From the
Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette, Wisconsin, publ. 1901- page 635-636
JAMES J. DODDS, of the town of Mt. Hope, Grant county, is one of the veteran soldiers of the Civil war, in which he played the part of a man, and made a record of which his friends are justly proud. He was one of the first to enlist from the town of Woodman, which was then a part of the town of Millville.
Mr. DODDS was born in Yorkshire, England, May 18, 1832, son of William and Ann (JACKSON) DODDS, who never came to this country, and he was but six years old when his mother died. He was the eldest of several children, and is the only member of his family who ever set foot on American soil. Having read of this country, and learned something of its institutions, he had resolved when a mere boy that he would come to "the land of the free" at some future time. In 1849, when seventeen years old, he came to this country with a paternal aunt, Mrs. Ann SOLITT, and her family. They landed in New York Feb. 22, 1850, and, Chicago being their destination, they were soon on the way westward. They reached that city in about two weeks after leaving the ocean, and from Chicago went to Rockford, Ill. His friends went from there to Will county, that State, but young DODDS remained in Rockford some two years, and then went East to Meriden, Conn., where he married Miss Harriet PEARSON, a native of his native town. A year and a half later the young married couple went back to Rockford, and in 1858 they came to Grant county, Wis., to enter government land, within two miles of our subject's present residence. He improved his land, and after his return from the war sold it, buying the farm which is his present home.
Mr. DODDS enlisted, Aug. 24, 1864, in Company D, 42d Wis. V.I., and was honorably discharged May 29, 1865. He was with his regiment during his entire term of service, though a portion of the time he was detailed for special duty. His health was somewhat broken by his military service, and as he grows older he feels more keenly that his vitality was weakened on account of his experience in the Union army.
After the war Mr. DODDS followed the trade of stone cutting, which he had learned at Rockford. He also gave his attention to farming, but he lately sold his farm, and intends changing his location to Mt. Hope. Mr. and Mrs. DODDS have four children: William H., of Nebraska; Jane Elizabeth, wife of James CRUBAUGH of Mt. Hope; Clara H., wife of John CRUBAUGH; and Lillie, at home. Clara Augusta died when ten years old. Mr. DODDS is a Republican politically. With his family he belongs to the Methodist Church.
This biography generously submitted by
Carol Holmbeck