Leonidas Dodson 1822 - 1889
From "In the Parlor - The Personal Life of Marylanders"
Leonidas Dodson
1822-1889
St. Michael�s, Easton
Teacher, Banker, Father
1853
& 1854 Journal of Leonidas Dodson
Leonidas Dodson was born on October 12, 1822, in the town of St. Michaels in Talbot County to William
Dodson and Amelia S. Brown. As a young man, he taught for several years in the Female Department of the primary
school in St. Michael�s before moving to Easton in 1854. There he held a number of positions at Easton National
Bank, eventually becoming a teller. A devoted Methodist, Leonidas served the church as a trustee, Sunday school
teacher, chorister, and lay preacher. He was also an active member of the Masons and the Odd Fellows.
Family legend held that Leonidas taught Frederick Douglass to read while working for his mother�s cousin,
Thomas Auld, who at one time owned Douglass. This seems unlikely, as Douglass only lived with Auld for nine months
in 1832, when Leonidas was eleven and Douglass fifteen. It is, however, possible that Leonidas met Douglass and
observed the cruel treatment that Thomas Auld meted out to his slaves.
Leonidas married Eleanor Jane Jefferson (1821-1867) in 1846, and together they had seven children, of whom three
survived. Their youngest child, William Patterson Dodson, was one of the first Methodist missionaries to Africa.
After Eleanor�s death, Leonidas remarried and had four children with his second wife, Salina Virginia Barnett (called
�Jennie� and �Ginnie� in his journals). Two of Dodson�s children with Barnett survived to adulthood.
Leonidas Dodson died on November 20, 1889.
Obituary
Unidentified Newspaper - 1889
Written by W. W. W. Wilson
Leonidas Dodson, Sr. was born in St. Michaels, Maryland, of William and Amelia Brown Dodson, October 12, 1822. He was in his 12th year placed in the store of Captain Thomas Auld, master of the Hon. Frederick Douglass, between whom and Leonidas there was a life-long attachment. He taught the colored boy his letters. From the store of Captain Auld, after a brief experience as sailor with his brother, he was elected January 1847, teacher in the primary school at St. Michael's. He advanced to full charge of the school December
1850. He taught one year, and resigned to open a store for himself. The trustees re-elected him in 1852, and advanced his salary as an inducement to accept. He continued to teach until March 13, 1854, when he was appointed discount clerk at Easton National Bank. He was advanced until he reached the responsible position of teller, which he held to the time of his death with great acceptability. He was married January
20, 1846, by the Rev. James Allen, to Miss Eleanor Jane Jefferson, of St. Michael's, and again May 14, 1868, by the Rev. Wesley Kenny,
D.D., to Miss Salina Virginia Barrnett, of Easton, Maryland. He had seven children by his first wife; three are living; Helen Maria, wife of Colonel James C. Norris, of Easton; Leonidas, Jr., of Philadelphia; and William Patterson, of St. Paul de Loanda, Africa, one of the pioneer missionaries that went out under Rev. Bishop William Taylor, and who is now in charge of the work at Loanda; and four children by the second wife; two are living; James Edward, the accomplished organist of Easton Methodist Episcopal Church, and Walter Stewart. He was converted when but 12, and has been from the start a devoted Christian. He has occupied every position the church could give him, and was licensed to preach, but shrank from it, asking God to make him useful in humbler spheres. His death occurred Wednesday, November
20, 1889, at the residence of his sister, Mrs. Julia A. Wrightson, in Baltimore, where he had gone for medical treatment for cancer of the stomach, which had been asserting itself for at least eight years. He leaves a widow and five children.
