Biographical
Sketches of Dodson and Dotson Pioneer Families
Thomas Dodson 1755 - 1818
From: Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania
Biography by John W. Jordan, LL.D.
The Dodson family has been actively and honorably identified with the history of Eastern Pennsylvania since Colonial times. The progenitor of the Luzerne county branch of the family was Thomas Dodson, who about 1723. with his wife Mary (nee Prigg) and two young sons, removed from Philadelphia to Chester county, Pennsylvania. There, during the ensuing twenty years, ten other children were born to Thomas and Mary (Prigg) Dodson, the names of four of their twelve children being: John, born April 10, 1720; Richard, born June 26, 1731 ; Thomas, born 1732; and James, born 1734. John Dodson, above mentioned, removed with his wife and two sons, Thomas and James, from Chester county to Northampton county, Pennsylvania, about the year 1765. Twelve years later the family, or at least the male members of it, had settled on the Susquehanna river within the bounds of what was then the township of Salem, Plymouth district, in the county of Westmoreland of the State of Connecticut. This county of Westmoreland comprehended what was more commonly known as the Wyoming region of Pennsylvania, the right and title to which the New England settlers on the one hand, and the Pennsylvania land-claimers on the other, bitterly contested for a number of years.
The names of John, Thomas, Richard and James Dodson appear in the tax lists of Plymouth district for the years 1777 and 1778.
Following the battle and massacre of Wyoming, July 3, 1778, the whole Wyoming region was deserted by the survivors of that fateful day, the Dodsons, in common with the other inhabitants of Salem, fleeing across the river and mountains to their old homes near the Delaware river, Northampton county. After peaceful times had come again to the Wyoming region, and there seemed to be no further danger of Indian incursions, John Dodson, his son Thomas, and other members of their respective families, returned to Wyoming and set about reestablishing themselves on the lands which they had formerly occupied. The names of John, Thomas and James Dodson appear in the list of Salem township taxables for 1796.
About 1797 or 1798, John and Thomas Dodson removed with their families to the adjoining township of Huntington, Luzerne county, and there John Dodson died March 10, 1818, aged ninety-seven years and eleven months. His remains were buried in the "Goss" graveyard, at Harveyville, Huntington township.
Thomas Dodson seems to have been a farmer, a millwright and a miller. In 1798, in conjunction with Nathan Beach, of Salem, he built the second grist-mill (known as Rogers') in Huntington township, on Marsh creek. The wife of Thomas Dodson, to whom he was married in 1778, was Mehetable, or Mabel, Bixby, born in 1760, died in 1804, and both he and she were ardent Methodists. "Their hospitable home was, during his life, the place for general worship, the home of the itinerant ministers of the Methodist Episcopal church, and the place where all Christian people were warmly welcomed."
Thomas Dodson died April 29, 1818, seven weeks subsequently to the death of his father, and was survived by five sons and five daughters. The second of these children was Elias Dodson (1781-1859), who became an extensive landowner in Huntington township, and operated saw and grist mills. In his later years he became a Baptist preacher, and largely through his efforts the first Baptist meeting-house in his township was built. His wife was Mary Long, and their third child was Nathan Long Dodson (1808-1882).
The latter spent his life of seventy-four years in Huntington township, and during the greater part of that period was engaged in farming. He married, June 2, 1831, Susan Stevens (1811-1882), and they became the parents of four sons and five daughters.
The youngest of these children was William Egbert Dodson, born in Huntington township, August 21, 1853. He remained at the home of his parents until some time after his marriage, working on his fathers' farm in the summer time and, while a youth, attending school in the winter months. About 1889 he removed to Wilkes-Barre, where, during the ensuing fifteen years, he was engaged in business as a dyer and cleaner. He then returned to his ancestral acres in Huntington township, where he has since resided, engaged in farming.
William E. Dodson married, December 31, 1877, Alice Chapin, and they became the parents of four children : Victor Lee, of whom further; Bessie Elizabeth, Clarence Furman, and Blanche Margaret, who is married to William Aston, of Wilkes Barre.
Victor Lee Dodson was born at the Dodson homestead in Huntington township, June 12, 1879.
From: Dodson Genealogy 1600 - 1907 by Thompson P Ege
Thomas, after his marriage, became associated with the family of Nathan Beach, Sr., having for a time his home with them, at Beach Haven, Salem Township, Luzerne County. He assisted Nathan Beach in the building of one of the early flour mills of the region. Thomas finally settled on a farm near the mills, and was both farmer and miller. Thomas was a participant in many of the Indian attacks incident to the early settlement of the Wyoming Valley region. He was well versed in their wily tactics, and became a noted fighter and trailer, and was often called out to battle against the skulking foe. On the occasion of one of their attacks on a Block House near Beach Haven, to which, taking warning, many of the nearby inhabitants had fled for safety, and while Thomas and his wife were also fleeing to this place of refuge, they suddenly thought of their infant child left asleep in their home. Bidding his wife to remain hidden, he hastened back to bring it to her. This interval of delay saved their lives, for the Indians had been temporarily repulsed and had retired to a thicket in a ravine after killing and wounding several of the defenders. After reaching safety in the fort, Thomas called for volunteers to aid in driving them off.
Young Nathan Beach, though a boy, ventured to go. Having secured guns and ammunition in the fort, they went forth, Nathan to carry and load the guns, under strict orders to follow close behind and under cover. They soon espied an Indian peeping from behind a tree, whom Thomas instantly shot and killed. In a few moments another, stealthily creeping to drag away his dead companion, met a similar fate. After nightfall the Indians took away the bodies of the slain, and departed. Thomas and the other refugees remained in the fort all night. Next morning Thomas and others followed their trail for many miles, finding where they buried their dead, but did not overtake them.
Mehetabel (a good Old Testament Bible name, ( contracted to Mabel), was the daughter of Elias Bixby and Deziar Herrick, of Puritan stock. Elias Bixby was a sea captain, and lost his life at sea. His widow married Nathan Beach, Sr., in Connecticut, and came with the colony from that State to the Wyoming Valley. She had four Bixby children, Elias, David, Mehetabel and Susannah. The two sons lost their lives in the Wyoming massacre, and their names are inscribed on the commemorative shaft erected there.
Deziar Herrick, the mother of Mehetabel Bixby, came from distinguished English ancestry, viz., Lord and Lady Herrick of "Beau Manoir," Leicestershire, England. Their son Henry, Puritan settler in Salem, Massachusetts ; his son Ephriam and wife, Mary Cross, Beverly, Mass.; his son Samuel and wife Mehetabel Woodward, Beverly, Mass. ; his son Ezekial and wife (name unknown), Coventry, Conn.; his daughter, Deziar, married, first Elias Bixby. 2nd Nathan Beach, Sr., 3rd, in her old age, Joseph Rhodes, and died September 18th, 1804.
Thomas and wife were devoted Christians and members of the Methodist Church. Their hospitable home was. during his life, the place of general worship, the home of the itinerant minister, and the place where all Christian people were ever welcome, as followers and brethren of the same Divine Master and Father.
Their numerous and respected children partook largely of the same spirit, thus exemplified by the parents, and were mostly members of the same religious society. Their parents names were household words in their day and generation, and generations following, as their repeated names in a long line of descendants will testify.