Hodge's Bend

Alexander Hodge, a member of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, the son of William Hodge, was born in Newton Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, in 1760. A preponderance of evidence indicates that his mother was Mary Elliott, daughter of James Elliott, also of Cumberland County. Before his eighteenth birthday Alexander and his brother, William, Jr., moved to Edgefield District, South Carolina, where they served with the "Swamp Fox" Francis Marion and his brigade during the American Revolution. After the war Hodge moved to Oglethorpe County, Georgia, where he read for the law and where his seven children were born. After 1806 he moved west through Kentucky, and in 1815 he was in Arkansas. He served as a magistrate in Spring River Township, Lawrence County. He met Stephen F. Austin, and in 1824 he and his family began the trip to Texas. On April 12, 1828, Austin granted the old judge one of the leagues of land he had reserved for himself on the Brazos River and Oyster Creek near Fort Bend. Hodge served his district as comisario and alcalde. His plantation, Hodge's Bend, was a favorite stopping place for William B. Travis, James B. Bonham, Erastus (Deaf) Smith, and other persons of prominence in Texas history, as well as unknown travelers. His wife, Ruth, died in 1831.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.