Among the sterling Tennesseans who have settled in Marion county since
the pioneer days, none have shown more worthy traits of character or been
more active in the development of the county than the gentleman whose
biography we herewith present. Mr. Hodges is the owner of a fine farm in
Raccoon township which has been brought from a wild state to one of the best
in the locality through his skillful management.
Isham E. Hodges was
born in Sumner county, Tennessee, July 30, 1840, the son of Marcus A. and
Elizabeth (Marcum) Hodges, the former a native of Sumner county, Tennessee,
where he grew up, made a farmer and where he died, and the latter a native
of Abbyville Court House, Virginia, who died in Montgomery county,
Tennessee. They were members of the Christian church. Our subject was their
only child. His father married a second time, his last wife being Susan
Hodges, of Sumner county, Tennessee. She is still living there on the old
place. Nine children were born to the subject's father by his second union.
He was a soldier in the Indian war in Florida in 1836, being a prisoner of
that struggle. Our subject's great-grandfathers on both sides served in the
Revolutionary war, being in General Starke's and General Green's command.
Isham E. Hodges had little opportunity to attend school. However, he
obtained some education in subscription schools of the early days. He left
home when seventeen years of age and came to Marion county, Illinois, where
he worked out and carried the mail from Fairfield to Salem. He also farmed
in Salem and Raccoon townships. On October 31, 1865, choosing as a life
partner Frances Hays, of Raccoon township, the daughter of Elijah M. Hays,
whose sketch appears in full on another page of this work. Eleven children
have been born, eight of whom are living: Effie, deceased, married Harvey
England, who lives in St. Louis, Missouri. She was born August 23, 1866, and
died August 8, 1883. Iva E., the second child, was born October 28, 1867,
married Harvey Mercer; they live in Sadora, Arkansas, and are the parents of
five children, Clinton, Sylvia, Stewart, Howard and Opal. Clara B., the
third child, was born March 11, 1869, died February 8, 1892, married Charles
Anderson, of Chicago, Illinois; John D., who was born March 21, 1873, first
married Lucy White and second Lydia Kell, having had two children by his
first wife, Clayton and Robert, and one child by his second wife, named
Donald. He has been postal clerk for several years on the Chicago & Eastern
Illinois Railroad. He was first on the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern
Railroad, his first run being between McLeansboro and Shawneetown, Illinois.
He runs between Marion and Villa Grove. Ralph Waldo, the fifth child, was
born June 6, 1874, and died October 25, 1875; Mark Ainsly was born January
2, 1877, married Indiana Stonecipher, and they have four children, Delta,
Isham, Charles and Mary; Grace was born September 13, 1878, married Levi
Bigham, a farmer in Raccoon township; Mabel J. was born August 28, 1880,
married Henry F. March, station agent at Cartter, Illinois, on the Chicago &
Eastern Illinois Railroad, and they are the parents of three children,
Everett, Franklin and Marie; Minnie Blanche, born September 26, 1882,
married Elisha Harmon, a carpenter of Raccoon township; Blaine E., born
November 8, 1884, who married Clara Pitts, is a farmer in Raccoon township;
Dwight E., born October 28, 1886, is an operator on the Chicago, Burlington
& Quincy Railroad at Herrin, Illinois, married Nellie Dukes, and they have
one child, Clara.
The subject's children have been educated in the
home schools, John D. and Iva went to Carbondale, and Blaine attended the
agricultural department of the University of Missouri at Columbia.
In
1865, after the subject of this sketch was married, he rented land in
Raccoon township. After farming here for a while he went to Idaho, also the
state of Washington, also the Shoshone agency and the Red Cloud agency in
Wyoming. He was in the West from 1869 to 1871. He was a clerk and did office
work most of the time. After 1871 he worked in the United States Pension
Agency at Salem, Illinois, under Gen. J. S. Martin, from March 4, 1872, to
March 4, 1873, having given entire satisfaction in this capacity, after
which he entered the railway mail service on the Baltimore & Ohio
Southwestern Railroad and run between Cincinnati and St. Louis for three
years, when he was transferred to the Illinois Central Railroad, his run
being between Cairo and Centralia for three years, and on the northern
division from Centralia to Chicago until April 20, 1889. During this time he
lived in Centralia, from 1878 to 1880. In 1869 he bought the farm he now
lives on in Raccoon township. In 1880 he built his fine brick house and made
all the other improvements on the place which is one of the choice farms of
this locality. It consists of one hundred and forty acres in sections 24 and
25, Raccoon township. One hundred and twenty-five acres are under a high
state of cultivation. He has a very valuable orchard of one thousand apple
trees, three hundred peach trees as well as pears, cherries and small
fruits. He also raises much good stock, horses, mules and cattle and fine
Chester White hogs. His farm is also well stocked with fine chickens, White
Wyandotte and Rhode Island Red chickens.
Mr. Hodges was one of the
patriotic sons of the North who fought to preserve the Union during the dark
days of the sixties, having enlisted July 4, 1861, in Company held G,
Twenty-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, under Capt. J. S. Jackson and
Col. Henry Dougherty, having been mustered in at Casseyville; Illinois. He
and his company were sent to Birds Point, Missouri, and was in the
engagement November 7, 1861, at Belmont, Missouri. They joined General Pope
and was at the surrender of Tiptonville, Tennessee, where they captured
about seven thousand prisoners. They then went down the Mississippi river to
Ft. Pillow and after the battle of Ft. Donelson and Pittsburg Landing, they
went up the Tennessee river and were at the siege of Corinth, and, after
several skirmishes, marched to Nashville, Tennessee; and occupied that city
until December 26, 1862. Our subject was in General Sheridan's division,
McCook's corps, General Rosecrans commanding. They were in the marches and
battles from Nashville to Murphysboro, Tullahoma, Bridgeport, Alabama, and
Chickamauga, Georgia, being wounded in the latter battle September 20, 1863,
where he was shot in the thigh and sent to the field hospital at Crawfish
Springs, where all the wounded men captured were paroled next day and sent
to Nashville and Louisville, later to Quincy, Illinois, and then to Benton
Barracks. Then the subject was on detail duty and in the commander's office
until July 1, 1864, and he was sent to Springfield, Illinois, and mustered
out July 7, 1864.
Mr. Hodges is a loyal Populist. He has been
Supervisor of his township for two years, has also been School Director
minor offices.
Extracted 08 Jul 2017 by Norma Hass from 1909 Biographical and Reminiscent History of Richland, Clay and Marion Counties, Illinois, pages 312-314.