George was born on April 7, 1801. His parents were George (1767-1841) and Elizabeth (Mason) (1775-1831) Hobron. Two of their sons, George and Edward (AM2622), would become whaling captains; their son John was captain but is not shown in AOWV. George married Mary Howard of New London on April 28, 1822. She was born about 1801. She and George are shown living together in census reports for New London for 1850, 1860, and 1870, George shown as “mariner”, “master capt.”, and “whaleman” respectively. No children are shown. Mary died in 1871. George then married Maria Miller (1827-1889). The census report for 1880 for Albany NY shows George living with her, a daughter Teressa (presumably Maria’s), and Teressa’s husband John Ferris. No occupation is shown for George. He died in Albany on August 24, 1886 and is buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery (sec. 20) in New London.
George started his whaling career by sailing as member of the crew on numerous voyages on five ships, two of which he would later command as master. His crew positions were all on ships with New London as home port: JONES for its 1822-1823 and 1825-1826 voyages, NEPTUNE (AS2032) for its 1826-1827 and 1827-1828 voyages, ANN MARIA (AS0879) for its 1828-1829 voyage, COMMODORE PERRY for its 1830-1831 and 1831-1832 voyages, and BLACK WARRIOR (AS0987) for its 1842-1845 voyage.
With that experience, George became master of two of those ships:
COMMODORE PERRY: (ship, 270 tons, length 91 ft., built in E. Greenwich RI in 1815, broken up in 1848). PERRY sailed three voyages to the So. Atlantic with George in command: (i) March 3, 1832, returning on March 31, 1833. George’s brother Edward was a member of the crew. N. and W.W. Billings was the agent. (ii) May 31, 1833, returning 1834. (iii) July 1 1834, returning March 12, 1836. Edward was a member of the crew for this voyage. Dennis Wood Abstract 1-119. Chew & Co. was the agent for the second and third voyages. AV03169, AV03170, and AV 03171 respectively.
JONES (AS1723): (ship (altered to bark in 1839), 337 tons, length 98 ft., captured during war and hence when and where JONES was built is not known, broken up in New London in 1842). JONES sailed on April 2, 1837 for the Falkland Island and returned on December 28, 1838. Wood Abstract 1-239shows two agents for this voyage, Haven & Smith and Thomas W. Williams.
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text.
George Shaw
American Institute for Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
March 2026