Biography - Lawson K. Hodges

LAWSON K. HODGES is a planter living on Red River, in Ward 1, of Bossier Parish, La. He was born in 1846, the second son of Gen. John L. and Mary B. (Hamilton) Hodges, who came at an early day from Georgia to this parish. Mary B. Hamilton was the daughter of William Hamilton, one of the most distinguished Georgian pioneers in the State of Louisiana. Gen. Hodges was one of the most eminent gentlemen of North Louisiana, a statesman and a patriot, who commanded universal respect, and exercised a powerful influence for the benefit of his district. He was one of the most extensive planters on Red River at the opening of the war. His wife died in 1853 and he in 1866, leaving four sons and three daughters. Their eldest son was killed while gallantly fighting at the second battle of Manassas. Lawson K. Hodges, after leaving college at the early age of nineteen, went to planting on his own responsibility, and by prudence, skill and financial ability has added largely in acres by purchase to his inherited plantation. To-day he is one of the most successful, progressive and respected planters of the Red River Valley. No gentleman of his ward wields more influence in all political matters, and none stands higher in public estimation. His annual cotton crop amounts to from 200 to 250 bales, and his plantation is a model for good cultivation, fine improvements and most excellent management of his laborers. In 1875 he was most happily united in marriage to Miss Annie D. Alexander, a daughter of Col. George D. and Palmyra G. (Hunter) Alexander, of Arkansas. Her father, Col. Alexander, still living, is one of the oldest and most distinguished educators of the South and West. He is the only surviving one of the three pioneer educators, who emigrated to the State of Arkansas, and is one of the most-noted lovers of the gun and dog, having a world-wide reputation from his numerous hunting sketches, contributed to the best sporting journals of the world. Mrs. Annie Hodges is a lady, refined, elegant and cultured, noted for her kind attentions to the sick, her charities, and her devotion to flowers, and her model housekeeping. They have but one living child, a lovely, intelligent and amiable daughter, just entering her teens, and now a pupil in the "Kate Nelson Seminary" of Shreveport. Mrs. Hodges is a member of the Baptist denomination, as were the parents of her husband, who, though not a member, yet is of that religious belief. There is not a pleasanter place to visit than "Gold Dust," their cozy residence, embowered among the rarest of flowers, where Mr. and Mrs. Hodges dispense their generous hospitality.

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Contributed 29 Aug 2020 by Norma Hass, extracted from Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana, published in 1890, pages 133-134.

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