Reverend Robert Addison (1754–1829) was born in Heversham, Westmorland, the 3rd son of John and Ellinor (Parkinson) of . He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1777, completing his BA in 1781 and was ordained a Deacon of the Church of England in Norwich, Norfolk, on 11 March 1781. He married his first wife Mary Atkinson in 1780 in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire. Mary is thought to have been a descendant of Bishop Ridley. Addison was followed to Canada by several other family members who settled in southern Ontario in the 1800s.