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
