Hodge, William H.

Born: 1791-01-04 Rockingham County, North Carolina

Died: 1875-04-29 Bloomington, Illinois

Flourished: Bloomington, Illinois

William H. Hodge was a teacher, landowner, public official, and early settler and organizer of McLean and Tazewell counties in Illinois. He moved with his parents from his native state to Tennessee in 1812. Hodge taught school in both Tennessee and later Kentucky. In 1814, he married Rachel Wall, a union that produced ten children. Hodge and his family left Kentucky in 1820 and headed for Illinois, arriving in Sangamon County in February. In 1824, he moved to Blooming Grove in what would become McLean County. In the late 1820s and early 1830s, Hodge purchased 1160 acres of public land in and around Bloomington. He helped organize Tazewell County in 1827, and served as sheriff, collector, and assessor of the county from 1827 to 1831. Hodge also assisted in the organization of McLean County in 1831. In 1834, he became trustee of Bloomington Academy. In 1839 and 1840, Hodge received appointment as McLean County collector. In 1860, Hodge was living and farming in Bloomington's Ward 3 and owned real estate valued at $15,000, with a personal estate of $500.

Gravestone, Evergreen Memorial Cemetery, Bloomington, IL; The History of McLean County, Illinois (Chicago: Wm. Le Baron, Jr., 1879), 198, 316, 790; Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, McLean County, 145:8, 11, 16, 17; 236:7, 14, 19, 26, 54, 71, 72, 119, 195, 205, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 3, Bloomington, McLean County, IL, 237; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 24 May 1834, 3:3.