Prominent Railway Man Passes
A Native of Simcoe

John Lawrence Hodgson was a Simcoe boy who had made good.

For thirty-five years he had been in the service of the Grand Trunk and had risen to one of the most responsible posts connected with its western business.

He died very suddenly on Friday morning last in a Winnipeg hospital, whither he had been taken when attacked, the day previous. he was in his fifty-ninth year.

His body was brought to Simcoe on a special G.T.P. official car, in charge of Mr. Wm. Macdonald, a department superintendent in the G.T.P. shops at Transcontinental, near Winnipeg.

The funeral took place from the residence of Mr. 
Jas. Peachey, Wilson Avenue, on Tuesday afternoon to the family plot in Oakwood Cemetery.

The religious service was conducted by Rev. 
H. C. Newcombe. Members of Norfolk Lodge, No. 10, A.F. and A.M., were also in attendance and conducted the funeral ceremonies of the Masonic Order.

Deceased was born in Simcoe, being the eldest of the nine children of the late Edward Hodgson.

One brother, Fred, a long time member of The Reformer staff, predeceased him about a year and a half ago.

The surviving members of his family are: Will of Saginaw, Mich.; David, of The Gazette Printing Co., Bracebridge; Nile of Toronto; James of Detroit;
Mrs. Bailey of Leamington; Mrs. Derbyshire of Wheatley; and Mrs. Wilson of Toronto.

John Hodgson, after acquiring a good, practical education at the Simcoe schools, entered the employ of the late Messrs. J. and G. Jackson, with whom he learned furniture-making, or the cabinet-making trade as it was called in those days.

Afterwards he formed a partnership with the late James Bray, in the furniture and undertaking business, which they conducted for a while. But young Hodgson, ambitious for bigger things, sold out to his partner and entered the service of the G.T.R. shops that were at that time in Brantford. 

He soon rose to be foreman at Brantford; was transferred to Toronto, where he was foreman; later he was made master car builder at Port Huron; and in Port Huron he lived until four years ago, when he was promoted to be Mechanical Superintendent of the Grand Trunk Pacific at Transcontinental, and that highly responsible post he was filling when death suddenly overtook him last week.

He had been troubled for some time with what was supposed to be indigestion, and on Thursday he had such an acutely painful attack that he called on his physician, and with the idea of giving him relief the doctor suggested applying a stomach pump. While this was being done he suffered an internal hemorrhage, from which death ensued early on Friday morning.

He was married twice. His first wife was Miss Lavina, daughter of the late Mr. A. Peachey of Simcoe. By this marriage he leaves seven children, two sons, Edward and Albert, both married and resident in Port Huron; and five daughters: Mrs. James Robinson of Sherbrooke, P.Q.; Mrs. Capony, Detroit. Mich.; Mrs. Siscuet of Port Huron; Miss Jessie Hodgson of Chicago, and Miss Jean Hodgson of Port Huron. 

The first Mrs. Hodgson died some sixteen years ago. He later married Miss Parsons of Otterville, now his widow. Of this marriage there is one son, Clark, a little lad of eight, who came on with his sister, Mrs. Robinson, from Winnipeg, to attend the funeral; his mother being too ill for the journey.

All the deceased's brothers were here, as were his sons and their wives; also all of his daughters, and a number of relatives and friends from Port Huron, Otterville, etc. Messrs. David and John Peachey attended from Brantford.