The Family of Horatio Prater and Cyntha Dodd by Alice Moss.
(permission granted to use on this page for the purpose of sharing our family history, by Alice on Jan 30, 2000.)

    My mother, Cyntha Dodd Prater, told me during her life time that her great grandfather Dodd (Jim Dodd) came from Ireland to America. His wife was Cyntha Dodd and they settled near Memphis, Tennessee. Later Jim Dodd moved to Missouri and settled on the Gasconade River just above where the Crocker-Waynesville steel bridge was later built about 1894. She said the great grandparents were buried on a knoll of ground near where their house then stood. The two graves have been lost through the years.

    On June 12, 1981, I visited my Aunt Laura Dodd Hullinger in Bowes Care Center, White River, S.D. 57579. Aunt Laura said her great grandfather Dodd came from Ireland, which corresponds with what my mother told me.

    Cyntha Dodd Prater said that the crossing or ford on the Gasconade was near where her great grandfather lived. She remembered hearing her parents tell that during the Civil War an Uncle died at Rolla and the body was brought to this crossing on the Gasconade where it was brought across the river in a "dug out" (canoe made from a big log with the center hollowed out.) The body was then taken for burial to what is now known as the Dodd Cemetry on the river south of Crocker.

    In my search for data I found "Enrolled Missouri Militia in Pulaski County, Missouri, 1862." On that list I found: Dodd, James W. age 18, enlistment 1 Aug. 1862, rank PVT. Co. B. The record of Dodd Cemetery shows Dodd, James, 16 Mar. 1843-31 May 1865.

    This information corresponds with what Cyntha related from memory.

    In my search I found Dodd, John, age 30, from Dormal, Ireland, farmer, by ship Snow George arriving in NY, 22 Sept. 1803. This name (John) does not fit my inquiry.

    Another I found; Dodd, James, age 45 in 1824 from Northcumberland Co., England, arriving in NY., 1 Sept. 1816.

    The third I found: Dodd, James, age 16, from England by ship Abigale, Robert Hackwell Master, arriving in America, 1634.

    As you can readily see these dates do not fit in with the other material I have collected of James Dodd. Others who have shared their dates on the James Dodd, who moved from Tennessee to Missouri, have traced him to North Carolina, but cannot find where he was born.

    As for me, I choose to believe James Dodd came from Ireland. Perhaps he could have resided in North Carolina a short time before he settled in Tennessee. Some of the pieces of the puzzle we may never find.

    After the death of Cyntha Dodd in 1818 or 1819,  James Dodd married Milla Walker 15 July, 1819. James died intestate (dying without a will). He was buried beside his first wife Cyntha on their farm. Their graves have been lost through the years.

    Records show that Milla Dodd later moved to Benton County, Missouri.

    The following 4 pages are copies from Probate records, Pulaski County, Missouri, pages 166-167 Book_____. This document is dated 8th day of December, A.D. 1843. We gather from this date that James Dodd died in 1843. His name appeared on the 1840 census but not on the 1850 census. The 1850 census of Benton County, MO., record shows Milla Walker Dodd and some of her children. She reported her age as 50 years, and said she was born in North Carolina. Benton Co.,MO Cemetery records show: "England, Millie, May 6, 1801 - Oct., 25, 1882." After the death of James Dodd she was married to a Reverend England.

(Go to the next page to view the probate will record of James Dodd)

graphics on this page courtesy of "Rhio Sampler".