John L Dotson 1836 - 1911
DODSON, JOHN L., teacher, was born April 10, 1836, in Georgia, and died at Oxford; son of Samuel and Rebecca (Gardner) Dodson, natives, respectively, of Greene and De Kalb Counties, Ga., the former of whom was a soldier in the War of 1812; grandson of Joshua Dodson, a native of Virginia, whose father came to America from England; and of Christopher Gardner, who came from Ireland early in the eighteenth century because of political troubles, settled in Pennsylvania, fought in the Revolution and was severely wounded at the battle of Brandy wine. He was brother of James W. Dodson, a farmer in Texas, veteran of the Florida War and the War of Secession; of Joshua M. Dodson, who was quartermaster in the Trans-Mississippi department, C. S. Army, and died in Texas; of Christopher C. Dodson, a lieutenant in the Mexican War, commander of a troop of Indians from Arizona in the War of Secession, who died in Tucson, Ariz.; of Elijah M. Dodson, major of the First Georgia regiment, C. S. Army, and an attorney-at-law at Chattanooga, Tenn.; and of George W. Dodson, a farmer in Georgia who served in the Fifty-first Alabama regiment, C. S. Army. Mr. Dodson obtained his education in Georgia from a boarding school, the county academy, and from Davidson college. North Carolina. He came to Alabama in 1860; taught school at Jacksonville for one year, and at various places in Alabama and Georgia during the War of Secession; returned to Calhoun County at the close of the war and taught at Brock's schoolhouse two years; located at Oxford in 1868, and, associated with W. J. Borden, founded Oxford male and female college, becoming sole owner and proprietor of the school the next year. Soon after his retirement from college work, he was appointed State superintendent of Education, serving in that capacity from 1900 to 1904. He was a Presbyterian, an Odd Fellow, and a Mason. Married: July, 1883, at Oxford, Fannie S. Gladden, daughter of James A. and Martha (Kelly) Gladden, of that place. Last residence: Oxford.
