Author: Gary Owen Green
Asahel was born in Hartford, Connecticut, son of Asahel and Damaris (Gilman) Hodge. He was a Captain in the Army during the Revolutionary War.

Valley Forge, 8TH CONNECTICUT REGIMENT, Regimental Staff, Adjutant Asahel Hodge

Oaths of Allegiance
Valley Forge, 1778 - Page 4
On February 3, 1778, Congress, having taken into consideration the report of the special committee appointed to devise effectual means to prevent persons disaffected to the interest of the United States from being employed in any of the important offices thereof, resolved, That every officer who held or should thereafter hold a commission or office from Congress, should subscribe the oath or affirmation of allegiance. These oaths or affirmations the commander-in-chief or any major or brigadier-general was authorized and directed to administer to all officers of the army or of any of the departments thereof. Those mentioned in the following list (with a few exceptions) took the oath at Valley Forge in the spring of '78 before that encampment was broke, and who undoubtedly were members of the army actually in camp at Valley Forge the ever memorable winter of '77-'78. The names are given in the order in which they appear in the volumes of original manuscripts from which they are taken.
Asahel Hodge, lieutenant Rhode Island.

Source: "The Army and Navy of the United States 1776-1891", George Barrie Publisher, Philadelphia, 1890

For a long time there was much uncleared and unoccupied land that by necessity had to be held in common. Its use was regulated by the freeholders in town meeting. When the town was formed, it was voted to restrict its use to cattle. The ban on its use by sheep, hogs and horses was generally passed annually until 1802, and in 1796 geese were added to the list of animals that could not be "free commoners." The above rule was made evidently for the protection of the enclosures, which at best were but rudely fenced for some time. Roving stock were a constant menace to crops. Cattle, sheep and hogs were marked, and the marks were recorded with the town clerk. Each freeholder had his individual mark and records of them go back as far as 1791. This was a means of identifying any strayed animals that might break through the enclosure of another. Amasa Brown's mark (the Elder) was a hole through the right ear; Asahel Hodge's, a slit in the end of the right ear. Other marks were less simple, as Alexander Arnold's, whose mark was a hole through the right ear and a crop off the end of the left ear, and a half circle out of the upper side of the same.

At the first town meeting, one of the first items of business was the appointing of committees to erect two pounds, one in the east section and another in the west section of the town, where strayed animals were kept until identified by their owners. Two pound-keepers were elected the next year. This office was not discontinued until 1818, when Stephen Jilson was elected the last pound-keeper. As late as 1800, it was voted to repair the pounds sufficiently "to hold creatures" for one year. The west pound was not discontinued until 1820, and the east pound not until 1821. The east pound was located somewhere in the present village of North Hartford, between the Durkee place and the monument; the west pound between the four corners beyond the farm of Duane Hall, Jr., and the old Straight place, where Manning Bull lived long ago. Their location on the map is indicated by the letter P. This notice, recorded in the Town Book, is of interest in this connection: "Hartford, November 1st, 1799. Broke into enclosure of Henry Brayton in Hartford, two steers, supposed to be two years old last spring. No artificial mark to be discovered. One of them mainly black with white face, the other red with white face. Entered this 9th day of November, 1799, by me, David Austin, Town Clerk."

Lawful fences were required to be four and one-half feet high and among the early town officers were fence viewers, who were generally also the damage appraisers. At this time fences were made of rails and stumps, as for many years after, and the stone walls that became a feature of the later landscape began to appear. The clearing of the land was not limited to getting rid of the trees and stumps, but also the large stones and boulders that cumbered the soil of the section had to be disposed of.

SORCE: The Story of Hartford, A History
Compiled by: Mrs. Isabella Brayton, Town Historian in collaboratin with John B. Norton.
Hartford, NY 1929

In the western part of the town (Hartford, NY) Asahel Hodge, the first clerk of the town, found a home. His farmstead was later known as the Lot Lee farm and is on the road to Hudson Falls.

He was married three times. First to Thankful Potter. They lived in Connecticut and had at least six children, Damaris (Molly), Asahel, Thankful, Amos, David Andrew and Solomon . They moved to Hartford, NY and Thankful died in 1796. Capt. Asahel then married Elizabeth Brown. She passed away in 1799. They did not have any children. Finally, he married Sarah Slocum. They lived in Saratoga, NY. It is unsure whether they had children or not. Asahel died in 1824 in Saratoga, but is buried in the family plot in Hartford, NY. His third wife, Sarah, remarried to a Mr. Wilson, and is buried elsewhere.

Source: One World Tree/Ancestry.com Family Tree