Calaveras
County
Biographies
GEORGE Z. HODGES
George Zeigler Hodges, now deceased,
was a widely known California pioneer of 1850.
At the time of his death, October 20, 1897, he was an esteemed resident
of Milton, Calaveras County. He was born
in Sandwich, Carroll County, New Hampshire, December
18, 1815. He came of honorable ancestry,
his father having taken part in the Revolutionary War, and his forefathers
being among the first settlers in the state who had emigrated from Scotland and
Wales.
Our subject was reared and educated
in his native state, but removed to Boston, Massachusetts, at a later date,
engaging there in business some years prior to his departure for
California. In that city he married Miss
Eliza Drew, a native of Holderness, New Hampshire, who was born there June 15,
1814. In 1849 Mr. Hodges became
interested in the gold discoveries of California and sailed from Boston in
December, in the sailing ship Herculean.
He took with him many useful articles, including a complete miner’s
outfit and articles for sale to the miners.
His voyage around the Horn was successfully made and he reached San
Francisco in good health, immediately settling at Coyote Flat, now Robinson’s
Ferry, in Calaveras County. He began
working in the mines through Calaveras, Tuolumne and other counties until he
took charge of a hotel in Springfield, going from there in the same business to
Copperopolis and San Francisco. He
retained the management of the Copperopolis Hotel until the time of his death,
it now being the property of his daughter, Mrs. L. N. Neely.
In 1852 Mrs. Hodges started on the
long journey to join her husband, leaving behind her the five children to be
educated in Boston. Her trip was one of
many adventures. At the best of times it
was a very trying one for a refined woman, but particularly so for one alone
and unaccustomed to hardship. She was
obliged to ride on a mule across the Isthmus of Panama, and the ship in which
she then took passage was wrecked on the coast of California. The passengers were saved in boats, but the
ship went to pieces on the rocks. Mrs.
Hodges finally reached her husband, and until death was a faithful
helpmate. She was a woman of superior
character, brave and resourceful, one of the pioneer women of the state whose
lives have been immortalized in song and story.
In spite of deprivations of all kinds, Mrs. Hodges was spared to her
family until she reached the age of eighty-two years, her husband surviving her
but one year.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Hodges
came to California in 1855, these being:
Maria F., now Mrs. Isaac N. Neely, of Milton; George Henry, Eugene L., Adalaide and Josephine, all deceased; and Henrietta, the
wife of H. W. Wright, of San Francisco.
The family is a highly respected one, and among the old pioneers of the
state Mr. and Mrs. Hodges’ names are remembered with esteem.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 446-447. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Calaveras County Biographies