Charles Hodges

CHARLES HODGES, one of the old pioneers of Clarke County, living in Green Bay Township, on section 28, is a native of Wyoming County, New York, where he was born April 19, 1821. His parents, William and Abigail (Howard) Hodges, were natives of Taunton, Massachusetts, and Vermont, respectively. They had a family of eight children – Simeon, John, Sally, Julia, William, Charles, Albert and Mary. Our subject was reared on the home farm and educated in the common schools of his native State.  He was married July 30, 1854, to Lydia Jane Williams, who was born and reared in Wyoming County, New York. In the fall of the same year he came to Iowa, and entered land from the Government, where he now lives in Green Bay Township, Clarke County. He then built the frame house which he still occupies, and commenced to make a permanent home for himself and family. He has been very successful in his farming and stock-raising, and is now the owner of 400 acres of choice land, which is well adapted to the raising of grain and grass.  During the late war Mr. Hodges enlisted in the Thirty-ninth Infantry, the date of enlistment being August 9, 1862. He was on detached duty the greater part of the time. He was discharged at Clinton, Iowa, June 5, 1865, when he returned to his farm in Green Bay Township.  Of the five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hodges, only two survive – Fanny Minerva and John. Mr. Hodges has held the office of township treasurer for several years, and has been a member of the School Board. Although he started in life without means he has been successful in all his undertakings, owing to his persevering industry and good management, and has a competence for his declining years. He has one of the best barns in Clarke County, erected in 1875, at a cost of $2,400, its size being 40 x 60 feet, with twenty-foot posts, with a stone basement, seven feet in height.

SOURCE: Biographical and Historical Record of Clarke County, Iowa, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1886 p. 344