Thomas Greenham Dodson, was most likely born in North Farnham Parish, Richmond County, Virginia, in or about 1742 (alternate date = 1743). The Hightower & Dodson families were early settlers of this "Northern neck" rural county, not to be confused with Richmond (Henrico Co.), Virginia's capital city since 1780. Thomas was the son of Greenham Dodson and Eleanor Hightower.
Thomas married his first-cousin, Sarah Dodson, daughter of Elisha Dodson and Sarah Averitt (Everett) Dodson in about 1778 when she was 20, but no marriage document has been found. The Durham, Hightower and Dodson families were neighboring well-to-do tobacco farmers and landowners in what was sometimes called "the Rich Neck" of Virginia.[1]
Thomas Dodson appears on the tax rolls of rural Halifax County, Virginia, from 1788 to 1794 and he may have lived in Edgecombe county, North Carolina, 125 miles south-east, before then as a Thomas Dodson witnessed a deed there in 1773. By August 22, 1807, Thomas and the Dodson family had moved to southern Tennessee as he and father-in-law, Elisha Dodson, signed a petition as "residents of Duck River," Williamson County, relative to the creation of Maury County, TN.[2]
The part of Williamson County where the Dodsons lived became Giles County, Tennessee, in 1809. In 1820 Elisha Dodson, aged 26-45; Greenham Dodson, aged 26-45; Jordan Dodson, aged 26-45, and George Dodson over 45, all with families were enumerated in the 1820 census in Giles County. Greenham and Elisha's households are listed next to each other in the 1820 census.
Thomas does not appear in the 1830 census under the name Thomas or Greenham, in Giles County or in adjoining counties. Thomas' date of death is unknown and no estate records have been found. It is believed that Thomas is buried next to his wife who died on 21 September 1835 in Lynnville, TN. She was buried in the Dodson Cemetery at Dodson's Gap, Giles Co., next to the Maury County line, Tennessee. There is a marker for Sarah but no marker for Thomas has survived.[3]
According to one family genealogy source, Thomas and Sarah Dodson had seven children between 1780 and 1802.[4] They are:
Another source lists 5 Dodson children and gives more-specific life data, as follows:[5]
NOTE: Willis Dodson (b. 1784 in Halifax VA) lived to 1881; he had 7 children and was a Baptist lay pastor and elder/deacon.[6] Only George Dodson apparently died without issue.
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