Genealogy Wylie » John Murchison Hodges (1848-1933)

Personal data John Murchison Hodges 

• He was born on August 29, 1848 in Cumberland County, North Carolina.
• He died on March 6, 1933 in Linden, Cumberland County, North Carolina, he was 84 years old.
• A child of James Philemon Hodges and Flora Eliza Murchison
• This information was last updated on June 20, 2011.

Household of John Murchison Hodges

He has/had a relationship with Sallie Eunice McNeill.

Child(ren):

1. Clara Eunice Hodges  1873-1959 
2. James Philemon Hodges  1875-1876
3. David Worth Hodges  1877-1878
4. Roxanna Worth Hodges  1879-1938
5. John Murchison Hodges  1882-1969 
6. Sallie Hodges  1884-1964 
7. Julia Worth Hodges  1886-1886
8. Frederick Murchison Hodges  1887-1961 
9. James Allison Hodges  1889-1978 
10. Ruth Gardner Hodges  1893-1980

Notes about John Murchison Hodges

Deceased Honoree Chosen by the Friends of Harnett County Library for the Extension Homemakers Historical Quilt, 1989 IVY BURNE: HOME OF THE HODGES FAMILY
Built 1874 (Other Hodges homes in the same area since 1735)
John Murchison Hodges, Sr.
Aug. 29, 1848 -March 6, 1933
John Murchison Hodges, Sr. of "Ivy Burne" plantation on the Harnett County side of Linden, served as chairman of the Harnett County Board of Education from 1909 to 1925, when he resigned.
In grateful appreciation, the County of Harnett gave him a goldheaded walking cane for 16 years of selfless service to the cause of public education. He had also served as county tax collector, county treasurer, and chairman of the county commissioners. In all, he had rendered to his county, according to a joint resolution adopted by the Harnett Board of Education and the Harnett Commissioners: "Public services of the highest and most satisfactory kind."
He died March 6,1933 and was buried in Sardis Cemetery beside his wife, Sallie McNeill Hodges, who had died nine years earlier on February 14, 1924.
The year Hodges came on the board, the office of county
Continued superintendent was made a full time office. Chairman Hodges with members O.J. Bradley of Kipling and Tom Harrington of the Mt. Pisgah section were men in the words of Harnett historian Malcolm Fowler "whose foresight in the county's need in the field of education was a little short of amazing."
Historian Fowler in his book, THEY PASSED THIS WAY. tells it this way: "These pioneers saw what was needed. They laid their plans and stubbornly followed them."
Many people who had been drawing salaries as teachers suddenly discovered that being kin to a school committee member was not enough to get them a teacher's job.
Why those three fools on the Board of Education were demanding teachers who had been trained to teach! If necessary, they hired teachers out of the county. This was unthinkable--it was heresy- -even treason.
Chairman Hodges was denounced as an aristocrat. What did he know about the plain people and their problems? He must go--ride him out on a rail. Yes, that poetry writing fellow, Tom W. Harrington, and O. Jennings Bradley with him!
But these three men went on with their work. They meant to create a county school system that would give every child in the county a chance to attend a school that was adequately equipped and properly staffed.
Quietly, faithfully, these modest men traveled their planned road with firm faith and steady steps. It was this faith that
enabled them to survive the mouthing of the mob. The torch they had lighted was beginning to burn brighter.
By 1915, Byrd B. Gentry was hired as County Superintendent and served until 1941 with the exception of the school year 1921-22. In the 1920's, many small schools were combined, making it possible to offer elementary and high school training to more pupils. In 1923, transportation of pupils by motor bus began. Bradley died in 1920 and Harrington in 1921, but Hodges lived to see much of what was planned come to pass."
Hodges was the son of Philemon Hodges. The Hodges family had owned land between the Lower Little River and the Cape Fear River since 1735. John Murchison Hodges, Sr. built "Ivy Burne" in 1874, two years after he had married Sallie McNeill in 1872. Sallie was the daughter of James McNeill, Jr. and Roxana Worth McNeill of "The Bluff" on the southside of the Cape Fear River. Roxana Worth was one of the five daughters of Jonathan Worth of Asheboro, Governor of North Carolina 1865-68.
John M. Hodges, Sr. and his wife, Sallie McNeill Hodges were the parents of the following children who resided in the Linden area: Roxana Worth Hodges, b. September 21,1879, d. April 3, 1938 at age 59, never married; John Murchison Hodges, Jr., b. January 26, 1882, d. March 5, 1969 at age 87; and Ruth Gardner Hodges, b. October 22,1893, d. March at age 87, never married. Other children were: Mrs. Frank (Clara) Harper, and Mrs. P.E. (Sadie) Seagle of Raleigh; Dr. Fred Hodges of Richmond, Virginia; and J. Allison Hodges of Louisburg.
John M. Hodges, Jr. married Roberta Ann Morris and they became the parents of three daughters Worth, Ann, and Allie McNeill.
In 1920, the youngest daughter, age five, lost her life in a tragic accident, and in December of the same year, Hodges' wife, Roberta Morris, died December 20,1920. J. M. Hodges, Jr., who had been residing in Fayetteville, returned to "Ivy Burne" with his surviving daughters. At that time, his parents and two sisters were also living. He was associated for 40 years with Holt- Williamson Manufacturing Co. in Fayetteville.
Miss Ann Hodges, a retired teacher, died June 29, 1992. Before her death, she had the home beautifully redecorated throughout. Her sister, Miss Worth Hodges, continues to live at "Ivy Burne" where the furnishings of the ten-room house tell interesting stories of six generations of a family closely identified with the history of the Cape Fear Valley.
Written April 1993, by Lois Byrd, President of Friends of Harnett County Library
Sources: They Passed This Way. by Malcolm Fowler; feature story by Lucile Miller Johnson in Fayetteville Observer, January 25, 1970; Sardis Cemetery tomb stones.

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