Author Topic: Look up 1891 - Epping - Joseph Napoleon Dodge  (Read 19072 times)

Offline Ardmore47

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Re: Look up 1891 - Epping - Joseph Napoleon Dodge
« Reply #36 on: Wednesday 25 July 18 23:41 BST (UK) »
I'm very interested in this topic. I think Joseph Napoleon Dodge was born on March 10, 1846 in Bishopsgate, and was the much younger brother of my great-grandmother Ellen Dodge. Their parents were Joseph Dodge (originally from Brighton, Sussex) and Mary (Wordsworth or Wadsworth) Dodge (originally from Sonning, Oxfordshire). I believe I know Joseph Napoleon and Ellen's ancestry back as far their paternal grandparents and maternal great-grandparents, at least, and I've pieced together quite a bit about the family story in the early to mid 19th century. The family seems to have used the names Dodge and Davis somewhat interchangeably as far back as about 1840 -- generally keeping the name "Dodge" on formal documents (birth and marriage records, anyway), while also frequently using "Davis" in the census (and perhaps in general daily use), probably because of their history in the late 1830s, or particular events that took place around that time. If this thread is still active, and if anyone remains interested, I'd love to hear from them and would be happy to share what I know (or at least what I believe!).

Offline carol crisp

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Re: Look up 1891 - Epping - Joseph Napoleon Dodge
« Reply #37 on: Friday 27 July 18 11:55 BST (UK) »
I'm very interested as Joseph Napoleon was my paternal grandfather, it seems your great-grandmother would have been my father's aunt possibly making us distant cousins. Would value any photos you may have of the the family and also the "family story" Look forward to more information from you.

Offline Ardmore47

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Re: Look up 1891 - Epping - Joseph Napoleon Dodge
« Reply #38 on: Saturday 28 July 18 08:49 BST (UK) »
Hi, Carol. It's good to hear from you. I wanted to communicate with you via personal message, but I don't seem to be able to do that (I think because I'm new to RootsChat and haven't posted enough yet). But anyway, here's a start. My great-grandmother, Ellen (Dodge) Cooper was born in Brighton in about 1834. I'm pretty sure that her parents were Joseph Dodge (born in Brighton in about 1812) and Mary (Wordsworth or Wadsworth) Dodge (born in Sonning, Oxfordshire, in about 1810). I don't know where they met, and I haven't been able to find any marriage record for them. But it seems that they lived together in Brighton from about 1830 or 1831 until about 1839 or 1840. Joseph was a cab driver, like his father (also called Joseph Dodge; he apparently came from Devon or Dorset originally, but spent most of his life in Brighton). They lost several (maybe three) sons in the 1830s, and it looks like they ran into difficult times financially. They moved to London in about 1840, apparently leaving Ellen with her grandparents in Whitchurch, Oxfordshire (where she was living, aged about 6, at the time of the 1841 census). A son, Alfred John Dodge, was born in early 1841, in Bermondsey. Around that time, the family apparently started to use the surname "Davis", at least for some purposes (for example, in the 1841 census), and Joseph was using the forename "Alfred". Another son, Richard Davis Dodge, was born at No. 2, Bakers Buildings, Bishopsgate, in December 1843. And another, Joseph Napoleon Dodge, was born at the same place in March 1846. Joseph/Alfred disappeared sometime between 1846 and 1851 (he probably died, but I've not been able to find any death record for him). In 1851, Mary (apparently then a widow) was living at 8 Cumberland Street, Shoreditch, with Ellen, Richard and Joseph; their surname was listed in the census as "Davis"; there was no indication of how she was earning a living. Her oldest son, Alfred John (known then as "John"), was in Whitchurch with his grandparents. Ellen married my great-grandfather, Charles Cooper, in Shoreditch in December 1853 (when her brother Joseph Napoleon would have been aged 7). In 1861, Mary was still at 8 Cumberland Street, working as a laundress, with Alfred John, Richard, and Joseph Napoleon, but now using the surname "Dodge". Charles and Ellen were nearby, at 10 Cumberland Street, with their first three kids. My grandfather, William Cooper, was born at 5 Plough Yard (very close to Cumberland Street) in December 1861. The Cooper family moved to St. George in the East, and then to Shadwell, between 1861 and 1871. At the time of the 1871 census, my grandfather William (aged 9) was with his grandmother Mary (who was still working as a laundress, but now using the surname "Davis") at 2 Plough Yard (very close to where he was born in 1861). Also there was Joseph Napoleon (my grandfather's uncle), then aged 24 and working as a porter (and also using the surname "Davis"). I think Mary died sometime between 1871 and 1881, but I've not been able to find any clear record of her death. By 1881, Ellen had died, Charles was living in Limehouse with their three youngest children, and my grandfather William had joined the army (the Army Hospital Corps); Joseph Napoleon was, I think, living on his own (as "Joseph Davis") in Shadwell, still working as a porter. Apparently sometime between then and when he married in 1889 he started working as a packing case maker. I suppose it's possible that he was doing that for his nephew Charles Cooper (my grandfather's older brother, born in Shoreditch in 1855), who by then had become a very successful manufacturer and seller of rat and insect poisons based in Limehouse (my great-grandfather, Charles Cooper Sr., appears to have worked as a salesman for his eldest son, Charles Jr., towards the end of his life).

Apparently Joseph Napleon and Johanna (Gilbey) Davis/Dodge had at least eight kids between 1889 and 1906 -- Nellie (1889), Joseph Napoleon (1890), Arthur John (1893), William Thomas (1895), Percy Ernest Mitchell (1897), Edwin Frederick (1899), Richard Charles (1902) and Bertram Leonard (1906). Which one of them are you descended from?! I don't know anything about this branch of the family, but would be interested to hear more.

I have a fair bit more information about the Dodge family in Brighton, about the Wordsworth (or Wadsworth) family in Oxfordshire and London (several of Mary's siblings moved to London in the 1830s and 1840s), and about Joseph Napoleon's siblings (Ellen, Alfred John, and Richard) and their families .... but enough for now!

Offline Ardmore47

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Re: Look up 1891 - Epping - Joseph Napoleon Dodge
« Reply #39 on: Monday 30 July 18 23:02 BST (UK) »
If anyone would like to talk about any pieces of this story (see my last post), please send me a private message -- I have far too much information to post everything here. I'd be very happy to hear from anyone who wants to know more, or who can add anything to the story that I've been putting together, but I'd prefer to do it privately. I'd be happy to provide anyone with my regular email address, in a private message. But I'm struggling a bit with the PM function here -- messages seem to disappear for no apparent reason (but perhaps this is just a reflection of me being new to the site!).


Offline Sorita Deste

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Re: Look up 1891 - Epping - Joseph Napoleon Dodge
« Reply #40 on: Monday 08 April 19 12:18 BST (UK) »
Hello!  If there is anyone still actively researching this family I would love to hear from you!

Offline carol crisp

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Re: Look up 1891 - Epping - Joseph Napoleon Dodge
« Reply #41 on: Monday 08 April 19 12:55 BST (UK) »
Hi

Would love to know your connection to JND mine is that he was my father Bertram's father

Regards Carol

Offline Leslie B

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Re: Look up 1891 - Epping - Joseph Napoleon Dodge
« Reply #42 on: Tuesday 01 October 19 14:48 BST (UK) »
hi there new to this site but am distantly  related to Arthur John Davis (Dodge) born 1893. he was my grandmothers brother in law. i have a great picture of Arthur when i can work out how to load it. i would love to know more about how the dodges became davis's and the apparent secrecy about this.

Offline carol crisp

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Re: Look up 1891 - Epping - Joseph Napoleon Dodge
« Reply #43 on: Tuesday 01 October 19 19:01 BST (UK) »
Hi Leslie B
Would love to see photo of Arthur,  sorry I have no info regarding the name change,  would like to know myself, can only think that they owed money maybe?  What was your grandmother's name

Offline Leslie B

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Re: Look up 1891 - Epping - Joseph Napoleon Dodge
« Reply #44 on: Wednesday 02 October 19 00:19 BST (UK) »
Hi Leslie B
Would love to see photo of Arthur,  sorry I have no info regarding the name change,  would like to know myself, can only think that they owed money maybe?  What was your grandmother's name
tried about 10 times to load a picture not sure what i'm doing wrong hope this works
can you message me and exchange emails so i can send the pic