georgina and one named Helen. Charles and Catherine Dickens had 10 children -- that alone should entitle them to membership in our Hoggarth family, but I don't know if there is any connection between Catherine's father and the George who is Carole Hogarth's ancestor or among the two Georges and our Joseph. Perhaps future genealogical research of the Hoggarths in England may establish a link or may indicate the Hogarths and Hoggarths are the same family and that somewhere along the way the spelling was changed. Five of the six sons of Joseph and Agness Hoggarth remained in Canada, but Joseph did move to Dakota Territory, although I don't know when. His wife died in Goderich in 1884 and is buried in Colbourne Cemetery -- Joseph died in 1895 and is buried in Courtenay, ND. All but four of the living children of Joseph and Grace Hoggarth went to Dakota, probably in the early 1880's when some of the children were quite young. The oldest son, "Big Joe", was married to Mary McKaig, the second of his three Marys; Margaret, the second child, had been married to William Thurlow in 1880 in Ontario; the other five children were probably less than 15 years old. Joseph Hoggarth (1853-1914), sometimes called "Wooden Joe" or "Long Joe", son of John Hoggarth, must have moved to Dakota in 1882 with his wife and one or two children. An account book of his indicates that he was in Cromarty through December 1881, and in January 1883 he purchased two lots in Cooperstown, ND, on one of which he built a house. I believe it was several years later that Big Joe and his family moved to Cooperstown. -6-
A book published by Reader's Digest entitled Story of the Great American West tells of how the Great Northern Railroad sold off huge grants of land to large eastern investors, who later divided their large holdings into smaller farms and sold them off to smaller farmers. One of the farms was 65,000 acres, and there is a picture of harvest time on that farm and the men employed to do the work. The railroad ran excursion trains past these large "bonanza" farms to attract purchasers of the land, and I would suppose also to attract men to work on the farms. Some of the large farms were located at Grandin, ND, where the Hoggarths lived for a time. I don't know if the two Joes and their families came together or not, or if they came by train or by wagon. I don't know if they owned land in Grandin, but if not, working on one of the farms was probably a way of earning money so they could later buy their own farms. It appears to me that there must have been a similar land promotion in Saskatchewan around 1912, which attracted Hoggarths from North Dakota and Ontario. Two of Margaret and William Thurlow's 12 children are buried in North Dakota, but there are no other Thurlow graves we were able to find. There are many Thurlow descendants in Saskatchewan and other western provinces of Canada, and it appears that Margaret and William moved to Saskatchewan. Jack Hoggarth, brother of "Wooden Joe", his wife and two children moved to Saskatchewan in 1912, along with many other people from Cromarty, including a George Miller. After George's wife died in Caron, Saskatchewan, he asked Wooden Joe's sister, Elizabeth (Lib) to marry him, by telegram, I believe. She first said no, but eventually did go to Saskatchewan to marry him in about 1920, at which time she was about 60. She had been the village seamstress in Cromarty and had lived with her mother until her mother died in 1904. Cooking for a large threshing crew must have come as a shock to her. One time she said, "George Miller, I wish I were back in Cromarty, and I wish you were in Halifax." Although most of the Hoggarths farmed in the early days in Ontario, North Dakota and Saskatchewan, it was more out of necessity than desire for some until they could afford to pursue occupations they liked better. Today there are still many active or retired farmers among the Hoggarths, but Hoggarth descendants are also engaged in many other occupations. Some are in agriculture -related jobs, some are teachers, including three music teachers, some are carpenters, plumbers, electricians, there are rour doctors at least, plus nurses, pharmacists and others in the health field, one lady lawyer in Calgary, Alberta, and I'm sure there are many occupations I don't know about. Each new generation produces more college graduates than the previous one. There was a little story in Reader's Digest years ago about the couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary among their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. The husband said to the wife, "This isn't exactly what I had in mind when I asked you to go for a buggy ride." I think Joseph and Agness would be overwhelmed to see the number of descendants their union had produced. I, for one, am proud and grateful to be descended from two who displayed the foresight, courage and fortitude it took to forge a new life in a new land. -7-
THE FAMILY OF JOSEPH & AGNESS
HOGGARTH
JOSEPH HOGGARTH (17?? -1856)
John Hoggarth (1818-1864)
Richard (1849-1932)
Thomas Hoggarth (1821-1901)
Mary Ann "Polly" (1853-1950)
Joseph Hoggarth (1825-1895)
Joseph "Big Joe" (1852-1918)
Robert Hoggarth (1828-1918)
Robert "Red Bob" (1863-1955)
Benjamin Hoggarth (1830-1906)
Agnes (Case) (18?? -19??)
James Hoggarth (1831-1917)
John (1860-1860)
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