Hodges, Charles D.

Born: 1810-02-04 Talbot County, Maryland

Died: 1884-04-01 Carrollton, Illinois

Flourished: 1833-1884 Carrollton, Illinois

Born in Queen Anne, Maryland, Charles D. Hodges was an attorney, merchant, state senator, county judge, and congressman. He attended public schools before entering Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. After graduating in 1829, he studied law in Annapolis, Maryland, was admitted to the bar in 1831, and began practicing law. He moved from Annapolis to Carrollton, Illinois in 1833, where he opened a law practice and worked for a time as a merchant . In January 1839, he married Ellen C. Hawley, with whom he had several children. By 1850, he owned real estate valued at $3,000. Hodges served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1851 to 1853, and was elected judge of Greene County, Illinois in 1854. He was reelected in 1858, but resigned in 1859 after winning a seat in the Thirty-Fifth U.S. Congress after the death of Thomas L. Harris left a vacancy. Hodges, a Democrat, only served from January to March 1859. He then resumed practicing law in Carrollton until after the Civil War. His practice was quite successful; by 1860 Hodges' real estate was valued at $10,000, with a personal estate of $10,000.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 1222; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Greene County, 8 January 1839, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Carrollton, Greene County, IL, 90; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Carrollton, Greene County, IL, 209.