David Newton Hodgens is the son of James Madison Hodgens and Margaret Elizabeth Farr of Greenville, South Carolina. David, along with his father and grandfather, moved to Alabama from South Carolina between 1840 and 1850. He was accepted for membership in the the Cahaba Valley Church of Christ (Baptist) the fifth Sabbath in September of 1850. He married Mary Florence Miles, daughter of Tillman Lee Miles of Bibb Co, Alabama on the 5th of September 1859 in Bibb Co, Alabama. They had 10 children.

He was a CSA Veteran - enlisted as Private, Company C, 10th Ala Inf. near Montevallo, Alabama on 10 Mar 1862. His military service includes several battles, being wounded and furloughed for several months to recuperate from those wounds and then returning to service, being captured and surviving Union POW camps.

1) Present at the Battle of/ Seize of Yorktown, Va. April 1862
2) Wounded at the Battle of Richmond, Va. June 27, 1862
3) Present at Battle of Bristow Station, Va. October 14, 1863
4) Captured at the Battle of the Wilderness, Va. May 6, 1864

Among his Civil War records we find a description of the wound that caused him to be furloughed for recuperation:

"I certify that I have carefully examined said David Newton Hodgins of Captain Moore's Company, and find him incapable of performing the duties of a soldier because of the effects of a gunshot wound in the right thigh. The flexes muscles have been so seriously injured that I further declare that he will not be fit for duty in any of the departments of the government for the next four (4) months. W.P. Reese Surgeon."

We also find his description:

"31 years of age, 5 feet 8 inches high, fair complexion, blue eyes, dark hair, and by occupation when enlisted a Farmer"

In a copy of a letter he wrote to his parents during a rest before battle, filled with endearing words for his father and mother, he expresses the aura of defeat that is being accepted by the Confederates. He predicts the war will be over in six months and fears a foreign power might move in the vacumn caused by two expended armies. He mentions the scarcity of food and says he "offered two dollars for a biscuit, but no one would sell him one."

On the 15th of August 1864 he is shown on the rolls of Pt. Lookout Prison Camp, Maryland. The description states that he is being transferred to Elmira Prison Camp, New York. He was listed as assigned to the 10th Ala, Company C and shown as captured near Spottsylvania. On the 26th of August, 1864 he was shown on the rolls of Elmira Prison Camp, New York and again shown as being assigned to the 10th Ala. The next document found showed that on 29 May 1865 he was released and , yet again, that he had been assigned to the 10th Ala, Company C.

On his release from Elmira POW camp in New York, he started home with other troops, but had to ride in a wagon because the bullet wound in his leg hadn't yet healed. The wound became worse and he was eventually taken into a home by a Mennonite family in Ohio and nursed back to health. Their names were June and Emmit. He vowed he would name his next child for that family. That son, born 21 April 1866, was named June Emmit Hodgens.

After the war, he returned to farming and teaching school. Soon, however, the urge to preach the gospel prevailed and he became a full time minister. He served on many boards and committes and was instrumental in establishing several churches in new areas spreading north through Shelby County toward Birmingham.

David Newton Hodgens is named in several Alabama Baptist Histories as a pioneer Baptist Minister and the minutes of early churches mention his work in forming the Cahaba Valley Baptist District.