HANKS-L Archives

From: Robert Ule <>
Subject: Remember Mary Neville Dodson/Jackman?
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 15:24:51 EST

Ren, Jim, anyone else interested in our question "to Whom did Mary Neville
give her hand in marriage?" from last fall,

At Glenn Gohr's suggestion, I phoned Bill Randolph, the Dodson/Hanks genealogy
marvel in his 70's. I asked about Mary Neville and her mate, and he told me
hands down it was Thomas Dodson Jr.

(Mary and Thomas Second Fork Dodson's daughter was Aggatha who married Moses
Hanks)

Rattling off dates and names faster than I could scribble "William and Mary
Quarterly", he told me the infamous 1790 deposition in Hardy County was in
reference to land Thomas "Second Fork" Dodson had purchased in Fauquier County
from the Lord Fairfax estates. (I've just gotten to that part in the Virginia
history I'm reading. Lord Fairfax owned some 5.5 MILLION acres of land in
VA--gift from a king!)

Bill believed (this was off the top of his head), that Thomas SF was involved
in a land dispute with Reverend DeButts (an Anglican minister) over some
boundaries. He said "Second Fork" had a lot of land (Bill thought it was 1200
acres in this transaction) and gave it away to various kids before he left for
Pittsylvania and Halifax Counties in about 1767.

He told me he knew some of this from Frank D. Fuller's notes on Elias Dodson's
manuscript. I've not seen any of this, but he assumed I had. He thought they
were in the TN State Library and Archives. He, of course, recommended we
check the originals on the deposition which he thought would be in Hardy
County records. I wonder why I didn't think of that.

Among other things he told me in a delightful 30 minute conversation, was that
Sr. and Jr. didn't necessarily mean the two men were related to each other.
Sometimes the designation was made just to differentiate between an older and
younger man of the same name in the neighborhood, whether they were related or
not.

Bill said the Dodsons were originally in the Hamilton Parish in Fauquier
County but then someone (Cornwall?) went up north and got a Baptist Preacher.
You'll remember they founded Broad Run Baptist Church there near Warrenton.

In regard to Second Fork going to Pittsylvania county "under censure", Bill
said that usually meant getting drunk, cursing or working on the sabbath.

For those of you who have Hills in your Hanks line, he broke the news he
doesn't really think Rev. Thomas Hanks' wife Sarah was really a Hill. (Her
alleged father, Rev. Thomas Hill, would have been nearly 60 at her birth) and
maybe not even a Hamlin (the believed name of her mother). Then again . . .
maybe change of life? After my latest problem with the Lewis line, I'm
beginning to wonder if I'm related to ANYONE I think I'm related to (are you
still out there, Dad?!).

Michelle Ule

Ukiah, CA

This thread:

• Remember Mary Neville Dodson/Jackman? by Robert Ule <>