Samuel Hodge lived a long life. It is thought that he was born in Ireland before his family immigrated to the Americas. Born in Ireland, or born in 1766 in Reading, York County, Pennsylvania, he made his way south to Union County, South Carolina and settled on the Pacolet River near Grindal Shoals. He was one of the more prosperous men of his time and was surrounded by influential and powerful neighbors at the Shoals.

Samuel Hodge married Martha Wright, a Virginia lass born in 1775. They raised a family of eight daughters and three sons on the banks of the Pacolet River. One of their sons, John Jackson Hodge, married Martha Patsey Fowler, daughter of Womack Fowler — thus uniting the Hodge and Fowler families.

Because of the proximity of these families, there was much intermarriage between the Hodge, Moseley, James, Mabry, and Fowler families. It is a tangled web that will make you shake your head in disbelief at the circuitous ancestral route these people of the 1800s took to get here today.

• Samuel Hodge 1766-1854 m. Martha Wright (or Fowler) 1775–1850
  • Jane Hodge 1794–1838 m. Mr. Coleman
  • Benjamin Hodge b. 1797
  • Susannah Hodge 1798–1850 m. Jesse James 1786-1877
  • John Jackson Hodge 1802–1882 m. Martha Patsey Fowler 1809-1872
  • Sallie Hodge 1804–1835 m. Henry Mabry 1805- after 1770
  • Mary “Polly” Hodge 1806–1880 m. William Mabry 1810- before 1880
  • Elizabeth Hodge 1809–after 1860
  • Moses “Moke” Hodge 1813–1885 m. Mary Elizabeth James 1825–1860; m. Julia Ann McDaniel
  • Martha Hodge

Wife Martha Hodge was mentioned in the Last Will and Testament of Samuel Hodge. (I have seen her maiden name as Wright and Fowler).

Daughters Jane, Susannah, Sallie, Mary, Elizabeth, and Martha were mentioned in the will, as were sons John and Moses.

There was also a mention of a Nancy Hamilton in the will. Was she a daughter?

There is no mention of son Benjamin Hodge. There are conflicting reports. Did he die as an infant, or was he the Benjamin Hodge who married Dorcas Moseley?? According to the Reverend J.D. Bailey, author of History of Grindal Shoals, Benjamin Hodge died as an infant.

Last Will and Testament of Samuel Hodge:

The Shaderick Sherrod James family had also come to Grindal Shoals from Virginia, and, in 1815, Susannah Hodge married Jesse “Buck” James (1886-1877), son of Revolutionary War soldier Shaderick Sherrod James (1744–1852).

From a document found within the estate settlement of Samuel Hodge, it appears that Jesse James continued to live on the land of his father-in-law after the death of his wife Susannah. I found the document written by Samuel Hodge to be a little unusual in its vitriol narrative of his son-in-law Jesse James. Obviously, there was no love lost between the two men.

The document and the transcription are below:

Samuel Hodge intersects my Fowler family through the marriage of his son John Jackson Hodge who married Martha Patsey Fowler.

John Jackson Hodge was born in 1802, and died in 1882. His wife, Martha Patsey Fowler, was born in 1809 and died in 1872. She was the daughter of Womack Fowler (1785-1849) and Susannah Moseley (1792-1878).

• John Jackson Hodge (1802-1882) m. Martha Patsy Fowler (1809–1872)
  • Jane Hodge (1826–1870)
  • Henry S. Hodge (1828–1885)
  • Caroline Hodge (1830–1912)
  • Catherine Hodge (1833–1880)
  • Minerva Hodge (1834–)
  • William Franklin Hodge (1837–1909)
  • Gasaway Hodge (1841–1916)
  • Neland Hodge (1843–1911)
  • John Wright Hodge (1849–1916)
  • Calvin Wister Hodge (1850–1928)