Among the many influential and public-spirited citizens of Macoupin
county must be numbered Joseph Dodson, who has been prominently and
successfully identified with the development of many of the leading
enterprises of Shipman, where he has long been a resident. His birth
occurred in Booneville, Cooper county, Missouri, on the 17th of October,
1840, his parents being Eli and Mary Ann (Williams) Dodson.
The
Dodsons were among the pioneer settlers of Ohio. The paternal
grandfather, Major Dodson, emigrated from England to America during the
latter years of the eighteenth century. Upon his arrival in this country
he acquired a large tract of land in Ohio, where he engaged in
agricultural pursuits until his death and reared his family, which
contained five sons and four daughters. Two of his sons, Elijah and
Ezekiel, entered the ministry of the Baptist church. They moved from
Ohio to Illinois, first locating in Greene county, where for many years
they preached among the pioneer settlements. Elijah Dodson subsequently
came to Macoupin county, continuing to follow his calling wherever his
services seemed to be needed most. He founded the first Baptist church
of Carlinville, which was organized on the 10th of May, 1835, and long
thereafter ministered to the spiritual needs of its congregation. Eli,
the father of our subject, was a son of Major Dodson, his birth having
occurred on the old homestead in Ohio on the 19th of December, 1805.
There he was educated and reared to manhood. When ready to set out for
himself he came to Illinois, locating in Greene county, as had his
brothers. There he met and subsequently married Miss Mary Ann Williams,
at that time a resident of Upper Alton, Illinois, but a daughter of
Kentucky, her natal day having been the 1st of November, 1809. She was
left an orphan by the death of her father, who was killed in one of the
Indian wars, and was reared by Mr. Stead Steadman of Shipman township,
Macoupin county. After his marriage Mr. Dodson removed to Missouri with
his family, locating in Booneville about 1837. Residing there for nine
years he went to Harrisonville, Cass county, Missouri, where he
established a general merchandise business, which he conducted until
1856. Disposing of his enterprise, he came to Woodburn, Macoupin county,
where he engaged in the same business with most gratifying results. In
1860 he constructed a grist mill in Woodburn that he operated for a year
and then sold. He also disposed of his mercantile interests about the
same time. Mr. Dodson had always been a studious, thoughtful man, and
many years previously he had applied himself to the mastery of the
science of medicine, in the practice of which he engaged in connection
with his various other activities until 1870. In 1867 he settled in
Shipman, where he resided until the death of his wife in 1875, when he
removed to Medora, making his home with his son until his death in 1876,
at the age of seventy-one years. To Mr. and Mrs. Dodson were born ten
children: William, who passed away in Chicago; Elijah, who died at the
age of eight years; Emily, the deceased wife of James R. Ament, of
Litchfield, Illinois; John F., who died in infancy; Isaac, who is a
resident of Litchfield, Illinois; Mary, who died in infancy; Joseph, our
subject; Silas, who died at the age of five years; James E., who is
living in the vicinity of Norwood, Missouri; and Francis M., who lives
at Grafton, Illinois.
Joseph Dodson was reared in Missouri,
acquiring his education in the subscription schools conducted in the
rural districts. The sessions were held in log cabins, built for the
purpose, which were furnished with an eye to durability and practical
requirements rather than with any sense of comfort or adornment. Their
interiors with the crude slab benches and puncheon floors, rough
unadorned walls, and poor and inadequate heating and ventilating
facilities, were in striking contrast to the comfortable and attractive
quarters provided for the pupils of the country schools of today. At the
age of fifteen years Joseph Dodson terminated his studies and began
preparations for his future business career as a clerk in his father’s
store. He continued in his service until he had attained his majority,
the six years behind the counter of a country store having him well
qualified to begin an independent career. In 1861 he became associated
with his brother William in the purchase and operation of their father’s
mill at Woodburn. Three years thereafter they removed the mill to
Shipman, continuing its operation in 1876 under the firm name of Green &
Dodson. In 1878, Mr. Dodson erected an elevator in Shipman and engaged
in the grain business until the 1st of April, 1904, when he disposed of
his interest in this enterprise to F. S. Shultz. In 1895 he helped
organize and establish the Shipman Banking Company with which he was
connected in the official capacity of director and president. The
following year he withdrew from this office and has ever since been
devoting his energies to the supervision of his various interests and
real-estate investments. He first began buying land in 1900, at which
time he purchased one hundred and eleven acres on section 23.
Subsequently he bought an adjoining tract of fifty-eight acres and later
one of eighty-seven acres. He now owns two hundred and fifty-six acres
of fine land, all of which is underlaid with a three foot vein of coal,
of excellent quality. In 1885 he was a stockholder of a company which
sunk a shaft on this land. Upon the tract first purchased Mr. Dodson has
erected a good house and barn and other out-buildings and now has the
land under cultivation. In addition to his country real estate he owns
some valuable town property, his own residence being one of the most
attractive places in the community. It embraces three acres of land, on
which was built a large, comfortable house, that is surrounded by
attractively arranged and well kept grounds. The house is set well back
from the street and with its beautiful lawns and large trees presents a
most pleasing appearance to the passerby.
On the 18th of
December, 1867, Mr. Dodson was married to Miss Mary M. Harris, who was
born in Morgan county, Illinois, in September, 1842. Mrs. Dodson is a
daughter of Richard P. and Catherine (Roberts) Harris, both natives of
Tennessee, the father’s birth having occurred on the 8th of April, 1821,
and that of the mother on the 10th of December, of the same year.
Richard P. Harris in his boyhood removed to Illinois with his parents,
Benjamin and Mary (Ragan) Harris, the former a native of Maryland and
the latter of Virginia. His father was a veteran of the war of 1812,
while his paternal grandfather, Jeremiah Ragan, participated in the
Revolution, thus the children of Joseph Dodson are entitled to
membership in the various societies founded by the descendants of the
veterans of this war. Benjamin Harris was a hatter and eventually
located in Alton, Illinois, where for many years he followed his trade.
After his marriage in 1841, Richard P. Harris settled on some land which
he purchased in Morgan county and there engaged in farming until his
death on the 10th of December, 1866. Mrs. Harris, although of southern
birth was of Pennsylvania Dutch extraction, being a descendant of Peter
Rubel, who emigrated from Germany, probably Bavaria, about 1760. He
located near Lewiston, Mifflin county, that state, where he resided
until 1788 when he removed with his family to Washington county,
Tennessee, and there he died about 1834. His family numbered eleven. The
youngest member, Eve, whose birth occurred on the 15th of March, 1796,
in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, was married in 1811 to William Roberts,
a Methodist minister. Soon thereafter they settled in Morgan county,
Illinois, and there were born their thirteen children, one of whom,
Samuel P. Roberts, was a soldier in the Union army. He served in an
Illinois volunteer regiment and was killed in action at Atlanta in 1863.
Catharine Roberts, the sixth child of this union, was born on the 10th
of December, 1821, and twenty years later became the wife of Richard P.
Harris and subsequently the mother of Mrs. Dodson. To Mr. and Mrs.
Harris were born ten children, of whom Mrs. Dodson is the eldest, the
others in order of birth are: Melinda, who has never married, living at
Pawnee, Oklahoma; Emily P., the wife of A. T. Cunningham, also a
resident of Pawnee; Sarah J., who died at the age of twenty-two; Maria
C., who was twenty at the time of her demise; and Sophia A. and
Jophronia A., twins, the former the wife of J. C. Bennett, of Pawnee,
and the latter deceased, having died in infancy; Newton D., who is a
resident of Morrison, Oklahoma; Flora D., who died in infancy; and
Minnie L., who passed away at the age of nineteen years.
To Mr.
and Mrs. Dodson were born six children: Edwin Arthur, who was born on
the 11th of November, 1868, a graduate of the Springfield Business
College, married Carrie Christopher and has three children: Leo A.,
Christine and Kathaleen. He is district manager of the Merchants Life
Insurance Co., of Des Moines, Iowa, and makes his headquarters at Alton,
Illinois. Fannie Catharine, the eldest daughter, is the widow of Cyrus
Preston, of Shipman and has one son, Herbert D. Abigail Eunice and Eva
Adaline, the two next in order of birth, are both unmarried and living
at home with their parents. Rosa May married Walter E. Matlack, a farmer
of Shipman township, and has three children: Robert Dodson, Charles
Osier and Mary Josephine. Bertha Viola, the youngest member of the
family, has never married and is living at home.
The family all
affiliate with the Christian church, and fraternally Mr. Dodson is
identified with the Masonic order, being a member of Shipman Lodge, No.
212, A. F. & A. M. His political support is given to the democratic
party, but owing to his views on the liquor question he favors the
policy of the prohibition party regarding that traffic. Although he
takes an earnest and helpful interest in all community affairs, Mr.
Dodson has never participated in political activities to any marked
extent, save to do his utmost to see that the local offices are filled
by men well qualified to serve the highest interest of the citizens. For
fifteen years he was a member of the local school board and he has also
served on the town board, his public duties having been limited to these
two offices. He has ever been regarded as one of the substantial
residents of Shipman, whose extensive interests, in the development of
which he ever had a regard for the public welfare as well as personal
benefit, has made of him a most desirable citizen in every sense of the
word.
Extracted 15 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Macoupin County, Illinois: Biographical and Pictorial, by Charles A. Walker, published in 1911, Volume 2, pages 498-501.
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