Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 859 - 860

ENOCH DODGE, prominent as an early settler of Sedgwick County, is actively engaged in business as a real-estate dealer in its metropolis, Wichita. He came to this city in 1870, it being then a small trading-post, and pre-empted 136 acres of land on the west side of the Arkansas River. In the eighteen years that have elapsed since that time that tract of land has become very valuable, owing to the rapid and marvelous growth of the city of which it now forms a part. He built for his shelter a log house, with a roof of poles and dirt, and then commenced the life of a farmer and stock-raiser. The rich, alluvial soil of his farm brought him in large returns for his care, and his stock did well, proving a good source of income. In 1886 he laid out thirty acres of land as an addition. He is a man of marked enterprise and shrewd judgment. He is very liberal, spending his money very freely in the support of the various institutions of the city.

            Our subject comes of sturdy New England ancestry, but is himself a native of the Prairie State of Illinois, he having been born in Crete, Will County, in 1893. He is the son of Enoch and Susan (Adams) Dodge, natives of Vermont and New Hampshire, and of remote Scotch ancestry. His paternal grandfather was Elisha Dodge, of Beverly, Mass. At some period of his life he settled in New Hampshire. The maternal grandparents of our subject were Henry and Catherine (Adams) Adams, natives of Vermont, where the grandfather was engaged in farming.

            The parents of our subject made their home in Crete, Ill., and there carried on farming with a good degree of success. To them were born ten children: Frederic and Emeline (deceased), Catherine, Franklin, Caroline, Mary, Susan, John, Enoch, Jr., and Almon E. Catherine is now Mrs. Little, of Sweetwater, Neb.; Caroline; Mary, now Mrs. Motlong; Susan and John live in Crete, Ill.; Almon is a resident of Wichita.

            Our subject remained on his father's farm until he was eighteen years of age, in the meantime acquiring in the district school an education, and at home receiving a practical training in the labors of the farm, which were beneficial to him in his career as a farmer and stock-grower. On the 31st of July he enlisted in Company G, 100th Illinois Regiment, and bravely went forth to the field of battle to assist in the preservation of this great Union, remaining at the front as a faithful soldier until the last battle was fought, and the Rebellion came to an end. He served under Gen. Thomas, and took part in all the engagements of the Army of the Cumberland; he was honorably discharged in Chicago, Ill., July 1, 1865. He then returned to his home in Crete, where he remained until the following year. Then he resolved to try his fortunes in California, and went to that State by way of New York City and the Isthmus of Panama, arriving at San Francisco May 24, 1866. He continued traveling for eighteen months thereafter, and saw a great deal of the country bordering on the Pacific Coast. Finally he joined a company which was laying out a Government trail from Lewiston to Bitter Root. He was thus employed for two months, and then for two and one-half months worked for the Government in putting up hay at Ft. Sully. After that experience of frontier life he returned to Chicago in October,1868. The succeeding two years he was engaged in farming in Illinois. In 1870 he came to Kansas, and located where he now resides, and with the courageous determination and faith of the true pioneer immediately set about increasing his fortune, and at the same time assisting in the development of this wonderful region, which his sagacious mind rightly judged would, in a not distant future, become an agricultural and business center.

            Our subject was married, in 1876, to Miss Elizabeth Hughes, daughter of Samuel and Ann (Jones) Hughes, natives of Kentucky. She has been to him a wise and ready helper. They have a beautiful home at No. 1328 West First street, which Mr. Dodge erected at an expense of $4,200; it is replete with the comforts and many of the luxuries of modern life. Three sons complete the family circle - Arthur, Lee and Ray.

            Mr. Dodge is prominently identified with the Republican party. Both in business circles and in private life he is honored and esteemed for his upright character.

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