In celebration of the 250th Anniversary of our country, local members of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution will highlight the patriots buried in Southeast Missouri.
Israel Dodge was born September 3, 1760, at Canterbury, Windham, Connecticut, to John Jr. and Lydia (Rogers) Dodge. Israel is reported to have an adventurous spirit and at the age of fifteen he traveled to Africa aboard a slave ship. Two years later, he joined the Connecticut militia. Israel was wounded in 1777 at the Battle of Brandywine during a hand-to-hand fight, resulting in taking a bayonet to his chest. He recovered, re-entered the war and earned the rank of second lieutenant in the Continental army by war’s end.
After the war Israel followed his brother, John, to the newly acquired territories in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. While helping to transport supplies between Kaskaskia and Clark’s Coloney, a fortified settlement on the Mississippi River below the mouth of the Ohio River, he met Nancy Hunter. He married Nancy in February of 1782, and the couple had three children. They moved to Kaskaskia, where Israel served under his brother’s military authority. A year later, Israel settled his family at Spring Station, near present-day Louisville, Kentucky, and later at Bardstown. It is reported that Israel left his family in the early 1790s to pursue more prosperous livelihood on the frontier of Spain’s Upper Louisiana. In 1793, Israel joined John at the settlement of New Bourbon near the town of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. The census of Spanish Illinois listed Israel as an agriculturalist, but he also engaged in lead mining, produced salt on the Saline River, and operated a prosperous distillery, breweries, and a mill on Dodge Creek. In 1799, Israel petitioned the region’s lieutenant governor, Pierre-Charles Delassus, for a land grant of one thousand arpents, which Dodge has already improved. The concession was granted 10 days later, after the endorsement of New Bourbon’s founder, the father of Delassus. During this time, Israel had married Theodosia Lewis about 1791 and they had five children.
Israel had exhibited his loyalty to the Spanish crown but also retained his good standing as a patriotic American. It is reported that after the transfer of Louisiana Territory to the United States, he raised the U.S. flag in Ste. Genevieve on the occasion of the American takeover in 1804. On January 4, 1804, Israel had married Catharine Camp, and no children are known to have been born to the couple. The governor of the Indiana and Louisiana Territories, William Henry Harrison, appointed Israel Dodge as the sheriff of the Ste. Genevieve district. He maintained this appointment until his death in September 1806. Israel is buried in Ste. Genevieve’s Memorial Cemetery, but there was no marker for him. The Sons of the American Revolution honored the Patriots buried in Memorial Cemetery by placement of a memorial marker.
Israel and Nancy’s children were Moses Henry Dodge (married Christina Mc Donald), Nancy Hunter Dodge (married John Sefton) and William Dodge. Israel and his second wife, Theodosia’s children were Josiah Dodge, Isreal Dodge (married Marie Louise Bequette), Lewis Dodge, Theodosia Dodge (married David L Caldwell), John Dodge (married Etienette Vaugine), Israel’s son Henry worked with him for a time and eventually went on to become the Territorial Governor for Wisconsin, and in 1848, he became a U.S. Senator for Wisconsin. This is just another example of the legacy left by those that supported the Revolution and went on to move west.
Compiled by Pamela Johnson, John Guild Chapter NSDAR and Vera McCullough, Louisiana Purchase Chapter NSDAR
Sources
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/203343609/israel-dodge
https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/K845-P9Y
Dodge, Moses Henry 1782-1867 Biography from wisconsinhistory.org
https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/memories/L6P2-BS9
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Dodge-3028
The State Historical Society of Missouri: Missouri Encyclopedia Isreal Dodge
https://missouriencyclopedia.org/people/dodge-israel#:~:text=In%201793%2C%20Dodge%20joined%20his,now%20Ste.%20Genevieve%20County%2C%20Missouri.
https://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/?action=full&p_id=A032805
Theron Royal Woodward, Dodge Genealogy Descendants of Tristram Dodge, Landward Publishing County, in Chicago, Illinois, 1904, T. R. W. Pg. 18, 31."
https://genealogytrails.com/mo/stgene/hist_county.htm
https://mossar.org/french-militia-patriots-sainte-genevieve-missouri/
https://mythicmississippi.illinois.edu/french-illinois/kaskaskia/
