[2][3] The Hodgdon family were primarily farmers; his grandfather owned a significant tract of land in then disputed Aroostook County.

His inheritance helped him attend Phillips Exeter Academy and Bowdoin College, from which he graduated in 1827.

After Bowdoin, he moved to Bangor, Maine to study law under prominent area lawyer Allen Gilman.

[3] He was re-elected in 1848 but resigned after unsuccessfully challenging incumbent Democrat John W. Dana his party's nomination for governor.

In 1849, Hodgdon was named Bank Commissioner and in 1853, he was offered the position of US consul in Rome by President Franklin Pierce, which he declined.