The Adventure to Find Our Beginnings!
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HODDER & ASSOCIATED FAMILIES – DORSET & DEVON – PART 1 INDEX 1 Hodder & Associated Families - Dorset & Devon – Part 1 - by The Rev’d. Katherine Hammer, BTheol., BSocSci. H&AF-D&D-P1-R1-14032020 3 Hodder & Associated Families - Dorset & Devon – Part 1 - by The Rev’d. Katherine Hammer, BTheol., BSocSci. H&AF-D&D-P1-R1-14032020 4 Hodder & Associated Families - Dorset & Devon – Part 1 - by The Rev’d. Katherine Hammer, BTheol., BSocSci. H&AF-D&D-P1-R1-14032020 5 Hodder & Associated Families - Dorset & Devon – Part 1 - by The Rev’d. Katherine Hammer, BTheol., BSocSci. H&AF-D&D-P1-R1-14032020 DAY SIX of 55 days – Tuesday 23 May 2017 CH. 1 - SALISBURY – AND A HODDER BRIDE! Well, we are off! The adventure has begun! We left Reading about 9.10am and after some to-ing and fro-ing around various motorways headed towards Salisbury, in the County of Wiltshire but not after a stop in a beautiful village called Stockport, but I think that all villages are beautiful, everywhere you look there are beautiful and quaint little houses and exquisite picture book villages. Stockport was the first quaint village out of just so many that we discovered. But it was only a preview of the most exquisite places we were to see on our journey. SALISBURY. Salisbury! Salisbury Cathedral is truly magnificent. The story of Salisbury Cathedral actually originates in Old Sarum several miles away, where shortly after the Conquest, the Norman conquerors built a castle within the protective earthen banks of an Iron Age enclosure. For those who watch Time Team, you’ll know exactly what I mean! In 1075, a Cathedral was built close to the Castle but sadly the monks and the castle garrison did not get on! So, in 1220 the Bishop of Salisbury decided to build another Cathedral away from the sphere of the Castle’s influence. So, the story goes that the Bishop of Salisbury stood on the castle mound and shot an arrow into the air and determined that where it landed would be where he would build his new cathedral. The general opinion is that he must have been a wonderful archer as the new site was several miles from the castle mound ( Salisbury Cathedral top right i). The existing building was completed in 1258 and has remained virtually intact. Upon entering the Cathedral, one’s eyes are immediately drawn to these awe- inspiring arches and vaulted ceilings. The ceilings are spectacular, with superb arches, they made me feel breathless with their soaring magnificence, one can understand the symbolism behind them that they are meant to represent the arches of heaven (picture above rightii). 6 Hodder & Associated Families - Dorset & Devon – Part 1 - by The Rev’d. Katherine Hammer, BTheol., BSocSci. H&AF-D&D-P1-R1-14032020 However, one has barely time to recover their breath before their eyes are drawn to this amazing Baptismal Font. The water looks just like a mirror and at each side of the vault of water was a favourite quotation of mine from Isaiah, “I have called you by name, you are mine, when you pass through the waters I will be with you, and through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you, do not fear for I have redeemed you.” (photos prev page). Designed by William Pye and consecrated in 2008, water continually moves through the font, overflowing at each corner. For the ancient Jews, the divine was found in moving water, not in stilliii. William Pye’s website describes it thus, “Water is the predominant feature of this work, its surface reflecting and extending the surrounding architecture, while four smooth filaments of water pass through spouts at each of the four corners of a bronze vessel and disappear through a bronze grating set into the floor.” YouTube has videos of it in action, plus there is a video on William Pye’s websiteiv. It is exquisite! In 1613, we find evidence of Hodders here at Salisbury Cathedral. In 1613, King James I had been on the throne, since 1603. He was the first Stuart (Scottish) King of England. He believed in the ‘divine right of kings’, whereby kings only answer to God & he refused to share his power with Parliament. This undermined the strong government put in WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A MARRIED WOMAN in the place by Queen Elizabeth I. James also 1600’s. Most men from that age would shake their heads in angered the people by raising taxes & disbelief at the idea of equality of the sexes. Men are born to attempting to marry his son, Charles to the different states, some rich, some poor, some the elder brother, daughter of the Catholic King of Spain & some the younger brother and they are not treated equal, so Spain was the super power of that era. Less why should women be treated as equal to a man. God created women inequal to men in strength and size and a London than a hundred years before, in 1517 the physician makes a list of 70 diseases that women get, which Protestant Reformation challenged the indicates the punishment of Eve upon them. Up until she is Catholic faith. In 1605, a group of Catholics married a woman is the property of her father, and once she in the Gunpowder Plot attempted to blow up is married, she becomes the property of her husband. The the king, as they wanted a Catholic husband is the head of the household and is the ultimate authority and any females, whether wife or daughters monarch, yet on the other side of the automatically fall under his authority. All property is owned by spectrum in 1620, 100 Puritans set sail on him, so a wife’s possessions are legally her husband’s the ship the ‘Mayflower’ to America, property, not her own. If a woman owns or inherits freehold because they were unhappy with the property in her own right, then the right to enjoy the income religious laws in Englandv. And it was on from it automatically transfers to her husband; he can keep taking the income even after her death (as long as she has the 30 January, 1613 with these events as a given him children). If a married woman wishes to dispose of background that we meet Susan Hodder. anything she owns, she has to ask her husband’s permission. While not a direct ancestor, Susan A married woman is not allowed to enter a legal contract could possibly be a distant relative. Later without her husband’s consent. She cannot do or say anything evidence appears to show that she was the contrary to her husband’s interests. She cannot even draw up a last will and testament without her husband’s permission. daughter of a high-status Yeoman, for what She is not allowed to let anyone from outside the family into the she could expect as a woman – read right! home without his permission. She can be chastised or beaten with impunity by her husband as long as he does not actually kill her. It is said that a man may legally beat an outlaw, a traitor, a pagan, his villein (serf) and his wife – and that list suggests the low status that a married woman occupies in the eyes of the law. And many men do beat their wives, whether because of a violent nature, a disagreement or an act of disobedience. However, unless someone, ie a father is prepared to look after a woman indefinitely, the alternative to marriage might be poverty and starvation. 7 Hodder & Associated Families - Dorset & Devon – Part 1 - by The Rev’d. Katherine Hammer, BTheol., BSocSci. H&AF-D&D-P1-R1-14032020 Susan Hodder married Thomas Goodale of Wiltshire here in Salisbury Cathedral, under these soaring arches. What an amazing experience for her, how did she feel as she gazed up into those magnificent, incredible arched vaults? Overwhelmed? That she was doing the will of God? Or did she only have eyes for her husband? And her future? Would he beat her? Was it a loving marriage or one made by the families for convenience? The latter, I suspect! We have just read, what it meant in 1613 for Susan Hodder to be a married woman? Insert prev. page. vi Sadly, in legal terms it is only in the last fifty years, that life has changed for women. What was Susan Hodder’s relationship to us? I don’t know! Though subsequent research indicates that Hodders were living in the Counties of Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire in those times, so a familial relationship to Susan is probable, but certainly swallowed up in the mists of time. A brief look at the Goodale family has some later marriages within the Yeoman class (See belowvii), so it is probably representative of their status to be married in Salisbury Cathedral. Yeomen married within their class and as we will see though their circumstances fluctuate sometimes quite drastically, across the social spectrum, the Hodders, Whitemores, Parkin and Gribbles mainly come from this Yeoman Class, though records show in the 16th century, some Hodders were seen as Gentleman, which is a level of the Gentry. WHAT IS A YEOMAN! From the 15th to 18th centuries, a yeoman is described as "a commoner who cultivates his own land". Yeomen farmers owned land (freehold, leasehold or copyhold) and their wealth and the size of their landholding varied. …He is sometimes described as a small landowner, a farmer of the middle classes" … "A Yeoman would not normally have less than 100 acres" (40 hectares) "and in social status is one step down from the Landed gentry, but above - a husbandman".