San Diego County

Biographies

 

 

 

 

EDGAR O. HODGE

 

 

            Edgar O. Hodge, vice president of the Bank of American in San Diego, has been continuously identified with business and financial activities in this city for a period covering more than forty-six years.  He was born in Jackson, Mississippi, October 16, 1869.  His father, Noah Hodge, was a native of Springfield, Illinois, and served in the Civil war as an officer of the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, being brevetted major in that command.  When the war was over he married a southern girl, Miss D. L. O. Johnston, who died in Jackson Mississippi.  Her two children were Edgar O. and Mrs. D. L. O. Hubbard of Los Angeles.  For his second wife Noah Hodge chose Sarah W. Ashmun who died in San Diego in 1907, leaving four children.  Noah Hodge was a practicing attorney of Akron, Ohio, for ten years prior to coming to San Diego, California, in 1887 and here continued in the work of his chosen profession to the time of his death in 1891.  He was a member of the Loyal Legion, the Masons, and the Odd Fellows.

            Edgar O. Hodge spent most of his youth in Akron, Ohio, where he graduated from high school in June, 1886.  In the fall of that year he came to San Diego, California, with his father, who hoped to regain his health in the west.  Almost immediately after his arrival Edgar O. Hodge found employment with the San Diego Water Company.  He remained with that public utility corporation about fifteen years, continuing for a time as chief clerk after the plant was taken over by the city and finally leaving the service in March, 1902, when he was offered an opportunity to enter the banking business in connection with the First National Bank.  G. W. Fishburn, then cashier, made the offer and Mr. Hodge took the place left vacant by the appointment of J. N. Newkirk as postmaster, continuing as one of the valued staff of the First National Bank until 1907.  In that year he became associated with G. Aubrey Davidson, Philip Morse and others in the organization of the Southern Trust & Savings Bank, which Mr. Hodge served as cashier until its consolidation with the Bank of Commerce & Trust Company in 1917.  This merger of local financial institutions resulted in the Southern Trust & Commerce Bank, of which Mr. Hodge was elected vice president, holding that position until January, 1927, when the Southern Trust & Commerce Bank became part of the Bank of Italy, of which he was also made vice president.  When the new organization known as the Bank of America was consummated, Mr. Hodge assumed his present official duties as vice president.  He is also a director of the Peoples Finance & Thrift Company and enjoys an enviable reputation as an astute banker and a reliable consultant on all financial matters.  It is an interesting coincidence that his present desk in the Bank of American Building at the intersection of Broadway and Sixth streets in San Diego rest directly over the site of his first desk with the San Diego Water Company, forty-six years ago, in the frame shack then occupied by the water company.

            Mr. Hodge was first married in Coronado, California, in 1910, to Miss Ada N. Smith, of San Diego, who passed away in March, 1916.  On the 11th of July, 1918, in Los Angeles, he married Mary Bleecker Jackson, of San Diego, and they are the parents of a daughter, Ann Bleecker, born January 19, 1920.

            In his political views Mr. Hodge is a republican.  His military record covers three years’ service with the Naval Reserve of San Diego.  He is a member of the Loyal Legion by inheritance and also belongs to the San Diego Chamber of Commerce and to the Cuyamaca Club.  He became the first president and one of the life members of the present San Diego Country Club, which was organized in 1921 and is situated at Chula Vista, California.  Golf is his favorite form of recreation.  He is also a life member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, while his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the First Congregational Church.  His career is an exemplary one in every relation and his record as one of San Diego’s foremost financiers and business men is inseparably interwoven with the annals of Southern California.

 

 

 

Transcribed By:  Michele Y. Larsen on May 3, 2012.

Source: California of the South Vol. II,  by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 347-349, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles,  Indianapolis.  1933.

© 2012 Michele Y. Larsen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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