Wayne Hodges said that the time has come again for the Descendants of Bartholomew Hodges Family Reunion. It will be held on Saturday, May 25, at the Hodges historic Hodges cabin. The event will feature “Dinner on the Grounds” at 12 p.m. Hodges asked attendees to bring a side dish or dessert.
The history of the home goes back more than 200 years. Hodges explained their namesake, “Bartholomew Hodges, in 1805, used a team of oxen to clear forest along Fisher River to build his cabin. That cabin is one of the oldest and most architecturally significant houses in Surry County.”
Hodges said the family has been coming back together for reunions like these for close to a century. In past years he said the reunion has drawn back home upwards of one hundred family members.
He said there are still scores of Hodges in Surry County, but the family has spread its wings, and some left the Yadkin Valley, sometimes with better results than others.
“Over the last 230 years the Hodges migrated to California, Missouri, Texas, and all points in between. A Hodges descendant has the dubious honor of being the first man hung for horse stealing in the state of Tennessee,” Hodges recounted.
The Bartholomew Hodges cabin is a living piece of history that the family works to keep in good shape. “This is a constant effort,” Hodges said. “An earth tremor toppled the dry laid North chimney a few years back and restoration masons were commissioned to restore it.”
“The front porch was rotten and repaired last year. I had white oak and white pine cut and milled for the repairs. Also, the North and South gables need extensive repairs,” he said of the homestead whose land also holds the family burial ground which the family maintains.
Hodges said sometimes doing one repair creates another needed fix, or uncovers a little surprise. “While rebuilding the porch, it was discovered that the floors added in 1910 were sinking. This part of was built out of materials from the old White Oak School.”
Those old planks may tell a tale of the cabin, but the reunion brings back the human element which makes it truly a family home again during the reunion.
Hodges knows how lucky he is to be able to trace his lineage and celebrate with his family, “Not every family can trace back ten generations. We have quite a lot of genealogical research and communicate with the Western branches that are descendants of Bartholomew Hodges.”
“History has always been important to us since it revolved around the Hodges Cabin and current events of the times. The year the cabin was completed, just look what was going on in the world: Lewis and Clark’s expedition was underway, Lord Nelson was killed at Trafalgar, and Thomas Jefferson was sworn in for his second term.”
Time has passed, and some Hodges have left, but he said, “The descendants of Bartholomew are always trying to involve the younger ones. Times are different and very few gather on weekends at family homes to just sit and talk and learn from the older generation.”
While that may be true for some, Hodges takes pride in knowing he and his children are working to keep the family history alive, “My sons are working on repairs and are the ninth generation to do so.”
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