Frank E. Hodges, alderman from the Eleventh ward, Grand Rapids, and popular proprietor of a livery barn at No. 610 South Division street, was born in Vergennes township, Kent county, Michigan, January 5, 1857, a son of Sylvester and Martha (Gould) Hodges, natives of the state of New York. Sylvester Hodges was a farmer and came to Michigan, a pioneer, in 1836. On his father’s farm Frank E. was reared until twenty-five years of age, but in the meantime drove stage from Lowell to Greenville, and other routes. In 1883 he came to Grand Rapids and engaged in the livery business and at once became a favorite. On the 16^th day of November, 1881, he married Miss Frank Matthews, a native of Kent county, and this union has been crowned with two children—Oneta and Floyd J.—and he now resides in domestic felicity at No. 617 Madison avenue

In politics Frank E. Hodges has always been a sound democrat and has been universally popular with his party as well as with the voting population generally, and this statement is well attested by the fact that he was elected alderman in April, 1898, by a majority of 343, and was the first democrat ever elected from the Eleventh ward, and has since ably served as a member of the committees on street and health. Fraternally he has been a Knight of Pythias for nine years and a member of Equity lodge, I. O. O. F., for three years, and is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights and Ladies of Security.

His livery barn is one of the best equipped in Grand Rapids, and his pleasant manners and square and liberal treatment of his patrons have made him a prime favorite with all who have dealings in his line.

Sylvester Hodges, father of Frank E., was born in Jefferson county, N. Y., and was a son of Amos and Content (Lucas) Hodges, natives of Vermont and of English descent. He was reared a farmer, and, as has been stated, came to Michigan in 1836, and became a member of the Knockdown society, which was that year organized in Vergennes for the protection of actual settlers from the nefarious acts of land sharks. He was the first settler in Vergennes, and filed a claim for a tract of 160 acres in the wilderness under the homestead laws, and finally received his title deed with the signature of John Tyler attached, as President of the United States. He underwent many hardships at the outset, made his household furniture himself for the most part, and it, like his farming implements, was necessarily of a primitive succeeded in wresting from the forest a profitable farm and in establishing, with the march of time, a comfortable and even an elegant home.

Sylvester Hodges married, in 1836, Miss Martha Gould, a native of Tompkins county, N. Y., and of the seven children born to this union, Frank E., the subject of this sketch, is the youngest, the others being Henrietta, Harriett, James L., Chester D., Oren S. and Frederick L. Mrs. Martha Hodges had learned to be a tailoress in New York, and on coming to Michigan was for many years the only person of her calling between Vergennes and Grand Rapids; her services were in request by all classes, even among the Indians. In the earliest days she spun, wove and made all the family clothing, and spun the first flax on Flat river, the lint being purchased by the Robinson family. In those days, too, grist had to be carried to Ionia, Grandville or Kalamazoo, to be ground, and there were but two stores in Grand Rapids—those kept by Louis Campau and a Mr. Watson. The family were all reared in the Baptist faith, and were ever ranked among the most respectable residents of Kent county.