In the initial request for help in finding the ancestry of Alanson, we were provided
with the following information:
"Alanson H. Dodge was the father of Adah Emery Dodge. Adah was married December 17, 1885 in Baltimore, Maryland to Robert Woodworth Prentiss, a professor of Astronomy and Chemistry at Rutgers University. She had two sisters Lenora and Martha. She died Sept. 16, 1930 in Highland Park, NJ. The son of Adah Emery Dodge and Robert Woodworth Prentiss was Alanson Dodge Prentiss born Feb 25, 1895.
This information came from Rutgers University and is in fact was written by Adah Emery
Dodge.
Documents from the National Archives state that Alanson H. Dodge served in B Company,
51st Mass. Infantry Volunteers. He was born Dec 15, 1832, in Prescott, MA. He died May 25, 1906, in Paxton,MA. He was married to Adah Emery Hamilton on Oct 19, 1854. She was born in South Berwick, ME in 1827 and died July 27, 1908 in Paxton,MA."
Later, it was thought that Alanson's parents were a Lewis and a Nancy.
We were able to find the following information but although we worked on this off and on
for a year, we were unsuccessful in finding our anything more.
"Lewis Dodge, from Salem, MA and Nancy Dill Snow from Barnstable County, Massachusetts.
Siblings of Alanson were Byron, Mary Spring, Martha Ann, Joey Hamilton and Marshall Spring
- all surnames of Dodge
Once again, because of the Elison (Alason) Dodge involved in the Pelham Dodge families mystery, enter DFA member, Chuck Dodge. Because of the similar name (i.e. Elison (Alason) and Alanson) he decided to see
if he could clear up this mystery also. Following is a transcript of his research.
" I offer a scenario for the Lewis Dodge that married Nancy Dill, 15 Mar 1819 PELHAM VR. If you look at PELHAM VR under Nancy Dill it says she was from Orleans...which is in Barnstable
Co. Checking that county reveals a very interesting difference. The record reads; "Nancy Dill
born in Eastham D Snow wife Daughter 2 June 1799" a somewhat cryptic entry. The IGI has: Nancy Dill Snow, dau of David/Mary, Eastham 2 Jun 1799. David Snow is son of Jonathan
Snow/Sarah Bangs. Mary is Mary Cole, dau of Joseph Cole Jr./Mary Young. Children in family of David/Mary are:
Herman b. 29 Sep 1766 Orleans, Barnstable Co., MA
Lailey (Lucy) 5 Dec 1767
David 19 Jan 1767
Mary 5 Nov 1771 (some of these are also recorded in Eastham)
Josiah 11 Oct 1773
Tamson 19 Jun 1775
Nancy Dill, 2 Jun 1799, Eastham
Getting back to Lewis Dodge...check the Granville, Hampden Co. VR where it has:
Dodge, Albro, s. Stephen and --- 18 Jan 1785
Lewis, s. Stephen and --- 28 Oct 1788
Sebra, d. Stephen and --- 30 Apr 1783
The IGI also has this Lewis as b. 28 Oct 1787 to Stephen Dodge/Elizabeth --- in Kent Twp, Litchfield, CT. The father, Stephen is said to be from Colchester Twp, New London, CT.
Granville Marriage VRs have:
Honnah andHophni Barns 14 Nov 1802 (probably Anne)
Sabra and William Slocum 28 Nov 1802
This all started to look like a Dodge from the Tristram line so I checked the Tristram Genealogy
and cut-n-pasted the following:
1. DAVID4 DODGE (David B.,3 John,2 Tristram,1). See page 9. b. Block Island, July 15, 1719;
m. Frances(???). Perhaps she was a Gardiner, as that name has been preserved in the
families of her descendants.
Children:
i. FRANCES,5 b. June 20, 1745; d. Sept. 7, 1784.
ii. STEPHEN, b. Mar. 21, 1747.
iii. DAVID,(*) b. Jan. 4, 1750; d. May 12, 1783.
iv. JAMES, b. Sept. 15, 1752.
v. SYLVESTER, b. Dec. 31, 1753. (See page 9.)
vi. SUSANNAH, b. Nov. 23, 1755; d. Dec. 10, 1785.
vii. ASA, b. Feb. 21, 1758.
viii. CALEB, b. Apr. 23, 1760.
ix. GARDINER, b. Aug. 29, 1762. (See page 9.)
2. STEPHEN5 DODGE (David,4 David B.,3 John,2 Tristram,1), wife Elizabeth (???). He was
Ensign in Capt. Anson Chappell's company 1st Battalion Conn. State Troops, Col. Samuel
Whiting, 1776 (Conn. Men in the Revolution). Second Lieutenant in Col. Roger Enos' reg't.,
Conn. State Troops, June, 1777 (Conn. Men in the Revolution). Lieutenant in Conn. Provisional State Troops, 1781 (Conn. Men in the Revolution). At a town meeting held at "the Meeting House
in the First Society of Kent, Conn., on the 20 day of Nov., 1780, Lieutenant Stephen Dodge was
made one of a committee to class the people of the town according to their lists to obtain recruits to fill up the Connecticut Line in the Continental Army agreeable to a Late act of Assembly" (From Kent, Conn., Town Records).
Children:
i. DESIRE,6 b. Oct. 12, 1769; d. Sept. 13, 1853.
ii. STEPHEN, b. Feb. 23, 1771.
>iii. LAVINIA, b. Jan. 11, 1773.>
iv. GARDINER, b. Aug. 11, 1774, in Kent, Conn.
v. CALVIN, b. Sept. 7, 1776.
vi. BETSY, b. Feb. 4, 1779.
vii. ANNE, b. Apr. 28, 1781; d. June, 4, 1789.
viii. SABRA, b. Apr. 30, 1783.
ix. ALBRO, b. Jan. 18, 1785.
x. LEWIS, b. Oct. 28, 1787
From above list of children:
LAVINIA6 DODGE (Stephen,5 David,4 David B.,3 John,2 Tristram,1), m. Jan. 13, 1793, Jonathan Webber.
Children:
.....omited some here...
iv. ALANSON WEBBER, b. Dec. 8, 1800.>
v. EDWARD LEWIS WEBBER, b. June 26, 1803; m. Feb 15, 1826,
This from the Brewster Genealogy 1566-1907
Vol 1, page
307:
STEPHEN DODGE, son of Stephen and Elizabeth
(Whitney)
Dodge of Colchester, Conn., born
there,
February 22, 1771; died at Hartford,
Conn.,
February 5,
1827.
So you can see my thought process
here...Lewis
Dodge and some of his
siblings, all kids of Stephen of the Tristram
clan apparently moved from
Connecticut to Granville, MA.
The IGI also
lists the whole family of
Stephen/Elizabeth in Kent, CT.
A sister of
Lewis, Lavinia, names a son
Alanson. Lewis had a son, Alanson H. This Alanson H. and his brother,
Marshall are in the 1850 MA census
in Sutton:
Marshal Dodge a. 19; Alanson
H. Dodge a. 17. These lads are
in the household
of John R. Briggs a.29,
Mechanic and his wife, Martha
a.24. I didn't
look for a relationship of the Briggs...possibly Martha is a Dodge.
The Emery of Adah Emery Hamilton of Berwick,
ME also caught my eye as I
descend from the same Emery family
which,
I guess, make me a cousin to
Terry Lyons; sharing Emery, Lord,
Sewall,
Hodson, Gowen and Frost. When
you get into the Berwicks and
Kittery towns...everybody
seems to be
related. I also descend from
the same Snow/Bangs
families: Nicholas
Snow married Constance Hopkins,
dau of Pilgrim
Stephen Hopkins. Thus
Terry Lyons has Mayflower ancestry
and also
through the Bangs line is
related to George Herbert Walker
Bush.
Some fun in all of this!!
Chuck Dodge
----------
In my last memo I mentioned the
1850 Sutton
MA census showing Marshall
and Alanson in the family of
John R. Briggs.
and said I thought his wife,
Martha age 24
was possibly a Dodge.
Well the VR of Ludlow, Hampden
Co. has a
marriage of John R. Briggs to
Martha A. Dodge, 23 Jan 1842.
(IGI M502542)
I would say this Martha A. Dodge
is the Marthyann
Dodge, b. 6 Jan 1826
at Prescott, Hampshire Co. to
Lewis Dodge
and Nancy. She would be 24 in
1850 and has wound up with her
brothers Marshall
age 19; Alanson age 17
in her new family.
The middle name of Hamilton...Joey
Hamilton
Dodge and Alanson Hamilton
Dodge is also interesting. Alanson
married
a Hamilton from Berwick,
ME...not exactly next to his
hometown so
there could be a more distant
relationship. But it could also
be coincidental!
The repeated middle
name of "Spring" must
also have
some kind of story behind it.
Chuck
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