In the late 1700s, as the Church of England became established in Canada, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (S. P. G.) supported clergymen, providing funds to support living costs and to assist with other expenses. in the early 1800s, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (S. P. C. K.) took on the task of supplying books for use of churches in different parts of the country, working alongside the S. P. G.
A "Church Society of the Archdeaconry of New Brunswick" was formed in 1837 to take over the duties of the S. P. G. and S. P. C. K, such as to carry out missionary visits, establish scholarships for study, provide aid for Sunday Schools and other schools, supply books and tracts, and aid in the building and expansion of churches. In 1847, that society was renamed "The Diocesan Church Society of New Brunswick" and expanded its mission to provide support for the construction of parsonages and to create a fund to help with incapacitated clergy, widows and orphans of clergy, and the children of clergy. A comparable society was founded in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, in 1840, and incorporated in 1852. Other societies were formed in other parts of Canada, apparently often in response to diminishing financial support from the Church in England. The Society was still in existence as of 2007.
Daniel Hodgson was the father of Reverend George Wright Hodgson, the first rector of St. Peter's Cathedral Church.
According to biographical information on the Memory P.E.I. website, Daniel Hodgson was born on 4 October 1803, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, to Robert Hodgson and Rebecca Robinson, formerly of Surrey, England. Daniel married three times. His first wife was Lydia Cambridge MacGowan, who he married on 22 November 1832. Lydia died three years later, on 18 May 1835, at the age of twenty five. On 31 January 1839, Daniel married Mary Wright. They had two sons, Edward Jarvis, born on 29 July 1840 and George Wright, born on 15 January 1842. Mary died less then a month after the birth of George, on 3 February 1842, at the age of twenty seven. Daniel married for the third time to Margaret Leah De St. Croix on the 20 April 1852. She died on 18 January 1878 at age seventy two.
In 1830, Daniel became the chief coroner for Prince Edward Island. Throughout his life he served in several government and public service positions, including: Lloyd's agent for Prince Edward Island in 1831; Prothonotary and Clerk of the Crown in 1839; Judge of Probate in 1853; Commissioner for issuing treasury notes, Commissioner for affidavits in the Supreme Court, and Clerk of the Crown for Justices of the Peace throughout Prince Edward Island in 1864. Outside of his professional duties, Daniel also belonged to the Library Society as of 1832, and is recorded as a church warden for St. Peter's Anglican Church as of 1845. Daniel Hodgson died on 21 July 1883 at age eighty.
Thomas Health Haviland was born into an affluent and influential family in Charlottetown. In the 1840s he studied law in the office of James Horsfield Peters. Entering politics in 1846 he sat in the PEI legislative Assembly from 1846-1876. During those years he held numerous positions including Colonial Secretary, Speaker of the House and Solicitor General, He was a strong supporter of Confederation and was one of the the three commissioners who helped negotiate Prince Edward Island's entry into Confederation in 1873. He sat as a member of the Canadian senate from 1873 to 1879, served as Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island from 1879 to 1884 and , as Mayor of Charlottetown from 1886 to 1893.