Dodgen Family History continued.....

Olimon Dodgen Sr. was the first American born Dodgen. He was born in 1751 in King George County Virginia. By 1764 he had moved to Abbeyville County South Carolina and by 1830 he was living in DeKalb County Georgia. He was attending the John's Creek Primitive Baptist Church in Abbeyville in 1818. He married at age 23 in South Carolina, Sarah Pitts. Together they had 7 children. Oliman was a well educated planter, a wealthy landowner, who also owned slaves. He was involved with his community. In April of 1764 he received a deed on five slaves from his mother Elizabeth. He lived on 300 acres of land on the Little River and Sandy Run River. He further owned land in Edgefield County. In the Revolutionary War he was a patriot sympathizer. He did not serve in the military. Before he died on February 18, 1833 at age 82, he was a wealthy plantation owner. He is buried in the church cemetery of Nancy's Creek Primitive Baptist Church in DeKalb County Georgia.( I am not sure if Abbeyville County is in South Carolina or Georgia, but South Carolina is listed in the records more times than GA.) Olimon and Sarah's son was William Dodgen III, born between 1784 and 1790. We can locate him in DeKalb County Georgia in 1830 and prior to that in Jackson County Georgia on the Oconee River in 1819. He was a member of the Nancy Creek Primitive Baptist Church in Chamblee Georgia in 1824. His wife was Nancy______? Together they had five children. William III was also a slave owner. He died between 1837 and 1840 and we assume he was buried in the Nancy Creek Church cemetery. His son was Alfred Pitts Dodgen, born August 13, 1817 in Abbeville County South Carolina. He was a Baptist. He spent his early years in Jackson County Georgia, then DeKalb County, and in 1850 moved to Cass County. He finally settled in 1870 in the Lemon's District of Cobb County GA. He was married to Nancy Kate Burdine in 1840-1845 and they had 9 children. Alfred was a Justice of the Peace and was thought to have owned slaves. Due to the Battle of Atlanta in 1864 the family was evacuated from the Nancy Creek area of Fulton County to Coxes District of Cobb County, in the Mount Harmony Baptist Church area. Fulton County was organized in 1853 and took on part of DeKalb County. He owned land near Mount Harmony Baptist Church on the northside of the Bankhead Highway (US 78) between the Chattahoochee River and the Mableton Post Office in Lemon's District. Alfred died June 26, 1900 at age 83. He is buried at Mount Harmony Baptist Church cemetery next to his wife Nancy Kate. It is not surprising that the Dodgens and the Meltons were both members of the Mount Harmony Baptist Church and are buried there. The son of Alfred and Nancy Kate to carry on the family name was James Samuel Dodgen, born April 13, 1857. James Samuel Dodgen was married to Martha Ann Gann and they lived in 1889 in the Smyrna District of Cobb County Georgia. They also lived in Mableton GA. Again, they also were members of Mount Harmony Baptist Church, which at that time was a Primitive Baptist Church. James taught at the church school of Mount Harmony. He died December 27, 1910 at age 58 and is buried in the Mounty Harmony cemetery. James and Martha's son was William Luther Dodgen, born July 18, 1876 and married to Sebie Ophelia Lee. These are my great grand parents and the father and mother of my grandmother Floy Kate Melton. William Luther lived in Coxe's District of Cobb County GA near Uncle William Newton Burdine and grandfather Alfred Pitts Dodgen, and also near his father James Samuel Dodgen. They too were members of Mount Harmony Primitive/Independent Baptist Church which by now had become a Southern Baptist Church. It is in Mableton Georgia. William Luther and Sebie Ophelia had four children: Floy Kate (my grandmother) born September 24, 1898, James Ralph born January 23, 1901, Fred Lee born February 13, 1904 or 1905, and Mary Turner born in 1907. William Luther died young at age 32 of pneumonia, on July 19, 1907, and is buried in the Mounty Harmony Church cemetery. My grandmother Floy Kate "Bonky" was only 9 years old when he died. Floy Kate "Bonky" went on to marry Ira Herbert Melton on March 17, 1917. Floy Kate "Bonky" Dodgen Melton was my father's mother. My father was Ira Baily Melton, named after his father Ira Herbert. Floy Kate attended Mableton Highschool and Mount Harmony Baptist Church. Her residence was on Cooper Lake Road in Mableton. She and Ira Herbert had six children: Floy Ruth named after her mother, died in a fire at age 9. and is buried in the Melton Family Plots of the Decatur Georgia cemetery. Ira Baily Melton ( my father) was born on December 21, 1918 in Nashville Tenn. He was married to Mildren Estelle Drummond (my mother.),Harry Lee Melton was married to Barbara Ann Cox and is also buried in the Decatur cemetery, Lloyd Thomas Melton born June 5, 1924 was married to Reba Joyce Lumsden, Charles Herbert Melton was born March 15, 1929 and was married to Mary Patricia Beene, and Sarah Frances Melton Bennett was born on August 3, 1926 and married Lester Bennett. (more about Floy Kate in the next post.)