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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Cross County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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O. J. Hodge, an agriculturist of prominence and a man thoroughly alive to the interests of his county, started out in life at the age of twenty-five years with $500, which was given him by his father, and which he invested in a small farm in Georgia, his native State, where he remained until 1883, when he removed to Alabama and bought a farm in Marshall County. In 1886 Mr. Hodge again moved, this time to Cross County, Ark., where he purchased his present farm, consisting of 570 acres, with 225 acres under cultivation, for which he paid about $5,500 and which is now said to estimate some $7,000 or $8,000. The subject of this sketch was born in Georgia September 20, 1850, and was the son of S. M. and Martha Hodge, originally of Georgia. Mr. Hodge was a farmer by occupation, and in connection with his farm owned a grist-mill. He enlisted in the Federal army in the late war and was married in 1844. He was a Democrat in politics and belonged to the society of the A. F. & A. M. His death occurred in 1888, at the age of sixty-five years. His wife still survives him and lives at the old homestead. They were the parents of seven children, five of whom are still living: Josephine (widow of H. C. Christian, of Georgia), Samuel A., O. J. (our subject), Martha (wife of Robert Gordon), Annie (wife of T. E. Zellmer). O. J. Hodge was married December 28, 1873, to Miss Mary E. Harkins. They are the parents of eight children, five living: Nora Addie, S. J. T. (deceased), O. J., Mattie, Ida, T. J. and R. G. Himself and wife belong to the Missionary Baptist Church. Mr. Hodge has 170 acres of land in one field, which is now all under cultivation, and a depot or shipping station on his property of the Iron Mountain & St. Louis Railroad, which runs on the west line of his farm. Mr. Hodge is a self-made man, having made all that he is worth, except the $500 given him by his father. He belongs to the A. F. & A. M., and is a member of Sincerity Lodge No. 116, of Clinton, Ga.

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This family biography is one of 103 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Cross County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Cross County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Cross County, Arkansas family biographies here: Cross County, Arkansas Biographies

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