Samuel Dodge at Cow N Eek, L
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@riiatiam iJobgc AND HIS DESCENDANTS IN AMERICA WITH HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNTS OF BLOCK ISLAND AND COW NECK, L. L THEIR ORIGINAL SETTLEMENTS BY ROBERT DODGE SUBSCRIPTION NEW YORK PRESS OF J. J. LITTLE & CO 1886 CoPVRIGHTEn., 1886, Bv ROBERT DODGE. INTRODUCTION. AT this long interval of over two centuries since my ancestor came from England to the new world of America, and in his age, when earnest men were too much engrossed with the cares of existence to pause for their own record of the immediate occa sion of their movements, any more than the soldier can halt, whilst the battle is in progress, to furnish its history; when, even in our own day, of such wide circulation for like objects, unless the traveler become official or inscribed as member of some cor porate or other permanent association, or prominent in his new settlement :-it alike grows impossible even in the lapse of ten years, or less, to trace their existence or the causes of· their emigration :-at that epoch, so long before the era of the press, telegraph, or post-office, when the geography of the country was so little known beyond the few northern sea-ports, the whole int~rior of the conti nent an unexplored wilderness, and, although the excellent New England system of recording by the . IV INTRODUCTION. Town Clerk each birth, marriage, and death in their towns, as well as grants of land and membership in their Church, where such membership was an indis pensable conditi~n for civic rights or the capacity to hold land ; never prevailed in the new settleme~t by Roger Williams and his fellow-exiles for freedom of conscience on Narragansett Bay ; that gathered from the Old and New World all those who suffered from perseeution, where no man was questioned for his opinions by any human authority; and Rhode Island never had any such custom of record ; even +h~f- r,,f rl.oorls a..,.rl "l'"l'.,.:11s "I'"(•,:>~ 4-t,.,....,. Io- m---- --•"'"""' v.&. ~..,'-~ .u.~ n .1..1..1. "" ~ ._,u.~.u. a..1.1""""d .l J. .1.1 d.J.J.J years unprovided, and no law for the record of births, marriages, or deaths existing there before 1856; which even then was left of almost voluntary compliance, without adequate penalty :-it is cause for special gratitude, when pursuing this filial duty of research for the foot-prints of our ancestor, in the darkness of that early age, and the entire silence of N eyv England Town Records of himself or his four sons prior to the eighteenth century ; that the first and only recor~ that we have is the careful, though incomplete and rude, entries of that venerable chronicle-the ancient parchment volume, so long even to our day-the only record of Block Island ; being the '' Evidences of Property of the town of INTRODUCTION. V N e,v Shoreham, Rhode Island, othenvise called Block Island." They were contemporary, and much used ; by 16g5 had become worn out ; when the present volume one, duly copied, as he certifies, from the earlier original, was prepared by faithful Nathaniel Mott, T o,vn Clerk. These few coeval entries and records furnish from that remote past the highest possible evidence ; so that, were any question to arise touching life or property, they would be accepted as ab$olute verity; and yet they are incomplete,. giving no home or lineage in England, place or date of birth, time or circumstances of arrival, or date of death. But his record as one of the sixteen purchasers and origin~! settlers-in April, I 661-is carefully given, as well. as of the meetings in Roxbury, Massachusetts, at the house of Dr. Alcock in 166o, in which he shared, leaving the conclusion almost certain that our an cestor and his family of four sons must have then recently come to New England, and that they neither joined the exclusive church in either colony, Salem, Boston, Lynn, or Plymonth, held office, nor received grants of land therein ; but, exiled by the persecutions of Church and State in England, they sought refuge in their own independent do main of Block Island, where they established a pure • Vl INTRODUCTION. democracy of true civil and religious liberty, con tinuing until our day :-whose adhesion was naturally secured by Roger Williams when, later, he obtained a charter for his infant colony of Rhode Island. Their Baptist faith and practice--un broken ever since-and by our own line this great denomination having been introduced in New York, whence it has spread so largely over the Union, induced a close research into the Baptist history in England and the United States (perhaps never before as fully writ ten), as well as an extended study of the political causes of his emigration. We are able, by the deeds of his sons and of his grandsons at Cow N eek and New London, as well as from other public con temporary events; records of town affairs and free men ; to fix approximately his death, his own and their probable ages; the names of the first genera tion ; the boundaries of the " Dodge Lands " on the island; their emigration, and settlement of New London and Cow N eek; and with comparative accu racy trace them through that obscure past down to our own day ; following, by patient study, the story of their constant advance over this broad land ; ever foremost in the struggle with hardships and the perils of the wilderness ; in the Province of New York and the Western frontier. Patriot sol- .. INTRODUCTION. Vll diers and officers of the Revolution~ry army, though their wives and chtldren were flying from the mur derous raid of Indians and Tories ; active in aiding the infant Government on the conclusion of peace; and at the front in command against the same British marauding enemy in 1812; and already, in 1804, upon the cession of Louisiana, first to begin the State history of Missouri. And then, after leading successfully, when all others failed, in the Black Hawk War: General Henry Dodge-alike lineal descendant--organized his Territory and State of beautiful Wisconsin; in which he was emulated by his son, the late Augustus C. Dodge ; who was among the first to begin his grand State of Iowa. Many of the same lineage did true service for the sacred Union in the late Rebellio~; many still adorn the lin-e of the army, and have won deserved laurels; whilst many more of his sons have achieved lasting fame in civil life by professional, literary, and scientific attainments. Succinctly and faithfully to narrate the simple facts, from public record, has all the charm of ro mance ; and in such a ,vork of filial honor and duty, I feel assured of the hearty co-0peration of every member of our numerous and wide-spread family : remembering the words of Macaulay, that: "A ... Vlll INTRODUCTION. people or family who take no pride in the noble achievements of their ancestors, will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by their descendants." With many, in the family line, but two brief en tries suffice-their advent-and their . departure. To their kindred, this short record of their life is full of suggestive, tender memories. While with many, the record of their life is filled with active work for their generation, and graced with large reward. By the kindred of both this first Family Memorial and History should be cher ished as a most precious heritage. Every effort has been made to secure complete ness and accuracy in the Genealogies; but, in the daily huf!Y of our very active and moving fam ily ; whose old homes, records, and circles, so con stantly are given up for new advance, and lapse into fading memories; it grows very difficult to se cure original and complete Family Records. It is proposed, in order to secure desired correc- - tions; and also a fitting Memorial for preservation and use in our families ; to issue a second edition, with appropriate Tables for the several generations ; . after the subscription for this first edition is com plete. INTRODUCTION. lX Such a second edition will, of course, be at an in creased cost; will require considerable time, care, and correspondence ; and can only be insured by an adequate subscription insuring the success of this first edition. The author is conscious of many defects: inev itable to· a first edition of an original,- historical research: for all of which he deprecates censure: but, he scarcely thinks that, in sound judgment, he 1.vculd be thought constrained to expand, by rhet oric comments, the varied and abundant material of this narrative of succinctly stated and digested facts : only to increase the volume and thereby depart from his aim of studied reserve and brevity. TABLE OF CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. Difficulty of the subject; without record, save the rude coeval entries at Block Island; his adhesion to tolerant Rhode Island with the other settlers, and early founding the Baptist Church-the only Church on the island-show them to have been a company of Bap tist Dissenlers from Engiand : and a research for the causes of their emigration ~duced a new and original History of the Baptists in England and here, in their political and social relations, and their suffering under the Stuarts and Tudors. F'rom deeds and other records his life period and of bis four sons approximately determined ; the lives of his descendants of like enter.... prise and much achievement ; first to found the States of Michigan, Jowa, Minnesota, Dakota and Wisconsin, and their care to maturity ; with constant public service since ; and a genealogy as nearly com plete as could be obtained for this edition.