EDMUND J. HODGES. One of the well known and most prosperous farmers of
Alexander county is Edmund J. Hodges, recognized as being foremost in the
ranks of the heavy landowners of the state. He is also prominently
identified with the saw mill and grist mill business in Tamms, his home
town, and is a man of considerable importance in local political circles. He
represents the third generation of his family who have added their quota to
the growth and up-building of Southern Illinois, and who have achieved a
pleasurable degree of success in their lifetime.
Born December 22,
1859, at Thebes, Illinois, Edmund J. Hodges is the son of John Hodges and
the grandson of Edmund J. Hodges. The first home of the family in Illinois
was established at Jonesboro, Union county, by Edmund J. Hodges and his
family, who came there from middle Tennessee. In Jonesboro the elder Hodges
engaged in farming and the son John established a hattery, following that
line of business until he was crowded out of the industry by the big
manufacturers. From that he went into merchandising, locating in Thebes many
years previous to the Civil war, and he carried on a successful business for
years in that town. He was one of the prominent and well-known Democrats of
Alexander county, and before the war was a member of the lower house of the
general assembly. He made a lasting impression during his term of service as
the servant of the people and a man of purpose. He numbered among his
personal friends Abraham Lincoln, and after the secession of the southern
state he became a devotee of the Republican party, after having spent the
best years of his life in the Democratic faith. So strong was his sentiment
in the cause of the Union that he was able to turn his back upon the party
for whom he had labored for so many years and give his allegiance
henceforward to the party which upheld the Union. Born in 1812, John Hodges
died in 1867, at the age of fifty-five years. In early life he married Miss
Margaret Hunsaker, a daughter of George Hunsaker, who came to Southern
Illinois from Kentucky. Mrs. Hodges died near Hodges Park, the station on
the Mobile and Ohio Railroad named in honor of Judge Alexander Hodges, a
brother of John Hodges. Eight children were born of the union of Mr. and
Mrs. Hodges. They are: John Hodges, deceased, who was sheriff in his county
and recognized as one of the prominent citizens of Cairo; Mary, who married
Thomas Wilson and lives in Cairo; Elizabeth became the wife of T. Jefferson
Craig and later died at Hodges Park; Jane married Alexander Burke and passed
away in the same town; Margaret is now Mrs. 0. G. Vincent, of Hodges Park;
Annie, who became the wife of James Fitzgerald, and George, a merchant, both
reside in that place; Edmund, Jr., the youngest of the family resides at
Tamms.
The life of the average country boy fell to the lot of Edmund
J. Hodges and he attended the rural schools as a care free boy. "When he
reached his majority he became engaged in merchandising, in company with his
brother George of Hodges Park. After ten years the firm was dissolved and he
continued business in that place on his own responsibility, remaining there
for five years. He then abandoned commercial life and gave his attention to
the real estate business in Cairo, removing his family to that city, but
after five years of life in that business he came to Tamms, where he engaged
in the lumber business, and his interests have expanded steadily with the
passing of the years until he is now one of the well-to-do men of his
section. He acquired a goodly acreage of fertile farm lands, and he has
realized a pleasing degree of success as a grain producer. His domain of
sixteen hundred acres maintains a considerable tenantry and adds very
materially to the prosperity of the village to which he is attached. His
grist mill comprises an industry chiefly of the manufacture of feed, and was
but recently established, and both his mill plants are shippers to markets
beyond the confines of his county. Mr. Hodges was reared in a Democratic
influence and espoused the cause of that party, but in later years he has
been active in the interests of the Republican party. He has aided party
work as a delegate 'to state conventions, as well as county meetings, and is
the township committeeman and a member of the county central committee. Mr.
Hodges is a member of the Modern Brotherhood of America, the Eagles and the
Hoo Hoos.
On January 16, 1886, Mr. Hodges married Miss Amanda
Powless, a daughter of Henry and Jane (Miller) Powless, old settlers of
Union county. Three children were born to them. Edmund J. married Miss
Gertrude Lutz, and is employed as a traveling salesman for the Harris
Saddlery Company of Cairo. Two daughters, Winifred and Mildred, are the
companions of their father in the home at Tamms, the mother and wife having
passed away on March 17, 1907.
Extracted 06 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from 1912 History of Southern Illinois, Volume 3, pages 1485-1486.
| Cape Girardeau MO |
Union | |
 |
Pulaski | |
| Scott MO | Mississippi MO | Ballard KY |
