C. M. Dodge, a prominent farmer of Benton township and Butler county pioneer, was born in Dane county, Wisconsin, November 8, 1852, and is a son of Robert and Sarah (Kemp) Dodge, the former a native of Londondery, N. H., born January 27, 1819, and the latter a native of White Rock, Me. They were married November 22, 1846, and shortly afterward migrated to Wisconsin, when that State was an unbroken wilderness. The father was a shoemaker and worked at his trade in Wisconsin and did some pioneer farming until 1872, when the family came to Kansas, first settling on railroad land and shortly afterward the father bought 160 acres in Benton township. Here he engaged in farming an stock raising and became fairly prosperous.

Robert Dodge was a pioneer of two States. When he went to Wisconsin that State was very sparsely settled, and was admitted to the Union about that time. There were no railroad facilities in Wisconsin then, and Mr. Dodge had to drive to Milwaukee, a distance of ninety miles, to sell his grain or other produce. It will be seen that before he came to Kansas he had received his training in the rough school of pioneer life.

C. M. Dodge, whose name introduces this sketch, is one of a familly of the following children: Mrs. Lizzie Newberry, Long Beach, Cal.: Selia, Soldiers' Grove, Wis.; Mrs. Anna Nottingham, Lawrence, Kans.: Mrs. Sarah Drake, Montezuma, Wis.; William, Sioux City, Iowa; A. G., Los Angeles, Cal.; and C. M., the subject of this sketch.

C. M. Dodge had just about reached the age of manhood when the family settled in Butler county. In those days he worked at anything at which he could earn an honest dollar. He hauled piling for the first bridge over the Arkansas river at Wichita. These trips were about thirty miles long, and he frequently slept on the ground under his wagon, with his horses picketed in that vicinity. He suffered much

from the cold, and frequently the wintry winds of the plains were augmented by an early day Kansas blizzard. Out of the first money which Mr. Dodge earned on this work he bought an overcoat, which, if it did not add greatly to his comfort, it at least decreased his discomfort.

Soon after coming to Kansas, C. M. Dodge bought 160 acres of land and engaged in farming, which has been his chief occupation to the present time. The first house which he built on the place has long since given way to a beautiful farm residence, which, together with the well kept general appearance of the place, bears testimony to the capable management and prosperity of the owner of this place.

Mr. Dodge was married on September 24, 1873, to Miss Loretto Claypool, a daughter of Harrison and Edith Claypool, pioneers of Iowa, where the father died in 1853. Later the mother married J. H. Clark, and, in 1872, the family came to Butler county, Kansas, and were one of the pioneer families of this section. Mrs. Dodge was the only child born to her mother's first marriage, and the following children were born to her second marriage: A. B. Clark, Fresno, Cal.; H. H. Clark, Modesto, Cal.; Mrs. Mary Pierce, Los Angeles, Cal.; and John H. Clark, Jr., Oakdale, Cal. To Mr. and Mrs. Dodge have been born the following children: George C., Benton, Kans.; William Robert, Pueblo, Colo.; Mrs. Lotta Maxwell, Neosho, Mo.; Frank E., Hudson, N. Y.: and B. E., Madison, Wis. Frank and B. E. are civil engineers, and are graduates of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where they took the civil engineering course, after having graduated from Fairmount College, Wichita.

Mr. Dodge is a prosperous and substantial farmer and the Dodge family is well known and highly respected.

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