My Genealogy Hound

O. N. HODGE, farmer, P. O. Bloomington; was born in McLean Co., Ill., on the old homestead, Nov. 15, 1826, and, with the exception of thirteen years in California, the first three years of which were spent in mining and the rest of the time in farming, he has made the old homestead his home; he is the son of William H. Hodge, who was born Jan. 4, 1794, in Rockingham Co., N. C.; his ancestors came from England, and settled in Pennsylvania about 1700, when they moved to North Carolina. Mr. William H. Hodge, with his parents, moved to Tennessee in 1812; here Mr. Hodge was engaged in teaching school, as well as in Kentucky. In 1820, he started for Illinois, where he arrived on the 20th of February of that year; he first settled in Sangamon County; in 1824, he moved to Blooming Grove, McLean Co., Ill.; here he bought land quite extensively; at this time there were but few families in the county; Mr. Hodge assisted in the organization of Tazewell Co., in 1827: also, in the organization of McLean Co., in 1831. Mr. Hodge was Sheriff, Collector and Assessor of Tazewell Co. from 1827 to 1831. Mr. Hodge married, in 1814, Miss Rachel Wall, of Kentucky, who died about the year 1845; has had ten children, six of whom are living. William H. Hodge died May 20, 1875, with lung fever, being sick about three days. Thus the old settlers of McLean Co. are, one by one, passing beyond the shores of the unknown river. The children of William and Rachel (Wall) Hodge now living are—O. N. Hodge, born Nov. 15, 1826 (married Nancy J. Tipps and had one child, both deceased); Nancy (married Hugh Harris, now of Oregon); William C. (married Rachel Murphy, and lives in Bloomington); Mary J. (married Pleasant Hill, and living in California); James P. (married Miss Ellen Rouse, of Ohio, daughter of Col. John Rouse); Harriet (married O. P. Woodsworth, and living in Bloomington.)