STANDARD ATLAS
OF
SCOTT COUNTY, ILLINOIS
1903
Geo. A. Ogle & Co.Publishers & Engravers
134 Van Buren St.
Chicago
Transcribed by Larry Fearneyhough
Page 128
Ex-County Commissioner Joseph Hodgkinson is one of the most highly respected and honored citizens of the county. He was born in Kirk Ireton, England, December 25, 1832, and came with his parents to Scott county, locating near Winchester, when he was scarcely eleven years old. His father George Hodgkinson, purchased a forty-acre farm out there and upon it the family home was established. During the winter of 1844-45, when Mr. Hodgkinson was in his thirteenth year, his parents died and he was left with five other children, and all were bound out until they became of age. Joseph was taken into the home of William Ronksley where he experienced the common fate of nearly all bound out children- had to work very hard, his education was very limited, was poorly clad and illy cared for. Before he became of age he left Ronksley and went to work for his uncle, Charles Frost, at twelve dollars per month. He lived with his uncle until November, 1853, when he went to Morgan county where he remained until the outbreak of the war in 1861, and then came back to Scott county and worked for his uncle again. He was engaged on the farm and in shipping horses to the St. Louis market for some time.
On October 11, 1865, he was married to Miss Louisa Howard, daughter of the late Reuben and Martha Howard. Mr. and Mrs. Howard were among the early settlers of Illinois, and came from Tennessee. After his marriage Mr. Hodgkinson settled on a fifty-acre tract of land down on the Manchester road, about five miles from Winchester, and at the end of the first two years added another sixty acres to his farm, and from time to time, since, has been increasing his possessions - both farm lands and other properties. Mrs. Hodgkinson died, November 15, 1898.
Mr. Hodgkinson is a zealous member of the Christian church, and is an elder in that organization. He is a democrat and has taken a part in Scott county politics for years. He is frank in his manner, warm-hearted and generous in his disposition and is one of the welltodo citizens of the county. Mr. Hodgkinson rents out his farm and is living in a handsome home in the edge of Winchester. Mr. Hodgkinson is the parent of three children - George R., born May 27, 1878; Viola A., born May 31, 1880. Martha F., was born May 17, 1867, and died April 23, 1871.