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From: Nick <>
Subject: [CAN-ONT-OXFORD] Hobson and Davies Stagecoach of Woodstock
Date: Sat, 05 May 2007 20:24:27 -0400

All,

I am doing research on my HOBSON family. There was a "Hobson and
Davies" stagecoach that ran in and around Oxford County and used to
compete with the Daly stagecoach line of Perth County. From an article
in vol XVII, 1919 of the "Annual Papers and Records of the Ontario
Historical Society" titled "Old Stagecoach Days in Oxford County" by WB
Hobson, the author says his "Uncle George" ran the stagecoach business
in Oxford County. I believe the Hobson partner was the son of my
5xgreat grandfather William Hobson from Armagh Ireland.

William Hobson was a Quaker who was the first settler in several places.
He got around a lot, having settled in the Talbot settlement in
1819, returned to Ireland and the to Canada, settled in Goderich where
his son Robert Hobson was the first "White boy" as described in his
obituary. I have also seen evidence that he was with the Canada
Company as a scout. William was the first settler in Haysville and ran
a stagecoach Inn and Stables there at the Nith River. It is documented
in the Wilmot Twp history book "More Than a Hundred Years".

There were other Hobson Quaker families in the Oxford County area that I
believe to be related. I bring up the Davies name because it has come
up twice in my research. First in a Perth County History book narration
of a race and the rivalry between the Daly line and the "Hobson and
Davies" line. Second, I have recently seen a copy of a letter from
"Crawford, Mill, and Davies, Barristers and Solicitors" of Wingham to a
distant Hobson cousin of mine regarding one of William Hobson's sons,
Robert Hobson, of Perth County. Robert Hobson was my 4xgreat grandfather.

Robert Hobson's son William Daily Hobson was a Mayor of Woodstock at one
time, probably about 1900. Interestingly, Robert's sister Elizabeth
Hobson has a decendent who was recently Mayor of Woodstock, John Geoghegan.

William Hobson Sr. died in retirement in 1875 at Niagara, a region he
reportedly fell in love with during his younger days of travel.

Does anyone have any information on the stagecoach business in Oxford
County, the Hobson families of Oxford County (including the mayorship of
William Daily Hobson), or the stagecoach business partners the Davies?

Nick Anderson
Ohio

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