Grand Island Daily Independent
Thursday, February 26, 1914

CELEBRANTS OF GOLDEN WEDDING
Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Dodson the Venerable Couple.
MARRIED DURING THE CIVIL WAR
Came Home on Furlough and Was Married -
Then Back to Join His Regiment - Lived in and Around
Grand Island for 42 Years

Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Dodson were the celebrants of their golden wedding anniversary yesterday and were the recipients of the congradulations of many friends while others remembered the venerable couple with beautiful bouquets of flowers. Owing to the fact that some of the relatives who are on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts could not be here, there was no family gathering, but the day was spent quietly and the couple visited with friends and reviewed some of their experiences of the past half century. Mr. and Mrs. Dodson may be called a Civil War couple, for they were married while it was raging, and while Mr. Dodson, who was a lieutenant in the array, was on a short veteran furlough. Mr. and Mrs. Dodson have been identified with Grand Island for about 42 years, coming here in 1872 and aside from a short time when they lived on the farm, have always made this city their home. For years they resided on East Fourth street, where the Bradstreet & Clemens sales stables are now located but for a number of years they have lived on East Third street where they have a comfortable home. Both are enjoying good health and expect to live many more years. They have the hearty congratulations of all the residents of Grand Island.

It was on February 24, 1864, that Charles C. Dodson was united in marriage to Miss Theresa Clink in Dayton, O. at a time when the states were in the thick of a war thich threatened to divide this country, and the surroundings of a wedding during these troublous times can well be imagined. After serving two years Mr. Dodson came home on a veteran furlough and it was at this time that he was married and shortly after enlisted for three years more. After peace had been declared Mr. and Mrs. Dodson began farming near Dayton until March 14, 1872, when they came to Grand Island and took a homestead north of Chapman. He built the first hotel in that village and after running it a short time disposed of that business. In the year 1880 he quit the work of tilling the soil and re-

turned to Grand Island to work for the Union Pacific and for 31 years continuously he was in the emply of this company. At no town along the line was there a man who was a steadler on the job for the company, or who put in more days work during the same space of time. Mr. Dodson was a car inspector and for years he was a familiar figure at eh passenger station and some few years ago when he was retired on the pension list he was greatly missed by his fellow employers. After retiring from railroad work Mr. Dodson took up other duties and is actively engaged at the present time with the Grand Island Culver works of Wingert and McElroy.

Mr. Dodson had an exceptionally interesting career during the civil war. He was born in Lima, O., July 28, 1841, the youngest son of 12 children, of whom three brothers are still living. His father was a farmer, and the boys befan work at tilling the soil. When 17 years of age he went to Dayton, O., and hired out on a farm by the year. When the war broke out he enlisted, when 20 years of age, in the 74th Ohio infantry. He was wounded twice and was in many important battles among them Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain, Stony River, Siege of Atlanta; was with Sherman on his march from Atlanta to the sea, and in the grand review in Washington at the close of the war. Mr. Dodson served under General Thomas and while he entered the service as a private he was a lieutenant when discharged. After serving two years he went home and as mentioned, was married during his veteran furlough. He re-enlisted for three years more, but before this time expired the war was at an end.

Mrs. Dodson, nee Theresa Clinck, was born in France, May 15, 1844, and when seven years of age came to this country on a sailing vessel, wearing wooden shoes and a tasselled cap. She remembers the trip witch brought great grief to the family on account of the death of a little brother, 5 years of age. It was during a storm that he fell overboard and the body was never recovered. The Clink family located in Dayton, O., and here she made her home until the family came to Grand Island.

Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Dodson, three of whom are living; Mrs. Jennie Osterman having passed away about two years ago. The children living are Mrs. Florence Makeley, of Oxford, Mass.; Mrs. Emma Stein, who resides in the west, and Miss Mattie Dodson, of this city. There are three grand children and two great grand-children in the family.