Sylvanus Dodge

source: "History of Essex County, Massachusetts", by Duane Hamilton Hurd, Published 1888, pages 556-563

This is their son Grenville Mellen Dodge.

Sylvanus' father Captain Solomon Dodge was a descendant of early emigrants from England and settled in Essex County. They lived in Rowley, Mass. Solomon's son, Sylvanus had been born, November 25, 1800, at the old Rowley home, in what has long been known as the "Old Dodge House." Not long after the family had moved to Danvers, Mass., the mother of Sylvanus died, and by and by, it is said, the surviving members returned to the ancestral seat whence they came. Sylvanus was married, November 22, 1827, at New Rowley (now Georgetown), by Rev. Dr, Isaac Braman, to Julia T. Phillips, who was born in that town January 23, 1802. The same evening the nuptial pair rode to Danvers, to enter there upon their early wedded life on the farm where the husband had lived as a little child. Their first child was born to them September 23, 1829, but died about two weeks afterward. The second was born April 12, 1831, and received the name that had been given to the other, Grenville M. Dodge. Sylvanus was then a butcher. Thence they proceeded to Salem, where also they spt a couple of years, and next went to Lynn, where they remained one year, living during the twelve-month in three different houses. In April, 1837, they found a home in South Danvers, now Peabody, where, August 20, of the same year, was born a third child, Nathan P. Dodge. In 1840 they removed to the north part of the old town, and settled for a time in Tapleyville, the native place of their fourth and last child, Julia M. Dodge, now Mrs. J. B. Beard, born January 14, 1843. During their stay at Tapleyville, Sylvanus Dodge was made postmaster for South Danvers, and accordingly returned thither with his wife and children, and there continued to reside until they all emigrated to the distant West, He held the office to which he was thus appointed for ten years, and through various changes in the national administration, securing the confidence and favor of both political parties and of his fellow-citizens generally. In politics he was a Democrat, and was an active and earnest friend of such men as Robert Rantoul, Jr., N. P. Banks and George S. Boutwell. In due time he came to be much interested in the organization of the Republican party, and was henceforth to the end of his life its sincere and efficient supporter. His son Grenville went west in 1851. Early in 1855, Sylvanus Dodge, went on from South Danvers, followed in the autumn by the mother. They lived, in the winter of 1855-56, at Omaha, which the reader will remember is on the western bank of the Missouri, directly opposite Council Bluffs on the eastern; and in May, 1856, they, too, sought a home on the Elkhorn, but at the expiration of eighteen months they returned to be with Grenville, and Council Bluffs has been the home of the family from then until now. Sylvanus had taken an active part in settling the territory and organizing the government of Nebraska, and was subsequently made the Register of the United States Land Office for the district where he had lived. He died about 16 years ago, surrounded by his wife, children and grandchildren, and greatly respected and beloved by all who knew him, while his last days were made happy with the thought that, after all the toils and struggles, changes and pilgrimages of seventy years, his household was finally established in a secure home, and had risen to prominence and prosperity.