Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/206

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

TalMtha. dauglitcr oi 15ird Thomas Jen- ninj^s. She died November 30, 1884. He married (second) Lucy Stutz, of Pittsyl- vania county. Virginia. Jle married (third) in ct(^l)er, 1912, Alice, widow of Douglas I )ver. C hildren of first marriage : Ernest Linwood. of whom further; Mattie Eliza- l)eth, married William H. IJennett, a farmer of Pittsylvania county, and has eight chil- dren ; Maggie, died in infancy ; Mary, died in infancy; Henry Oscar, a carpenter of I'ittsylvania county, married Alma Spindle, of St. Louis. Missouri, who left him at her death with one child, Arthur; \\'alter Ray- mond, married and resides in New York state. Children of second marriage : George \\ infred. lives at home; Emma Malinda, married Fletcher Slayton. a farmer, and has two children ; Janey Rosalie, a student in the training school of the Danville General Hospital; .Mvin llernice; Edna, died in in- fancy; l-ldgar. twin of Edna, lives at home; il. Conrad. X'ivian. Elise. Fanny, Ethel, ICva. all of whom reside at home, unmar- ried. Mr. Dodson's third wife is the mother of five children l)y her former marriage, iheir being no children of their union.

I'.ird 'i'homas Jennings, father of Betty Tabitha (Jennings) Dodson, was a farmer, passed nearly his entire life in Pittsyl- vania county, \'irginia, his death occur- ring in (ireensboro. North Carolina, when he was ninety years of age. He was mar- ried four times, first to a Miss Brightwell, second to a Miss Gardner, third to a Miss Gardner (not related) and fourth to a widow. Mrs. Llark. His children are by his first three marriages: Mary, deceased, mar- ried James I'.allou. of Halifax county, Vir- ginia ; James, deceased, married a Miss Hardy; William, married a Miss White; Thomas, deceased; Jane, deceased, married a Mr. McDaniel; Meredith, a resident of Roanoke, X'irginia, married (first) a Miss Smith, (second) a widow, Mrs. Maynard ; i'etty Tabitha, of previous mention, mar- ried Henry Joel Dodson; Patty, deceased, married a Mr. P'erguson ; Charles W., mar- ried and lives in Greensl)oro. North Caro- lina; Whit, (lied in infancy; John, married a Miss r>rown and resides in Charlotte county. X'irginia; Sally, married Nathaniel Ferguson, «.f Danville, X'irginia; h'leanor. married Albert Warren, deceased, and lives in Richmond. X'irginia; Lulu, married W. XX'. Clark, of XX'inston Salem. Xorth Caro-

lina; Robert Hughes, deceased; Cora, mar- ried J. E. Sale ; Samuel, married and lives in South Carolina ; Jessie, unmarried ; Nanny, married Thomas Bennett, a farmer of Pitt- syhania.

(HI) Ernest Linwood Dodson, son of Henry Joel and Betty Tabitha (Jennings) Dodson, was born near Danville, Pittsyl- vania county, Virginia, on the farm where his father now lives, February 19, 1875. He was reared to farm life and remained at home, assisting in the cultivation of the homestead acres until he was twenty-four years of age, in his youth pursuing his studies in the local schools. Moving to Lynchburg, Virginia, he was for a short time connected with the wholesale grocery trade as a traveling salesman in the employ of S. C. Nowlin Company, in 1899 taking up his residence in Danville. For one year he was engaged in the retail shoe department of XX'. P. Hodnett's store as clerk, in 1900 becoming a bookkeeper for the W. C. Hurt Tobacco Company, in 1904 being admitted to the firm, the business in the following year being incorporated as the Morotock Tobacco Works, of which Mr. Dodson was vice-presi- dent, treasurer and general manager. In 1910 the charter of this corporation was sur- rendered and Mr. Dodson has since con- tinued in business independently under the name of the Piedmont Tobacco Company. He is sole owner of this concern, which is a strong and responsible one, holding a firm position in the tobacco trade of Danville. He is related to other business interests in the city and is vice-president of the Dan- \ille Book and Stationery Company. His political belief is Democratic, and he is a member of the Commercial Association, the Tuscarora Club, and both Country clubs.

Mr. Dodson married. June 6, 1907, at Mar- shalltown, Iowa, Bessie E., born in that place June 16. 1878. daughter of Henry V. and Emma (Broadhead) Speers. Her father, a veteran of the civil war. died in Novem- ber, 191 2. aged seventy-five years, having been a merchant of Marshalltowai and sub- sequently oil inspector for the state of low^a. His Avidow now resides in Marshalltown, aged sixty-three years. Henry \\ and F'mma (Broadhead) S])eers were the par- ents of : Charles R., a structural iron worker, specializing in l)ridge-l)uilding, of Des Moines. Iowa; John, deceased; Bessie E., of ]-)revious mention, married Ernest Lin-