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- Benjamin M. Hodges was born in 1823 in Tennessee to Edmund and Sarah McClain Hodges. Benjamin arrived in Houston County in the Republic of Texas in 1837 with his siblings, his mother and McClain grandparents subsequent to his father's death at Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tennessee on July 31, 1832.
Benjamin's father, Edmund (born 1794 NC.), a private in Captain Caperton's Tennessee Militia, fought in the Battle of Talledega in the war of 1812. He married Sarah McClain (born 1798 GA) near Winchester, Franklin County, Tennessee on July 29, 1812. Edmund and Sarah became parents of Hettie (Rutherford), Rebecca (Chapman), Abel, Isaac James, Benjamin M., Parthenia (Speer), Jacob Mickler and Sarah (Hallmark). The last account of Sarah McClain Hodes was when she was listed as a War of 1812 widow in Limestone County, Texas in the 1883 SENATE EX. DOCUMENT #84.
In the newly formed Republic of Texas, headrights were given to the heads of families and single men who settled and proved they were loyal citizens. Benjamin's mother, Sarah McClain Hodges, received a 2nd Class land grant for 1,280 acres issued to those who arrived in the republic after March 2, 1836 but prior to October 1, 1837. Sarah's father, William McClain, her son Abel, and son-in-law Robert Chapman also received land grants. Benjamin was granted 320 acres on June 4, 1844 after he turned twenty-one and proved he had lived in the Republic for three years and was a loyal citizen.
When Texas joined the United States, Mexico still claimed it as its own and broke diplomatic relations with the U. S. Government. The Mexican War broke out and a Company of Texas Mounted Volunteers was mustered into federal service on June 19, 1846. Benjamin M. Hodges was recruited at Crockett, Houston County, Texas into Company H of the Second Regiment. General Zachary Taylor headed a military campaign in northern Mexico against Mexican armies under the command of General antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The two armies met at Monterrey, Mexico in a three-day battle i September 1846 when Santa Anna was defeated. Benjamin Hodges was discharged on October 15, 1846. Family history suggests that he lost a leg during the war.
On December 23, 1846 Benjamin married Mary Speer (born 1834 AR), daughter of Levy and Sarah (Dixon) Speer. They became the parents of eight children: Sarah (Fowler), Parthena Jane (Rodgers), Susan, William Carroll, Isaac James, Mary Angeline (Grimes), Lula (Moon), and Asa Jackson Hodges.
Benjamin was unable to serve in the Confederate Army because of his leg but he did serve in the Home Guard in Houston County during the Civil War. After the war Benjamin's family, his brother Isaac's family and his sister Hettie Rutherford's family moved across the Trinity River into Leon County in the late 1860's. On June 4, 1870 Benjamin sold 120 acres of land in Leon County to Joseph L. Taylor for $300.00 located on the headwaters of Forked Deer Creek to where it crosses Clear Creek, a part of the Kennard survey excepting ten acres deeded to Jeremiah Phillips.
The Hodges were members of the Clear Creek Baptist Church which is a part of the Trinity River Baptist Association. Benjamin settled his family above Clear Creek where he built a log house with no windows and one door. At night they had to put the eating table across the door to keep the panthers and other wild animals out. When the panthers would get after the baby calves, they would have to tear the fence down so the cows could get to their calves and fight the panthers off.
The graveyard at Clear Creek was started by the Hodges when Benjamin's brother Isaac went home and collapsed April 1, 1871 after working hard one Saturday on a new church building. He is buried on the apex of the cemetery. The youngest child of Benjamin and Mary ws only three years old when Benjamin died. Benjamin called him to the bed and patted him on the head and said, "Be a good boy!". He died on April 16, 1878 near Marquez, Leon County, Texas and is buried at Clear Creek Cemetery. His grave was marked with a "Citizen of the Republic of Texas" bronze marker by descendants in 1990.
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