McCallister's McAlisters (and some other good families)

The Hodge Family

Henry Hodge was the first Hodge to come to what was then Livingston County Kentucky. He was born about 1743, probably in Virginia, but grew up in and around Halifax County North Carolina. He married twice: the first time to Catherine Bryant with whom he had seven children; the second time to Sarah “Sally” Barnes, with whom he had three more children. When Henry came to Kentucky, he gouged a farm out of the wilderness near the town of Salem (now in Crittenden County), settling there in 1803. Included within that first brood were brothers James and Robert. While all ten children are easily accounted for, James’s and Robert’s families were particularly close. One of Robert's sons, Blount Hodge lived in Smithland Kentucky, and according to Linn T. Hodge, was one of the largest slave traders in western Kentucky. Like many of the Hodge family, he was a bit of a rogue, albeit a wealthy one.

Henry’s son James was an attorney, doing significant legal work in that area, including preparing his father’s will. He married Mary W. C. Campbell and they had at least 5 children: James Lawrence Hodge, 1816; Julia Ann “Julianna” Hodge, 1812. Hugh Campbell Hodge, 1819; Alphonzo and Peter Hodge. James “died young” as they say, in 1833. Unfortunately he himself left no will, so the full extent of his progeny can only be guessed.

James’s sons, James Lawrence and Hugh Campbell also settled in Smithland, where James bought a store on the river bank for $4000.00 cash. It was a combination of a general store and ship’s chandlery. At the confluence of the Ohio and Cumberland rivers, the enterprise prospered, with James Lawrence and Hugh becoming the leading merchants in Smithland.

Three days after his 24th birthday, James Lawrence took Sarah Jones Sanders as his bride in Smithland. She was 19, and came down the river from Louisville to be wed. The bondsman was David Brown Sanders, a wealthy and noted physician in Smithland. Exactly what Sarah’s relationship to David Sanders is still unknown, inasmuch as Sarah’s father is purported to be one Will Sanders, and David’s father was James Christian Sanders.

James Lawrence Hodge and Sarah Sanders had seven children of whom Julia Anna was the last born in 1857. When she was three years old, her mother died on 18 January 1860. And on 7 November 1861, James Lawrence himself died, leaving the six surviving children as orphans. The children, by family lore, were transported upriver to Louisville to be raised by the Sanders family. However, four of the six, including Julia were living with a Williams Family in Henderson County Kentucky in 1870. Who the Williames were, and how they came to have the children is not known.

Julia Anna Hodge (1857) eloped to Shawneetown Illinois with James Alexander Rowley of Union County, and they were married there on 2 February 1874. She was still 16 years old. Nine months and 12 days later, their first child, Cora Lee Rowley, was born in Union County. Five other children followed. Julia Anna Hodge Rowley died at age 90 in 1947. Her daughter, Cora Lee Rowley, was my great grandmother and I remember her well. She married Will T. Whitfield and had two children: Julia (my grandmother) and Jessie Lee. Cora Lee died in 1966 at age 92. Like many very large families, there are lots of interesting stories, questions and mysteries about the Hodge family, far too many to ever cram onto this site.

The house at the top of the page is the Federal Style townhouse that James Lawrence built for his family in Smithland. During the Civil War, it was occupied by Union General Lew Wallace who later wrote Ben Hur. The building was torn down in 1972.