CityView Magazine

CityViewNC.com | 65 Above | Fannie and Sam Hodges had many successes but heartache, too. Their youngest son, Robert, drowned in Hope Mills Lake along with their oldest grandson, James Hodges, in 1922. overseas. Scores of small turpentine distilleries and several larger ones were in operation in Cumberland County in the 1860s, although the industry was declining. The bright new industry was cotton manufacturing, and it was this occupation that Sam turned to around 1885. While still a young man, he secured work with the Hope Mills Manufacturing Company, a group of Northerners operating the old mill at what was then known as Rockfish Village. The new company called their factory Hope Mill, and their jack-of-all- trades was Sam Hodges. The only black employee, he was the mill village blacksmith, wheelwright, carpenter, cook, chauffeur, horse trainer, mill watchman, a medicine man of sorts, and in time, a successful farmer. With the Hope Mills Manufacturing Company, Sam performed many jobs, the most trusted of which was handling the payroll. Cash in the thousands was sent by train from the home office in Philadelphia. Sam picked up the payroll at the station in Hope Mills and delivered it to the company's four mills, spread out over miles and miles of Cumberland County. Not a single penny ever went missing. Sam liked to say, "It is better to wear out than to rust out." The way he worked was evidence that he practiced what he preached. But it was the mill company's need for wood that ultimately proved most beneficial to Sam. In order to meet the increasing need for wood, the mill offered him land in exchange for wood that was cut and hauled to the mills. Sam took advantage of the offer, and by 1887 he owned nearly 300 acres, making him one of, if not the major black landowner in the county. Sam eventually tripled his acreage and some of the land is still owned, in part, by his descendants today. When he came to Hope Mills, Sam met and fell in love with Fannie Buxton. Born in the Baptist Union community near what is now Cypress Lakes, Fannie had lots of boyfriends who attempted to shield her from this outsider. Sam was fast becoming admired for his hard work and material possessions, and he continued to court Fannie despite the opposition. He was the first in the group Below | Carl D. Hodges Sr., sitting far left, and Ethel Johnson Berry, second row far left, are the oldest living grandchildren of Sam and Fannie Hodges. Pictured here in 1922, Carl Hodges is now 88. Ethel Johnson Berry is 94.

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