Ann Hodgson & Her Isle of Man Family

People

Everyone named across these records, grouped around Ann Hodgson and her immediate family, then the wider circle of neighbours, officials and witnesses who appear alongside them.

Ann and her immediate family

Ann Hodgson

The central figure of this collection. Her maiden name is recorded four different ways across the surviving records — Hodgson (1845 baptism, 1850 marriage, 1867 marriage), Hudgin/Hudjin (1839 marriage, 1840 & 1842 baptisms, 1851 baptism), Hudgeon (1855 baptism of Thomas Kneale), and Hutchinson (1855 marriage to Patrick Kneale, naming her father as William Hutchinson). Every other record that names her father calls him William Hodgson, labourer. No attempt is made in this project to decide which spelling is "correct" — all are transcribed exactly as recorded, and the discrepancy is presented as an open question.

She was born around 1815–1816 in Andreas (per the 1841 & 1851 censuses) or possibly Arbory (per the 1851 census, which gives her birthplace as Arbory, and the 1881 census, which repeats Arbory for her). She married four times:

  1. William Quayle, shoemaker, 31 Aug 1839 (Jurby) — he died 1849.
  2. William Callister, shoemaker, 5 Nov 1850 (Lezayre) — he died 1852.
  3. Patrick Kneale, labourer, 30 Jun 1855 (Lezayre) — he died 1866.
  4. Henry Preston, gentleman/farmer, 10 Jul 1867 (Lezayre) — he died by 1894 (per the discharge of his 1870 bond), having made his will in 1874, proved 1875.

Her known children, in order, were John James Quayle (b. 1840), William Edward Quayle (b. 1842), Catherine Ann Quayle (b. 1845), Daniel Callister (b. 1851), and Thomas Kneale (b. 1855) — plus the unexplained "Elizabeth," recorded only in the 1841 census. She outlived all four husbands and died on 27 November 1888 at 43 Peel Road, Douglas, having spent her final years as a charwoman (1881 census). Her own will, made a month before her death, names Edward Quayle, Catherine Ann Quayle, Daniel Callister and Thomas Kneale as her surviving children.

William Quayle

Ann's first husband, a shoemaker of Lhenmoar/Glion Moar, Andreas and Lezayre. Married Ann Hudgin at Jurby on 31 August 1839. Recorded aged 30 in the 1841 census. Died intestate and was buried at Kirk Andreas on 4 September 1849, aged 40 (so born about 1808–1809). His estate was administered by Ann and settled by an Ecclesiastical Court case running into 1850, itemising his farm animals, tools and shoemaking equipment.

William Callister

Ann's second husband, a shoemaker, previously widowed. Married Ann Quayle (then a widow) at Lezayre on 5 November 1850, aged 50; his father was William Callister, a mason. He and Ann had a son, Daniel Callister, baptised privately in 1851. He was buried at Ballaugh on 16 March 1852, aged 54 (born about 1797–98) — leaving Ann widowed a second time within two years.

Patrick Kneale

Ann's third husband, an agricultural labourer, previously widowed, son of John Kneale (a weaver). Married Ann Callister at Lezayre on 30 June 1855; this record uniquely names her father as William Hutchinson rather than Hodgson. Patrick and Ann had a son, Thomas Kneale, baptised in 1855. By 1861 the household at Lezayre included Ann's daughter Catherine (as stepdaughter), Ann's son Daniel Callister (as stepson), and their own son Thomas — direct census confirmation of Ann's full sequence of children across two earlier marriages. Patrick was buried at Lezayre on 4 September 1866, aged 69 (born about 1797–98).

Henry Preston

Ann's fourth and final husband, described as a "Gentleman" at their marriage and later as a "Farmer of 19¾ Acres" at Knockfroy, Santon. Married Ann Kneale at Lezayre on 10 July 1867, aged 72 (she was 49); his father was William Preston, a farmer. In August 1870 he conveyed land in Santon and a substantial list of debts owed to him into trust for William Isdale, and separately acknowledged a £200 debt to William Kneale secured on the same land. That 1870 trust deed reveals a previously undocumented daughter, Jane Fargher, and grandson, John Preston Fargher, evidently from a marriage before Ann — the deed provided Ann only a £50-a-year life annuity, not a share of the estate itself. He made his will in May 1874, leaving everything outright to Ann as sole executrix; it was proved in May 1875. The 1894 discharge of his 1870 bond confirms he had died by then.

John James Quayle

Ann and William Quayle's first known child, baptised at Jurby on 4 October 1840. Likely the "John," aged 6 months, recorded in the 1841 census, and probably the "John Quayle," aged 10, in Ann's 1851 census household. He is not named in Ann's 1888 will, which describes her son Edward Quayle as her "eldest Son" — implying John James had either died or become estranged from the family by then.

William Edward Quayle

Ann and William Quayle's second son, baptised at Jurby on 3 April 1842. He does not appear by this name in the 1851 census (which instead lists a son "Edward Quayle" aged 5, an age that fits Catherine Ann rather than William Edward — see the discussion on the 1851 census page). He is very likely the "Edward Quayle of Laxey," described in Ann's 1888 will as her "eldest Son," "previously provided for."

Catherine Ann Quayle

Ann and William Quayle's daughter, baptised at Jurby on 2 November 1845. Named as a minor joint administrator of her father's estate in 1849. Recorded as stepdaughter "Catherine Quayle," aged 15, in the 1861 census household of Patrick Kneale, and as "Catharine A. Kneale," a stepdaughter aged 28, in Henry Preston's 1871 census household. By her mother's 1888 will she was "at present an inmate of the Lunatic Asylum in this Island," unmarried, and left a legacy of five shillings. An account attached to Henry Preston's 1875 probate may record an earlier payment of £30 to a "Catherine Ann [Quayle?]" — possibly her, though the reading is uncertain.

Daniel Callister

Ann and William Callister's son, baptised privately at Jurby on 19 August 1851. Recorded as stepson, aged 9, in the 1861 census household of Patrick Kneale. By 1888 he was a plasterer living at Albany Street, Douglas, and was named sole executor and joint residuary beneficiary (with his half-brother Thomas Kneale) of his mother Ann's will — explicitly described in the probate record as "a Son of the Testatrix."

Thomas Kneale

Ann and Patrick Kneale's son, baptised at Lezayre on 4 November 1855. Recorded in the 1861 census as a 5-year-old in his parents' household alongside his half-siblings Catherine and Daniel. By 1881 he was a mason's labourer living with his own wife Eliza and infant daughter Sarah at Brown Bobby House, Peel Road, Onchan — next door to his widowed mother Ann Preston. He was named a joint residuary beneficiary (with Daniel Callister) of his mother's 1888 will.

Elizabeth Quayle (unresolved)

A fourth member of William and Ann Quayle's household in the 1841 census, aged 1, recorded as a daughter under the family surname. She never appears in any subsequent record in this collection — not the 1849 probate of William Quayle's estate (which names only John James, Edward and Catherine Ann as his minor children), not the 1851 census, and not Ann's own 1888 will. See the 1841 census page for a full discussion of the three competing hypotheses (stepchild/relative, early death, or enumerator error) — none of which is confirmed by the surviving sources.

Others named in these records

Sureties, jurors, witnesses, officials, and members of the wider Preston/Fargher/Isdale circle. Most appear in only one document; see that document for full context.

Daniel Cowin

Daniel Cregen

Edward Kenyon

Edward Quayle

Edward Quine

James Edward Wade

James Isdale

Jane Fargher

Jane Killey

Jane Kneale

John Caugherty

John Cowley

John Haile

John Kelly

John Lace

John Preston Fargher

Robert Boyde

Robert Cubbin

Sarah Ann Isdale

Thomas Arthur Corlett

Thomas Fargher

Thomas Kinrade

William Cowley

William Hodgson (father)

William Hutchinson (father, per this record)

William Isdale

William Kneale