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1907 Past and Present Biographies

J. E. Dodge

J. E. Dodge, a large and successful real-estate dealer of Jefferson, was born in Lamoille county, Vermont, January 7, 1853. He was a son of Charles and Paulina (Clemens) Dodge, the former a native of Vermont, who received his early education in that state and was reared as an agriculturist, a calling which he adopted upon reaching manhood. He came west to Illinois in 1863, locating in McHenry county, where he resided for some six years. In the spring of 1870 he removed to Iowa, locating in Jackson township, Greene county, where, in connection with our subject, he bought two hundred and forty acres of land in the east half of the southeast quarter of section 21 and the northeast quarter of section 27. He was interested in operating this farm, improving the land and erecting the necessary buildings, up to the year 1882, when he sold out and bought a small farm on section 1, which he operated until 1897. He then removed to Grant township, where he purchased land on sections 17 and 18. He had always felt that the easiest way to make money was to improve land which he had bought and sell it at an advantageous price, and when the price was offered he never refused a sale. Consequently he disposed of this last purchase of his and removed to section 1, Grant township, where he was residing at the time of his death. The republican party always received his hearty support and while he was never an aspirant for political preferment, he served for years as a member of the school board and in many other minor township oflices. He gave a stalwart support to the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was a life-long member. Mr. and Mrs. Dodge were the parents of three children: Charles M., who is engaged in conducting a vineyard in Stockton, California; John E., the subject of this review; and Elmer E., an agriculturist of Greenbrier township, Greene county, Iowa.

J. E. Dodge was reared under the parental roof and acquired his education in the public schools. When his parents removed to Iowa he was but sixteen years of age and he put aside his school books to assist his father in his agricultural enterprises. In 1882, upon their removal to section 1, Jackson township, Mr. Dodge purchased a farm of one hundred and thirteen acres in the northeast corner of Jackson township, which he operated for the following ten years. He took an active interest in all the affairs of the community during this time and though he never neglected his own agricultural interests he always had time to serve in any capacity as a citizen. In the fall of 1891 he was elected to the office of sheriff of Greene county on the republican ticket and the same fall he removed to Jefferson to assume the duties of his new oflice. So efficiently did he discharge these duties that at the expiration of his first term he was re-elected. Upon the completion of his second term he engaged in the real-estate business in Jefferson and with his usual energy and business judgment he prospered and became one of the well known and successful real-estate dealers of this section of Iowa.

Mr. Dodge was married on February 25, 1875, to Miss Lillie O. Stevens, of Greene county, Iowa, a daughter of William Stevens, now deceased. He was one of the well known agriculturists of Jackson township. To Mr. and Mrs. Dodge have been born two children: Edna A., who lives at home and is cashier for the L. J. Greisher mercantile business; and Gordon F., who is a mechanical engineer in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Mr. Dodge has always given his support to the republican party and has been actively engaged in all of its campaigns since he attained his majority. He is a member of Greene lodge, No. 315, I. O. O. F., and is actively identified with the interests of this organization. He has been a most enterpnsing farmer, who has studied the scientific methods and has always kept his agricultural pursuits strictly up to date. His early association with the land in this county made him a valuable judge of real-estate values and in his present business he has brought to bear a life-long experience in farm values. His judgment is thoroughly reliable and his business methods have always been honest, so that he has the confidence of the business world and has in consequence built up a large and ever growing enterprise. His sympathetic nature and genial manner have won him many friends who hold him in the highest esteem.

Transcribed from "Past and Present of Greene County, Iowa Together With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Prominent and Leading Citizens and Illustrious Dead,"
by E. B. Stillman assisted by an Advisory Board consisting of Paul E. Stillman, Gillum S. Toliver,
Benjamin F. Osborn, Mahlon Head, P. A. Smith and Lee B. Kinsey, Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907.

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