The Dodsons ( Dotsons) of Southwest Virginia and their descendants in Tennessee, South & North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky, Texas, Utah, Missouri and other states and especially the descendants of William Dodson & Sarah Pyles, who came from Abbeville County, South Carolina to Tuscaloosa, Marion and Fayette Counties, Alabama The Lucas Family of Bladen and Robeson Counties, North Carolina, Marlboro and Lexington Counties, South Carolina and Tuscaloosa,, Fayette, Marion and Lamar Counties, Alabama The Pyles ( Pile) Family of Essex County, Virginia and Abbeville County, South Carolina with special attention to the descendants of Reuben Pyles and Esther ( Hester) Rochester The Rochester Family of Westmoreland County, Virginia with special attention to the descendants of Colonel Nathaniel Rochester who founded Rochester, N. Y. and Esther ( Hester) Rochester who married Reuben Pyles also Notes of Some Allied Families g f?.umlielf dedicate tli.i1>.. Roal to m'I R,do.J.ed wi~e, '1ina, wf?.01>..e patience and unde,1>..ta.nding; made it po.1>..1>..iRee ~o• .me to continue tf?.e da;Jlf ,ie1>..ea,cfi t/\.at wall. necel>..6..a•l,f to. com­ peete tfie Rao~. 0tli.e~w.io.e, tfie no.tel>. and mat .... i,d tfint mnlte up t/\.i1,_ fwo.lt wouEd 6..tiee Re in ffi'J ~ieell. and wo.u£d 17.a.J.e. e.J.en­ tuaeelf lieen eol>..t to po.1>..te,i.t'I. He, eneou,ng;ement and 6..<Jmpatfi\f ~o• ffll,f '•-fioRRlf'' /\.n,J,e made tl1ii1>.. lioo~ a •eaea\f. eOfl'J""\J'fit, june. 195 9 g\f S;,eal>.. ~mmett fueal>.., 5,,. Privately printed and bound in Birmingham, Alabama, June 1959 by Silas Emmett Lucas, Jr, PREFACE This book, though not a complete genealogy of any of the four main families is as complete as I have been able to make it in five short years of research, It is hoped that what I have compiled and put into print will be an impetus to other relatives, to someday carry my research farther back into history on all of the families concerned. No matter how humble our beginning, we should all have pride in our fore-fathers and deep respect for their beliefs, for had they not had the fortitude to seek "new pastures" we might be living in a land not nearly so kind to us, It is my belief that, no matter how distantly related we are to each other, we should try to keep in closer contact and kindle the family relationship that we are a part of and so.often neglect, Many of us enjoy belonging to organizations that our ancestors made possible, such as the Sons or baughters of the American Revolution -this is possible for all descendants of Reuben Pyles, for he seroed as a Private in the Abbeville County, South Carolina Troops during the Revolutionary War - others may prefer the Colonial Dames or Society of Colonial Wars and this is possible thru Wil­ liam ap Thomas, who seroed as a Burgess from Elizabeth City County, Virginia in 1655 to 1658., No Revolutionary or Colonial Wars data has yet been found for the descendants of the Lucas family alone. It is hoped that someday some form of patriotic service will be found that was performed by one of our Lucas ancestors, A word of caution to all descendants of our Lucas family. Although there were other Lucases in South Carolina from the late 1700's on down thru the present day; our family cannot be connected with them. To delve further in our Lucas past, we must go to Robeson and Bladen Counties, North Carolina in the late 1700's to 1800 and begin from there, either back into other North Car­ olina Counties or to Virginia or Maryland. Otherwise, to search South Carolina further will be a waste of time and money, as I have already had the state of Couth Carolina searched completely in all counties where Lucases were known to have been. I would be happy to have any correspondence with any relatives who desire to contact me for I havemuch more data on the families than there was room to put in the book, such as wills, deeds, etc, Someday, if time and finances are right, I would like to do a reprint of this book to add in additional data that I may un­ cover or receive from relatives, I would deeply appreciate any additional data anyone can send me on the families covered in this book, so that I can bring my records even more up-to-date, I would like to caution the readers about the spelling of names in this book, In the majority of cases the spelling of names is correct, however, in some cases they are not since the names, dates, etc. were sent in from various people in various sections of the country and many people spelled them as they sound. H I do have someone's named spelled wrong, please forgive me since I did not have the time to write each member personally. The authenticity for the Dodson records should be accepted as correct since I did not have space to show all copies of deeds, will, marriages, birth records, etc, but have these records in my personal files. The authenticity for the Lucas records such as marriages, births, deaths, etc, have been gathered from numerous sources and especially from correspondence with relatives, personal visits, from tombstone inscriptions, etc. and Bible records and here again my space was too limited to cite each reference. And lastly, the early census records of the various counties where relatives were known to have lived. Anyone who ever desires to contact me, please follow the instructions below: Write me in care of my parent's address, which is: 3024 North Woodridge Road, Birmingham 13, Ala. If for some reason the letter is return, then write the Episco­ pal Bishop of Alabama, clo Carpenter House, Birmingham, Ala., and ask for my correct address or have them forward your letters to me, as they will always have my correct address, I would like to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to the following relatives for their generous assistance in helping me to compile this genealogy: Mrs, Jennie Lucas Webster of Winfield,Ala.; Mrs. Minnie Lucas Davis of Durant, Miss,; Murry Lemuel Lucas of Winfield, Ala.; John C. Estes of Guin, Ala.; Lewis Carr Henry of Washington, D, C.; A. Lewis Dotson of Salt Lake City, Utah; Wil­ lard L. Dodson of Wyandotte, Mich,; William A, Waller of Mobile, Ala.; Mrs. L. A. Draper of Anniston, Ala,; Elbert Lee Dodson, Sr. of Tuscaloosa, Ala.; The Rev. Elias Dodson notes compiled and edited by the late Frank Fuller of Memphis, Tennessee; Rochester H. Rogers of Rochester, New York; Murdock F. Lucas of Cayce, South Carolina; U. Hudson Gantt of Pelion, South Carolina, Elmer Elijah Lucas of Leesville, South Carolina; Mrs. J. David Haltiwanger of Batesburg, South Carolina; Mrs. J. Albert Dees of Corinth, Mississippi; Jesse Levi Rish of West Columbia, South Carolina; James Thomas Lucas, Winfield, Ala., and many, many others too numerous to mention.And especially my mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Silas Emmett Lucas, Sr. The identification of the various descendants of all families undertaken in this genealogy will be by separate families such as Dodson, Lucas, Pyles, etc, and the code is as follows, based upon the decimal letter system: The earliest immigrant of the family is lettered a; his children are lettered aa, ah, ac, etc. The children of the oldest child are lettered aaa, aah, aac, etc., of the second child, aha, abb, abc, etc; and so on through each succeeding generation, each descendant having as many letters as the number of the generation to which he belongs and the letters show exactly his line of de­ scent. For convenience in counting, a space, corresponding,to a decimal point, is left after the fourth letter, Another method, used by myself, in identifying more carefully and easily my descent from the first ancestor of each of the families compiled here, I pick out an ancestor about four generation or so from the first one or the immigrant and label this person with a capital letter N as a fixed symbol, rather than having so many letters such as aaaa aaaa aaa - therefore it could be NNNa with the first N being in reality aaaa aaa. ABBREVIATIONS b.-means born; d.-means died; m.-means married; a date such as 2/23/1786 means Feb. 23, 1789; ca.-means about or around; bur.-means buried; Co.­ means County; Va., Ala., S. C., Ky., etc. are abbreviations of the various states in the U.S.A.; issue-means children of; F-means female; M-means male, CONTENTS DEDICATION PREFACE Understanding the alphabetical system of identification Page I. INTRODUCTION TO AND EARLY HISTORY OF THE DODSON ( DOT­ SON) FAMILY AND DESCENDANTS OF OUR EARLIEST KNOWN ANCESTOR, CHARLES DODSON of Old Rappahannock Co., Va. -1-21 II. CHILDREN OF WILLIAM DODSON OF TUSCALOOSA & FAYETTE COUNTIES, ALABAMA -23 1. NIMROD DOSON & WIFE MARY STEWART -24 a. Reuben Andrew Jackson Dodson -24 b. Jane Dodson McClung -31 c. Elizabeth Dodson South -33 d. Frances Dodson South -40 e. William Franklin Dodson -40 2. MARTHA DODSON AND HUSBAND NORMAN McKAY -42 a. Harley Tuttle McKay -42 b. _Ruben C. McKay -42 c. Frances McKay Anthony-Franks -42 d. Nancy McKay Homer -42 e. Elizabeth McKay Pyron -43 f. Emmaline McKay Hightower -43 3. REV. REUBEN DODSON & WIFE ELIZABETH ANDERS -51 a.