James Robert Dodge in World War One - October 1918: Arrival and Assignment in France

One piece of information I have been looking for in my research is where did my great-grandfather serve when he arrived in France in October of 1918. From what I have found, I know that he arrived at St. Nazaire, France on October 7, 1918 and that he was assigned to Co. F, 9th Infantry Regiment in November of 1918 and participated in the March to the Rhine and the Army of Occupation in Germany in 1918 and 1919. However, where was he assigned when he first arrived in France in October of 1918? I had always assumed that he was completing basic training and then assigned to Co. F, 9th Infantry Regiment following his arrival over there. Today, I now have some more answers.

Family Search is now beginning to publish the indexed monthly roster rolls from the end of 1912 through the end of 1939. These records have taken more than a year to index. I am excited to finally begin to search the indexes for my ancestors, whereas back at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 I had to scour these previously unindexed records for my ancestors. I found most of the roster lists for grandpa Jim, including when he was stateside during basic training. Today, I searched by name the available index (right now there are approximately 20 million names that have been indexed. I can only imagine how many tens, or even hundreds, of millions more names will be published in the upcoming days and weeks) and I was not disappointed. I finally found grandpa Jim in October of 1918 in the roster lists. 

Following his arrival to France, Jim was assigned to Company C, 162nd Infantry Regiment. This regiment was stationed at Contres, France, roughly 125 miles south-southwest of Paris. The 162nd Infantry Regiment was part of the 41st Infantry Division. From what I have found, the 41st Division was used a replacement division and did not see combat. This means that those soldiers assigned to this Division were assigned temporarily before being reassigned to other divisions. Most of the soldiers assigned to this Division ended up being reassigned to other divisions, including the 2nd Infantry Division. 

Below is a copy of the Roster for Company C, 162nd Infantry Regiment from October 1918. Grandpa Jim is listed near the bottom of the page. It doesn't reveal on what date he was assigned to this Company, but to finally know where he was in October of 1918 following his arrival in France is a another piece to the puzzle of his military service. As a side note, the National Archives in St. Louis houses the morning reports for this, and many other, infantry regiments. I don't know when the National Archives will open again (to date, they have been closed since March of 2020), but once they open again, I will have to inquire about morning reports to see if any additional information can be obtained, such as which date he was assigned to this regiment and on what date he would have been transferred to Co. F, 9th Infantry Regiment.

Remnants of the Dodge Homestead

I'd like to thank my dad for finding this one...In March of 1894, Nathaniel T. Dodge applied for a homestead in Buena Vista, Colorado. It was the Northwest quarter of the Southwest quarter (also known as Lot 6) of Section 6, Township 14 South, Range 78 West of the 6th Principal Meridian, containing 42.69 acres. After several years of living on and improving the land, the homestead application was granted in 1901 and the homestead patent issued in 1903. (for the homestead application, I have posted this information previously on http://nbdodge.blogspot.com/2008/11/land-patent-records-for-nathaniel-t.html) Nathaniel lived and worked the land until he sold it in 1922.

Below is a picture of the home that he built and lived in. The picture is from the mid-1900's. We're not sure who is in the picture, but the home is very interesting to see and is a nice detail to add to his homesteading story

Fast forward to 2021...we are now looking to find out what happened to the homestead after Nathaniel sold his land and passed away. The land was sold to a Mr. R.B. Griffith in 1922 for $1,500 as part of a mortgage taken out from the Federal Land Bank of Wichita. After trading hands a few times, the land was foreclosed in 1930 due to non-payment of the mortgage. This was following the crash of 1929 and the onset of the great depression. The land sat vacant, owned by the bank until 1946, when it was purchased by a rancher (along with several thousand additional acres). This rancher owned it until his death in the 1960's and was sold by his estate in the early 1970's. The people who purchased it kept the land together and sold it again in the 1980's. In the 1990's, a five-acre parcel was subdivided from the former homestead. The remaining land was sold again in the 1990's, and in the early 2000's, the Terrapin Ranch subdivision was created. The land records for Chaffee County are available online at iCounty.org.

This last week, dad was looking on google earth and found the former homestead (we visited the land on our trip to Buena Vista last Summer). The boundaries of the former homestead parcel are easy to see. It is a square parcel of land with a road along the southwest corner. There are three homes running from the Northwest to the Southeast with open space along the north and southwest.

google.com

South of the middle house, there was something that caught my dad's eye. Below is a picture from google earth of what he found.

In the middle of this picture, there appears to be an outline of a foundation where a building used to stand as well as other remnants of former habitation. Looking at the picture of the home where Nathaniel and his family lived, it appears to be the exact location of where their house stood. The outline of the foundation appears to match the photo. In addition, the location of the trees appear to be in the same place as well. We are planning to go back to Buena Vista next Summer to visit this place and see where our ancestors lived. We are hoping the remnants of the foundation are still there for us to see in person.

Fogalsang's Pru-Nut Creams

 I've been going back through my posts and I'm surprised that I've not published anything specific on the candy store that my great-great aunt owned and operated in San Francisco. I've mentioned the store in other posts, but it's time to post specifically on the store. That candy store was Fogalsang's Pru-Nut Creams. 

The store was owned and operated by Thomas Edwin Fogalsang (1871-1928) and his wife, Frances Cleveland (Dodge) Fogalsang (1888-1955). From what I've been able to find, operations started in early 1924 and was operated out of their home on 59 Collins Street. Below is an advertisement published in The San Francisco Examiner from February 1924. The business was originally called California Pru-Nut Creams Co.

Eventually, the business was located at 669 Geary Street in San Francisco. Below is an advertisement published in the San Anselmo Herald in November of 1924. 

Below are several advertisements for employment opportunities at Fogalsang's. All were published in The San Francisco Examiner and found on the website newspapers.com. As a side note, I did several different searches using several different terms to find as many advertisements for employment as I could. I'm sure there are other employment advertisements in The San Francisco Examiner, but the search results are only as accurate as the information that is transcribed

May 19, 1925

December 8, 1926

September 30 & October 1, 1930

December 10, 1935

November 4, 1940

August 19-22, 1941

September 26-27, 1942

January 3, 1943

June 10-14, 1943

It is amazing that there are websites, such as newspapers.com (where the above clippings come from) and genealogybank.com (which contain additional newspapers from all over the United States) that are available for online perusal where this information can be found. Another website that I recently searched is the California Digital Newspaper Collection, where the following article was found. This article, published in The Healdsburg Tribune in May of 1939, describes one of the confections that was manufactured.

I'm not sure how this particular candy fared in the market.

For anyone wondering...No. We don't have any of the recipes that would have existed. As far as I know, those are all long gone. The business appears to have operated for nearly 20 years. The last mention in any of the newspapers or San Francisco directories of Fogalsang's is 1943. In 1944, the location became a beauty shop. I used google maps to look up the address of the business. The building is still there. Below is a picture of what is there today.

My grandpa remembered visiting Fogalsang's as a kid during the 1930's. His dad was Frances' brother and they traveled from Wyoming to San Francisco to visit. He remembers staying in an apartment above the store and being told to be quiet and not to make too much noise so as to not disturb the business below. Below is a picture of my great-grandfather in front of the store front.

A couple of years ago, I received an email from the proprietor of Antiques on First, an antique store in Benicia, California. They had received a box (pictured below) of Fogalsang's Pru-Nut Creams (minus the candy, of course 😄). While researching where the box was from and who and what Fogalsang's was, they came across my blog and reached out to me. They were kind enough to send the box to me. I am grateful that they sent this to me so that my family can enjoy this tangible piece of family history.

***UPDATE November 26, 2020 - I found three additional help wanted advertisements from the The San Francisco Examiner that were published in July of 1924. The business was located at 871 Geary Street and was called 'Pru-Nut Cream Co.'

July 15-17, 1924

2020 Colorado Trip

With 2020 going the way that it has, I haven't been able to do too much on my family history research. However, I have been able to travel with my dad to Salida this week to enjoy the scenery of the Arkansas Valley as well as take care of our ancestors' graves in Buena Vista. We had this trip planned since Christmas of last year. We're both very glad that we were able to go as there were several things that could have derailed our trip. On Tuesday morning, we went to the Mount Olivet cemetery in Buena Vista to perform some much overdue upkeep on our ancestors' graves. Below are the pics from our small project.

This is the gravestone our family had put in place when I lived in Colorado back in 2009. The story my grandpa told me was that their daughter, Ann, was supposed to have purchased and placed a gravestone following Nathaniel's death in 1926. Ann lived in Colorado Springs and lived the closest to Buena Vista. However, Ann never had a gravestone in place, and the task then fell to her daughter, Virginia, who also spent her life in Colorado Springs. After Virginia passed away (she never had any children), my Grandpa always had a desire to have a gravestone put in place. When I moved to Colorado in 2008, he told me that he would help pay for a gravestone. I took my grandpa up on the offer, and we placed the gravestone (pictured above) in 2009. 

This is part of the upkeep that me and dad did on their graves. Above is a picture of Fannie's grave. Her grave was outlined with stones that have become covered up over the past 100 years. We took some time to uncover and place the stones above ground as well as add a few additional stones. 

This is the other part of the upkeep that we performed on their gravesite. Above is a picture of Nathaniel's grave, which was unmarked and was a settled depression in the ground where he is buried. We purchased and placed paver stones to outline where Nathaniel is buried.

Above is a picture of the final product.

This morning, we stopped at the Salida Public Library to look up the local newspapers to see if there were any additional death notices for Nathaniel. Back in 2016, I had found a death notice in 'The Salida Mail' published May 4, 1926. I was hoping to see if the other Salida Newspaper, 'The Salida Record' would have published anything regarding his death. The Salida Library was very helpful in helping us locate what we were looking for. They have original newspapers for both 'The Salida Record' and 'The Salida Mail', and we were able to find death notices for Nathaniel in both newspapers. They are pictured below.

'The Salida Mail', May 4, 1926. I had found this article back in 2016, but was happy to find it again. This article details his funeral and lists his children that attended his funeral. Along with Ann, who was living in Colorado Springs, another daughter, Rachel (Ray), was there. She moved to Grand Junction in 1920 and had actually buried a daughter just one month previous to Nathaniel's passing away. Ray and her family moved to Tacoma, Washington in 1931. Also there was one of his sons, Ed Dodge, who was living in Avon. Ed (his full name was John Edward Dodge), was the only son who stayed in Colorado. He lived in an around Buena Vista for most of his life. He lived in Avon for a time during the 1920's, but was back in Buena Vista by 1928. He later lived in Fairplay, where he passed away in 1934.

'The Salida Record', May 4, 1926. This is what I was hoping to find this morning. I cannot tell how excited I am to have another piece of information on Nathaniel. Reading this death notice, I think there is one line that is missing. The middle sentence should probably read: 'He was born at Augusta Maine, [and came to Colorado] in the eighties.' He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1906 & 1924. Each was a two-year term. He resigned from his position in January of 1926. He also ran for Justice of the Peace in 1908, 1910, 1914 & 1920, losing each time. He was also a Judge in Buena Vista during much of the 1880's.

It is interesting how each newspaper published different information on Nathaniel. One focused on his funeral, the other reported on his death and gave a brief obituary on his life. Each article helps paint a picture on his life and add to the information and research I am able to share.

There are several other editions of 'The Salida Record' that I would like to come back and look through. Because of the articles I have found in 'The Salida Mail', I would hope that looking through 'The Salida Record' would someday be possible. Because of the current status of everything that is going on, the librarian was only able to allow me to search through a specific edition of the available newspapers. If conditions were normal, I would be able to take the time to search through 'The Salida Record' and compare them to the articles that I have already found in 'The Salida Mail'. At any rate, the librarians at the Salida Library were very helpful in our search today.

James Dodge - 19th Century Financial Troubles

          This weekend, I came across several court records from 19th Century Maine; in particular, court records from the counties of Somerset and Franklin, where my Dodge ancestors lived during the 19th Century. James Dodge, my third great-grandfather, was a farmer and settler and purchased land in the area of Rangeley, Maine in October of 1832. The court records that I found indicate that this area was an unincorporated part of the county where he lived and was known as Lake Plantation. James Dodge and his brothers each set out to establish themselves during the 1830's and 1840's, and most of them ran into financial trouble during this time and faced financial judgments for failure to pay their debts. At least three of James' brothers filed for bankruptcy during the early 1840's, in the wake of the financial panic that crippled the American economy and wreaked havoc on financial and banking institutions.

When James purchased his property in Rangeley in October of 1832, he signed several promissory notes to pay back the loan in equal payments that were due annually over a period of five years. The loan called for five equal payments of $60.00 per year for five years, with interest. The first four notes promising payment were endorsed to Stephen C. Syford of Belknap, New Hampshire at the time the loan was secured. The fifth note was endorsed to Daniel Burnham of Portland, Maine. Danie Burnham sued for payment in October of 1842 and was awarded $101.40 (approximately $3,250.00 in today's dollars) and an additional $10.32 in court costs. Stephen C. Syford didn’t seek any damages for non-payment until March of 1849 for his four outstanding notes of payment. By the time this suit was brought against James Dodge, he was living in Dallas Plantation (next to Rangeley), according to court records. In September of 1850, Stephen C. Syford was awarded $460.66 (over $15,000.00 today) and $11.37 for court costs.

While living in Rangeley, James incurred numerous debts (in addition to his mortgage) that he ultimately was unable to repay. This is indicated by the court records that are available which show his creditors sued for financial remuneration. It is unknown whether his inability to repay his debts was due to financial reverses, economic hardships, or an unwillingness to pay back his debts. On March 10, 1834, James, along with his brother Samuel, borrowed $25.45 from Jonathan Wright (more than $700.00 in 2020 dollars). They were to pay him back, with interest, by June of 1834. They failed to do so, and in November of 1834 were ordered to pay Jonathan Wright $26.47, and an additional $10.27 in court costs. According to the court records, Rangeley was also known as Lake Settlement and was an unincorporated part of Oxford (now Franklin) County.

Also, in March of 1834, James borrowed $64.51 (nearly $2,000.00 today) from Thomas Hunter and was to pay him back, with interest, by June of 1834. He again failed to do so, and judgment was entered against James Dodge for $66.44, in addition to $10.01 in court costs, in November of 1835. 

On July 8, 1835, James borrowed $36.19 (nearly $1,000.00 in today’s money) from Benjamin F. Eastman of Strong. James was to pay back the money, with interest. Another judgment was entered against James on July 4, 1836, in the amount of $38.32, with an additional $13.08 in court costs.

On May 4, 1837, James Dodge once again borrowed money. This time, he borrowed $61.82 (more than $1,700.00 today) from Francis Butler, who later passed away. His son, Francis G. Butler, as administrator of his father’s estate, sued for $150.00 repayment. James Dodge made the plea to the court that he did not have enough funds or possessions to pay back the amount that was sued for. It was discovered that he deposited into the possession of Benjamin Hunter and George Hunter his goods and possessions amounting to the money that was being sued for. They had volunteered this information when called upon to testify. It was ordered that they surrender the possessions belonging to James Dodge in order to repay the final amount of $99.97 (more than $3,000.00 today), along with court costs of $9.12, which was awarded by the Court in April of 1849.

On October 21, 1837, James, along with his brother Samuel, and one Daniel Dodge (no relation), borrowed $136.00 (over $3,500.00 today) from Samuel Belcher, to be paid back within one year, with interest. The money that was owed was payable to his widow, Hannah A. Belcher, following his death. She sued in court, and on September 13, 1839, was awarded $151.30 (over $4,000.00 today), along with $9.27 in court costs.

          Even after moving to Perkins Plantation, James Dodge was not clear of his financial troubles. In October of 1861, James Dodge was again the subject of financial judgment. In January of 1849, Joseph Dow, a Justice of the Peace, obtained judgment against James Dodge in the amount of $17.09 (nearly $600.00 today), including interest. James never paid this judgment and the judgment was ordered recovered. 

           While it is easy to think that these amounts do not seem like much to us today, these were small fortunes during the 1830's and 1840's, especially to a small farmer seeking to establish himself with a growing family to care for. While I can't imagine not paying off my debts and taking financial responsibility for myself, there are numerous reasons why my ancestor didn't meet his financial obligations. It is likely that there was the hope that investing in land and establishing himself and his family would provide financial means to meet his monetary obligations. However, when things didn't turn out as expected, especially with the financial reverses experienced across the United States in the late 1830's, he wasn't able to pay off his debts and probably decided that they were no longer worth recognizing. It would be interesting to find out the entire story behind these judgments, as well as if there are still original pleadings in existence, which would help add to the story behind this chapter in my ancestor's life.