Greenbrier County, West Virginia Biography of THE DOTSON FAMILY. This biography was submitted by Sandy Spradling, E-mail address: This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm History of Greenbrier County J. R. Cole Lewisburg, WV 1917 p. 343-345 THE DOTSON FAMILY. Prominent among the sons and daughters of Greenbrier county in both church and State comes the Dotson family. Quiet, peaceable and progressive, also prosperous in business and active in church work, the coming of this family has added a blessing to the county. The ancestor of this family who first came to this county was Thomas Dotson, a Virginian, from Rockingham county. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and from records given of his family we surmise that he and Elizabeth, his wife, took up their residence on the farm now owned by Frank Bell. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church and probably one of the charter members of that organization at Richland. Children born of this union were: Alexander, George, Peter, Jacob, Thomas, Susan, Eliza and Catherine. Jacob by appointment became Governor of Utah Territory during the gold craze. Thomas married Mary E. Lewis and Catherine married George ~nderson. Alexander Dotson, the ancestor of the Greenbrier family by that name, was born October i6, i8i6, and died April 27, 1862. He married Sophia Bunger, and afterwards owned and operated the Bunger mills for many years. (See sketch of Dr. Raymond.) He was also an elder in the Presbyterian church, and like his father before him, was very active in Christian work. He married into the Bunger family on September 25, 1845. His wife was a sister of Joseph Bunger. She was born December 14, 1824, and died July 27, 1874. Their children were John M., H. T. and William R. William R. Dotson married Miss Sarah E. Coffman, October 16, 1878. She was a daughter of Joseph Coffman, from the Valley of Virginia, where the Coffmans had lived time out of mind. John married Mary Hamilton, of Nicholas county, January 4, i88i. They lived in Colorado. They had three children. H. T. Dodson married May Allen, of Kansas, and lived and died there, leaving his wife and three daughters. William R. Dotson was also a noted churchman. He was an elder in the Richland church and gave active and constant support to the cause of Christianity and was superintendent of the Sunday school for many years, never being ahsent from duty. He officiated in that capacity on the Sunday before he died. Children born to Mr. and Mrs. William R. Dotson were: John C., born November 3, 1879; F. T., born February 24, i88i. He is a graduate of civil and mining engineering and has had very great success in the pursuit of his profession. In June, 1910, he married Miss Alma Crabtree, of Norton, Va. To this union were born three children: Mary Elizabeth, William Robinson and Dorothy Sue. Mary Wilson, the only daughter of W. R. Dotson, married F. W. Tuckwiller. (See history of David Tuckwiller.) Their marriage took place October 16, 1908. They are living in Charleston, W. Va., where he is connected with the In-State Electrical Company. They have one child, William Dotson Tuckwiller. John C. Dotson is one of the successful merchants of this county. He completed his educational career at the G. P.S. Institute, as it is now called, and then at the University of West Virginia. Before graduation, however, he was called home on account of the illness of his father to take charge of the farm. This was in 1901. With inclinations along agricultural lines, he next joined the county grange and that naturally led to his mercantile career, a phenomenally successful one from the beginning. It was in 1917 that he first began trading in farmers' supplies and all kinds of seeds which the International Harvester Company of America says now exceeds that of any one man in his block of ten counties. As a merchant his success has been phenomenal. In order to meet the requirements of a constantly increasing demand in his line of goods. Mr. Dotson in 1918 erected a large store, 30X100 feet, and virtually three stories in height, and he is now doing a large and prosperous business. In 1908 Mr. Dotson married Miss Laura L. Kester, of Clarksburg. She is a daughter of ??? Kester. He was a gunsmith in the Confederate service during the Civil war, and he is still in pursuit of that trade now, eighty-seven years of age. His wife. a member of the old line of Carders of English descent. is still living, hale and hearty, and is now seventy-eight years old. Mr. and Mrs. Dotson are the parents of two children: Martha Elizabeth. now seven years old. and Mary Wilson, four. Mr. Dotson. like his father, grandfather and great grand-father, is an elder and active worker of the Presbyterian church. He has just returned from the church Presbytery at Hillsborough, where he had been sent as a delegate to represent his own church at Richland.