William Earl Dodge Sr. (September 4, 1805 – February 9, 1883) was an American businessman, politician, and activist. He was referred to as one of the "Merchant Princes" of Wall Street in the years leading up to the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. Dodge saw slavery as an evil to be peaceably removed, but not to be interfered with where it existed. He was a Native American rights activist and served as the president of the National Temperance Society from 1865 to 1883. Dodge represented

New York's 8th congressional district New York's 8th congressional district for the US House of Representatives is in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. Its current representative is Hakeem Jeffries. From 1993 to 2013, the district covered much of the west side of ...

in the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

for a portion of the

39th United States Congress The 39th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1865, ...

in 1866–1867 and was a founding member of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

of the US.

Biography

William Earl Dodge was born in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

, the second son of David Low Dodge, founder of the

New York Peace Society The New York Peace Society was the first peace society to be established in the United States. It has had several different incarnations, as it has merged into other organizations or dissolved and then been re-created. First incarnation (1815–18 ...

, and his wife Sarah Cleveland, the daughter of minister Aaron Cleveland. He married Melissa Phelps (1809–1903), a daughter of

Anson Green Phelps Anson Green Phelps (March 24, 1781 – May 18, 1858) was an American entrepreneur and business man from Connecticut. Beginning with a saddlery business, he founded Phelps, Dodge & Co. in 1833 as an export-import business with his sons-in-law as p ...

and

Olivia Egleston Olivia Egleston Phelps (March 30, 1784 – April 24, 1859) was an American philanthropist who was the wife of businessman Anson Green Phelps, co-founder of the Phelps Dodge Company. Early life Olivia was born in Middletown, Connecticut on March 3 ...

. The couple had seven sons. In 1833, Dodge and his father-in-law founded the trading firm Phelps, Dodge and Company. In 1908 they became one of Americas largest mining companies

Phelps Dodge Corporation Phelps Dodge Corporation was an American mining company founded in 1834 as an import-export firm by Anson Greene Phelps and his two sons-in-law William Earle Dodge, Sr. and Daniel James. The latter two ran Phelps, James & Co., the part of the o ...

. Dodge is the namesake of

Dodge County, Georgia Dodge County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2010, the population was 21,796. The county seat is Eastman. Dodge County lies in the Historic South and Black Belt region of Georgia, an area that w ...

. A consortium of businessmen led by Dodge purchased large tracts of timberland in this area following the Civil War. The Dodge Land Company laid claim to over of land through questionable land deeds. The consortium's ownership of these lands led to land wars which resulted in nearly fifty years of court cases. Dodge and his associates built the

Macon and Brunswick Railroad The Macon and Brunswick Railroad ran from Macon, Georgia to Brunswick, Georgia. Its construction was interrupted by the American Civil War, and initially only ran from Macon to Cochran, Georgia. The track gauge, gauge line was completed and exte ...

, connecting Macon to what was then a remote area of the state. Dodge County was formed in 1870 and Eastman, the county seat, was established at the railroad's Station Number 13. Dodge visited the area only once, to dedicate a two-story courthouse that he donated to the county. Dodge's sons later administered the timber businesses in this area. Dodge was active in the post-Civil War Native American policy reform movement. He joined

Peter Cooper Peter Cooper (February 12, 1791April 4, 1883) was an American industrialist, inventor, philanthropist, and politician. He designed and built the first American steam locomotive, the ''Tom Thumb'', founded the Cooper Union for the Advancement of S ...

in organizing the privately funded United States Indian Commission in 1868 and helped institute

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

's Peace Policy toward Native Americans. In 1869, Dodge toured the

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

(present-day

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

) and

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

as a member of the government-sponsored

Board of Indian Commissioners The Board of Indian Commissioners was a committee that advised the federal government of the United States on Native American policy and inspected supplies delivered to Indian agencies to ensure the fulfillment of government treaty obligations. Hi ...

. He met and discussed U.S. Indian policy with representatives of the

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...

Arapaho The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho band ...

and

Kiowa Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and eve ...

nations. Dodge lobbied for the prosecution of the U.S. cavalry commanders responsible for the 1870

Marias Massacre The Marias Massacre (also known as the Baker Massacre or the Piegan Massacre) was a massacre of Piegan Blackfeet Native peoples which was committed by the United States Army as part of the Indian Wars. The massacre took place on January 23, 1870 ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, which left 173

Blackfeet The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Monta ...

dead. Dodge unsuccessfully campaigned to establish a cabinet-level Department for Indian Affairs. He also used his influence in Washington on behalf of Native educational programs and the General Allotment Act of 1887. Dodge's core belief regarding Native Americans during the 1880s was that the only way to save Native Americans from perceived destructed from Euro-American immigration and railway development was the forced education of Native American children that would ultimately lead to American citizenship. A monument to William E. Dodge stands on the North side of

Bryant Park Bryant Park is a public park located in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Privately managed, it is located between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas ( Sixth Avenue) and between 40th and 42nd Streets in Midtown Manhattan. The e ...

in New York City. Dodge was a founding member of the Board of Trustees for the Syrian Protestant College, later renamed the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...

. As Treasurer, he laid the cornerstone of College Hall, the first building on the present campus in Ras Beirut, on December 7, 1871. His eldest son, William Earl Dodge Jr., assumed control of the

Phelps Dodge Phelps Dodge Corporation was an American mining company founded in 1834 as an import-export firm by Anson Greene Phelps and his two sons-in-law William Earle Dodge, Sr. and Daniel James. The latter two ran Phelps, James & Co., the part of the ...

company after his death.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dodge, William E. Sr. 1805 births 1883 deaths 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American railroad executives Activists from New York (state) American abolitionists American temperance activists Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) Businesspeople from Hartford, Connecticut Businesspeople from New York City Dodge family Native Americans' rights activists Phelps Dodge Politicians from Hartford, Connecticut Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) YMCA leaders

Biography

See also

References

Further reading

External links