This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/XV.2ADI/6.138.1.1 Message Board Post: I've noted your postings about your Hodge family from SC & AL that came to Ouachita County AR about 1850. Did they live around the Red Hill / Chidester area? I've been studying my own Howard, Cox and Murphy lines that also came at this time from SC & AL to this region. They include Charlotte Howard (m: Josiah Frisby & buried at Bluff City in Ouachita Co.), James Cox (m: Permelia Melissa C. Murphy in 1850 in Missouri Twp in Ouachita Co.) and others. Due to similar circumstances of my lines and yours, I believe they likely arrived in AR together. If you have additional info that might support this theory, I'd love to discuss it with you! I've found that my three family branches were all connected to the what's been called the "Great Awakening" religious movement of the late 1700s and early 1800s. They were followers of some of the early Baptist and Methodist preachers that initiated many church elders and family groups to migrate together as "missionary church-planters" on the expanding frontier. My Murphys descend from the well-documented Reverend William Murphy of VA, NC, TN, MO. Around 1799-1805, one of his Murphy sons started Fairforest Baptist Church in Union Co./Greenville SC with a following that had moved there from Sandy Creek area of NC; another Murphy son took a group to Warren/ Barren Co. KY; and a third son went to St. Francois Co. MO. My Howards went with these Murphys to SC and later to KY, although Charlotte (my ggg-grandmother) ended up at Bluff City, AR. My direct Murphy came to AR from SC. My Coxes were in VA around 1790 and middle TN by 1812, then southwestern AR by 1830. I note that your ggg-gf's son was Alexander Campbell Hodge....were you aware that an earlier Alexander Campbell was a famous Baptist preacher of the early 1800s era? I see too that your Hodges were in NC prior to SC, so is it possible they were with the Murphys, Mulkeys, Howards, Gists, Breeds, Stearns, Bartons and others at Sandy Creek NC? Other names that ended up in this southwestern AR region that may also be connected to these folks include: Greer, Jones, Davis, Smith, Dillahunty, Best, Hart, Hall, Mulkey, Barham, McDaniel, Stone, Crabtree, Billingsley, Lane, etc. I would love to talk with you further about this. Note that I also grew up in Redland Township in Nevada County AR, which was originally in Ouachita County and is nearby to the Chidester, Bluff City & Red Hill area.