(This is from my family research and will be of more interest to my family members than the casual reader.)
HOW DID THE DODSONS COME INTO OUR FAMILY
HOW DID THE DODSONS COME INTO OUR FAMILY
The Patriarch of the Dodson family was John "Joe" Dodson. And the family story goes, "In 1908 when the Goodwin family, James and Elizabeth and their three daughters, Adeline (my grandmother) Carmen, and Hilda, were immigrating to Canada on the "Tunisian", they met a young man named Joe Dodson. He was from the same area of England that they were and at 14 years old, he was an orphan with no adults with him, just a label addressed to Winnipeg Manitoba. They took him under their wing so to speak and sort of adopted him. He lived with the family when they first arrived in Winnipeg and became like a brother to their daughters. The next generation always called him "Uncle Joe" and future generations grew up together as pseudo cousins.
A very nice story, but like most family stories, not quite true. As I started to try to pin down this information, facts got in the way. I first found the ships passenger list for the "Tunisian" and sure enough, there on the same page as the Goodwin family was an entry for a single male, John Dodson. But his age was listed as 18 years old. Not exactly the child in the story, but a grown young man. He was actually the same age as their oldest daughter Adeline. Perhaps they were looking for a future husband for her. Later research revealed that James was inclined to arrange marriages for his daughters. The other untruth in the story is that Joe was heading for Winnipeg, as they were. Well, the ships manifest shows that John's passage was booked for London, Ontario. They would have had to part company at that point, as the Goodwins continued on to Winnipeg. Perhaps Joe got off the train in London couldn't find work there, then followed on later. Knowing he had friends here in Winnipeg, would have been an incentive, because we do know he ended up here.
My grandmother Adeline later married Tom Baker. I have heard it quoted that,"James and Elizabeth Goodwin, didn't much like Tom Baker, So they made sure they picked the husbands for the other two daughters". They married Carmen age 16, off to Harry Stewart at the age of 29, then later, Hilda age 17 was married off to Harry Whittaker at the age of 34.
GIRLS NOW A DAYS DON'T KNOW HOW LUCKY THEY ARE TO GET TO CHOOSE THEIR OWN HUSBANDS.
