DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — the story of James Hodges, Senior, of Gonzales County. April of 1835. A man named James Hodges, Senior, rides into Gonzales, and he doesn't waste any time.
Not long after he arrives, he reaches into his pocket — or more accurately, into what must have been a very substantial sack — and pays three thousand dollars in silver for four leagues of land. Four leagues. That's seventeen thousand, seven hundred and twenty-one acres sitting right at the forks of the San Marcos and Guadalupe Rivers.
Silver. Not paper. Not a promise.
Silver. Now, Gonzales in 1835 was not a quiet place to settle down and tend a garden. Texas was on the boil.
And by September of that year, with the tension rising, the Gonzales Committee of Public Safety called an election. September 26, 1835. Out of that election, six delegates were chosen to represent Gonzales at the Consultation of 1835 — and James Hodges, Senior, was one of them.
That Consultation convened on November 3, in San Felipe de Austin. What those delegates built there was the foundation of something larger than any one of them: a provisional government for Texas, and an army organized under the command of Sam Houston. Six delegates from Gonzales.
James Hodges among them. He returned to Gonzales after the Consultation, and in 1836, when the Texas army needed supplies, Hodges provided them. Then came what history remembers as the Runaway Scrape — Hodges and his family left the area along with so many others.
But they came back. That land at the forks of two rivers had a hold on them, and they returned to Gonzales County. By 1838, Hodges was serving on the County's Board of Land Commissioners.
A man building something — for his county, for his family. Twice married, he was the father of eight children, and they all continued to live on that land along the San Marcos and the Guadalupe. James Hodges, Senior, died on December 24, 1846, and was buried right there on the family farm.
In time, that burial plot came to be known as the Hodges Family Cemetery — sitting about a mile southeast of where this marker stands today. Three thousand dollars in silver, seventeen thousand acres, six delegates, one army, eight children, and a cemetery that still carries his name. Not a bad accounting for a man who rode into Gonzales in April of 1835.
What the marker says
James Hodges, Sr., came to Gonzales in April 1835. Soon after his arrival he purchased four leagues (17,721 acres) of land at the forks of the San Marcos and Guadalupe Rivers for $3,000 in silver. On September 26, 1835, in a election held under the auspices of the Gonzales Committee of Public Safety, Hodges was elected one of six delegates to the Consultation of 1835. Convened in San Felipe de Austin on November 3, delegates to the Consultation created a provisional government and organized an army under the command of Sam Houston. Returning to Gonzales after the Consultation, Hodges provided supplies for the Texas army in 1836. He and his family left the area during the runaway scrape, but later returned to Gonzales County. In 1838 Hodges served on the County's Board of Land Commissioners. Twice married, James Hodges was the father of eight children. He and his family continued to live on their land on the San Marcos and Guadalupe rivers. After his death on December 24, 1846, Hodges was buried on the family farm in a plot which became known as the Hodges Family Cemetery (about one mile southeast).