William E. Dodge

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. 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 in the United States Congress for a portion of the 39th United States Congress in 1866–1867 and was a founding member of the YMCA of the US. Biography William Earl Dodge was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the second son of David Low Dodge, founder of the New York Peace Society, and his wife Sarah Cleveland, the daughter of minister Aaron Cleveland. He married Melissa Phelps (1809–1903), a daughter of Anson Green Phelps and Olivia Egleston. 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. Dodge is the namesake of Dodge County, Georgia. 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, 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 in organizing the privately funded United States Indian Commission in 1868 and helped institute Ulysses S. Grant's Peace Policy toward Native Americans. In 1869, Dodge toured the Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) and Kansas as a member of the government-sponsored Board of Indian Commissioners. He met and discussed U.S. Indian policy with representatives of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Kiowa nations. Dodge lobbied for the prosecution of the U.S.