- GILBERT T. HODGES, whose prominence in the agricultural,
financial and political circles of
- Green county, Wis., easily places him in the front rank of
the popular and substantial citizens of the State, was born in
Montgomery county, Ind., Jan. 6, 1841.
- William HODGES, his father, was born in Kentucky, of English
descent, and when he started out
- in life for himself was empty handed, but he pre-empted eighty
acres of land in Montgomery county, Ind., of which he cleared
five acres in corn. This tract he traded for another eighty-acre
tract which was wholly unimproved, which in turn he cleared and
traded for a third, upon which he made his home until 1846, when
he sold all off and moved to Wisconsin, where he purchased 260
acres in Monroe township, Green county, where he built a good
house. As the years passed on he added to his possessions 160
acres three and one-half miles northwest, but this he divided
between his two children, David and Rachel, and also gave to
Lewis eighty acres off the home farm. He then purchased eighty
acres each on the south and the east sides of the original place,
and forty acres on the west, and as the last named land was in
the corporate limits of the city of Monroe, he sold it off in
town lots. While he never had enjoyed the benefits of an education,
he was a successful man. He kept no accounts, but after his son
Gilbert had attained the age of ten years, he depended upon him
to do any necessary figuring. When he started out on stock buying
expeditions, he was always accompanied by Gilbert, who looked
after the numerical side of the business. Mr. HODGES helped to
survey the land in the neighborhood, and it was said he was infallible
when called upon to settle boundary disputes. In 1856 he purchased
land in Davis county, Mo., and lived there for two and one-half
years, but at the end of that time returned to Wisconsin, and
passed a year and one-half in straightening up his affairs. He
then returned to Missouri, where he remained, however, but a
year, the outbreak of the Rebellion making a home in Wisconsin
more desirable for a Northern sympathizer. In the spring of 1877
he purchased town property in Winfield, Kans., and went there
expecting to make it his future home. In August, 1879, he started
back to his old Wisconsin home, but was taken ill on the way,
and died the day after his arrival, in his eightieth year. Just
after he left his early home in Kentucky and took up his abode
in Indiana, he married Sarah POWELL, daughter of Lewis POWELL,
of Montgomery county, Ind., and to their union came eight children,
three of whom are now living: Rachel, widow of Thomas RANDALL,
makes her home in Winfield, Kans.; William J., of Stillwater,
Oklahoma; and Gilbert T. The mother of these died in 1884. Both
were faithful followers of the tenets of the Christian or Disciples
Church. Mr. HODGES served for many years as a justice of the
peace.
- Lewis POWELL, father of Mrs. Sarah (POWELL) HODGES, and maternal
grandfather of
- Gilbert T. HODGES, was a native of Virginia, where he gained
a livelihood chiefly by hunting. Game of all kinds abounded there,
and he was a typical and daring pioneer of those early struggling
days of our country. He took part in the Indian war, and was
called Capt. POWELL. His brother Decader was killed in the battle
of Tippecanoe. Lewis POWELL was captured many times, but always
succeeded in effecting his escape. He moved from Virginia to
Tennessee, and thence to Montgomery county, Ind., making his
home there until 1844, when he located in Monroe township, Green
Co., Wis., and commenced to improve a farm about four miles northeast
of the village of Monroe. This he shortly after divided among
his children, and lived with them until his death, which took
place in 1858, at the home of his youngest daughter, Mary Anne
CLARK, when he was aged ninety-nine years. He was of Scotch descent,
and was very religious, his home having been a meeting place
for religious discussions for many years. He also held many minor
offices, among them justice of the peace.
- Gilbert T. HODGES has passed by far the greater part of his
life in Monroe, Green county. He
- was reared on his father's farm, and received such education
as the district schools afforded, later attending a college in
Madison. His first essay in life for himself was as a teacher,
beginning this work when he was eighteen years of age, by teaching
three terms in a school in Missouri. This was followed by four
winters' teaching in his home in the district schools of Clarno
township. He met with great success in this work, but having
been trained to farm work, he returned to that as a life work,
farming with his father on shares, and buying stock. His first
purchase of land consisted of 105 acres in Clarno township, known
as the "STEARNS farm," a portion of which he sold in
1865, and the remainder in 1870. In 1868 he bought eighty acres
of his father's farm of the heirs, and thirty-four acres of his
father's land within the corporation, and of the latter he sold
ten acres to the Fair Grounds Association. He has since bought
120 acres in Cadiz township. He continues to buy stock in large
quantifies, and as he began this business in 1863, he is now
the oldest continuous stock buyer in the county, and feeds cattle
on a very large scale. He has also bought wool for many years.
His remarkable ability as a judge of stock has made him an authority
in the community, and in the State Agricultural Society, of which
he has been a member many years, and was an officer for about
five years, being superintendent of the cattle and dairy departments.
- Mr. HODGES has not confined himself entirely to agricultural
pursuits, but has become a factor in
- financial circles, where his foresight and his wisdom have
made him an invaluable counselor. He is the largest stockholder
and a director in the Citizens Bank, and is a stockholder in
the First National Bank. In politics, too, Mr. HODGES has played
a prominent and influential part. His ballot is cast in favor
of the Democratic party, and he has filled many offices. He was
chairman of the county board of supervisors for ten or twelve
years, and was chairman of the building committee having in charge
the erection of the present handsome court house. He was a candidate
for the State Assembly in 1894 and 1896, being defeated the first
time by only 160 votes. He was a delegate from Milwaukee to Washington,
D.C., Feb. 22, 1900, to secure the location of the national convention
of the Democratic party at Milwaukee, but was defeated by the
Kansas City committee. That year he went to Kansas City as a
delegate, and there assisted in the nomination of William J.
Bryan for president of the United States, and in the fall election,
being a candidate for Congress, suffered defeat with his chief
in the general landslide. Mr. HODGES has served as clerk of the
district school board in Clarno township. Socially he belongs
to the Catholic Order of Foresters, and for ten years he was
president of the Green County Agricultural Society, and at present
is one of its trustees.
- On Feb. 13, 1866, Mr. HODGES was united in marriage with
Miss Annie F. BANKS, daughter
- of James A. and Grace Mary (WALKER) BANKS, and eight children
came to bless their union: Isabel and Grace both died in infancy;
Lewis A., a graduate of the Monroe high school, has been connected
with the Citizens Bank for thirteen years, now holding the position
of assistant cashier (he married Cornelia MACK, of Brodhead,
and has two children, Constance and Van Antwerp); Emma Frances,
who attended the University at Madison two years, then entered
Holy Angels' Academy, at Minneapolis, and later attended Conservatory
of Music at Chicago, whence she was graduated (she married Elmer
MANNING, a machinist at Monroe, where they reside, and where
she is now president of the Woman's Club); Gilbert T., Jr., a
graduate of the literary and legal departments of the University
at Madison, is now practicing law in Chicago; Annie died when
nearly four years old; James William (who was a member of Company
H, 1st Wis. Vols., in the Spanish-American war) and Paul are
at home. Mr. and Mrs. HODGES are members of the Roman Catholic
Church.
- James A. BANKS and wife, parents of Mrs. HODGES, are both
natives of England, who came
- to America in 1843, and located in Massachusetts, near Haverhill,
whence after seventeen years they came to Monroe. During his
residence in England Mr. BANKS was a traveling man, and was interested
in a woolen and cotton factory there. In Massachusetts he had
charge of a cotton factory, later becoming a shoe manufacturer
in Haverhill. After locating in Wisconsin, he engaged in business
until burned out, and then, as he was advancing in years, he
retired. His death occurred in 1886, at the age of eighty-three
years, and his wife died in 1881, at the age of seventy-five.
They were married in the Episcopal Church, later uniting with
the Roman Catholic. In politics he was a stanch Democrat. For
a time he was a member of the militia in England. His father
had died early and his early training was given him by his grandfather.
Mr. and Mrs. BANKS were the parents of seven children, five of
whom survive; Isabel, wife of Edward FLANDERS, of Chicago; James,
of Jefferson, Wis.; Annie E., Mrs. HODGES; Grace Mary, wife of
Robert GRAHAM, of Minneapolis, Minn.; Sarah Alice, wife of Charles
A. LYTLE, of Monroe, Wis. The two last named were twins. Mr.
BANKS' grandmother was a cousin of Thomas Jefferson. Mrs. Grace
Mary (WALKER) BANKS was a daughter of Thomas WALKER, a farmer
and mail carrier in England, where he died at the advanced age
of ninety years, the father of thirteen children, eleven of whom
grew to maturity.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; pp. 862-864.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
|