Union County, Ohio Biographies Project - John K. Dodge
<>JOHN K. DODGE
<> John K. Dodge, a farmer near New California and an
ex-Commissioner of Union County, was born in Jerome Township November
17, 1833. He was a son of Judah Dodge, who was born in Vermont,
January 23, 1796. His father, Judah Dodge, Sr., moved with his
family to Union County at the beginning of the war of 1812, and settled
on the Crocker Smith farm in Darby Township. Some years later he
moved to Jerome, locating on a farm of seventy acres. In 1836 he
purchased a tract of 400 acres near New California. This whole
farm was then covered with a dense forest, without an improvement, save
a rude log shanty, which had been erected by the Indians. Mr.
Dodge died on the farm in May 1856. He had filled the office of
Justice of the Peace a number of terms and was otherwise officially
identified with Jerome Township. He entered the county at the
time of the last war with Great Britain and was familiar with its early
settlement, organization, and the growth and development of it up to
the date of his death. Judah Dodge, Jr., was but seventeen when
his parents came to the West, and he spent the remainder of his
minority in clearing up the land his father located. July 4, 1816, he
was married to Elizabeth Kilgore, who was born in Ross County, Ohio,
January 20, 1799, and by whom he had nine children, of whom our subject
is the third son and seventh child. In 1867, Mr. Dodge sold his
farm and removed to Marysville, where he died April 23, 1870. He
was for fifteen years an exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal Church,
and a man of honor and highly respected. Mr. Dodge, the subject
of this sketch, was reared and brought up on the farm and was educated
in the common schools of Jerome Township. November 29, 1855, he
married Miss Rebecca Rudolph, a daughter of John and Julia
Rudolph. Mrs. Dodge was born in Delaware County, Ohio, July 1,
1833. Nine children were the fruits of this marriage, viz.:
Andrew J. (married Flora E. Harrington), John R. (married Ella B.
Boring), Glenna M. (wife of Elbert Bonnett), Thomas J., Jennie R.,
Tells, A., William M., Ottie J. and Frank E. In 1857, Mr. Dodge
moved into Mill Creek Township, and in 1865 took up his residence on
his present farm. He owns 509 acres of well-improved and
highly-cultivated land. His occupation is agriculture and
stock-raising ; in the latter pursuit he has dealt extensively for the
last twenty years. Mr. Dodge has by his energy and careful
business management achieved a reasonable success in the accumulation
of property. He was Trustee of Jerome Township two years and
member of the Board of County Commissioners one term. His
attention has been given almost entirely to his farm, and he ranks with
the successful farmers of the county.