Hello Bob, You said there were no Richard's! Then you show a deed between John and Richard Hodges, John being the grandson. I have agreed with your premise that most, or all of the Southern Hodges are probably out of the same family for many years. I think that my Richard was an older son of one of the early Hodges and not mentioned in the will because he had distanced himself from the family. I believe that the Richard you mention above is probably his cousin, but can't find any support. My Richard was in Virginia in the 1740's and 1750's and moved to South Carolina where he died not several years later at the hands of Indians who did not want him and his family on their land. If you read the Will of Elizabeth Hodges, who signed it with an X, and who gives land to a few of her children it doesn't even mention Richard, her eldest in her will. He was in Indiana and she probably hadn't heard much from him. If she had then she knew that he was established in Indiana and didn't need anything in her will. I'll try to support my premis with what I can. First Richard had a son Richard, he also had James L. Hodges, John Hodges, Sarah Hodges, Charles Hodges, William Brooks Hodges, and Samual Hodges. James and John are so common as names that I'd have to drop these from my list of why I believe my Richard was part of one of those three families. I believe that the "Brooks" name is a maiden name for one of Richard's ancestors. The reason I believe this is that his wife's maiden name was Elizabeth Jones. These lists are the grandchildren of Richard. Richard Hodges married Sarah F. Rosemond James L. Hodges married Nancy Ware they had; John Rosemond Hodges 1780 Thompson Hodges 10 Nov 86 Elizabeth Hodges pos1784 Elizabeth Hodges 25 Mar 88 Samuel Hodges 25 Oct 88 Mary Hodges 5 May 90 Richard Hodges 1791 John Hodges 24 Mar 92 Jane Hodges 1795 James Hodges 27 Jul 94 Sarah H. Hodges 1790 Nicholaus Ware Hodges 1 Jan 97 Margaret Hodges 1790 Reuben Hodges 23 Jul 99 William Hodges 1800 Mahala Hodges 25 Apr 1801 Reuben Bert Hodges 8 Jun 1804 Martha Hodges 2 Apr 03 Mary Hodges 1810 Nathaniel Ware Hodges 20 Feb 06 Ezekial Hodges 28 May 08 John Hodges married 1786 1st Margaret Long, 1790 2nd Frances Anderson they had; Lucy Hodges 24 Dec 87 Reuben Hodges 1 Feb 90, (Margaret Long probably died in childbirth with Reuben). Matilda Hodges 12 Jul 91 George Washington Hodges 9 Sep 92 Gabriel Hodges 6 Jan 94 Drucilla Hodges 10 Sep 95 Elizabeth Hodges 19 Feb 97 Sarah Hodges 18 Nov 98 Margaret Long Hodges 10 Jan 1800 John Anderson Hodges 18 Jul 01 Samuel Anderson Hodges 1 Oct 02 Armstrong Jones Hodges 4 Feb 04 Frances Hodges 7 Mar 05 James Hodges 1 May 06 Mary Hodges 30 Sep 07 Benjamin Hodges 17 Jan 08 Mahulda Hodges 6 Apr 10 Absalom Turner Hodges 10 Jan 12 Robert Henry Wardlaw Hodges 11 Apr 13 Lucy Wardlaw Hodges 1815 >From John's family I see that he honored his first, and deceased, wife. Then Frances had honors with John and Samuel, then John's mother Elizabeth Jones was honored by Armstrong Jones Hodges. The George Washington Hodges name was popular at the time for obvious reasons and family tradition had it that John named his last two children after a friend, Henry Wardlaw. So I believe that Richard's mother may have been a Brooks, his wife was a Jones and was honored by her son, but not the first son. John stayed in SC and was in Elizabeth's will. Richard went to Indiana and wasn't mentioned. So Richard the first could easily have been overlooked if he left home as a young man and found Elizabeth Jones willing to marry him. He eventually moved to SC as did other Hodges families. This is a quote from an email Al Metts posted several years ago; As a youth James Hodges lived near Mulberry Creek. He served several different enlistments in the Revolutionary War and in 1786 married Nancy Ware. His will dated 27 Feb 1826 names his wife Nancy, and these children: Betsy, Martha Weatherall, Polly, Nicholas, Ezekial, Thompson, Reuben, James and Elizabeth Jones. Charter members of Walnut Grove Baptist Church in 1826 included James, Nancy and Thompson Hodges, and others of the family were among the early church members. In 1830 church letters were granted to James Hodges and his wife Polly, "being about to remove to Alabama State." He was probably a son of James and Nancy Ware Hodges. The will of John Weatherall, probated in 1824, had named one of his children as Polly, wife of James Hodges Jr. Walnut Grove Church granted letters in 1833 to Nancy Hodges, Sr., (sic), Polly Hodges and Ezediel Hodges who were leaving for Mississippi. This shows how members of the family migrated West through the South. It could easily have been due to the influence of other family members who had moved, or it may have been the Baptist Church trying to establish itself throughout the country. Richard went to Indiana and held Baptist Meetings in his home until many years later when a church was established in Ripley County Indiana. I still think that Richard was related to other Hodges who moved to South Carolina. Elijah