Biographical Sketches of Dodson and Dotson Pioneer Families

Solomon L Dotson 1816 - ca. 1900 was the son of William and Mary Ann Franks Dotson, born in Wood County, (now) West Virginia.

From: Portrait and Biographical Album of Marshall County, Kansas by Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1889 

Pages 326 - 328

Solomon L Dotson. The name of this gentleman is familiar to the older residents of this county as one of those who located on the banks of the Vermillion in the early days, where he has some very rich bottom land, included in a well-regulated farm of 177 acres, lying on section 31, Rock Township. Before proceeding further with his personal history it may be interesting to mention those from whom he drew his origin. He comes of a good family, being the son of William Dotson, who was born in Virginia and the grandson of Richard Dotson, likewise a native of the Old Dominion, and a farmer who, at an early date removed to Wood County, W. Va., and opened up a farm in the wilderness. During his career he served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and also fought the French and Indians. He spent his last days in Tyler County, Va., passing away at the ripe old age of one hundred and four years.

The paternal great-grandfather of our subject was Solomon Dotson, a native of England, who emigrated to America during the Colonial times and established himself on a large tract of land in Ritchie County, W. Va., where he cleared a farm and remained upon it until his death when over ninety-three years old. Politically, he was a Democrat, and religiously, an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Mary A Franks, a native of Virginia and a daughter of Henry Franks, who was also born there. He farmed along the Ohio River, in the western part of the Dominion, being among the first settlers of that region. He fought in the Indian War and was wounded. He became well-to-do, and spent his last years surrounded by all the comforts of live. The great-grandfather Frank was a native of Germany, and served as a Revolutionary soldier at the battle of Bunker Hill. The paternal great-great-grandfather was Hobbs Dotson, who was born in the Turkish Empire, and went to England with his parents, where he spent the remainder of his life. The mother of Mr. Dotson died in Virginia at the age of eighty-seven years; she was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Sixteen children completed the household circle of William and Mary A Dotson, seven of whom are deceased, namely: Emanuel, John, Nancy, Thomas, Betsey, Maria and Margaret. The survivors are: Henry, a resident of Virginia; Lottie and William, also living there; Solomon L, our subject; Mary A, a resident of Belle Plain, Kan.; J. Cynthia; Eliza and Jane of Virginia, and Squire, of Missouri.

The subject of this sketch was born in what was then Wood, but is now Ritchie County, W. Va., near Maryetta, July 8, 1816, and there spent his early years upon the farm. He obtained a very limited education in the subscription school, dressed flax, hunted wild game, killed bears, wildcats and panthers, frequently fighting the bears with dogs, of which he had twenty-one at one time, and thus attained to man�s estate. He then purchased 100 acres of land, which he cleared and brought to a state of cultivation. He raised sheep to a great extent and lived in his native county until 1865. Then selling out he removed to Adair County, MO., where he purchased an improved farm of 120 acres and raised cattle and sheep. After two years, however, he became dissatisfied, and changed his residence to Benton County, Iowa. Thence, in 1868, he came to the county, secured eighty acres of land in Clear Fork Township and lived there about ten years. Indians and wild game were plentiful when he first settled there. In 1878 he sold out and purchased his present farm. The cyclone of 1879 destroyed his orchard, his barn and a part of his house. The family sought shelter in the basement of the latter and were not seriously injured. He rebuilt as soon as possible, and has all modern improvements. He makes a specialty of graded cattle, a good quality of draft horses and full-blooded, Poland-China and Berkshire swine.

Mr. Dotson was first married, in Harrison County, W. Va., in 1835 to Miss Orlindo Tucker, who was born there and died in the Old Dominion in 1863. Of this union there were eight children, of whom Serena, Betsey, Squire, Clarence and Cora are deceased. Eli is a resident of Nemeha County, Neb. Columbus lives in Ringgold County, Iowa; Floyd is a resident of Pottowatamie County, Kan.; Clarence died in California, leaving one child, a daughter, Mabel. Eli, during the late Civil War, enlisted in 1861, in the 14th Virginia Infantry and served until the close, suffering the horrors of imprisonment at Andersonville, and receiving a wound in the hand; Squire was under Gen. Sherman in the 82nd Ohio Infantry, enlisting in October, 1864. He died at Goldsboro, N. C. 

Our subject contracted a second marriage in Ritchie County, W. Va., with Miss Elizabeth West, who was born in Tyler County, that State, and died in Clear Fork Township, this county, in 1876. The four children born of this union were: Jerusha, who married J. J. Tilley; Vietta, the wife of James A. Barrett; Eveline, Mrs. W. Long, of Rock Township, this county, and Porter, who remains at home with his father. Our subject was married the third time in Rock Township in 1878 to Mrs. Telitha Cain Trosper, a native of Kentucky and who died at the homestead in Rock Township in March, 1880. 

The present wife of our subject, whom he married in Marysville, Oct. 25, 1886, was formerly Miss Carrie C. Clark, daughter of Daniel D. Clark, the latter a native of Sidney, Me. The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Dotson was Samuel Clark, a native of England, who upon coming to America carried on farming in Maine and New Hampshire, dying in the latter State. 

(The rest of the article deals with Carrie Clark Dotson�s lineage).